Cheap AMD quads

[Xyzzy]

Old - AMD Phenom X4 9550
http://products.amd.com/en-gb/Deskto...il.aspx?id=400

New - AMD Athlon II X4 630
http://products.amd.com/en-na/Deskto...il.aspx?id=594

Both setups cost around $500 when they were bought. The 9550 was bought two years ago and the 630 was bought this week.

We are seeing an improvement in speed with the 630, but we have not pushed the memory bandwidth too much. The 9550 is clocked lower and has L3 cache while the 630 is clocked higher and has no L3 cache.

We do not know how these relate to the Phenom II. We really do not know much about them at all, except they are inexpensive.

Attached are two benchmarks for your analysis.

[axn]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

We do not know how these relate to the Phenom II. We really do not know much about them at all, except they are inexpensive

Athlon II = Phenom II minus the L3

[Xyzzy]

Athlon II = Phenom II minus the L3

Do you get the memory throughput like a Phenom II or does the lack of L3 cache cripple it?

We wonder what combination of GIMPS work would be ideal for a 603. Probably not four workers doing anything memory intensive.

BTW, in the attached picture we have an interesting measurement of our "farm" running at maximum current draw.

Our "farm" consists of:

1 × AMD Phenom X4 9550 (2.2Ghz) "headless" quad (8GiB RAM)
3 × AMD Athlon II X4 630 (2.8Ghz) "headless" quads (4GiB RAM)
1 × Netgear WGR614v7 wireless router
1 × Linksys WET610N wireless bridge
1 × APC Back-UPS XS 1500 (1500VA) UPS

This measurement may or may not be interesting but we like to look at the pretty lights on the UPS.

[axn]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

Do you get the memory throughput like a Phenom II or does the lack of L3 cache cripple it?

Not sure. But, for Prime95 at least, similarly clocked Phenom II's are faster than Athlon II (according to benchmark pages). I, like you, have a 630 (from HP). After looking at the performance numbers, I decided that it wasn't worth it to go to Phenom II. YMMV.

[Xyzzy]

After looking at the performance numbers, I decided that it wasn't worth it to go to Phenom II. YMMV.

Similarly clocked Phenom II X4 boxes are about $170 more than Athlon II X4 boxes. That seems like a lot of money to us. When we have a box die we just replace it. Replacing a $700 box would hurt a lot more than a $500 box.

One of our 9550 boxes went up in a puff of magic smoke this week. It lasted two years and was the box that found a factor for F₁₂ last March.

[Batalov]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

One of our 9550 boxes went up in a puff of magic smoke this week. It lasted two years and was the box that found a factor for F₁₂ last March.

Frame it! Sell it on ebay!
Wasn't the box that found M33 listed on ebay or something?

Erdos number 4 was once on ebay, too. That's how I got mine!
...No. Not really.