VPS

tichy · 2010-12-29, 20:51

Hi,

has anyone considered using VPS for doing calculations ? They sometimes have free trials, like 7-, 14-days or so. I've found an interesting offer at dotblock.com (1$ per 15 days, with 2.5GHz cpu) but I'd like to do some more googling before I spend my bucks.

tichy · 2010-12-29, 22:07

just signed up at one of the VPS providers for a 7-day trial. Now doing 24/7 TF work at the 2.2 GHz Opteron :)

A nice listing to start with: http://www.hostsearch.com/vps_web_hosting.asp

Mini-Geek · 2010-12-29, 23:10

My guess is that except for free trials, it's much more cost-effective to buy hardware than to rent it.

henryzz · 2010-12-31, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mini-Geek

My guess is that except for free trials, it's much more cost-effective to buy hardware than to rent it.

If that is true can we rent ours?

retina · 2010-12-31, 12:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by tichy

... (1$ per 15 days, with 2.5GHz cpu) ...

If it is a real CPU (not just a single core) and you get 100% 24/7 usage (i.e. no competing processes) then that price would not even cover the cost of electricity. Based just upon that I think that you are not getting a full CPU to use for yourself, it must be shared.

tichy · 2010-12-31, 19:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by retina

If it is a real CPU (not just a single core) and you get 100% 24/7 usage (i.e. no competing processes) then that price would not even cover the cost of electricity. Based just upon that I think that you are not getting a full CPU to use for yourself, it must be shared.

In this case I'd expect single core only. In the meantime I'm trying other alternatives.
I haven't really had an opportunity to evaluate such services as VPS or Could Computing before, but once you start dwelving into the subject one thing becomes quickly apparent that vast majority of such commercial services is targeted on use cases which differ from our (that is GIMPS') profile. Default VPS or CC customer expects such features and huge network bandwidth, fast and large mass storage devices, great ammounts of ram, redundancy, backups, etc., most of which are of lesser importancy to number crunching freaks. Unfortunately all of the above contributes to the offered price options. For us, on the other hand suffice fast cpus, ram in amounts rarely excessing gigabytes, and ordinary console + ssh/ftp connection.
I was "day dreaming" that if we gathered enough potential GIMPS-profiled customers with couple of bucks in hand then we would have an argument for negotiation of lower priced taylor made services with one of the VPS/CC market players.

As for other options it is notable that GPGPU services are starting to emerge, just to mention amazon service, which btw is ridiculously expensive. Amongst other is Hoopoe Cloud which mentions a month-long alpha testing period with full access to their GPGPU infrastructure for free.

ixfd64 · 2011-01-01, 01:27

Yeah, but it won't help us very much until George adds GPU support to Prime95.

tichy · 2011-01-01, 10:16

But we have Judger's and msft's solutions, and Andrew Thall might be interested in chasing the EFF price with his independent code.

tichy · 2011-01-06, 09:42

Name: www.sigmacloud.com

Trial period: 7 days, no obligation, no initial purchase,
Requirements: working mobile number for activation code,

What you get?
single core of Six-Core AMD Opteron 2427.
cpuinfo:

Code:

[liveuser@localhost mp]$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 16
model           : 8
model name      : Six-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2427
stepping        : 0
cpu MHz         : 2211.244
cache size      : 512 KB
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 5
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb lm up rep_good extd_apicid pni cx16 popcnt hypervisor lahf_lm cmp
bogomips        : 4422.48
TLB size        : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

During these 7 days of trial I did 15.8303 GHz-days of work, 37 completed work units.

Notes: very elegant and user friendly panel, easy to use, additionaly very helpful video tutorial is available . Connection to the assigned server only through VNC.

tichy · 2011-01-08, 16:19

Name: https://order.server4you.net/pages/vserver-trial/

Trial period: 4 days (but in practice it is rounded up to the next midnight), no obligation, no initial purchase,
Requirements: working mobile number for activation code,

What you get?
two double-core CPUs (PLATINUM X4 plan)
cpuinfo:

Code:

processor    : 0
vendor_id    : GenuineIntel
cpu family    : 15
model        : 4
model name    :                   Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.20GHz
stepping    : 3
cpu MHz        : 3192.147
cache size    : 2048 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 2
core id        : 0
cpu cores    : 1
apicid        : 0
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 5
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl cid cx16 xtpr
bogomips    : 6384.29
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 128
address sizes    : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor    : 1
vendor_id    : GenuineIntel
cpu family    : 15
model        : 4
model name    :                   Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.20GHz
stepping    : 3
cpu MHz        : 3192.147
cache size    : 2048 KB
physical id    : 3
siblings    : 2
core id        : 0
cpu cores    : 1
apicid        : 6
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 5
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl cid cx16 xtpr
bogomips    : 6383.16
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 128
address sizes    : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor    : 2
vendor_id    : GenuineIntel
cpu family    : 15
model        : 4
model name    :                   Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.20GHz
stepping    : 3
cpu MHz        : 3192.147
cache size    : 2048 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 2
core id        : 0
cpu cores    : 1
apicid        : 1
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 5
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl cid cx16 xtpr
bogomips    : 6383.10
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 128
address sizes    : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor    : 3
vendor_id    : GenuineIntel
cpu family    : 15
model        : 4
model name    :                   Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.20GHz
stepping    : 3
cpu MHz        : 3192.147
cache size    : 2048 KB
physical id    : 3
siblings    : 2
core id        : 0
cpu cores    : 1
apicid        : 7
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 5
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl cid cx16 xtpr
bogomips    : 6383.24
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 128
address sizes    : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

benchmark:

Code:

Compare your results to other computers at http://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks
Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.20GHz
CPU speed: 3191.17 MHz, 2 hyperthreaded cores
CPU features: RDTSC, CMOV, Prefetch, MMX, SSE, SSE2
L1 cache size: 16 KB
L2 cache size: 2 MB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
TLBS: 64
Prime95 64-bit version 25.11, RdtscTiming=1
Best time for 768K FFT length: 30.606 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 37.154 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 42.806 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 53.062 ms.
[Sat Jan  1 13:09:22 2011]
Compare your results to other computers at http://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks
Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.20GHz
CPU speed: 3191.29 MHz, 2 hyperthreaded cores
CPU features: RDTSC, CMOV, Prefetch, MMX, SSE, SSE2
L1 cache size: 16 KB
L2 cache size: 2 MB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
TLBS: 64
Prime95 64-bit version 25.11, RdtscTiming=1
Best time for 768K FFT length: 35.031 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 49.867 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 52.386 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 53.688 ms.
Best time for 1536K FFT length: 77.394 ms.
Best time for 1792K FFT length: 84.173 ms.
Best time for 2048K FFT length: 104.224 ms.
Best time for 2560K FFT length: 112.650 ms.
Best time for 3072K FFT length: 153.439 ms.
Best time for 3584K FFT length: 219.378 ms.
Best time for 4096K FFT length: 192.338 ms.
Best time for 5120K FFT length: 232.303 ms.
Best time for 6144K FFT length: 396.836 ms.
Best time for 7168K FFT length: 403.241 ms.
Best time for 8192K FFT length: 493.619 ms.
Timing FFTs using 2 threads on 1 physical CPUs.
Best time for 768K FFT length: 23.501 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 29.538 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 36.342 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 40.364 ms.
Best time for 1536K FFT length: 46.996 ms.
Best time for 1792K FFT length: 62.116 ms.
Best time for 2048K FFT length: 69.636 ms.
Best time for 2560K FFT length: 83.408 ms.
Best time for 3072K FFT length: 108.338 ms.
Best time for 3584K FFT length: 129.734 ms.
Best time for 4096K FFT length: 138.622 ms.
Best time for 5120K FFT length: 197.466 ms.
Best time for 6144K FFT length: 228.955 ms.
Best time for 7168K FFT length: 280.545 ms.
Best time for 8192K FFT length: 324.386 ms.
Timing FFTs using 4 threads on 2 physical CPUs.
Best time for 768K FFT length: 27.303 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 32.693 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 43.860 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 43.149 ms.
Best time for 1536K FFT length: 42.213 ms.
Best time for 1792K FFT length: 62.392 ms.
Best time for 2048K FFT length: 64.774 ms.
Best time for 2560K FFT length: 100.202 ms.
Best time for 3072K FFT length: 120.880 ms.
Best time for 3584K FFT length: 155.150 ms.
Best time for 4096K FFT length: 171.730 ms.
Best time for 5120K FFT length: 231.529 ms.
Best time for 6144K FFT length: 259.561 ms.
Best time for 7168K FFT length: 331.511 ms.
Best time for 8192K FFT length: 446.017 ms.
Best time for 58 bit trial factors: 7.368 ms.
Best time for 59 bit trial factors: 7.461 ms.
Best time for 60 bit trial factors: 7.330 ms.
Best time for 61 bit trial factors: 8.202 ms.
Best time for 62 bit trial factors: 11.842 ms.
Best time for 63 bit trial factors: 10.183 ms.
Best time for 64 bit trial factors: 12.077 ms.
Best time for 65 bit trial factors: 14.349 ms.
Best time for 66 bit trial factors: 15.765 ms.
Best time for 67 bit trial factors: 15.760 ms.

Notes: access through ssh

2010-12-29, 20:51	#1
tichy Nov 2010 2²×19 Posts	VPS Hi, has anyone considered using VPS for doing calculations ? They sometimes have free trials, like 7-, 14-days or so. I've found an interesting offer at dotblock.com (1$ per 15 days, with 2.5GHz cpu) but I'd like to do some more googling before I spend my bucks.

2010-12-29, 22:07	#2
tichy Nov 2010 2²×19 Posts	just signed up at one of the VPS providers for a 7-day trial. Now doing 24/7 TF work at the 2.2 GHz Opteron :) A nice listing to start with: http://www.hostsearch.com/vps_web_hosting.asp Last fiddled with by tichy on 2010-12-29 at 22:26

2011-01-01, 10:16	#8
tichy Nov 2010 2²×19 Posts	But we have Judger's and msft's solutions, and Andrew Thall might be interested in chasing the EFF price with his independent code. Last fiddled with by tichy on 2011-01-01 at 10:17

2010-12-29, 23:10	#3
Mini-Geek Account Deleted "Tim Sorbera" Aug 2006 San Antonio, TX USA 4267₁₀ Posts	My guess is that except for free trials, it's much more cost-effective to buy hardware than to rent it.

2011-01-01, 01:27	#7
ixfd64 Bemusing Prompter "Danny" Dec 2002 California 2401₁₀ Posts	Yeah, but it won't help us very much until George adds GPU support to Prime95.