Good replacement for an old cruncher

[pfb]

Starting to look at replacing my oldest cruncher and just wanted to get some feedback from those who have good (read: fast :p), cheap crunchers...

Current cruncher is:

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3400+ with 1GB RAM

Looking for something with a bit more bit - dual core (or more), 2GB (got a few DDR2 sticks lying around)...not wanting to spend more than £250-300 on it.

Already have case, PSU, hard disks - so just be new motherboard, processor and a cheapy gfx card.

Doing a quick look around and I can get:

Intel Core 2 Duo, E7400 @ £103
Asus P5KPL SE @ £50
and a cheap gfx card for £10

Worth getting a(nother) Q6600 for £150...

Hmm - damn, shouldn't have started looking :crazy:

[Bok]

I wouldn't go for anything less than a quadcore...

Q6600 or a Phenom II 940 perhaps

[Fozzie]

I've got a great Phenom rig, IMHO

I was surprised after all the bashing they got re benchmarks how good they are in reality.

If you go for a phenom you have to get the black editions as they are unlocked (I think)

Run SoB great very favourably vs the Core2Quad

Also some boards come with GFX onboard, although I'd go for a 9800 of some description for some serious CUDA power, then you get 2 crunchers for the desk space of 1.

[pfb]

Decided in the end to replace my main PC with a shiny Core i7 (plus 12GB, SSD and some other bits and pieces :p)...just finishing building it :D

Should be fast enough for me - esp once I o/c it when it's settled in :)

[IronBits]

Schweet! :thumbs:
Set the 'fsb' to 174 and your done, IF, you bought a quality HSF and tossed that piece of crap that comes with cpus in the garbage.
Let me know if you have any questions.

:rock:

[pfb]

Chip was OEM so no crappy retail heatsink; using an AKASA AK-967 NERO (http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2354) on it :)

[IronBits]

Looks nice. Keep an eye on the temps. Let me know how you make out!

[pfb]

Do you run 8 BOINC tasks on your i7? I find if I do, streaming video gets stuttery but it's only that, everything else is fine - running 6 atm so just have to see.

Temp wise - sitting around 46c on the CPU with 6 tasks running (cores are reporting ~40C)

[IronBits]

I run 8 tasks. I play Quake III Tourney, and it's a little stuttery, but not bad enough to make me stop Boinc. ;)
Are you running at stock speeds?
Which video card did you chose?

[pfb]

Running at 3.2GHz now (20 x 160) - temps gone up 1-2c so prob push a bit more and try for 3.4 (on air, seems to be the best without changing voltages).

Using a ATi 4850x2 - only streaming video is stuttery so I'll have to do some testing to see why...

[IronBits]

Everest Ultimate Editiontells me
71C per core, at 174 fsb in a case with a GTX 295.
Other values
66c for CPU
43c for mobo
60c for GPU1
56c for GPU2
32c for all 4 Velociraptors

[pfb]

Getting :


Temperatures

Motherboard 39 °C (102 °F)
CPU 55 °C (131 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #1 63 °C (145 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #2 63 °C (145 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #3 62 °C (144 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #4 62 °C (144 °F)
GPU1: GPU Diode (DispIO) 48 °C (118 °F)
GPU1: GPU Diode (MemIO) 52 °C (126 °F)
GPU1: GPU Diode (Shader) 50 °C (122 °F)
GPU2: GPU Diode (DispIO) 44 °C (111 °F)
GPU2: GPU Diode (MemIO) 49 °C (120 °F)
GPU2: GPU Diode (Shader) 44 °C (111 °F)

vie Everest - HD don't show on the trial

Stuttering sorted (kinda - only stutters on second monitor so not a big issue :p)

I'll prob give it a few days to settle down then push towards what you have...160 is very stable so far so should be ok to go higher...

Running Windows from a SSD is great - takes about 20 secs from boot and as soon as the desktop appears it's usable even if it's loading things...

[IronBits]

Gonna get me one of them SSDs one of these days. :thumbs:

[pfb]

BOINCView is showing the new PC as producing 211 points/hour; the next nearest is a slightly o/c Q6600 at 90 points/hour...hmm; need more cash to replace on my boxes with Core i7s :p :guntotin:

[Fozzie]

I'll be saving up for a possible birthday present to myself this year I think.

[alpha]

Wow, I wish I had the funds for one too.