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Thread: Building a 16 thread cruncher

  1. #1
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    Building an AMD-based 16 thread cruncher

    Socket 940:

    1. Take an octa-socket 940 mobo and buy eight dual-core 800 HE-series "Egypt" Opterons.

    Don't do this, it'll ruin you -running BOINC on this ancient hardware. Running this will affect the local micro-climate: your room gets much hotter very quick.
    So, unless your last name is Trump.....

    Socket F:

    1. Take a quad socket F mobo and buy four 4-core 8300 HE-series "Shanghai" Opterons.
    2. Take an octa-socket F mobo and buy eight dual-core 8200 HE-series "Santa Rosa" Opterons. Don't do this either

    With a bit of luck you can get this all 2nd hand, but it might be expensive to operate (ask Jason), especially the eight-socket behemoths.
    A quick look at what is available showed EATX, SSI and SFF mobos -SFF *not* meaning Small Form Format here, but a proprietary Super Micro format.

    Socket G34:

    1. Take a single socket G34 mobo and buy a 16-core G34 Opteron. [recommended when you can buy a 16-core Opteron for about 125 Euro]
    2. Take a dual socket G34 mobo and buy two 8-core G34 Opterons.
    3. Take a quad socket G34 mobo and buy four 4-core G34 Opterons.

    The mobo's for option 1 are cheaper and may fit in the standard cases, as you can buy them in ATX and EATX format. There is also less heat from the single CPU than in the other two options.
    For options 2 and 3 EATX may not even be enough, you might need either SSI, SFF or CEB cases -or even beyond that. You might also need an expensive PSU, perhaps two. Having more CPUs also gives more heat.
    Again: With a bit of luck you can get this all 2nd hand, but it might be expensive to operate, especially with a quad mobo.

    Socket C32:

    1. Take a dual socket C32 mobo and buy two 8-core C32 Opterons.

    Again: With a bit of luck you can get this all 2nd hand. All the disadvantages of older multi-socket boards still apply though.

    Socket AM4:

    1. Take any AM4 mobo and buy a 8-core Ryzen 7. [Ryzen 7 1700 on a mobo with four RAM slots recommended]

    The Ryzen 7 1700 has a TDP of 65 Watt, which should help keeping the running costs lower than the 95 Watt versions. This is by far the most economical option.

    Socket TR4:

    1. Take any TR4 mobo and buy a 8-core Ryzen Threadripper 1900X.

    An advantage of Threadripper against Ryzen 7 is the amount of PCIe lanes, a disadvantage is the higher TDP and the fact that the quad-channel RAM dictates that you have to buy the RAM in quantities of at least four sticks at a time. This option also gives you the opportunity to make your cruncher a 32-thread cruncher in time though.

    Socket SP3:

    1. Take any SP3 mobo and buy a 8-core EPYC 7251.

    An advantage of EPYC against Threadripper is the lower TDP and the even higher amount of PCIe lanes, a disadvantage is the fact that the octa-channel RAM dictates that you have to buy the RAM in quantities of at least eight sticks at a time, but this might be a blessing in disguise -crunching-wise, as I advise a healthy 4GB per thread for BOINC, especially when running multiple VMs. This option even gives you the opportunity to make your cruncher a 64-thread cruncher in time.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 09-07-2017 at 09:03 AM.


  2. #2
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    So, how much does the cheapest fully capable 16 thread Ryzen cruncher actually cost?

    If you dare to really be a cheapskate, you buy an ASRock A320M Pro4.
    Though expensive for an A320 board ($64.99 at Newegg) it has four RAM slots and VRM heat sinks, which sets it apart from its even cheaper brothers
    (and even from the more expensive MSI A320M Bazooka or the Gigabyte GA-A320MA-M.2, that lack the VRM heatsink).
    A Ryzen 7 1700 costs you $299.99 at Newegg and 64 GB of 2666MHz Corsair DDR4 RAM can be bought there for as much as $589.99
    (Low profile RAM a tad more expensive but better suited in case of air cooling)

    As you are a cruncher, I take it you already have a case, a PSU, a SSD, a mouse, a videocard and a keyboard from older systems
    -not to mention an internet connection, or you wouldn't be reading this.

    So: $64.99 + $299.99 + $589.99 = say $955 and you are ready to go. Ten bucks more and you have the more capable (a.o. 6 PCIe lanes instead of 4)
    ASRock AB350M Pro4, the ASUS Prime B350M-A/CSM or the MSI B350M PRO-VDH.

    If it is replacing a FX 8350 or likewise you have double the threads and half the TDP -whatever the last is worth.
    It boils down to "You can crunch more at a time and do so at lower power usage".

    some comparisons:
    cpu.userbenchmark.com
    www.cpu-world.com

    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 09-27-2017 at 10:24 PM.


  3. #3
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    But how much for a 16-thread Threadripper, Jack?

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, the motherboard of choice is from Asrock again: an ASRock X399 Taichi can be bought for $339.99 at Newegg and is the cheapest TR4 board there, as it is here in the Netherlands too.
    RAM-wise we can do with the same as for the Ryzen 7 board, while a Threadripper 1900X costs $549.99

    So: $339.99 + $299.99 + $549.99 = say $1190 and your entry-level Threadripper (using some spare parts from older systems again) is ready to go, and can be significantly improved over time.
    The outcome of this sum even surprized me! It's comparing high-end Ryzen 7 (on a low-end board) to low-end Threadripper, but I hadn't expected it to come out so close.
    If you want to compare the Threadripper setup with a comparable Ryzen 7 setup, you can take the Asrock X370 Taichi and add $135 to the price of the Ryzen 7 system.

    The Ryzen 7 system has (when using the Ryzen 7 1700 of 65 Watt TDP) a much lower TDP than the Threadripper system with its 180 Watt TDP CPU, but the only thing you can do to add more performance to that platform is buying the 95 Watt TDP Ryzen 7 1800 or 1800X (or wait for a 10- or 12 core to arrive on the AM4 platform in the future). The expandability of a Threadripper system is much bigger, and on top of it you get more PCIe lanes. Nice to know is that the 16-core Threadripper 1950X still has the same 180 Watt TDP and as such is a much better buy than the 1900X.

    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 09-16-2017 at 03:49 PM.


  4. #4
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    And EPYC?

    The 8-core EPYC SOC is -over here- just as expensive as the 8-core Threadripper, around 549 Euro's, so when we guess the Gigabyte board to be around 500 Euros,
    we're just left with the cost of 8 x 8GB Registered ECC DDR4 RAM, which is around 850 Euro's here.

    So for a grand total of 1900 Euro's your entry-level EPYC server is ready, being able to be pushed from 16 to 64 threads, money provided.

    An eventual dual-mobo might come out at double the cost (2 CPUs, double the RAM, mobo more expensive too), but can in the future be upgraded to take two 48-core/96 thread Starship SOCs.
    A 192-thread behemoth needs a lot of RAM too, but as the single-socket board already can take 512GB, it should be possible to plug in 1TB on a dual board.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 09-15-2017 at 09:40 PM.


  5. #5
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    Sounds awesome Dirk, I am drooling





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  6. #6
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    Building a 16 thread cruncher - AM5 Version

    If you go for an AM5 consumer system with 16 threads you have the choice between three CPUs:

    Model Ryzen 7 7700 Ryzen 7 7700X Ryzen 7 7800X3D
    Normal Speed 3800 MHz 4500 MHz 4200 MHz
    Turbo Speed 5300 MHz 5400 MHz 5000 MHz
    L3 Cache 32 MB 32 MB 96 MB
    Tdp 65 Watt 105 Watt 120 Watt
    Price $ 320 $ 289 $ 439

    If all you want is to be able to run 16 threads, and do it as cheap as possible, you buy a 65 Watt Tdp Ryzen 7 7700, put it in a ASRock A620M Pro RS mobo (at least some passive VRM cooling),
    and stick in as much RAM as you can afford -it will take up to 128 GB DDR5.
    You don't need to bother with a GPU, as all three mentioned CPUs have the same IGP -a 128 shader core RDNA 2 Radeon, that runs between 400 and 2200 MHz.
    Running costs-wise I'd suggest a M.2 NVMe SSD of the PCI Express 3.0 x4 type, as they need far less Watts to read/write than the PCI Express 4.0 x4 variety -PCI Express 5.0 x4 won't run at all at those speeds in an A620 board.

    If it's performance you want, you'll take that Ryzen 7 7800X3D. That huge L3 cache will sure help at e.g. SRBase, albeit at the cost of a bigger power bill at the end of the year.
    But when money is no concern, you might as well go all the way: buy an X670E ATX board -or even EATX- for better cooling/overclocking options and enjoy all the benefits of PCI Express 5.0 x4!

    When you're spending so much money though, you might also consider a Ryzen 9 for a 24- or 32 thread cruncher....
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 05-22-2023 at 09:46 PM. Reason: Won't accept Euro sign, taken $ instead


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