New Crunching rack !NEED! Help picking hardware ..Please

[NerdLifeAMD]

I just took delivery of a 40u completely free. and he offered to make me a second if i ran some network line at his home got me thinking????? well almost free traded my time nothing more so its on to hardware ive been looking at whats available at new egg and man a lot of choices all dependent on other choices. these are my issues. when i first decided to build a rack to crunch on I had top of the line in mind now that its time to pic out hardware im not so sure? i cant ignore the fact that i can get two 6 ways for the price of one 8 way just for an example? or that i can get two very nice asus bords with only one pcix 16 slot for the same price as one with two? or that i can get 2 4u cases that the only complaint is they r flimsy for the price of one nice steel case. i mean they will be in a rack who cares if they are flimsy ? ive had great luck unlocking cores also which is something to consider ... my last 4x unlocked to 6X and clocked to 4.2 with an aftermarket cooler but those phenom chips are getting pretty old also i havent really played with the desktop apus but im told you can crossfire them with a independent card all in all i was intending on 4 or 5 4u blades now im thinking i could build 8 or 9 i mean 40 cores in nice but 54 or maybe even more is better for the same price if i do it smart. id like some help getting a cart together am very very serious i just took a second job for the extra funding start on Monday so with the thought that 12 cores are better than 8 for the price starting the cloud in my head i look for inpu.t chip decision will be the first thing i need help with ???? and the decision to build 4-5 high end vs 8-9 very decent computers? the reason 9 not ten is to leave room in the rack for a rack mount router anyway thaks for any input in advance talk nerdy to me

LET ME JUST ADD POWER CONSUMPTION IS NOT AN ISSUE

I HATE WAITING ON RMAS lets get it right the first time

[NerdLifeAMD]

ok looking into cpus the pile-drivers are actually priced very well. but one thing im still curious about still trying to pic a socket is as far as floating point operations and raw power how do the apus preform against regular cpus it would seem the traditional benching methods are bollix in this case and i cant seem to find a satisfying answer on the web

[Dirk Broer]

As Brucifer already mentioned, it absolutely depends on the project which CPU is the most efficient. APUs are a special case because of their internal GPU. For projects that offer both CPU and GPU work APUs can be very effective, especially when the project seems to favor AMD hardware (e.g. Collatz, Moo!). If you combine a quad-core APU with two or three GPUs and allocate enough memory to its IGP you can essentially run eight or more GPU WUs at the same time, plus four CPU Wus and as much nci projects as you like (e.g. WuProp or FreeHAL).

Eight-core FX CPUs -especially the 95 Watt tdp variant- have a charm of their own, as they can run eight CPU WUs and as much GPU WUs as you dare to run given the mobo/Graka combination you are using.
If and when power consumption is not an issue I recommend four ARES II video cards, as much RAM as you can stick in that mobo, a 1200 Watt PSU -perhaps even two-, and a nuclear power station in your back yard. You might want the CPU to have its own water cooler too, try for a 360 mm radiator (3x 120mm fans) The casing needed will be huge too, Corsair Obsidian 900D perhaps? I really wouldn't know whether all this would fit into a 4U server case. If it does, it will be much cheaper than the Corsair.

Money might be an issue in the above mentioned configuration though. You can replace the Ares II's with as much HD 7990s as you can afford. Any number above one already gives you the equivalent of a super computer!

Then there are the C32 and G34 mobos to consider: if you have a 19'' rack, Socket C32 will give you the opportunity to install a mobo with two eight-core Opterons.
Socket G34 even gives you the opportunity to try for a mobo with up to four 16-core Opterons. These mobos seldom have room for more than one PCIe x16 card though.
If you make that card a HD 7990 the system so built still kicks the shit out of most others...

[NerdLifeAMD]

always a wealth of knowledge dirk thanks. speaking of liquid cooling for about a year now ive been contemplating liquid cooling but that is a lot of work for room temp. what i was tossing around in my head was refrigerated liquid. by that i mean getting a mini fridge to keep the tanks in and adding a little antifreeze to the water. the reason i haven't checked this idea out yet is im concerned about condensation on the blocks from sub zero fluid passing threw a warm computer case i have installed a few water blocks in the shop but they were off the shelf nvidia brand and i wasn't all that impressed with the workmanship or performance


They did however look really cool

[NerdLifeAMD]

the 900d is a nice case but its not rack-mount if i went with one really really really nice computer it would defiantly be a contender id have to find some more reviews before i made a choice to go that rout i have a antec 1200v3 http://store.antec.com/Product/enclo...-V3%20%20.aspx that ive been very very happy with and its half the price .

[Dirk Broer]

Already looked into phase-changers?

[NerdLifeAMD]

those are very cool i had forgotten they existed... however im always warry of products that dont include a price on the main page However getting a kit does eliminate my concerns of condensation since all the tubes look to be pre insulated 2 of three water cooling systems ive installed leaked after a wile and that wont be an issue with these