Building a 16 thread cruncher

[Dirk Broer]

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.