Performance/price efficient quad-core Opteron setup

[stefanbanev]

Performance/price efficient quad-core Opteron setup:

I have build three 4-core presentation workstations; this is the most
responsive-fast computer what can be built today with best ratio
(performance*reliability) / (price*noise).
The total cost = $2463 + (tax if applicable)

The correspondent hardware configuration and some tips can be found
below:

//---------------- Hardware setup

MB ASUS K8N-DL (BIOS has to be updated to v7.0) $218
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB...612600a4ee60367fe4d2c14b42d0c9ef6f3a74e49763b

CPU 2 x Opteron 280 ( 2 X $749 )
https://www.shop.sanmicro.com/displayProductDocument.hg?productId=106&categoryId=5

4GB RAM 4 X 1GB/DDR400/ecc/reg
$107 X 4 CM72SD1024RLP-3200 (Samsung chips K4H510838C-UCCC)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145310
OR
$102 X 4 TS128MDR72V4J (Samsung chips K4H510838C-UCCC)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820208124

PSU JUST PC JPC-FP600S 600W RT
$79 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817181109

2 X CPU FAN AMD| TR2 M6 A4006D TR2 (Silver-5 has to be applied between
aluminum heat-sink and cupper base)
$7 X 2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106604

$82 X 2 Western Digital (WD1600YD) designed for RAID
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...ore_Code=M&Product_Code=150354&AFFIL=FRG&NR=1

$31.99 Case: XCLIO 6010BK (couple silent 80mm fan can be added)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811103005

$50 PCI-E Video card and CD costs about $50 (sufficient for my needs)

//---------------- Tips

If BIOS <7.0 the bios has to be updated to v7.0. (FD is required)
Old BIOS can support one dual core CPU so, set in one Opteron280 in
socket0 update BIOS to v7.0 then put second CPU in)

Populate 4 memory DIMMs A1B1 A3B3

The RAID-0 should be set on NVIDIA RAID (FD is required)

With memory recommended above the simple over-clocking below does not
require any special voltage/timing tuning:
- The memory latency can be set to CAS 2.5 (2.5-3-3-8-1) (BIOS
settings)
- The CPU speed can be set to 215 (provides free upgrade to Opteron
285) (BIOS settings)
- Disable all spread spectrum options (BIOS settings)
- Set only basic ECC options (for all banks) (BIOS settings)

To speed up booting:
- Switch off all unused IDE
- Switch off Silicon RAID controller (jumper on MB)

The ASUS web does not have the latest drivers for NVIDIA chipset
I would recommend take the latest from TYAN website

http://www.tyan.com/support/html/drivers_support.html
* nVidia Chipset
* SATA RAID for nVidia nForce chipsets
The SATA RAID-0 has to be saved on FD in order to install Windows on
RAID ("press F6" procedure)
Drivers can be taken directly from NVIDIA website; however there is
some confusion what chipset package has to be used for k8n-dl.

Regards,
Stefan

 

[None]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Performance/price efficient quad-core Opteron setup:

I have build three 4-core presentation workstations; this is the most
responsive-fast computer what can be built today with best ratio
(performance*reliability) / (price*noise).
The total cost = $2463 + (tax if applicable)

Thanks, Stefan. Can you provide any temperature data?

Regards

 

[stefanbanev]

Thanks, Stefan. Can you provide any temperature data?

Room ~20C
Under heavy load (16 computationally intensive threads) CPU temp ==
42-45C

Room ~25C
Under heavy load (16 computationally intensive threads) CPU temp ==
45-48C

The noise level of system is below 30db (~1m); close to what you may
expect from
6 X 80mm fan at 2500rpm.

Regards,
George

 

[ben.cipollini]

Stefan,

this is the most responsive-fast computer what can be built today with best ratio

(performance*reliability) / (price*noise).

If you have the caculations done, could you show the highest ranking
setup in some set of pricing categories; e.g. best for under $500, best
for under $750, best under $1000, etc.

$2500 is more than I can fund, but I need to run MATLAB pretty much all
the time, and I'm doing my best to try and find the best setup
available for that.

Thanks!
Ben