Hey guys, what would be the top features of a computer when it comes to crunching Rosetta? Processor, memory, cache size? What order would you put them in?

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I think I replied in another thread just like this one not long ago :p :p :p

For the Rosie dream machine. This is not to say that lesser machines can't provide useful, valuable results.

1) L2 Cache size: for Rosetta, not less than 512Kb per core, a full Mb would be better

2) Memory: actual physical memory, not virtual, at least 1Gb per core.

3) Hard drive channel: SATA please...

4) Processor speed: any system that meets the above requirements will scream, but as long as we're dreaming... 2.0GHz or faster

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Rosie, Rosie, she's our gal,
If she can't do it, no one shall!

So an Intel Q6600 then, 4 x 2.4GHz cores with 8MB L2 cache and a 1066MHz bus speed, on a decent ASUS MoBo with 4GB of 533MHz DDR2 Dual channel RAM. Nice Seagate Barracuda SATA HD, few case fans. Pretty economic as well now.

Or better, want to go real crazy, a QX6850 4 x 3.0GHz. Probably want a P35 chipset Mobo with that.

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Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.

So an Intel Q6600 then.

I think intel has a few new desktop quads with a 50 instead of a 00 so the Q6650 has a new higher front side bus of 1333MHz. Also the new Pyrens are due in November and that will increase proformance up anothe 20% withwout increasing power wattage. The most important thing will be that this will lower the prices of all the other cpus even more.

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Jmarks

I think I replied in another thread just like this one not long ago :p :p :p

For the Rosie dream machine. This is not to say that lesser machines can't provide useful, valuable results.

1) L2 Cache size: for Rosetta, not less than 512Kb per core, a full Mb would be better

2) Memory: actual physical memory, not virtual, at least 1Gb per core.

3) Hard drive channel: SATA please...

4) Processor speed: any system that meets the above requirements will scream, but as long as we're dreaming... 2.0GHz or faster

as long as we are dreaming make it an octocore with, well try a tera of work memory ;) as long as were dreaming :P

I think intel has a few new desktop quads with a 50 instead of a 00 so the Q6650 has a new higher front side bus of 1333MHz. Also the new Pyrens are due in November and that will increase proformance up anothe 20% withwout increasing power wattage. The most important thing will be that this will lower the prices of all the other cpus even more.

Yes, I know, I did say that. But if we always wait for the lateset newest, nobody would have anything, they'd all be waiting.
The Kentsfield quad cored Q6600 is a pretty good chip for BOINC, and it is around the same price as a dual cored E6850. Figure it, 4 x 2.4G v 2 x 3G. Sure, with an extensible MoBo, the upgrade possibilities are better with a P35/G33 or better, but for bang for buck, that little setup I detailed before is hard to beat TODAY.

I always fail to see the "wait 3 months because the XXX...", because in 3 months the same will be said of the XXX+!.

Propose an economic system from readily available components today...

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Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.

I always fail to see the "wait 3 months because the XXX...", because in 3 months the same will be said of the XXX+!.

Propose an economic system from readily available components today...

Good point! I have been waiting and waiting, but part of that is because my AMD Athlon 1.2GH is still running OK and I overclock it about 12%. But it is almost 8 years old, although I have put more RAM into it to keep it young! ;)

That being said, I will seriously be in the market to buy a new system at the beginning of 2008, and am thinking perhaps a quad core Penryn.....I must make the leap! ;)

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Regards,
Bob P.

Good point! I have been waiting and waiting, but part of that is because my AMD Athlon 1.2GH is still running OK and I overclock it about 12%. But it is almost 8 years old, although I have put more RAM into it to keep it young! ;)

That being said, I will seriously be in the market to buy a new system at the beginning of 2008, and am thinking perhaps a quad core Penryn.....I must make the leap! ;)

That's cool. I have a dual 1.2GHz Athlon system; those chips work great! I've upgraded to Opterons, but I keep it around with a 500GB drive as a backup server. Problem is the mobo voltages are fluctuating under load a lot (when running Rosetta). I suspect the mobo will die eventually. System is at least 6 years old and did a lot of work in its hay-day.

12mb L2 cache !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


hkepc

So an Intel Q6600 then.

I think intel has a few new desktop quads with a 50 instead of a 00 so the Q6650 has a new higher front side bus of 1333MHz. Also the new Pyrens are due in November and that will increase proformance up anothe 20% withwout increasing power wattage. The most important thing will be that this will lower the prices of all the other cpus even more.

Also the new Pyrens are due in November and that will increase proformance up anothe 20% withwout increasing power wattage.

The Penryn is not going to perform any better clock-to-clock wise then the actual core. // in rosetta

I´d love to see how a dual socket F performs with 2 quadcore Opterons.



floating point speed - isnt it that what rosetta needs?

This octa system would be a credit monster =)

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http://www.MIAteam.eu

The Penryn is not going to perform any better clock-to-clock wise then the actual core. // in rosetta

Hard to say, right now. Some apps show a few % improvement, others 0%. I think Penryns have some better memory management or something; we'll soon find out, at any rate.

But it's not going to be much, unless the Rosetta coders add SSE4 support (if it's even useful), which seems unlikely for some time.

Still the 12mb cache could come in handy; or would it be better to o/c the 2.5ghz/6mb part...???? : )

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Crunching Rosetta as a member of the Whirlpool BOINC Teams

The Penryn is not going to perform any better clock-to-clock wise then the actual core. // in rosetta

Hard to say, right now. Some apps show a few % improvement, others 0%. I think Penryns have some better memory management or something; we'll soon find out, at any rate.

But it's not going to be much, unless the Rosetta coders add SSE4 support (if it's even useful), which seems unlikely for some time.

Still the 12mb cache could come in handy; or would it be better to o/c the 2.5ghz/6mb part...???? : )

Yes, from what I read, the Penryn gains speed from SSE optimizing,, and if im not wrong, Rosetta doesnt use SSE at all - thats why I think there wont be any performance gains.

The real advantage should be, that the Penryn can go higher clocks, due to the 45nm production.

The 12 MB cache might be usefull aswell, hard to say right now :)

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http://www.MIAteam.eu

so let's take this thread a bit further:

I used to be the type of person that would build a pc from scratch...but since about 1999 I've succumbed to the "just buy the Dell and save yourself hours of work to save $50" mentality...mostly because pre-built pcs really are cheap today, and let's face it, I'm not trying to squeeze every cpu cycle to make my already 85% idle pc hit 85.6% idle. :)

So...if you had $500 in your hands today (and lived in the U.S.), and wanted to build your own pc for the best performance (and maybe upgradeability of cpu) of RAH, what components would you buy? Could you make a small laundry list and point me to a website? I'm not looking for a list of 100 parts...just things like motherboard make/model, exact cpu make/model, ram size/type, hard drive, and operating system among other parts that I would need. Obviously I do not need a soundcard, most mobos come with built-in networking, etc. which makes the list pretty short.

What about if you had $700?

-Eric

p.s. for reference, my current 3+ year old Dell is a 512MB ram, P4 2.8GHz. I think it's a Dell 4600 if my memory is right.

If you've got some time to read through it, one source of information would be from the SlickDeals.Net forums:

Build Your Own AMD/Intel Computer Thread III (Updated 9.27.07)

I'd start with the Intel Q6600, and go from there...

so let's take this thread a bit further:

The Q6600 is a great chip for overclocking. Most people can get 3.1GHz or 3.2GHz out of this chip just by increasing the Front Side Bus from 266MHz to 350MHz. Increasing the FSB increases everything including the RAM.

At present, my Q6600 is running at 3.150GHz and the RAM is running at 875MHz.

If you plan to build a system for overclocking, make sure you buy a good CPU cooling fan. The standard fan is almost useless.

Rosetta appears to love fast CPU and fast RAM. I am getting over 850 RAC on this system and it is only running 75% on R@H. It is also running folding at home and World Computing Grid.

The CPU is always at 100% and it generates lots of heat.

My next system for R@H will be:
Q6600
2GB RAM PC6400 DDR2 5-5-5-15
ATI 1950 Video
SATA Hard Drives
SATA DVD RW+/- D/L
Very Large Cooling Tower for CPU
120mm front and rear fans
2x 80mm side panel fans

I hope to build it before Christmas. Maybe get RAC over 3,000

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Thx!

Paul

I am getting over 850 RAC on this system and it is only running 75% on R@H. It is also running folding at home and World Computing Grid.

Which Folding client? Standard, SMP, or GPU?

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Reno, NV
Team: SETI.USA

Once again, from SlickDeals.Net:

HP m8100y Media Center/PVR Desktop: Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2GB DDR2, 250HDD, DVDRW, ATSC/NTSC Tuner+FM+Remote, Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer, Vista Home Premium $650

"This deal is smoking hot. Better than the Dell quad core ealier last month."

"sweet deal for ppl that don't want to or can't build their own!! i would recommend this deal to others that don't go for custom PC... or to family (so that I don't have to waste my time building for them!)"

"Great deal. Buyers should be aware of the rather anemic video card, especially loaded with Vista. Easily fixed with an upgrade either from HP or DIY but it will add to the price."


HP Home has a new $400 off $1000+ coupon DT4115 valid customized HP Pavillion Desktops. Thanks Selma

A well-equipped HP Pavillion m8100y Media Center/PVR desktop PC for a base price of $899

Click here

Click "Customize"
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Checkout, apply $400 off $1000 coupon DT4115
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Specs:

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz)
2GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024)
64MB NVIDIA GeForce 7500LE, DVI-I, TV-out, VGA adapter
250GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, video
ATSC-NTSC TV tuner with PVR, FM tuner, remote
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer or Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Norton Internet Security 2007 - 15 Months
HP keyboard and HP scroller mouse
No Monitor (unless additionally selected)

Alternative upgrade options (choose one)
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor E6850 (3.0GHz) [$50 less, $600 total]
HP 19-inch LCD Wide Flat Panel Monitor [same price as above, $650 total]

I am getting over 850 RAC on this system and it is only running 75% on R@H. It is also running folding at home and World Computing Grid.

Which Folding client? Standard, SMP, or GPU?

I was just using the standard client and running it on 1 CPU. I don't have an ATI card so I can not run the GPU client. I am thinking of purchasing an x1950 for that system so I could run the GPU client.

I refocused 100% of this machine to R@H yesterday and it looks like my compute errors are back. Perhaps it is better to let this system work on other projects until R@H is fixed.

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Thx!

Paul