256 core server courtesy of IBM

[Michael_McCord,_M.D.]

I would love to fire up the SMP client with the flag -smp 256 hahahaha:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/home/i ... nix_server

[P5-133XL]

It will be a cluster of cores, and folding does not yet support clusters. It's also Power-7 which is also a problem.

I'd just be happy with an octo MB with 12 core mangy-cours CPU's i.e. -smp 96

[Zagen30]

I'd just be happy with an octo MB with 12 core mangy-cours CPU's i.e. -smp 96

*Floods house with drool*

Sometimes I wish I'd win lotto so I could build crazy stuff like that. Course, I'd have to actually play lotto to win it, but that's beside the point.

[codysluder]

I wonder if there's a way to adapt the PS3 client which uses the cell to this architecture.

[AZBrandon]

Unless I'm terribly mis-understanding the Supermicro pricing, you can build a 4-way 48-core Magny-cours box for maybe $15,000 and run linux on it, do maybe 180,000 ppd in a nice little 1 or 2U rackmount system. These IBM megaservers tend to be up in the half to full million dollar range. At that cost you could just fill up an entire server rack with cheap linux 4-way AMD boxes instead and still probably spend less money. Assuming a 42U rack, and dedicating 6U to networking and console servers, you could do 18 2U AMD servers. 18 * 4 * 48 = 3456 cores in a rack. If each box does 180k ppd, that's over 3 million ppd for maybe $300,000 plus whatever you pay for a dedicated rack, power, and internet at a colocation datacenter. Now THAT would be your ultimate lotto folder!

[Nathan_P]

Unless I'm terribly mis-understanding the Supermicro pricing, you can build a 4-way 48-core Magny-cours box for maybe $15,000 and run linux on it, do maybe 180,000 ppd in a nice little 1 or 2U rackmount system. These IBM megaservers tend to be up in the half to full million dollar range. At that cost you could just fill up an entire server rack with cheap linux 4-way AMD boxes instead and still probably spend less money. Assuming a 42U rack, and dedicating 6U to networking and console servers, you could do 18 2U AMD servers. 18 * 4 * 48 = 3456 cores in a rack. If each box does 180k ppd, that's over 3 million ppd for maybe $300,000 plus whatever you pay for a dedicated rack, power, and internet at a colocation datacenter. Now THAT would be your ultimate lotto folder!

You could go for the older istanbuls and do each server for $10000 and get the same PPD

[ParrLeyne]

Unless I'm terribly mis-understanding the Supermicro pricing, you can build a 4-way 48-core Magny-cours box for maybe $15,000

Actually, I figure you can build a 4 x AMD 6176 SE (48 Core @ 2.3 Ghz) box for $10,000 USD.

Assuming a 42U rack, and dedicating 6U to networking and console servers, you could do 18 2U AMD servers. 18 * 4 * 48 = 3456 cores in a rack.

6U for networking and console server is a little much, Gbe switches and IP KVM modules can be mounted back to back in a rack (the switches/modules aren't that deep).

• 1 rack with 20 servers, only needs 1U for networking/console servers.
• 2 racks with 41 servers, only needs 2U for networking/console servers.
• 3 racks with 62 servers, only needs 2U for networking/console servers.
• 4 racks with 82 servers, only needs 3U for networking/console servers.

[ParrLeyne]

You could go for the older istanbuls and do each server for $10000 and get the same PPD

I can't believe that the older CPUs, running at the same speed, would run as fast as the new ones -- ie. get same PPD.

[HaloJones]

You can't actually put that much into a single rack without a serious amount of floor strength, some major power capabilities and industrial cooling. And don't ask about the sound proofing around it because I won't be able to hear you.

[AZBrandon]

You could go for the older istanbuls and do each server for $10000 and get the same PPD

I can't believe that the older CPUs, running at the same speed, would run as fast as the new ones -- ie. get same PPD.

Well you could run the old 6-core units in an 8-way configuration, for a total of 48 cores, plus they were up to 2.6 or 2.8ghz. Now with the 12-core chips you're limited to 2.3ghz and 4-way, but they have more memory bandwidth and a little more efficient architecture. The energy usage should be a good deal lower with the Magny-Cours route, which would let you stack more servers for any given power/cooling budget. As a bonus, they can be replaced with 16-core Bulldozer chips next year when they are released. Ah, daydreams about what you could do with an excess of funds.

[theteofscuba]

these websites that benchmark hardware with various games and software should try to include some rough folding@home measurements in the future. I am a little disappointed to not see such a test when reading the magazines or their online articles.

[Qinsp]

Anyone figure out what that user Awachs is running?

Over 1.3 million PPD? Holy smokes!

[bruce]

Anyone figure out what that user Awachs is running?

Over 1.3 million PPD? Holy smokes!

From the official stats,
awachs
Active clients (within 50 days) 151
Active clients (within 7 days) 62

[Qinsp]

Since the average PPD is recorded in a week, that means each client is ~20K PPD. That can't be GPU, right? It can barely be SMP on normal desktops?

I'm thinking it's an array of multi-CPU servers each CPU running an instance?

Or somebody who collects i7 computers as a hobby.

[nibbs]

An SMP client with -bigadv can earn that very easily thru bonuses.