Reply to: Super computer has been completed

[xchaotic]

Looks like I may have to forget SLI...

Nope, either look at the Asus Supercomputer range, or go AMD.

Gigabyte has a mobo with 4 PCIE x16 2.0 slots, so in theory you could run quad crossfire or perhaps even octal with dual core gpus...

Or more moderately a 6core Thuban with AMD 5870 could have been had for ca £750 from Dell last week (allsould out by now)...

On the server side, the if you can really take advantage of the parrallel core you can go 24-core where a whole computer can be had for ca (£1300

Upping the budget a little, you can go four-socket mo'bo and a mental 48cores

[Scrag Meister]

I've started the research part of my new machine build, usually takes a few months.

Was looking at an ATI 5970 board and noticed that they are a foot long!!! Need larger case! then my NV8800GTX blew up and I bought a NV470 GTX instead as a replacement before building.

I do enjoy the researching before spending the cash.

Was pointed to www dot pcspecialist dot co dot uk by a friend, you can specify a whole load of parts and they actually put it together for you and also give you some ideas about compatibility between parts etc.

Invoicing, word processing, accounts and such, is such a drain on the power of the modern computer!!

[Churchill]

I looked into the places selling it and I don't think it will happen at that price....

So I would go for the E5520/E5620.

And as regards motherboards, there's only one to go for:

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf... Series Family

The EVGA Classified SR-2 - 4-way SLI, dual socket, max 48GB RAM, full overclocking support. (Coming soon...)

Nice!

Thanks.

[ThomasSoerensen]

And as regards motherboards, there's only one to go for:

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf... Series Family

The EVGA Classified SR-2 - 4-way SLI, dual socket, max 48GB RAM, full overclocking support. (Coming soon...)

drooooool

[dude69]

There is one ray of light - the X7550. Various online retailers are preselling it at £600 (should be coming out the end of the month). I think it should cost about £2k.

Specs are 8 cores, 16-thread chip, 2GHz with 18MB of cache.

Cost is only twice as much as a 5520, and it's 8-socket capable (up to 64 cores)

Only problem is you need a LGA 1567 motherboard. I suspect these will be rather expensive. Even so, £600 is a bit of a bargain (quite possibly an error)....

I looked into the places selling it and I don't think it will happen at that price....

So I would go for the E5520/E5620.

And as regards motherboards, there's only one to go for:

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf... Series Family

The EVGA Classified SR-2 - 4-way SLI, dual socket, max 48GB RAM, full overclocking support. (Coming soon...)

[dude69]

Cheers Dude. Looks like Dual-Socket is about as "extreme" as I'm likely to go.

There is one ray of light - the X7550. Various online retailers are preselling it at £600 (should be coming out the end of the month). I think it should cost about £2k.

Specs are 8 cores, 16-thread chip, 2GHz with 18MB of cache.

Cost is only twice as much as a 5520, and it's 8-socket capable (up to 64 cores)

Only problem is you need a LGA 1567 motherboard. I suspect these will be rather expensive. Even so, £600 is a bit of a bargain (quite possibly an error)....

[Churchill]

Xeons.

Same core as the consumer stuff but you can do more CPUs.

You need to look at the 5500 and 5600 series. These are dual-processor capable. If you want to go beyond dual-CPU you are looking at the 7500 series, which is extremely expensive.

Interesting CPUs (all LGA1366 socket Xeon chips) are:

E5504, E5506, E5507 - 4 core, 4 thread, 4MB cache, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 2 GHz, 2.13GHz or 2.26GHz - no turbo boost
E5520 - 4 core, 8 thread, 8MB cache 5.86 GT/s QPI, 2.26GHz - turbo boost
E5620 - 4 core, 8 thread, 12MB cache 5.86 GT/s QPI, 2.4GHz - turbo boost

Cheers Dude. Looks like Dual-Socket is about as "extreme" as I'm likely to go.

[dude69]

I'm looking at a multi-socket board that I can populate with I7 processors as and when I can afford them - what's the current "Ultimate"...?

Xeons.

Same core as the consumer stuff but you can do more CPUs.

You need to look at the 5500 and 5600 series. These are dual-processor capable. If you want to go beyond dual-CPU you are looking at the 7500 series, which is extremely expensive.

Interesting CPUs (all LGA1366 socket Xeon chips) are:

E5504, E5506, E5507 - 4 core, 4 thread, 4MB cache, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 2 GHz, 2.13GHz or 2.26GHz - no turbo boost
E5520 - 4 core, 8 thread, 8MB cache 5.86 GT/s QPI, 2.26GHz - turbo boost
E5620 - 4 core, 8 thread, 12MB cache 5.86 GT/s QPI, 2.4GHz - turbo boost

[ThomasSoerensen]

no idea - when I researched mine Intel was the CPU leader and I built my pc around that.

Usually AMD are a lot cheaper and perform a little less.

[Churchill]

With a gaming mobo for 1 i7 cpu and gpu Sli you can easily run VMs - as each VM usually runs well on 1-2 cpu threads and with i7 (old) you have 8 threads and with the i7 980X you have 12 threads.

and CPU will be plenty fast enough.

Hmmm, what about AMD CPUs? or

[ThomasSoerensen]

With a gaming mobo for 1 i7 cpu and gpu Sli you can easily run VMs - as each VM usually runs well on 1-2 cpu threads and with i7 (old) you have 8 threads and with the i7 980X you have 12 threads.

and CPU will be plenty fast enough.

[Churchill]

I think you will struggle to find a motherboard with room for both Multi CPU (usually only for servers) and also multi GPU (usually only for gaming rigs).
Intel have a previous generation mobo that satisfies both those requirements called SkullTrail - maybe read up on that and see if they are doing something similar for X58 socket CPUs

Looks like I may have to forget SLI...

[ThomasSoerensen]

I think you will struggle to find a motherboard with room for both Multi CPU (usually only for servers) and also multi GPU (usually only for gaming rigs).
Intel have a previous generation mobo that satisfies both those requirements called SkullTrail - maybe read up on that and see if they are doing something similar for X58 socket CPUs

[Churchill]

Churchill - why do you believe you need a multi socket motherboard?

Why do you even need the ultimate intel cpu?

My monsterPC with the i7 920 has 4 cores and multithread - and I have never seen more than 4 threads used simoultaneously (outside deliberate burn in programs) and that was on MSSQL server.

the benefit of the 980X over the 975 (or 920) is the extra 2 cores but depending on the applications you intend to use - you might never use that benefit.

Ok, I want a 64-bit OS running various VMs. I'd like a couple of slots for Graphics cards. at least 8GB of RAM, a Blu-Ray drive, a DVD drive, a couple of 500GB drives. A 250 Gig SSD.

I'd like at least a dual socket board or preferably a 4 socket.

[Churchill]

Not obsolete, just not the 'latest model', ffs. The same is true for anything these days.

Same same.