George's dream build

[chris2be8]

If I had that sort of problem I'd try:
ctrl-alt-F1 - this should get into a text mode console. Then look at logs etc.
Logging on over the network and looking at logs etc.
Shut it down, try another distro (eg a live CD), see if I can get at the logs.
Put in a temporary graphics card and look at the logs from when it failed.

Chris

[VictordeHolland]

Originally Posted by chris2be8

If I had that sort of problem I'd try:
ctrl-alt-F1 - this should get into a text mode console. Then look at logs etc.
Logging on over the network and looking at logs etc.
Shut it down, try another distro (eg a live CD), see if I can get at the logs.
Put in a temporary graphics card and look at the logs from when it failed.

Chris

It's definitely not a hardware issue, cause Windevil 10 boots and works fine with just the Intel HD 530 GPU.

[wagner85]

I started on gimps few months ago.
This post was of great value to me.
But I ended up buying old/bulky/cheap/noisy servers to join the project.
Now I am upgrading them.

Since the thread is from 2016, my question is:

What is George dream built for 2021?

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by wagner85

I started on gimps few months ago.
This post was of great value to me.
But I ended up buying old/bulky/cheap/noisy servers to join the project.
Now I am upgrading them.

Since the thread is from 2016, my question is:

What is George dream built for 2021?

Modern CPUs are still starved for memory bandwidth as far as Prime95 is concerned.

On the Intel side, a quad core i3 with the fastest supported memory (with two ranks per channel, either dual rank modules, or two sticks per channel) is what I would suggest. The F chips are fine if you'll also be running a GPU. The i3-10100 supports slightly faster memory than the i3-9100 or i3-8100, but you may find discounts on the older CPUs, and for Prime95, they will do almost as well (memory speed bound). Intel tends to have cheaper low end motherboards than AMD. Disable CPU turbo to save some power, because the memory still can't keep up with the 4 cores.

On the AMD side, the 3300X officially supports 3200 memory, and would likely 3600 memory fine. Avoid the 3200G and 3400G though, as they're Zen+, not Zen 2, which means they run AVX2/FMA3 at half speed. The 3100 is less than ideal as it has its 4 cores split across two CCX, which also splits the L3 cache.

Given that the 3300X system supports much faster memory, that's probably the best value way to go at the moment, if you can find it. Maybe get the 3100, as the higher supported memory speed should keep it ahead of the Intel quads.

The rumoured sweet spot for Ryzen 5000 series memory speeds is 4000, which may make the 4 core models even more appealing from a memory bandwidth perspective. They're also said to have higher base clocks. DDR4-4000 memory is expensive though, so I don't think the new series would be a better value at the moment.

[axn]

Well, currently "George's dream build" consists of a bunch of Radeon VII GPUs - 10x the performance (of a modern quadcore), 3x the power consumption and 3x the cost. Unfortunately, they are out of production, and so you need to look for used ones.

The new Zen 3 parts with 64MB L3 should be good value for GIMPS.

I am also cautiously optimistic about the potential of RX 6000 series GPUs with the 128 MB "infinity cache".

[Prime95]

Originally Posted by wagner85

What is George dream built for 2021?

I agree with the previous posters.

Intel has only made minor improvements since my dream build. I was planning on building more as Intel executed its tick-tock strategy, but that never materialized. I've lost a few mobos/CPUs but about 80% of the original dream build is still in service. At 60W per CPU, I don't have the heart to turn them off.

I have not kept up with AMD's offerings. From what I've read the best CPU option today would be some kind of Zen with 64MB or more of L3 cache.