Is this machine worthy of SETI@Home?

derv

derv

derv

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,070
Location
Kent
My mum's PC has been upgraded recently and I now have her old Dell. Is it worth the electricity setting this up for a SETI 24/7 machine? It's so slow I have no intention to use it for anything else;

Intel Celeron 420 @ 1.6ghz
512MB DDR2 RAM 667mhz
Onboard 128mb graphics
150gb Sata HDD
Windows XP Home

Given that the machine is so unresponsive (30secs plus to open a window) I plan to give it a fresh XP install with windows updates, throw on some free AV software and let BOINC do it's thing.

Am I wasting my time? Are there any cheap upgrades worth doing for better SETI performance? A cheap Nvidia GPU perhaps or a bit of extra RAM?
 
Not worth the leccy as it stands. Adding a second hand 9800 (128 stream) nvidia card or above, would make it worthwhile.
 
Cheers Biffa.

Looks like the motherboard may also take an E6600 CPU as the Celeron is on an LGA775 socket. I'll keep my eyes out for a cheap CPU and Nvidia card and will save on my electric until then.

Guess I need to start posting more so I can get access to MM. Being a forum member for 9 years isn't quite enough :D
 
Quad core sounds good. What CPU should I be looking for? I've only been able to find dual core CPUs that fit a 775 socket.
 
I will hopefully have a Q6600 coming through the post tomorrow. Since buying it I've discovered that quad cores might not work on the motherboard I have (they are fine on the normal model board, but the Dell board has some changes and a different BIOS). Sadly even if it does work I won't be able to overclock it.

Worst case my wife's PC will get the Q6600 and I'll take her E5400 for the SETI machine.

Now it's time to find a half decent Nvidia GPU, and no doubt will need a better PSU to run the thing. SETI is beginning to get expensive... I think I've caught the bug.
 
Grimgoth said:
I'd ditch the AV software if all its going to do is connect to BOINC and seti@home servers....
every little helps :p
Click to expand...

I agree. If you're only doing BOINC then there's nothing worth protecting.

Why slow down an already slow system with pointless AV.
 
It will be hooked up to my network which has shared folders active (pics of my family etc). Wouldn't it be a bit risky running a machine on my network without any AV?
 
I hadn't considered that but if it's just running Seti I really can't see any problems for you.

I don't run any AV and I can't remember the last problem I had.
 
Motherboard didn't take the Q6600 :(

My wife now has a nice upgrade on her machine (installed boinc on the quiet :D :D :D) and I've got the E5400 in the Dell. I'm dropping in 2gb of RAM tomorrow.

What is the best second hand GPU I can get on the cheap purely for SETI? I want to spend as little as possible. I was thinking something like a GTX260 but have no clue when it comes to bang for buck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom