Price/Performance thread - *Guide to building best value SETI cruncher*

Originally posted by [ASSE]Arnie01
With windows XP though you might just be pusing it, but should be fine.
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Stick the theme over to classic mode. Turn off all un-necessary services (see Black Viper's services guide).

Also, go to Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance settings > Adjust for best performance and things should run just fine with 128Mb. :)
 
I am using 1080mb discs with an unattended XP setup with all options set to "off" comes out at a 887mb install.

I then hack away at the files getting rid of anything I can't be bothered with, that gets it down to 714mb!

Then attack the Services, theres about 79 to start with, disable all the hangers-on, that leaves about 11 that I liked the look of, seems to run ok.

Maybe I should get rid of some of the driver cache files etc, but can't be bothered.

Tried an 850mb hard drive but wouldnt install and couldn't work out how to ghost a drive, the drives are about £2 cheaper and being a jock the price always matters!

I use VNC, no keyboards, Cats ate all the mice.

Would have left them all with XP1700+ but felt like trying the better Cpu's as the prices dropped.

Regards, ProSpec
 
I cannot understand why everyone uses XP, 2000 or win 98, get a nice cheap copy of NT4 work station (10 quid from a large auction site) will fit on a 250 mb hard drive, no need to install 4 in 1 drivers or any other crap and is rock solid.
 
Just a suggestion but in the past when I've been looking at the best value crunchers I always reduced the system to an approximate £/WU (Per Day) value to give a true idea of value for money when comparing different options. It's all very well building the cheapest system possible but if it's dog slow then it may not be as good as a slightly more expensive option.

I seem to remember that back then the most cost effective systems were somewhere around the £25-£30 per WU mark although as a sign of how things have moved on ProSpecs system above is mighty impressive at around £22 per WU.

Also most people will accept that a bare bones cruncher only needs the following:

CPU - In a VFM system Intel aren't even an option, it's just a matter of picking out which AMD chip gives the most bang for your buck at any given time.

MoBo - Two real options, something like the PC-Chips boards for very cheap with GFX/Network integrated but limited (if any) overclocking options or the cheapest 'good' boards of the moment (last I looked the Epox 8K3A held this crown but that was a few months ago now) to give higher performance for a slihtly higher price (plus the need for GFX/Net Cards) - do the maths and choose your weapon

Heatsink/Fan - Forget the uber coolers (SLK800 and the like), you want cheap. Depending on your situation you may want something reasonably quiet unfortunately cheap coolers are usually 60mm and noisy which makes this a tricky area. - The best compromise I've found is cheap coolers with 80mm fans strapped on using whatever means are available.

RAM - again there's a trade off between price and performance, if you're going the "PCChips" route then get the cheap stuff in the smallest size sticks you can, if you're going the "8K3A" route then choose carefully, a bad choice of RAM can ruin your £/WU ratio.

Storage - Usually a small HDD acquired for next to nothing, although there are other options such as network booting although it's not for the faint hearted and I don't think I've seen anyone pull it off effectively

GFX/Network - can be found onboard depending on MoBo selection or if required, cheap 2nd hand cards for a fiver each from computer fairs do the job.

PSU - Just buy the cheapest you can find, I've got an overclocked TBred 2100 based cruncher running quite happily off a 150W supply so if you're building more than one machine you may even want to look into the possiblity of sharing supplies if you're not scared of a bit of soldering.
 
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Originally posted by Iron Crow
I cannot understand why everyone uses XP, 2000 or win 98, get a nice cheap copy of NT4 work station (10 quid from a large auction site) will fit on a 250 mb hard drive, no need to install 4 in 1 drivers or any other crap and is rock solid.
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Simple, it crashes when I VNC it.

Happened with both my systems. No thankyou PoS
 
Also on the subject of OS's I splashed out on 98lite today. I'm planning to clean install one of my machines tonight to see if I can get any appreciable performance increase, I'll keep you posted on whether or not it's a worthwhile exercise.
 
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47GHz Socket A (266 MHz FSB) £42.28 (34.77Mhz/£)

Athlon XP 1600+ 1.40 GHz Socket A (266 MHz FSB) £43.48 (32.20Mhz/£)

Athlon XP 1800+ 1.53 GHz Socket A (266 MHz FSB) £48.15 (31.78Mhz/£)

Athlon XP 1900+ 1.60 GHz Socket A (266 MHz FSB) £53.43 (29.95Mhz/£)

Athlon XP 2000+ 1.67 GHz Socket A (266 MHz FSB) £59.17 (28.22Mhz/£)

Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73 GHz Socket A (266 MHz FSB) £68.41 (25.28Mhz/£)

Athlon XP 2200+ 1.8 GHz Socket A (266 MHz FSB) £73.44 (24.51Mhz/£)

The Athlon 1700+ wins!:D
 
XP1700+ fill n cut bridges untill you get the voltage and multi right if ya mobo doesnt allow you to OC via the bios.


If you have a mobo that allows you to OC unlock it(if its not already unlocked) and see at what multi/voltage it will overclock well at. then whip it out and do the bidges bun it in the cheap-o-rama board and see if it will work :D
 
Installed 98lite on my PII350, installed OK and first impressions are that the win95 shell is indeed bloomin' quick when browsing files and the like in fact I'm considering putting it on my main machine and throwing IE away completely.

I'll have to wait and see what impact if any it has on SETI times
 
Originally posted by kaiowas
Installed 98lite on my PII350, installed OK and first impressions are that the win95 shell is indeed bloomin' quick when browsing files ...

I'll have to wait and see what impact if any it has on SETI times
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Be sure to let us know, surely you must know by now! :p
 
Originally posted by Mandex001
XP1700+ fill n cut bridges untill you get the voltage and multi right if ya mobo doesnt allow you to OC via the bios.
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I dont suppose youve got a link that shows all the bridge config's ?
I used to have one but i seem to have lost it (and the link !! ) :o
 
Originally posted by kaiowas
First full unit finished a couple of hours ago. Doesn't look like it's really made any difference but I'd rather let it do a few more before I form a definate opinion.
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It will probably be more usefull for very small hdd's and better stability then an actual performance boost, but ya never know...
 
Originally posted by Mandex001
HeH your welcome darling... oh you still coming around later? I'll cook ya favorite

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Your cooking yourself :eek: :eek:










Mmmmmmm battered Mandy
naughty.gif
;) :D
 
Originally posted by Iron Crow
I cannot understand why everyone uses XP, 2000 or win 98, get a nice cheap copy of NT4 work station (10 quid from a large auction site) will fit on a 250 mb hard drive, no need to install 4 in 1 drivers or any other crap and is rock solid.
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Well judging by the fact that no one has put a price for an operating system (Other than yourself) I would say that it's because they all use linux. :p

Thats right..... isn't it peeps ?

One question though, why would you need 98lite on a system that has no budget for an operating system ? :D

Nice to see soooooo many Linux converts
 
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