$11k Build

[RogerDeath]

Alright, so I mentioned in the other topic that the University of New Mexico Computer Science department is building a new computer, and I just got word that I can share the info (plus we want to make 100% sure that everything should work right).

 

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlXRK3MQJR27dHF3TDF1RTNJa0Q4dl9MUHpRcmNJVnc&authkey=CNOukLgO&hl=en#gid=0

 

Take a look and let me (and the rest of us at CS by relation) know what you guys think!

 

(P.S. When we get it in and can test it out, I'll see about them letting me put W7 on real quick to give it a good ol' Vantage run)

[Waco]

Why the GTX480 and not a Fermi Quadro?

[ebarone]

Will you be RAID0-ing the SSD's? I'm guessing not, so I have a couple suggestions for you in that department.

 

If your system will be doing primarily sequential reads and writes, go with an OCZ Z-Drive m84

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227499&cm_re=z-drive-_-20-227-499-_-Product

 

If it will need more random read/writes, go with the OCZ RevoDrive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227600&cm_re=revodrive-_-20-227-600-_-Product

 

I've used the Z-drive and can tell you its BLAZINGLY fast for sequential, the numbers on NewEgg are not exaggerated.

 

Also, why not two H70's instead of the D12's? Get a couple aftermarket fans and it will rival the NH-D14 performance.

[RogerDeath]

Why the GTX480 and not a Fermi Quadro?

I'm not 100% sure why because I'm not the one that built this, but I would assume that the 480s were picked because the build's purpose is managing a planetarium-style dome that would be projecting various programs that were designed for it. They needed graphic rendering power over workstation power.

 

Will you be RAID0-ing the SSD's? I'm guessing not, so I have a couple suggestions for you in that department.

 

If your system will be doing primarily sequential reads and writes, go with an OCZ Z-Drive m84

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227499&cm_re=z-drive-_-20-227-499-_-Product

 

If it will need more random read/writes, go with the OCZ RevoDrive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227600&cm_re=revodrive-_-20-227-600-_-Product

 

I've used the Z-drive and can tell you its BLAZINGLY fast for sequential, the numbers on NewEgg are not exaggerated.

 

Also, why not two H70's instead of the D12's? Get a couple aftermarket fans and it will rival the NH-D14 performance.

First off, its just one SSD with 512GB, not more then one smaller drive. Secondly, none of us have any experience with watercooling and thus are shying away from it (hence why we are changing the GPUs over to non-watercooled ones) and I would assume that two might not fit that closely together with the mobo configuration.

[jlqrb]

I would have gone with a with one of these SSD's http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227600

[endorphiend]

Everything looks great to me, although given your application and trio of 480's I would invest more in cooling. I'm going to make the assumption since you're doing a planetarium/dome setup, that the actual machine will be separated from the viewing area and noise from the machine will be a non-issue? It also sounds like your application will be pushing the trio of 480's to their limits, and will be generating an enormous amount of heat.

 

If both these assumption are correct, I suggest replacing the stock case fans with some 100+ CFM fans such as thisor this. The machine might sound like a vacuum cleaner, but if it's in the next room it won't hugely matter.

Edited September 11, 2010 by endorphiend

[El_Capitan]

I recommend you don't put all your eggs in one basket. With 11k, you can build multiple inexpensive servers and connect them together in a clustered environment, using one as a master controller and a back-up as needed.

 

http://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2010/Volume-33-Issue-7-July-2010-/Scientific-Visualization.aspx

[ebarone]

I'm not 100% sure why because I'm not the one that built this, but I would assume that the 480s were picked because the build's purpose is managing a planetarium-style dome that would be projecting various programs that were designed for it. They needed graphic rendering power over workstation power.

 

 

First off, its just one SSD with 512GB, not more then one smaller drive. Secondly, none of us have any experience with watercooling and thus are shying away from it (hence why we are changing the GPUs over to non-watercooled ones) and I would assume that two might not fit that closely together with the mobo configuration.

Sorry, I thought it said two 512GB drives. However, the recommendation still stands... for $1300, you can get much better performance from the SSD's I listed. For sequential writes and reads, theres only one drive I know of thats faster than the Z-Drive, but its not bootable. However both the Z-Drive and the RevoDrive are bootable. AFAIK, without going for RAID 0 setups, those two drives are the fastest bootable drives that exist (because they actually are self-contained RAID 0's but have a MTBF of a single drive). Plus you wont have to deal with wires, the Z-Drive takes a single molex power cable and I dont think the RevoDrive takes any power cables at all.

 

As far as the watercooling goes, since the H70's are entirely self-contained, its exactly like setting up an air-cooled system, except there are two hoses. As long as the case you're using has two 120mm fan outlets, you're golden, and if it doesnt, find another case... water or air, doesnt matter, if you dont have ventilation the cooling wont be very good. However, I understand you might not want water getting anywhere near this thing, so the currently selected coolers are very nice. I've used them before myself

[TheHippi]

I recommend you don't put all your eggs in one basket. With 11k, you can build multiple inexpensive servers and connect them together in a clustered environment, using one as a master controller and a back-up as needed.

 

http://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2010/Volume-33-Issue-7-July-2010-/Scientific-Visualization.aspx

Doing that would make it a lot more complicated to run though. Plus the software that they use might not support it, and they would have to spend all the money they saved to get it to support it.

[El_Capitan]

Doing that would make it a lot more complicated to run though. Plus the software that they use might not support it, and they would have to spend all the money they saved to get it to support it.

It's really not that difficult. University students are supposed to learn, aren't they?

 

If they're a University, I'm sure they have funding for software, as the 11k seems only dedicated to hardware.

[spectrascope]

Restating as said earlier is there reason for using 480's instead of the Quadro based equivalent FX5800? which should work better for rendering, also are you sure Linux will have driver support that new of hardware?

Edited September 11, 2010 by spectrascope

[Waco]

Doing that would make it a lot more complicated to run though. Plus the software that they use might not support it, and they would have to spend all the money they saved to get it to support it.

If I can put together a 128 CPU cluster on my own then you can certainly get enough people at a university to get a rendering farm up and running. Students are cheap labor...I know because I AM the cheap labor.