(no subject)
I finally got around to pulling the trigger on a new desktop system for kernel development.
The goal is to run some VMs using kvm under libvirt and test out current filesystem technology (btrfs), and to have a fast machine to build kernels, explore the state of GPGPU systems, and whatever else catches my fancy.
Secondary goals are to get the maximum throughput per watt and per dollar while aiming high on the performance curve, with minimum noise and idle power consumption. Back of the envelope I estimate this should draw around 60W at idle and maybe as high as 250W at max (depending in large part on how well the Radeon KMS code does at power management).
I vacillated for a long time on LGA 1156 versus LGA 1366. The former has a smaller max TDP (so generally more efficient) but fewer memory channels (2x DDR3 versus 3x) and PCIe lanes. The cost difference ended up being only about $100 for mostly-equivalent CPUs, so I went for the larger system at about 10% more cost.
I'm disappointed that AMD doesn't really have a competitive product in the "as many FLOPS as possible for 100 Watts of TDP" category. Core i7 is a fantastic CPU, with some really interesting features (AES-NI, Turbo Boost, nice cache architectures and finally an onchip memory controller, and hyperthreading).
Rosewill FB-01 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $20 1 $20
SILVERSTONE ST50F 500W ATX12V $70 1 $70
Intel X25-V 40GB SSD $110 1 $110
Seagate Barracuda ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM $80 2 $160
PowerColor AX5670 1GBD5-NS3H Radeon HD 5670 1GB $120 1 $120
Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 130W $290 1 $290
MSI X58 Pro-E $140 1 $140
2GB PC3-14400 (1800 MHz) $50 6 $300
-----------
$1220
with misc shipping, tax, etc
$1335.48
The goal is to run some VMs using kvm under libvirt and test out current filesystem technology (btrfs), and to have a fast machine to build kernels, explore the state of GPGPU systems, and whatever else catches my fancy.
Secondary goals are to get the maximum throughput per watt and per dollar while aiming high on the performance curve, with minimum noise and idle power consumption. Back of the envelope I estimate this should draw around 60W at idle and maybe as high as 250W at max (depending in large part on how well the Radeon KMS code does at power management).
I vacillated for a long time on LGA 1156 versus LGA 1366. The former has a smaller max TDP (so generally more efficient) but fewer memory channels (2x DDR3 versus 3x) and PCIe lanes. The cost difference ended up being only about $100 for mostly-equivalent CPUs, so I went for the larger system at about 10% more cost.
I'm disappointed that AMD doesn't really have a competitive product in the "as many FLOPS as possible for 100 Watts of TDP" category. Core i7 is a fantastic CPU, with some really interesting features (AES-NI, Turbo Boost, nice cache architectures and finally an onchip memory controller, and hyperthreading).
Rosewill FB-01 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $20 1 $20
SILVERSTONE ST50F 500W ATX12V $70 1 $70
Intel X25-V 40GB SSD $110 1 $110
Seagate Barracuda ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM $80 2 $160
PowerColor AX5670 1GBD5-NS3H Radeon HD 5670 1GB $120 1 $120
Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 130W $290 1 $290
MSI X58 Pro-E $140 1 $140
2GB PC3-14400 (1800 MHz) $50 6 $300
-----------
$1220
with misc shipping, tax, etc
$1335.48