09-11-2012, 05:25 AM
Dearest atom,
I am writing to ask you about your own personal rig. More importantly, I would like some suggestions on some racks that are appropriate for the cracking department. For instance, enough PCI slots as well as room for the cards that go in them. Power is another concern, of course.
I've been looking at a four socket Tyan board that I would install Magny-Cours chips in. I'm not crazy about the latest architecture from AMD. I am a RISC man but when I am forced into x86-64 (AMD64) I generally prefer to go with AMD - although I confess the vast majority of my x86 systems are indeed Intel for various reasons.
So, a four socket Tyan board with a few PCI slots are where I am at, however I would like to be able to scale up to eight graphics cards as needed so that is looking like a dead end. I remember something about a small company that offers like 4U racks with room for eight graphics cards for the design industry. Is that really our only option? I'd prefer to avoid a tower setup as that really doesn't suit my needs.
Lastly, do slower PCI slots cause any bottlenecks? What is the lowest one can go before hitting a bottleneck with the 7970s? Would something like the 7990s require x16 given the dual cards on one channel? I'm shamefully unfamiliar with these type things. It really isn't my department.
Also, I still haven't been able to find any information regarding the usefulness of FirePro cards in cracking. Do they offer anything at all of benefit? Do they not of certain features built in to accommodate processing rigs with multiple cards?
Really looking forward to when you integrate system pooling. Be looking for a donation from my direction.
Sincerest thanks,
Host
I am writing to ask you about your own personal rig. More importantly, I would like some suggestions on some racks that are appropriate for the cracking department. For instance, enough PCI slots as well as room for the cards that go in them. Power is another concern, of course.
I've been looking at a four socket Tyan board that I would install Magny-Cours chips in. I'm not crazy about the latest architecture from AMD. I am a RISC man but when I am forced into x86-64 (AMD64) I generally prefer to go with AMD - although I confess the vast majority of my x86 systems are indeed Intel for various reasons.
So, a four socket Tyan board with a few PCI slots are where I am at, however I would like to be able to scale up to eight graphics cards as needed so that is looking like a dead end. I remember something about a small company that offers like 4U racks with room for eight graphics cards for the design industry. Is that really our only option? I'd prefer to avoid a tower setup as that really doesn't suit my needs.
Lastly, do slower PCI slots cause any bottlenecks? What is the lowest one can go before hitting a bottleneck with the 7970s? Would something like the 7990s require x16 given the dual cards on one channel? I'm shamefully unfamiliar with these type things. It really isn't my department.
Also, I still haven't been able to find any information regarding the usefulness of FirePro cards in cracking. Do they offer anything at all of benefit? Do they not of certain features built in to accommodate processing rigs with multiple cards?
Really looking forward to when you integrate system pooling. Be looking for a donation from my direction.
Sincerest thanks,
Host