Infrastructure Questions

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zandor

Supreme [H]ardness
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Dec 14, 2002
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I picked up a couple of 16 core, quad socket F machines from work recently. One's a Barcelona machine with 2.3GHz 8356s and the other has 2.4GHz Shanghai 8378s in it. Both have 32GB ram. I don't have much use for them at the moment but how could I resist a couple of quads? So I think I'll do some folding.

I've got a couple questions about setting up for folding.

First, the electrical system in my place is a bit inconvenient. I only have one 110V circuit where I want to put these machines. Thankfully it's a 20A circuit, but that won't leave much room for more stuff. However, I've got an extra 240V dryer outlet connected to a 40A breaker. It looks like it has a NEMA 10-50 socket. Any suggestions on how to use this ~4.8kW socket to run some computers?

Second, I haven't bought disks for these old beasts beasts yet. Any need for them? I have them network booting Linux with an NFS root.
 
First, run only 2 sticks of RAM per CPU. It will use less power, run faster, and cool better.

Second, look on Ebay for 8389 CPU's or 8435's. You might have to get a BIOS chip from Ebay or reflash to the latest BIOS. These have a faster HT clock, they rock.

With 8356's you won't run BigAdv. At least I can't. You need a minimum of 2.9ghz which is marginal.

With the 8435's it will rip. Seriously.

There is a problem with EXT4 filesystem if you DON'T run a SSD. SSD's are now cheap, cool, and don't block air. Put 1 in there and call it a day. Or do the "patch" or go for EXT3. In the long run, you want SDD.

A quad 8300/8400 will pull 600w when folding. What voltage you run is your choice. That's only 5 amps at 120v. Typical house circuit is 15, but will hold 20.

I'm running 4 of these on a 20 amp 120v circuit. No problems.

Note, do not run in an air conditioned room. This increases your power by about 1.4x. Your A/C must get rid of those watts. 600w of heat take about 1500? watts to run in an A/C room.

I moved my stuff out into the warehouse to reduce power use.
 
Note:

You life will be simplier if you have a portable USB DVD drive. These machine will boot from them.

Also the new egg Rosewill KVM (keyboard video monitor) for 4 machines is cheap and easy, However, you might need a PS2 keyboard on some machines when you have issues.

If you think a machine is frozen, try the PS2 keyboard.

This is info from the Supermicro H8QME2 and QME3 and Tyan S4985 boards.
 
About 240v house power in the US:

It's a pair of Hot 120v lines. No neutral. That should work fine a single phase AC powersupply that wants up to 240v (labelled). HOWEVER, on 240v circuits there are sometimes high capacitive thumps if it's a motor, which will reduce the PSU life if you don't have an isolator. A dryer? I don't think it has a big drop when the motor kicks on, so you should be fine. If you are using for a compressor or a welder, I'd find another circuit.
 
Thanks for the info. Just in case you're curious, the machines are SuperMicro 4U systems with H8QME2 boards in them.

I think I'll probably just use 120V for now, and keep an eye out for a good deal on a UPS that runs on 240V.

I'll probably skip the USB DVD drive and KVM. At work we network booted these machines & used IPMI consoles, so I think I'll just keep doing that. It'll be a little more work, but it'll be more fun/educational plus I can do that work upstairs on my couch or in a nice chair in front of the gaming rig in my "office".
 
I've gotten a H8QME2 down to under 23:00 TPF on P8101 BigAdv in a 1U case so far.
 
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