Farm status
Everything is off. Has been for the last few weeks due to building repairs and painting. They should be finished today so I will look at restarting the farm once the weather cools down tonight. Its currently 34 degrees C.
Ampere Mt. Snow
I got a quote for a Ampere Computing Mt Snow. They're not cheap, but then I didn't expect it to be. I asked for the Q80-30 CPU (80 ARM v8 cores running at 3.0GHz). Its slightly slower than their top of the line model (3.3GHz) but uses less power.
I have to get the quote updated as its only got 128GB of memory which I don't think will be enough for 80 cores, I will bump it up to 256GB. I also need to clarify what networking it has built in, hopefully 10GbE otherwise I will have to add a network card.
Other news
I'm looking to off load the Intel GPU machines from the farm. Hopefully I can get some money for them and maybe I will add another Ryzen 5900X into the mix to make up for the lost CPU cores, although most computing projects are using GPUs these days.
26 January 2021
07 January 2021
January 2021
Farm status
CPU only
Doing Rosetta overnight
Intel GPUs
Off
Nvidia GPUs
Three running Einstein, Milkyway and Rosetta overnight
Raspberry Pis
Running Einstein and Rosetta
For news on the Raspberry Pis see Marks Rpi Cluster
Other news
I had to downgrade another of the Nvidia GPU machines to kernel 4.19 so I could use its GPU. The "GPL Condom" changes in the 5.9 kernel are causing me grief. I have one Nvidia GPU machine still running the 5.9 kernel which can no longer use the GPU for compute. There is a 455 driver from Nvidia which might work but its in the experimental stage in Debian.
I finally received the 2nd Ryzen 5900X CPU today so I'll be swapping out the second 3900X for a 5900X today.
GPU upgrades
I mentioned in my 19th of December 2020 post that I had plans to upgrade the graphics cards. I bought 4 x Seasonic 850w power supplies as the current machines only have 550w power supplies.
I haven't decided what Nvidia graphics card to get. I am leaning towards the RTX 3060 Ti although there are rumours of an RTX 3060 Ultra. I am waiting on the official announcement so I can compare them.
CPU only
Doing Rosetta overnight
Intel GPUs
Off
Nvidia GPUs
Three running Einstein, Milkyway and Rosetta overnight
Raspberry Pis
Running Einstein and Rosetta
For news on the Raspberry Pis see Marks Rpi Cluster
Other news
I had to downgrade another of the Nvidia GPU machines to kernel 4.19 so I could use its GPU. The "GPL Condom" changes in the 5.9 kernel are causing me grief. I have one Nvidia GPU machine still running the 5.9 kernel which can no longer use the GPU for compute. There is a 455 driver from Nvidia which might work but its in the experimental stage in Debian.
I finally received the 2nd Ryzen 5900X CPU today so I'll be swapping out the second 3900X for a 5900X today.
GPU upgrades
I mentioned in my 19th of December 2020 post that I had plans to upgrade the graphics cards. I bought 4 x Seasonic 850w power supplies as the current machines only have 550w power supplies.
I haven't decided what Nvidia graphics card to get. I am leaning towards the RTX 3060 Ti although there are rumours of an RTX 3060 Ultra. I am waiting on the official announcement so I can compare them.
28 December 2020
28th of December
Farm status
CPU only
Running Einstein work
Intel GPUs
Off
Nvidia GPUs
Off
Raspberry Pis
Running Einstein work
Farm news
Another hot week so not much crunching done.
Rosetta has some issue where it doesn't have any work to send despite the server status page saying there are 11 million work units ready. In the mean time everything that is running is doing Einstein work.
CPU only
Running Einstein work
Intel GPUs
Off
Nvidia GPUs
Off
Raspberry Pis
Running Einstein work
Farm news
Another hot week so not much crunching done.
Rosetta has some issue where it doesn't have any work to send despite the server status page saying there are 11 million work units ready. In the mean time everything that is running is doing Einstein work.
19 December 2020
19th of December
Farm status
CPU only
Running Rosetta
Intel GPUs
Four running Rosetta
Nvidia GPUs
Off
Raspberry Pis
Six running Einstein. Three running Einstein and Rosetta (50/50 split).
Other news
Its been a hot and humid week so everything except the Pis have been off. Today is a somewhat cooler 24 degrees C with drizzle on and off (ie 100% humidity). I've fired up a few of the Intel GPU machines and have them doing Rosetta.
I am still waiting for the 2nd Ryzen 5900X to be shipped. The supplier status is "We are expecting a small shipment this week. Once we have confirmed numbers, we will update with an expected new queue position. Queue is just shy of 50% filled since launch". I ordered the second 5900X on the 6th of November so its been six weeks so far. Maybe Santa will bring a new CPU for christmas.
Next year plans
I was thinking of rationalizing the farm a bit and bringing it up to 4 x Ryzen 5900X machines and get rid of the Intel GPU machines completely (6 x i7-8700). That reduces the physical machines while not losing too many CPU cores.
Another area that I would like to look at is an AMD GPU machine or two. Currently there are 4 x Ryzen 5600 with Nvidia GTX 1660Ti in the farm. I haven't used AMD GPUs before due to issues with their drivers under Linux.
Ampere Altra
They are now shipping. Some reviews have started to surface. Apparently the 80 core 3.3Ghz model is faster than an AMD Threadripper at compute performance. I made inquiries about getting one but never heard back from my server supplier. I will have to ask again.
CPU only
Running Rosetta
Intel GPUs
Four running Rosetta
Nvidia GPUs
Off
Raspberry Pis
Six running Einstein. Three running Einstein and Rosetta (50/50 split).
Other news
Its been a hot and humid week so everything except the Pis have been off. Today is a somewhat cooler 24 degrees C with drizzle on and off (ie 100% humidity). I've fired up a few of the Intel GPU machines and have them doing Rosetta.
I am still waiting for the 2nd Ryzen 5900X to be shipped. The supplier status is "We are expecting a small shipment this week. Once we have confirmed numbers, we will update with an expected new queue position. Queue is just shy of 50% filled since launch". I ordered the second 5900X on the 6th of November so its been six weeks so far. Maybe Santa will bring a new CPU for christmas.
Next year plans
I was thinking of rationalizing the farm a bit and bringing it up to 4 x Ryzen 5900X machines and get rid of the Intel GPU machines completely (6 x i7-8700). That reduces the physical machines while not losing too many CPU cores.
Another area that I would like to look at is an AMD GPU machine or two. Currently there are 4 x Ryzen 5600 with Nvidia GTX 1660Ti in the farm. I haven't used AMD GPUs before due to issues with their drivers under Linux.
Ampere Altra
They are now shipping. Some reviews have started to surface. Apparently the 80 core 3.3Ghz model is faster than an AMD Threadripper at compute performance. I made inquiries about getting one but never heard back from my server supplier. I will have to ask again.
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