15th of August

Farm status
CPU Only
Running Einstein@home FGRP5 work

Nvidia GPUs
Off

Raspberry Pis
Running Einstein@home BRP4 work

For more information on the Raspberry Pis see Marks Rpi Cluster

Other news

I got a notification the memory kit I returned under warranty is back with the computer shop. I will have to go and pick it up. I am not sure if they replaced it or are returning it even though I wasn't working.

The electricity network company sent a letter saying they will be replacing power poles in my area in a fortnight and that power will be off for 9 hours. At the end of next week I will have to shut everything down and unplug everything from the power.

Looking at my current internet plan and there are some deals going where I can get a higher download speed but pay the same amount each month. I am on a 240/50 Mbit plan but can switch to a 500/50 Mbit plan. Unfortunately upload speed hasn't improved. I could switch to a symmetrical plan (where the upload and download speeds are the same) but they cost a lot more.

 

29th of August update

The day after I wrote the above and we had a power cut. We can always tell the power has been off because the clock on the cooker is flashing and the microwave clock is blank. The computer room was all quiet and a CyberPower UPS decided to kill itself. I have the UPS to serve the NBN modem and the ISP's router, so fairly minimal power use but they were off along with everything else in the loft. I have removed the UPS and powered up the networking and then the rest of the farm. This is the 2nd CyberPower unit that has killed itself. It seems they just run until the battery is totally flat. They use a lead-acid battery and once completely drained the battery is unusable.

The computer shop I purchase from got a replacement 96GB memory kit under warranty. I had to drive over to Silverwater to get it as they won't ship warranty items. I have installed it and it seems to work. I don't really want to spend the money on another 96GB kit to bring the third Ryzen 7900 up to the same specs as the others because memory is so expensive.

 

19th of July

Farm status
CPU Only
Two idle and one running a mix of Asteroids & Einstein work.

Nvidia GPUs
Off

Raspberry Pis
Running Einstein BRP4 work

For more information on the Raspberry Pis see Marks Rpi Cluster

Other news
When I upgraded to the Ryzen 7900 machines one of them kept its old id at Einstein and so inherited 850,000 credits. For the other two Ryzen 7900's I have been playing catch-up to get them up to the same number of credits. I've done that for the second machine, however the last one I built being more recent isn't there yet. Its up to 337k with over a hundred work units in pending status. Its been getting their Gamma-ray pulsar search #5 work. This is a good burn-in test for it.

I need to chase up the 96GB memory kit that I returned. The PC shop sent it back to the distributor a couple of weeks ago but I haven't heard anything further. The price for them is now 50% more than what I paid for it so I would really like a replacement rather than a store credit.

The other upgrade I am looking at currently is for the support node for the x86_64 machines. It a mATX based motherboard and doesn't need much in the way of memory and storage although will benefit from getting a couple of PCIe gen 4 slots.

 

5th of July

Farm status
CPU Only
Running Einstein work.

Nvidia GPUs
Running Einstein work.

Raspberry Pis
Most running Einstein with one doing Asteroids.

For more information on the Raspberry Pis see Marks Rpi Cluster

Other news
I ended up driving to Canberra to pickup a new Ryzen 7900 CPU as there were no new ones for sale in Sydney. I can get the Ryzen 7900X CPU but not the non-X version. There are plenty of second-hand ones but you never know if they'll work or for how long. I've now ordered another motherboard, SSD and cooler. This should join the CPU compute nodes.

The two GPU compute nodes had Linux installed, are back on the wire rack and running now. I have 4 of these at the moment.

Einstein@home implemented https traffic for their uploads and downloads so no more caching of files. Its also prevented a bunch of people still running Windows 7 from uploading. We're not sure if it because Win7 doesn't support TLS 1.3 or certificate issues.

 

 

27th of June

Farm status
CPU Only
Running Einstein and Milkyway work.

Nvidia GPUs
Off.

Raspberry Pis
Running Einstein@home.

For more information on the Raspberry Pis see Marks Rpi Cluster

Other news
The remaining GPU compute machines have had their hardware upgraded. I still need to install Linux and BOINC on them as well as getting them back into the wire rack that they came out of.

I found a computer shop selling new Ryzen 7900 (non-X) but they won't do delivery and I'd have to drive to Canberra to pick it up. They aren't open on weekends either. I might have to take a day off work and go for a long drive to pick it up. Canberra is around 290 Km away from Sydney.

I returned the faulty 96GB memory kit during the week. Awaiting the supplier to test it. I would prefer a replacement kit but they don't have stock. It cost 1500 AUD at the time so while they might give me a refund if I can't buy a replacement that doesn't help.

I have one support node for the x86_64 machines which I want to look at upgrading, however it turns out its case is designed for (and has) an mATX motherboard so I would need to get a different motherboard for it. It doesn't need much memory or disk space so should be easier to get parts.