N5095 vs i5 for folding

[SandyG]

I have been running a bunch of J4105 Brix's, and now starting to add N5095, with a few older i5 bricks as well. Looking to see what might be better from a processing perspective.

Question is will one i5 10th Gen i5-1035G4 Up to 3.7GHz with hyperthreading (FH uses 7 cores or hyperthreading cores) vs 2 boxes of Celeron 11th Gen 4-core Processors N5095 Up to 2.9GHz (FH uses 3 cores no hyperthreading).

Cost for 2x of the N5095 is about the same as the single i5.

Power cost might be a bit better on the i5 since only one SSD and 2x memory for it, vs. double for the individual Celerons.

Thoughts here?

Sandy

[BobWilliams757]

It all gets complicated rather quickly no matter which way you look at it.

If you already have a pile of existing hardware that can be put to use all you really need to look at is cost of running it versus contribution in terms of work units or points. But once you have to come out of pocket for anything it makes more sense to move towards the more efficient long-term solution in my opinion. Of course that still has to be weighed in with the out-of-pocket expense you want to deal with now.

I think there is a lot of value to using existing hardware until it becomes obsolete. But on the flip side I can understand people upgrading and spending out of pocket to contribute with more efficient newer stuff as well.

No matter which path people go down it's a contribution, and many people aren't making any effort towards any contribution. So you win either way as long as you are folding.

[SandyG]

Thanks, really don't care too much about the power, but more so value in processing time. Looking to maximize that, but might just start thinking about the i5's as they do run at a higher clock, and might have more value in that respect. Still not sure how Cores vs. Hyperthreading works with FH, might just have to check the time to process a work unit on the Celeron and on the i5 and see how it really works out.

Sandy

[BobWilliams757]

Though not a straight line, F@H for the most part sees each thread as a core. So everything else being equal, the CPU with hyperthreading will process more work. As with GPU work there is variance, and I think atom counts vs available cores is still relevant. Cooling, clocks, voltages, etc all matter for max points and stability as well.

As an example of the latter, on my current Ryzen 2500G system (4c/8t) disabling the core boost feature lowers temps and more importantly in my case, brings stability to the fans. We use this system daily for other stuff, and a small hit in overall output means more system use since it runs much more quietly. With some tweaking it might be possible to find the best of both worlds with a fixed fan speed and CPU frequency/power level.

[SandyG]

Oddly no issues with stability or fans. The small Brix like computers seem to do OK with the heat, been running about 3yrs and no fails in 21 boxes. What's crazy is the last heat wave the system ran in 100F+ heat and no fails.

Ordered an i5 Beelink as Amazon has a coupon and flash sale so picked up one for a good price. Will add to the cluster and see how it does.

Sandy

[BobWilliams757]

A lot of those types of systems seem really solid for durability and such. Which is not a huge surprise, since it's a design factor. I have to wonder how a lot of the custom folding rigs would react to running in a 100 degree environment for long.

[SandyG]

Yeah very surprised nothing went down as well, just added the i5 into the mix and running it tonight to see how it does. The 2 power supplies had to kick on their fans for the last few months, but they have plenty of reserve there as they are 2x 40amp at 12v units, but when the room stated warming up I was surprise when the fans kicked on.

I have to find out how to see via the command line some how what the number of points the J4105, N5095 (both 4 core Celerons) and the i5 I just added are cranking per day. I can see it on the web interface but not sure how to get that via the command line as I have to ssh into the boxes as they are linux, also have no monitors attached...

More heat, more fun

Sandy

[BobWilliams757]

I'm expecting to see the i5 do better than the others due to thread count.

And with that many of those smaller systems running, it's no wonder the power supply fans kick on in 100 degree heat.

As for the headless systems and monitoring, I'm of little to no help there, but I hope to have to figure it out in the next few months.

[SandyG]

Seems like from looking at the logs by SSH into the brix's in the log file their is an estimated points. The old J4105 celeron is the slowest and oldest. The newer N5095 seem like about 10% more points then the J4105, and the i5 is about double that. Numbers are all over the ranges but that's what it looks like. Note the Celerons run 3 cores and i5 runs 7 cores.

Cost is 2x for the i5 10th gen so no extra cost really, more dense hardware, not sure about power consumption but as long as the 2 power supplies are happy all good.

[Joe_H]

If you have another system on the network with a monitor, you can install the client on it and use FAHControl remotely to monitor your headless systems. If you don't want to run folding on it, you can install just FAHControl. There are some guides on how to configure the systems so they can connect to a remote FAHControl.

[SandyG]

Ran into a snag with the new i5 when inserting into the cluster, won't run under 15 volts, others all run at 12v, and my large switchers will not run past 13.8. So now have to update the power supply... back to ebay The i5 are a better way to go if the pricing stays, but will have to see if Amazon still has the good deals on them. I think I will be phasing out the celerons as they will be less useful if I have to ever dismantle the cluster of brixs...

[BobWilliams757]

Well that's a bummer, but at least it seems like the move to the i5's is worth it since you're seeking a new power supply. As with all things computer related, it's really easy until it isn't.