Computer Geeks: What To Do With Hardware.... Hmmmm

Noobz347 · Feb 8, 2017

So I'm faced with an odd situation at work. Some of you know that I work for a company that designs and builds flight simulators. Recently, I pulled some digital magic and combined two rack mounted computer systems into one machine. Why? Because I needed the 27 Terabyte server in order to complete project backups. I have that now, it's up and running and will soon be fitted into a 5ish foot talk server cabinet left over from another project.

Now...

I have also come to discover that there are two 4U machines that have too many hours on them to be considered new. They're replaced in the project and now this is what I have (horrible problem to have):

Machine 1
ASUS full size AT Z97X gaming MB
32G RAM
GTX 980 4G
500G SATA3 SSD
3x 1G NIC

Machine 2
Gigabyte Gaming Z97X - Gaming 3 (hot swap MB)
32G RAM
GTX 980 4G
500G SATA 3 SSD
3x 1G NIC

Machine 3
ASUS full size AT Z97X gaming MB
32G RAM
EVGA 740 SC 4G with 4 display ports and 2 DVI
1T SATA 3 SSD
27T Spinning Raid1 WD Enterprise HD
3x 1G NIC

Machine 3 has server 2008 and is basically operating as a network drive.

Machine 1 and Machine 2... I need to find something cool to occupy their idle time... Something that's going to really tax those GTX 980s that is NOT and interactive game. Whatever it is, it has to be work safe.

Maybe some sort of simulation... I dunno yet.

Looking for ideas....

85ragtop · Feb 8, 2017

Well once again I am no help. Other than gaming and compiling I don't think a PC as any other use. All I do on mine are play games and build. You could help me build a ROM. That would be beneficial. Do you know your git commands?

Noobz347 · Feb 8, 2017

85ragtop said:
Well once again I am no help. Other than gaming and compiling I don't think a PC as any other use. All I do on mine are play games and build. You could help me build a ROM. That would be beneficial. Do you know your git commands?

I keep a cheat sheet and batch files around for dealing with git.

I started looking into today, the SETI@home project and all the other sub-projects that they have going now. This might be a possibiity. It looks like it will make use of the memory, CPU, and GPU power for analyzing data packets. It shows a pretty nice visual with the appropriate plug-ins. Their software can be set to limit resources, use idle resources, or produce during certain hours.

I also discovered at the end of the day today, that I'll be adding a Dell r730 with 2x 16 core Xeon CPUs to the mix. Hmmmmm....

General karthief · Feb 8, 2017

Gawd, I'm such a morgeekon.
Gigataira bite me on my rear.

Just hearing you guys talk geek-speek gives me a pain in the mouse pad.

Noobz347 · Feb 8, 2017

Hey, what that flashing light?

RaggedGT · Feb 8, 2017

Make a hell of a tune file annaylizer/simulator

85ragtop · Feb 8, 2017

R730 is what I program with!

Noobz347 · Feb 8, 2017

85ragtop said:
R730 is what I program with!

How is yours setup hardware wise?

85ragtop · Feb 8, 2017

2 2650's, 64GB of ram, 2TB evo 850. I bought it from the county for three thousand. I bid on the stuff. Normally it is a mystery box. A lot of old Xeon CPUs. This though was amazing. I'll never be so lucky again.

Noobz347 · Feb 8, 2017

It's another sickness man. The form that I want my personal rack server to take is still a work in progress. I think I'm going to stick to 4U chassis though. No video card limits.

One of the things that I WANT to do/experiment with is a fully server integrated, GAMING, thin client for the living room, running Steam. Limiting factors will be bandwidth between the thin client and server and/or a 300 watt limit on the thin client (still a pretty good sized power brick). I do not know yet if it will be easier to do all the video processing at the server then xmit the display (seems like this would be laggy) or do all the processing at the server and transmit display data to the thin client containing a healthy 280ish watt GPU.

Either way, it's probably an inefficient way to game but that's not really the point. I just want to see if it can be done. I also want to see how many thin clients I can run off of such a system. A normal thin client isn't known for robust video performance.

85ragtop · Feb 8, 2017

Man my son games on a t7500 I built for him. He has a gtx 1070 and an x5670. Thirty two gigs of ram and he loves it. See all of those old workstations came in handy.

Noobz347 · Feb 8, 2017

The bottle-neck has got to be the dual core. That 1070 has to be bored. lol

85ragtop · Feb 8, 2017

Six core mate. It does well for him.

Noobz347 · Feb 8, 2017

Check this out:

PowerEdge R730 Rack Server

Starting Price $70,569.00
Instant Savings $24,126.41
Subtotal $46,442.59

PowerEdge R730:
PowerEdge R730 Server R73X 1 [210-ACXU][329-BCZK] 1
Trusted Platform Module (TPM):
No Trusted Platform Module NTPM 1 [461-AADZ] 1574
Chassis Configuration:
Chassis with up to 8, 2.5" Hard Drives, Software RAID 258SR 1 [350-BBEL] 1530
Shipping:
PowerEdge R730 Shipping DSHIP 1 [340-AKKB] 1500
Processor:
Intel® Xeon® E5-2643 v4 3.4GHz,20M Cache,9.60GT/s QPI,Turbo,HT,6C/12T (135W) Max Mem 2400MHz 26430 1 [338-BJCR] 1550
Additional Processor:
Intel® Xeon® E5-2643 v4 3.4GHz,20M Cache,9.60GT/s QPI,Turbo,HT,6C/12T (135W) Max Mem 2400MHz 26434 1 [338-BJCS] 1551
Processor Thermal Configuration:
2 CPU with GPU 2CPGPU 1 [370-ABWE][374-BBHN][374-BBHN] 1697
Memory DIMM Type and Speed:
2400MT/s RDIMMs 2400MT 1 [370-ACPH] 1561
Memory Configuration Type:
Performance Optimized PEOPT 1 [370-AAIP] 1562
Memory Capacity:
32GB RDIMM, 2400MT/s, Dual Rank, x4 Data Width 32GBMM 24 [370-ACNS] 1560
RAID Configuration:
RAID 0 for S130 (1-8 SATA HDDs or SATA SSDs) R0S130 1 [780-BBKF] 1540
RAID Controller:
S130, Software RAID (for Microsoft OS Only) SWRD 1 [405-AADV] 1541
Hard Drives:
3.84TB Solid State Drive SATA Read Intensive TLC 6Gbps 2.5in Hot-plug Drive, PM863 HDDML6 4 [400-AMEN] 1570
Network Daughter Card:
Broadcom 5720 QP 1Gb Network Daughter Card 5720QP 1 [540-BBBW] 1518
GPU:
R730 GPU Installation Kit GPUINS 1 [490-BCDP] 1517
GPU:
NVIDIA® Tesla™ P100 16GB Passive GPU NV100P 2 [489-BBCE] 1517

LOL

General karthief · Feb 8, 2017

Yea, what he said.

Noobz347 · Feb 8, 2017

It should become self-aware before the OS install completes.

Mustang5L5 · Feb 21, 2017

Noobz347 said:
It should become self-aware before the OS install completes.

That's why I'd just take it to the range and put some 7.62 through it. Let the other computers watch, so they can let the others know not to mess with humans

Noobz347 · Feb 21, 2017

Mustang5L5 said:
That's why I'd just take it to the range and put some 7.62 through it. Let the other computers watch, so they can let the others know not to mess with humans

We must have the same mom.

General karthief · Mar 14, 2017

Since this thread is full of computer geeks, I have a question, I've noticed at the shop I hang at that they have to send some vehicles to other shops to get things programmed for computer replacement and instrument clusters and certain emission stuff. I have a 6 or 7 year old lap top with windows 8, came it be configured to do this type of work?
Make sure your answers are in non-geek speak.

Noobz347 · Mar 14, 2017

Not easily, no.

You lack the hardware and interface necessary to communicate with each of these boxes. THAT is where the money is spent, not on the computer used.

Computer Geeks: What To Do With Hardware.... Hmmmm

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

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Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

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Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

BTW, I like dudes.

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

BTW, I like dudes.

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

BTW, I like dudes.

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

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Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

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