{...}
Most importantly I would like an OS that is actually simple to use. I really wish a Linux Distro could just have the same type of "ease of installation" that Windows uses. You know what I am talking about; I can download any file, then double click said file, follow the on-screen instructions, and then I can start using the program.
{...}

There are at least three Linux distros that meet your requirements: Linspire, Ubuntu, and gOS.

Using the synaptic package manager in gOS, I had BOINC installed, and Rosetta attached and running on my little linux box in less time than it has taken to make this post.

Ditto ... It would be difficult to make installing Ubuntu + Boinc any simpler. Ubuntu IS Windows ... um, except for that part about being Linux.

Ookay

As part of the annual burn-in of the kit used for my VPS company, I am running a few weeks of extreme crunching to test and proof the hardware and extrapolate some PUE numbers for the Data Centre.

I currently have 20 x 32 core VMs running server 2k8.
I am happy to move to any other OS that will keep the CPU's pegged at near 100%, I just like having the best stats doing it :)

So the question is:
Linux (Will be gentoo for optimization)
Windows (2000 - 8 / 2012)
*BSD
Solaris
Embedded version of any of the above.

Which one will give best stats?
If no-one knows, I can always deploy one of each, and we can do a comparison for interests sake?

BR
Sproggit

I currently have 20 x 32 core VMs running server 2k8.

Running BOINC in VM is for sure slower than running it on the real machine.

If no-one knows, I can always deploy one of each, and we can do a comparison for interests sake?

That's probably the best way to figure that out, since nobody can tell you what works best on your particular hardware. What's fastest for others does not need to be fastest for you.

One thing you can do is increase the runtime of the WUs, that way the machines will spend more time on doing science and less on unpacking the rosetta database and other zip files -> more science done, more credits for you.

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.

Running BOINC in VM is for sure slower than running it on the real machine

Fair enough, but I do still have paying customers who's SLA I have to honour, even during preventive maintenance... :)

That's probably the best way to figure that out, since nobody can tell you what works best on your particular hardware. What's fastest for others does not need to be fastest for you.

Makes sense. I guess that different OS's would also perform differently depending on hardware drivers etc....
At least we will be able to state that on VMWare, running on M915 blades, such and such an OS performs better than the next one...

One thing you can do is increase the runtime of the WUs, that way the machines will spend more time on doing science and less on unpacking the rosetta database and other zip files -> more science done, more credits for you.

Not sure what you mean, will you elucidate?

Thanks
Sproggit

One thing you can do is increase the runtime of the WUs, that way the machines will spend more time on doing science and less on unpacking the rosetta database and other zip files -> more science done, more credits for you.

Not sure what you mean, will you elucidate?

Go to your Rosetta@Home Preferences and set "Target CPU run time" to something like 12-24 hours, whatever you like, the default is 3. I'm using for example 18 hours there, which is 6 times longer than the default -> 6 times less time spent on preparing the WUs to run (not always of course, some WUs reach the maximum of allowed decoys before that and stop there).

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.

Hello Guys,

I'm new to R@H, with a negligible credit yet. I'm also have a negligible budget for new hardware, so I decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a dedicated chuncher for R@H. What I need to know:

What's the best hardware money can buy to run R@H without a NASA-like cooling system, as I will keep it air-cooled?

I can use any operational system, but Linux is prefered because will not add extra costs due to licensing.

I'm not interested on gaming, general purpose use, etc, just on number crunchig. I hope it will be 99% uptime just serving R@H. Okay, eventually my boy will ask me if he can use the Paintbrush to draw some robots, but I guess it will not harm the system overall performance!

Thanks,
guga from Brazil.

Hello Guys,

I'm new to R@H, with a negligible credit yet. I'm also have a negligible budget for new hardware, so I decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a dedicated chuncher for R@H. What I need to know:

What's the best hardware money can buy to run R@H without a NASA-like cooling system, as I will keep it air-cooled?

I can use any operational system, but Linux is prefered because will not add extra costs due to licensing.

I'm not interested on gaming, general purpose use, etc, just on number crunchig. I hope it will be 99% uptime just serving R@H. Okay, eventually my boy will ask me if he can use the Paintbrush to draw some robots, but I guess it will not harm the system overall performance!

Thanks,
guga from Brazil.

I realize you are not in the US but we can buy an AMD 6 core cpu, motherboard and 16gb of memory for around $250.00, if we don't go high end on any of the parts. You can also buy a case for around 30 bucks, 20 after rebate. If you need a power supply DON'T go cheap, get one around 500 or so watts to allow for future expansion. Getting a 650 watt one will even let you use the gpu to crunch later on if you choose. As for harddrives, you can get a 320gb one for around 50 or 60 bucks, a dvd burner for under 40 bucks. Alot of the newer motherboards don't come with a gpu built in so you might need a cheap, for now, gpu too. Look for a mother board with a pci-e slot on it for future expansion into gpu crunching. NONE of these parts are cutting edge so shop around and look for deals! If you are new to Linux Ubuntu is easy, but if you already know Linux use the one that is free and you know best.

Hello Guys,

I'm new to R@H, with a negligible credit yet. I'm also have a negligible budget for new hardware, so I decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a dedicated chuncher for R@H. What I need to know:

What's the best hardware money can buy to run R@H without a NASA-like cooling system, as I will keep it air-cooled?

I can use any operational system, but Linux is prefered because will not add extra costs due to licensing.

I'm not interested on gaming, general purpose use, etc, just on number crunchig. I hope it will be 99% uptime just serving R@H. Okay, eventually my boy will ask me if he can use the Paintbrush to draw some robots, but I guess it will not harm the system overall performance!

Thanks,
guga from Brazil.

I found that the latest i3s run REALLY well.

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I found that the latest i3s run REALLY well.

I found that my first generation (arrandale) i3 gets more granted credit if I run 3 tasks rather than 4 - presumably because there's more L2 cache available per task, and the loss is only for a hyperthreaded core, leaving more resources for the remaining core. The newer i3's might be more efficient with their cores though...

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I found that the latest i3s run REALLY well.

I found that my first generation (arrandale) i3 gets more granted credit if I run 3 tasks rather than 4 - presumably because there's more L2 cache available per task, and the loss is only for a hyperthreaded core, leaving more resources for the remaining core. The newer i3's might be more efficient with their cores though...

The newer i3's are quad core processors rather then dual core with hyper-threading, which should yield much better results. In general on multi-threaded/core systems, I've found that best results come from not running 100%, leaving one core/thread to handle OS tasks. For multi-threaded (HT and AMD-FX) the shared L2 does make a huge difference in performance for some projects (I know that it does for Primegrid).

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"Apollo was astonished, Dionysus thought me mad. But they heard my story further and they wondered and were sad."

The newer i3's are quad core processors rather then dual core with hyper-threading, which should yield much better results.

I don't believe that's true - they're all 2 cores and 4 threads as far as I'm aware(?)

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The newer i3's are quad core processors rather then dual core with hyper-threading, which should yield much better results.

I don't believe that's true - they're all 2 cores and 4 threads as far as I'm aware(?)

Yes. They are dual cores with HT.

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I'm getting disappointing performance from LinuxMint on an Intel i5 540M CPU (2.53GHz). It produces around 10-15 points less over the same time-span than my old T8300 (Overclckced to 2.9 GHz) (I know it produces twice the amount of WUs because of HT, but still).

I might install Win7 along side and dual boot into it when I get the time and see how well Rosetta runs under Windows and post my results.

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The newer i3's are quad core processors rather then dual core with hyper-threading, which should yield much better results.

I don't believe that's true - they're all 2 cores and 4 threads as far as I'm aware(?)

Yes. They are dual cores with HT.

Color me wrong. I could have swore I read otherwise, but checking it now shows you're right.

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"Apollo was astonished, Dionysus thought me mad. But they heard my story further and they wondered and were sad."

The newer i3's are quad core processors rather then dual core with hyper-threading, which should yield much better results.

I don't believe that's true - they're all 2 cores and 4 threads as far as I'm aware(?)

Yes. They are dual cores with HT.

Color me wrong. I could have swore I read otherwise, but checking it now shows you're right.

It's okay you have to be VERY careful with buying an Intel cpu as they have muddied the waters ALOT by making both HT and non HT cpu's with VERY similar numbers!! You can buy a dual or quad core i5 and i7, some of which have HT and some do not!!

I know I am in the minority here, but I have one PC with an AMD 1090T six core processor and two PCs based on AMD A10-5800K processors. I have just bought an AMD FX 8350 eight core processor on sale and will build another PC based on this. Just waiting for my choice of ASUS MOBO to go on sale and then I will sell both A10 machines to consolidate processing in the 6 and 8 core machines. As I have a total of four ATI GPUs and two NVIDIA GPUs, I am looking forward to the eventual GPU processing on Rosetta as mentioned in the Rosetta@homeScience thread.

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I know I am in the minority here, but I have one PC with an AMD 1090T six core processor and two PCs based on AMD A10-5800K processors. I have just bought an AMD FX 8350 eight core processor on sale and will build another PC based on this. Just waiting for my choice of ASUS MOBO to go on sale and then I will sell both A10 machines to consolidate processing in the 6 and 8 core machines. As I have a total of four ATI GPUs and two NVIDIA GPUs, I am looking forward to the eventual GPU processing on Rosetta as mentioned in the Rosetta@homeScience thread.

Oh I think you might be surprised, LOTS of us have AMD cpu's in our machines, and only do new builds with them. As far as Asus mb's on sale what is the minimum you want, I saw an Asus AM3+ dual pci-e board last week for around 70 bucks. One that I bought for 100 bucks at the local mom and pop pc store 2 weeks previously! Here is the link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131872

You have to walk across the border to get it though, I think you guys charge VAT which can push the prices way up! I also shop at Microcenter for my parts, they are close to me. In fact I have to go there this week to return under warrant an Asrock board and AMD 8120 cpu because the mb popped a capacitor and took the cpu with it! They actually have an Asus AM3+ mb on sale right now:
http://microcenter.com/product/379475/M5A78L-M_LX_PLUS_Socket_AM3_760G_mATX_AMD_Motherboard