Finding best hardware for a cryptography startup

[KIPU Controller]

Budget (including currency): 1200 Freedom Dollars each

Country: south America

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Development of cryptographical algorithms and simulations

Other details : Please read

 

Scenario

 

I want to procure two devices, for a cryptography algorithm startup in Latin America. Our buget is small. So 1200 USD per unit is a rough baseline.

 

I need: 

 

• Multiple cores
• 64 GB + memory.

 

Solution attempt

 

My first idea was a decomissioned server, a Dell PowerEdge R900 Server 4x Xeon Quad E7310 2.13GHz 64GB RAM. Each CPU has 4 cores, so 16 in total, and 4 GB per core. This would be good to simulate cryptographic exchanges between various agents, wherein each core (say 12 out of 16) runs an agent, and other 4 runs the host OS (linux). I also thought to add a Radeon RX 550 Low Profile Graphics Card , for simple 3D data visualization.

 

But the server is old from 2007 -ish, and the modern PCI-e 8x card may not work, also TDP is very high, and fans might screech. 

 

Need

 

Now, I am looking for recommendations and suggestions for a workstation, or may be even a Bill of Material that I can procure in South America, that supports

 

1. 16 Core or more CPU. I realize that a single CPU with many cores will offer better performance than multi socket layout. But I can also see the reliability of multi socket system, that if one fails, others will continue to work. So i am open to suggestions
2. A very simple video card with ~ 8GB or less ram, that can draw matplotlib and VTK visualizations, that one can smoothly interact with mouse.

 

Additional peripherals 

 

• USB 3.0 or if not possible, then USB 2.0
• DVI video out, or HDMI. Better if you can support 3 or 4 monitors.
• 1x 1000G ethernet is enough, more I will not mind
• 4 or more channels of Audio in and out would be great. This might mean that I need multiple PCI slots for respective cards

 

I am happy to purchase readymade or assemble in house.

 

Thank you. 

[manikyath]

30 minutes ago, KIPU Controller said:

16 Core or more CPU. I realize that a single CPU with many cores will offer better performance than multi socket layout. But I can also see the reliability of multi socket system, that if one fails, others will continue to work. So i am open to suggestions

all of this is irrelevant if you're looking at a platform so old a midtier modern desktop will outpace it.

 

i cant find the E7310 on passmark, i did find the E7320 which they have a low sample size of, so it might be an inaccurate figure.. so i'll account for that below.

 

even *if* we assume the performance double the passmark result, a 4x E7310 machine would theoretically score around 11700 points on passmark, where a ryzen 7 5800x scores 28000 points. i had to sink down to the Ryzen 3 5400U (which is a 15W laptop part) to come to a similar passmark score of 11500.

 

oh.. and the supposed reliability argument of multi socket, is not a thing. if one of the cpu's decides to go belly up, it's taking the entire system with it until you actually go in, pull the cpu out, rearrange your RAM across the other processors, etc.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Are the prices there about the same as us prices? If so I'd get a normal isk desktop. Something like an am5/lga 1700 system. Get a low-midrange gpu.

 

Here is an idea of what I'm thinking. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2f2TJy

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 4.7 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($402.82 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($31.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5200 CL36 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($47.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: XFX Speedster SWFT 210 Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.99 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 - V2 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($95.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1228.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-09-22 19:13 EDT-0400

 

Yea its 12 cores, but if you were considering a r900 this would smoke that system with less cores. Core count doesn't really matter that much when the amount of work a single core varies.

 

 

[brob]

Do you need / want ECC memory?

[KIPU Controller]

1 hour ago, brob said:

Do you need / want ECC memory?

No, I am fine with normal

[KIPU Controller]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Are the prices there about the same as us prices? If so I'd get a normal isk desktop. Something like an am5/lga 1700 system. Get a low-midrange gpu.

 

 

 

 

Yes, they are

 

Thank you, I will check.

[KIPU Controller]

2 hours ago, manikyath said:

all of this is irrelevant if you're looking at a platform so old a midtier modern desktop will outpace it.

 

i cant find the E7310 on passmark, i did find the E7320 which they have a low sample size of, so it might be an inaccurate figure.. so i'll account for that below.

 

even *if* we assume the performance double the passmark result, a 4x E7310 machine would theoretically score around 11700 points on passmark, where a ryzen 7 5800x scores 28000 points. i had to sink down to the Ryzen 3 5400U (which is a 15W laptop part) to come to a similar passmark score of 11500.

 

oh.. and the supposed reliability argument of multi socket, is not a thing. if one of the cpu's decides to go belly up, it's taking the entire system with it until you actually go in, pull the cpu out, rearrange your RAM across the other processors, etc.

Ok, I appreciate the explaination.

[KIPU Controller]

Hello All

 

Thanks for the answers.

 

For now, I will submit the proposal based on the answer provided by @Electronics Wizardy.

 

In addition, I have personally exchanged information on PM with @alpha754293 based on this thread :

 

 

I am still processing the detailed info he sent me and studying the topics he mentioned. I am gonna bug both of you couple more times. 

 

I have decided to also ask for Infiniband Cards in the budget, so that both machines can be linked together. @alpha754293 is running CFDin his cluster. I will need to figure out how I cna leverage simulation of cryptographic algorithms in such a system. 

 

However, I am still open to further suggestion - because even if I submit the proposal, there will be some back and forth, and I can potentially include more knowledge i gain in this forum to update my proposal.

 

Finally, I am very pleseantly surprised to see the to-the-point solution oriented nature of this forum. Thanks everyone.