Hi!
I'm just starting out on Boinc.
I set up a few accounts here and there (Rosetta, Einstein), and it seems I can't get my Android phone to work on the app (it runs Android 10, and they haven't fixed compatibility over Android 6, I know).
I briefly looked at the Raspberry Pi 3B I have laying around, but .. no.. That'd be too slow.

So I installed it on an old netbook, with dual core Celeron processor, running Linux, and it works!
Takes about 10 hours for a WU, pulling about 10 Watts off the wall.
I can't imagine it being very efficient.

I have an older PC at home, with a 10 core 20 thread 2Ghz Xeon E5 2630 V3, which pulls about 90W on the wall, does operate faster, but I want to look for something that is better performing, and less power hungry (aka higher efficiency).


1- Should I look into ARM CPUs (like AMD EPYC, or a ThunderX processor, or something?) or should I stay with multicore gaming CPUs? If ARM server CPUs are great performers, where can I get the best deal?

2- Is it better to run fewer cores at higher frequency, or run more cores at a lower frequency?

3- Is it better to run 10 cores HT disabled, or run 20 cores HT enabled?

4- Is it better to run my PC from IGP, or plug in an old GT 1030 I have laying around?

5- I'm a bit of a computer techie. So technical (hardware and software) recommendations are appreciated.

Hi & welcome.
1 - for most projects it is better to stay with "i86" type processors as the have the biggest pool of applications. With CPUs there is a fairly linear relationship between clock speed and processing rate within each family of CPUs.
2 - It all depends on the exact processor and support hardware one is looking at. Generally Intel is a bit quicker than AMD, until one gets to teh very latest AMD processors.
3 - Hyper-threading or not, this again varies with the processor, the application and more. It really is a case of trying and finding out how your system works best.
4 - The IGPU is only really any good as a room heater. It has been found that they often cripple the performance of the CPU because they share so many resources. Even a GTX1030 will leave the vast majority of CPUs trailing a long way behind in terms of absolute speed and bang for your bucks.
5 - The answer here really depends on your budget. Assuming you decide to keep the 10/20 core Xeon,and it will take a "full size" GPU the first thing I would look at would be to install the GTX1030, thereafter upgrading to a GTX1060 (or two...) as the bang per buck for a GPU is a long way ahead of a CPU

Thanks!
I've been working with F@H for a while, and the ratio of CPU and GPU is astonishing.
I won't be running many GPU projects, just CPU, as my GPU 'farm' is running for F@H.
But I do have a spare slot for perhaps a GTX1660Ti, or lower.

What's the average ratio between GPU/CPU?
On F@H there's a ~10-100k PPD for CPU vs 0.5-2M PPD for most GPUs.
Most of the points come from a quick return bonus, which doesn't seem to apply here.

The performance ratio depends on the project and applications concerned, but anything from 5:1 to 50:

And there is a huge range of speeds between different GPUs, too. The GT 1030 mentioned in the opening post is fairly new and efficient, but very much at the lower end of the performance scale.

How about an exotic CPU like the Xeon Phi?