Hey guys, I wanted to start a thread about this. I am currently folding with my gaming/workstation desktop and laptop 24/7 right now. However, I am considering building a barebones folding only rig when the AMD Thuban sex-cores hit the market soon. That way, I can just use a single rig to do all of my folding 24/7 and put it in another part of the house that doesn't get as hot. Because my computer room gets so hot in the summer, my desktop and laptop will no longer be folding during the day soon as the 8000btu window unit will not be able to keep up. This is the only room in the house on the top floor that isn't climate controlled with the rest of the house(dunno why, wanna kick the ass of whoever built this house 60 years ago). I can't upgrade the window unit because this circuit cannot handle any more juice without some expensive wiring work being done.
To do a barebones rig that won't do anything else other than folding, what would I need? I know that AMD isn't the best at folding, but I only buy AMD. The leaked pricing information for the Thubans also show that they are going to be really cheap at $300 and less for the top of the line one.
1. I will likely go with a Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 motherboard as I have this in my current desktop and really love it. This is one helluva motherboard for the price.
2. Processor will definately be a Thuban. Depending on what I can afford to spend, it will be something in between 2.8ghz to the top 3.2ghz X6.
3. Then I need ram. How much ram would I have to be looking to purchase? I keep reading that ram speed is very important to folding, but I doubt an AMD 6 core will be able to do a -bigadv and will likely have to stay with the SMP client. Is it true that you still have to have an 8 core processor to be assigned a -bigadv? Would having a full 8 gigs of DDR3-1600 help or what would be the smallest amount of ram I could get away with and still have the client assign me significant WU's?
4. Video card. Would it be worth it to also run the GPU client? I think I read somewhere that the GPU client can hurt points production because it still requires some cycles from the cpu to run. It can also add a layer of complexity. If a GPU will help boost points, then it has to be a cheap ATI video card as my budget will not allow for much. It has to be an ATI since I love AMD so much Suggestions on what might be the best "value" for a cheap video card? Budget for a video card would be likely a max of $100
5. I have an old Antec 550watt PSU. Think this will still be good? It is 5 years old from my previous desktop and was never pushed very hard. I didn't have the SLI setup in that rig for a long time as I ended up selling one of the 7800GTX's when I bought my Xbox 360.
6. Still have my old Cooler Master case from a long time back from my previous gaming desktop that went out. I had it fitted with VERY high flow fans.
7.Anything I am missing? I have an old mouse, IBM keyboard, and an old IBM 15'' CRT monitor I can hook up to it.
8. Oh, I will need a wireless setup to hook it up to my router. I have never done wireless before as I bought a wireless N router and still hardwire everything to it. What would I need to do that? Do those little wireless pen drive things that you stick into the USB port actually work? I saw those at Micro Center yesterday when I went to buy more printer paper.
9. Operating System. Buying another copy of Windows 7 x64 is not cheap. However, I am not sure I would know how to run Linux as i've never tried it. Would it be easy to install drivers and set up the folding client if that is all i'll be using the OS for anyway?
Please be patient with me. I am still trying to learn the ropes and this Folding bug has really bitten me hard. I will do my part for the team.
To do a barebones rig that won't do anything else other than folding, what would I need? I know that AMD isn't the best at folding, but I only buy AMD. The leaked pricing information for the Thubans also show that they are going to be really cheap at $300 and less for the top of the line one.
1. I will likely go with a Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 motherboard as I have this in my current desktop and really love it. This is one helluva motherboard for the price.
2. Processor will definately be a Thuban. Depending on what I can afford to spend, it will be something in between 2.8ghz to the top 3.2ghz X6.
3. Then I need ram. How much ram would I have to be looking to purchase? I keep reading that ram speed is very important to folding, but I doubt an AMD 6 core will be able to do a -bigadv and will likely have to stay with the SMP client. Is it true that you still have to have an 8 core processor to be assigned a -bigadv? Would having a full 8 gigs of DDR3-1600 help or what would be the smallest amount of ram I could get away with and still have the client assign me significant WU's?
4. Video card. Would it be worth it to also run the GPU client? I think I read somewhere that the GPU client can hurt points production because it still requires some cycles from the cpu to run. It can also add a layer of complexity. If a GPU will help boost points, then it has to be a cheap ATI video card as my budget will not allow for much. It has to be an ATI since I love AMD so much Suggestions on what might be the best "value" for a cheap video card? Budget for a video card would be likely a max of $100
5. I have an old Antec 550watt PSU. Think this will still be good? It is 5 years old from my previous desktop and was never pushed very hard. I didn't have the SLI setup in that rig for a long time as I ended up selling one of the 7800GTX's when I bought my Xbox 360.
6. Still have my old Cooler Master case from a long time back from my previous gaming desktop that went out. I had it fitted with VERY high flow fans.
7.Anything I am missing? I have an old mouse, IBM keyboard, and an old IBM 15'' CRT monitor I can hook up to it.
8. Oh, I will need a wireless setup to hook it up to my router. I have never done wireless before as I bought a wireless N router and still hardwire everything to it. What would I need to do that? Do those little wireless pen drive things that you stick into the USB port actually work? I saw those at Micro Center yesterday when I went to buy more printer paper.
9. Operating System. Buying another copy of Windows 7 x64 is not cheap. However, I am not sure I would know how to run Linux as i've never tried it. Would it be easy to install drivers and set up the folding client if that is all i'll be using the OS for anyway?
Please be patient with me. I am still trying to learn the ropes and this Folding bug has really bitten me hard. I will do my part for the team.