Best ppd for 1k

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Lorne45

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I used to have a fah farm a few years ago and after a extended absence I have the bug again. I am so far out of the loop with fah and hardware it's going to take me weeks to catch up. I am ready to jump back in with both feet though. I planned to build a 1k fah rig every 4 months. Problem is I have no idea what hardware to go with for best ppd.

Have been reading good things about Optus but not sure If that's the best route for a 1k budget.

Lorne
 
For a starter rig for under 1K I would build a dual CPU rig. If you are going to put that much into folding, I would say get a dual processor rig to start, and then save the rest for a 4P G34 setup when you have enough money.
 
Believe it or not, you can come in pretty close to $1K for a 4p G34 machine using the 6128s on eBay right now. The two main components:

SuperMicro H8QGL-IF+ - $635
6128 8 core G34 - $450 for 4 I believe is confirmed, would probably go under that if you asked

Memory can be had for under $10/stick. HSFs will run you $30 each for that board (CM Hyper 212+'s won't work on it.) A 650W PSU for $50 and some SATA HDD for $25 and you are running. If you have some of the parts already (PSU, HDD), you could come in under $1300.

My best guess on such a setup with the proper tweaks is 280K - 290K ppd.
 
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Awesome info musky thanks! I will be able to manage that setup when I figured there was no chance :D
 
It is a great starting point, with an upgrade path to 12 core MC or even 16 core IL You can also run it as a 1p, 2p, or 3p while you are gathering parts. If you need a case, a HAF 932 is a reasonable option.

I have that board from that retailer, and can vouch for them being a good operation - I had the board in under a week when I ordered mine.

I also expect the price on the 6128s to drop in the coming weeks - that seller has something like 1200 of them, and has only sold 12 so far.
 
I didn't know you could get the boards quite that cheap. I'm in Canada but now I have the bug to see if I can get one of those boards. I would guess any next gen Bulldozer rework would also be G34 so I can see it being worth it over the next couple of years. A 2600k just doesn't really get you much in the way of ppd any more.
 
For ram it woul need 2GB per CPU? Also you have any reccomendation on a psu? I learned multiple times to pay a little extra any get a good psu especially if it's running loaded 24/7. I see that board also has a pcie slot so I can throw my card in.
 
You want each RAM slot populated, there are 4 chan per chip.

You want about a 750 watt PSU. The rig will pull ~500 from the wall. A 750 watt PSU puts that internal draw of about 450 at a sweet spot on the eff curve so you get the most for your power.
 
I got the seller to put a best offer on the 6128's. Can try offering $100 each and see if he bites.

Lorne45: 1GB/ slot is enough.
 
4 memory chips per CPU are what you want. Size of each chip is unimportant - even at 1GB, that is 16GB total which is more than enough for about anything you would do with the machine, especially folding.

650W is plenty - my quad 6134 machine runs on a 650W 80+ Gold Seasonic, and has no problems. I would be a little leery of going much under that - my lowest draw machine is still over 450W.
 
If only there were boxing day deals on 4p boards we could put so many of these chips to work.
 
I'm looking at putting together a 4p system using a SM H8QGL-IF+ and am wondering what I should be looking for in low cost RAM. The board supports 1600mhz 1.35V max and I want as cheap as possible so 1GB or 2GB DIMMs. I'm also interested in eventually doing the 12.5% bus tweak so I want to take into consideration the speed I would run them at after that. If you now anything about how frequency, timings and voltage affect tpf and power consumption on G34 then I'm interested. If there's any particular kit that has worked well then for others then I'll see if I can get that and just avoid the hassle. I hope setting timings in the bios is easy but if there's something to watch out for there then I want to figure that out too.
 
Between this thread and the Colinstu cheap 2P system, I have spent way too much time looking at dual and quad proc parts lately. Open box Z8NA-D6C at the Egg and the $350 L5640 on eBay just about pushed me over the edge.
I need a snowblower so I think I will have to wait. Now if anyone has a suggestion on how to funnel the heat from a folding setup out to the driveway to melt the snow, I could pull the trigger on a 4 proc system.
 
grumpy_rock said:
Now if anyone has a suggestion on how to funnel the heat from a folding setup out to the driveway to melt the snow, I could pull the trigger on a 4 proc system.
Click to expand...

Run the watercooling loop under the driveway. You're gonna need a big pump.

Heated_Driveway.sized.jpg
 
Zink said:
I'm looking at putting together a 4p system using a SM H8QGL-IF+ and am wondering what I should be looking for in low cost RAM. The board supports 1600mhz 1.35V max and I want as cheap as possible so 1GB or 2GB DIMMs. I'm also interested in eventually doing the 12.5% bus tweak so I want to take into consideration the speed I would run them at after that. If you now anything about how frequency, timings and voltage affect tpf and power consumption on G34 then I'm interested. If there's any particular kit that has worked well then for others then I'll see if I can get that and just avoid the hassle. I hope setting timings in the bios is easy but if there's something to watch out for there then I want to figure that out too.
Click to expand...
Oh don't mind all that, I stayed up too late. Should I just go with the cheapest 1333mhz cl9 sticks I can find?
 
Zink said:
Oh don't mind all that, I stayed up too late. Should I just go with the cheapest 1333mhz cl9 sticks I can find?
Click to expand...

Ram does have an effect on PPD, but its more important to have 4 sticks per CPU.
 
grumpy_rock said:
Between this thread and the Colinstu cheap 2P system, I have spent way too much time looking at dual and quad proc parts lately. Open box Z8NA-D6C at the Egg and the $350 L5640 on eBay just about pushed me over the edge.
I need a snowblower so I think I will have to wait. Now if anyone has a suggestion on how to funnel the heat from a folding setup out to the driveway to melt the snow, I could pull the trigger on a 4 proc system.
Click to expand...

Well the system I'm building isn't necessarily supposed to be the most bang for my buck. This was merely an attempt to have fun with 2P (this is my first time), earn some acceptable ppd afterward, and spend as little as I can.

eBay had some 4p AMD socket 1207 boards for $80. Go buy 4 quad-core chips for that for $100-200 + HSF, PSU, RAM, HD = ~$500 total if I remember correctly.

EDIT: HERE is the link for that board. Here is a great thread talking all about that board. some neat setups there.
 
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colinstu said:
Well the system I'm building isn't necessarily supposed to be the most bang for my buck. This was merely an attempt to have fun with 2P (this is my first time), earn some acceptable ppd afterward, and spend as little as I can.

eBay had some 4p AMD socket 1207 boards for $80. Go buy 4 quad-core chips for that for $100-200 + HSF, PSU, RAM, HD = ~$500 total if I remember correctly.

EDIT: HERE is the link for that board. Here is a great thread talking all about that board. some neat setups there.
Click to expand...
the system is a fun project but not optimized for fah, it's good for wcg or server use tho.
 
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On the socket 1207 stuff... FWIW I am not a huge fan of deploying 2+ generation old MP systems. UP is a bit different as the LGA 1156 platform is still very viable in a lot of cases.

It is cool to play with something more complex, but I would probably go G34 over 1207 right now.

And @ Cactus's SR-2 - that is a pretty great setup for the price.
 
Zink said:
Oh don't mind all that, I stayed up too late. Should I just go with the cheapest 1333mhz cl9 sticks I can find?
Click to expand...

I went with 1333 C7 G.Skill Ripjaws for my current build. Since there isn't much if any room for overclocking, faster memory timings is one of the few things you can do to improve performance. 4 x 2GB kits are $60 at Newegg, although between hoth and I, they are probably OOS at the moment... :)

You need 4 sticks per CPU, and 1.5V or lower. You should be limited to 667/1333 for MC chips, although I haven't tried anything "cute" with the newer SM board I do have. It does have 800/1600 and 933/1866 options for memory timing, even though I have MC chips.
 
i got cas7 1333 but the mobo doesn't default to that and i have no idea how to flash the spd profiles so it picks up properly. I've been told it's too complicated for a linux newb QQ. (In a nicer way of course lol) If any one has a guide I would be very great full.
 
Kardonxt said:
i got cas7 1333 but the mobo doesn't default to that and i have no idea how to flash the spd profiles so it picks up properly. I've been told it's too complicated for a linux newb QQ. (In a nicer way of course lol) If any one has a guide I would be very great full.
Click to expand...

It isn't that bad. Let me know when you want to mess with it and jump on irc. I am versed enough in the tools to get them flashed for you.
 
pjkenned said:
On the socket 1207 stuff... FWIW I am not a huge fan of deploying 2+ generation old MP systems. UP is a bit different as the LGA 1156 platform is still very viable in a lot of cases.

It is cool to play with something more complex, but I would probably go G34 over 1207 right now.

And @ Cactus's SR-2 - that is a pretty great setup for the price.
Click to expand...

This all boils down to cost, I would not have suggested 1207 if it was not cheap. The linked board 4P board is less than $100 shipped, and 4 quadcores can be had for $100 if the right ebay auctions are found. G34 is going to be close to $1000 to get started. If money were no object we would all be running 8P G34 Cray systems.
 
Yea... was thinking more like 2x 6128 = $200 (16 cores same as the 1207) and a 2P motherboard which is usually quite a bit cheaper. Depending on marginal power rate, after 12 months the G34 won't be that much more expensive if both are run at 100%. Free power of course changes this quite a bit.
 
My power is quite cheap, $0.04-$0.05. However the cost of the 2P G34 is more expensive, and we must take into the fact that the G34 pulls power as well. So say the socket F pulls 144KWh more per month at my rate of $0.05x144 = $7.2 per month so if the G34 was $200 more than the socket F it would take me almost 28 months to make the cost equal. Really, the economics of both are fairly good, but this really depends on your power rate.

I AM NOT BEING MEAN PJ!!! I am just messing around.
 
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AgrFan said:
What makes a system "optimized for fah"?
Click to expand...

Lots of cores, preferably fast cores. The reason for this is FAH has early return bonuses, unlike BOINC projects. Faster you return results the more points with FAH.
 
Do you have a link for that ram option? The ones I see on newegg are:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231492

Thanks!

musky said:
I went with 1333 C7 G.Skill Ripjaws for my current build. Since there isn't much if any room for overclocking, faster memory timings is one of the few things you can do to improve performance. 4 x 2GB kits are $60 at Newegg, although between hoth and I, they are probably OOS at the moment... :)

You need 4 sticks per CPU, and 1.5V or lower. You should be limited to 667/1333 for MC chips, although I haven't tried anything "cute" with the newer SM board I do have. It does have 800/1600 and 933/1866 options for memory timing, even though I have MC chips.
Click to expand...
 
I had a main rig build planned for Feb-March with a 3k budget. I think what I am going to do is combine the budget from both rigs and make one monster main rig.

I would go with 4x12 core and watercooling. First 2 things I will order are the CPUs and the mobo. What are your suggestions for these. Budget is now 4k though I would rather not spend the whole thing hehe. I have the Vid card already which is a GTX 550 TI. Everything else I need including a case.

How much will something like this pull from the wall? I can dedicate a 20 amp circuit to it.
 
My 4P with 6174s (48 cores total) pulls a bit over 500 from the wall.

That said it is little more than mobo, chips, RAM, PSU, and a HDD sitting on a slab of cardboard on a shelf in my rack.

You start adding vid cards and such, power goes up.

I would hope that this 4P your building isn't going to be your daily driver. A sinple 2500k rig will preform much better at games and general web browsing because of the higher core speed. Also you keep the folding rig folding.
 
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