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celron 300A's worth folding?

B

Buckshot

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 15, 2002
Messages
215
i have come into nine celeron 300A's and was wondering if it would be worth having them fold. they where free but slower than dirt :( so im not sure if it pays to have them attempt to fold. let me know what you boys and gals think.

thanks in advance

Buck
 
I wouldn't use them for Folding. As cheap as cpus are today, it simply wouldn't be cost effective in terms of power usage to run that many slow processors. Just think how much power those things are going to use. Ten cpus = ten PS unless you're going to use a bunch of Y-cables off 2 or 3 PS. Versus what 1 modern processor would use with a single PS. Plus all the heat, and accompaning A/C you'll have to use. Plus Celerons suck at intensive calculations like Folding since they have no cache. But it's your money, do what you want.
 
Actually, a 300A does have 128KB of L2 cache. If you have good MB's for them, then you should be able to OC them to 500MHz. That's the speed for the former Stanford baseline system, before the recent point adjustment. If you have the things sitting around anyway, why not. All together, they'll be approximately equivalent to a single 2.2GHz Athlon XP. The question comes down to, do you mind spending the money on the electricity @ ~$0.09/KWH and do you mind the extra heat that it will put into their operating enviroment. You can minimize the former by building one of those 20-pin ATX power conector spliter cables. That will help reduce the power draw. The CPU's themselves don't take very much. I use enough power for four or five 300A's with my single PresHOT, by itself! You can solve the later problem by setting up the machines somewhere they won't be a bother. I bought a new ethernet switch and set up all my old machines in my basement. They stay cool down there and the noise and heat don't bother me when they're down there. If your budget can't handle a higher power bill or if you just can't stand any more heat, then just concentrate on your fastest machines. If on the other hand, your ego/competiveness really needs those few extra points, I'm sure you find a way to put them to use.
 
The 300A's use about 17W each, if you need another one I've got one that I'd be willing to sell to you ;)
 
jaSihr said:
Actually, a 300A does have 128KB of L2 cache.
Click to expand...
Yeah I know they have some, but I don't conisder 128k of cache much cache these day. That's just my opinion.
 
Having been one of the diehards on this board which finally retired my 300A's (which ran at 450) I would recommend NOT.
Even the Timeless Tinkers are getting so large that it would take weeks to finish one. As soon as you get a burp in the system you can be set back for days.

Rather look for a good deal on a m/b AMD combo.

I just assembled an AMD 2600. Case, PSU, RAM etc are all pretty well fixed cost per system. The m/b, AMD 2600, and fan went for $81. It folds well.
 
thanks for the advice. i have one folding and it takes about a hour to complete a frame on a tinker im going to let it finish the one and will be taking it down after. will have to look into spending some cash i guess. FREE is nice but if they are to slow whats the point.

thanks again,

Buck
 
Could you put those 9 300As into systems, even cheapo ones, sell for $30-40, and buy one top of the line dedicated folder? That'd save a bunch on the electric bill, and probably be more productive to boot.
 
I was thinking that a super cheap sale would be a good idea too. If you can just find a few people that would give you a couple of bucks like Bill Clo said, you'd have enough for one brand new kick ass folder.
 
If you've got enough memory laying around they'd be descent at running DF, although the cost/production problem still applies. I'd sell them all and build a good AMD box.
 
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