Folding Rig Buildoff

[tjmagneto]

Sorry to hear about the board. I found this video from EVGA which might be of help or mildly entertaining.

 

[TYoda]

Wow! you won't need to worrt about heating that room in winter (either do I) Nice farm. what kind of ppd does a GT240 get? Be nice if you could post some comparo numbers once you get it all setup and running.

My GT240 gets anywhere from 3800 - 4200 ppd depending on the work unit.

 

[NobleX13]

I just got back from my Internship dinner; so I can try to troubleshoot this board.

 

[NobleX13]

Motherboard is definitely DOA; that's what I get for buying B-stock. I emailed EVGA about it. Also, I am taking a big PPD hit and I have to return my 460s; I lost a fan blade off of one and I called their customer support and was told "to call the retailer". TigerDirect said they can't do exchanges over PayPal, only refunds, so I'm returning them both. Stay tuned!

 

[APOLLO]

Man, I hope you'll get a fast return on the parts!

 

[NobleX13]

I sent the cards back to TigerDirect and bought two ASUS 465s from Newegg for ~200 apiece.

 

[NobleX13]

UPDATE!!

1.) I got two more i7 920s purchased.
2.) I have RMA approval for the faulty motherboard and will be sending it out tomorrow.
3.) I ordered three new motherboards which should get in sometime this week.
4.) I got some more RAM in and should be good to go, at least for now.
5.) I decided to keep the Galaxy GPUs and will be using them IN ADDITION to the 465s that get here tomorrow.

At this point, all I need to do is get some cases and coolers ordered. On a side note, I have parts on the way to water-cool my "main" core i7 rig, just for fun. I plan on ordering a Cooler Master Storm Sniper for it this week as well. I got my main machine folding again, but have some issues overclocking above 3.5 GHz; I think I have a faulty voltage regulator on this board.

More updates soon!

 

[sirmonkey1985]

so can the asus 465's be unlocked to 470's like a couple of the galaxy 465's?

 

[jebo_4jc]

so can the asus 465's be unlocked to 470's like a couple of the galaxy 465's?

you have to determine if the ASUS has 10 memory chips on it.

10 memory chips means the possibility of unlocking.

8 memory chips means no unlocking

 

[NobleX13]

I'm not sure if this particular model has 8 or 10 memory chips; I'll check when they arrive but I'm fine with it either way. The graphics cards arrive today; so I am looking forward to that.

 

[NobleX13]

Update again!

My 465s have eight memory chips, not ten. They showed up today and work great. I now have the 1055T machine folding along with my core i7. Each machine has a Galaxy 460 folding as well. Tomorrow or sometime soon I should be able to get another machine going, and get my first Core i7 920 @ 4GHz doing bigadvs...

Stay tuned!

Photos galore to come tomorrow!

 

[Kendrak]

The mowing that shall happen....

It's going to be glorious!

 

[nitrobass24]

Unless you need a gpu in each one your ppd would be maximazed by putting all your gpus in one box and running the others pure smp.

 

[Kendrak]

Unless you need a gpu in each one your ppd would be maximazed by putting all your gpus in one box and running the others pure smp.

Not to mention binding all the GPUs to one core and run -smp 7 on that one rig.

The SMP client (I think it still runs this way) has to run at the speed of the slowest core. So if one core is dealing with a GPU all the others have to slow down.

 

[NobleX13]

Thanks for the input! I just purchased coolers for the three other i7 rigs. I should get the rest of the processors and motherboards this week, along with my water cooling for my "main" rig. I will take your GPU suggestions to heart and implement that soon.

Thanks!

Those pics I promised will have to wait until I get back from Kansas City. (I'm going on vacation)

 

[Kendrak]

Have fun on va-ca, but you best make with the pics when you come back

 

[ccityinstaller]

I sent the cards back to TigerDirect and bought two ASUS 465s from Newegg for ~200 apiece.

Why would you replace 460's with the horrible 465's? The extra power draw is no where near worth it...Regardless, it's great to have you on the team!

 

[lehmann]

This is friggen great watching someone ealse spending all the money. great job! and welcome indeed. for thre amount of cash your spending. i think you could be getting much more for the money. I dont have much room to talk myself but there a few guys in here who have it down to a art. depending if you overclock or not. just something to think about

 

[musky]

I don't know - I7 920s that overclock well are still a very good ppd/$ and ppd/W. He has 4 of them. The video cards may be another story, but to each his or her own. I personally hate video card folding, but that is me. Efficiency-wise, I don't think he is in bad shape at all.

 

[ccityinstaller]

I don't know - I7 920s that overclock well are still a very good ppd/$ and ppd/W. He has 4 of them. The video cards may be another story, but to each his or her own. I personally hate video card folding, but that is me. Efficiency-wise, I don't think he is in bad shape at all.

Considering he went from the cool, power sipping 460s to the space heater 465s, I wouldn't say that is uber efficient. The 465s need to just die a quick death.

 

[zero2dash]

This is friggen great watching someone ealse spending all the money. great job! and welcome indeed. for thre amount of cash your spending. i think you could be getting much more for the money. I dont have much room to talk myself but there a few guys in here who have it down to a art. depending if you overclock or not. just something to think about

I don't know - I7 920s that overclock well are still a very good ppd/$ and ppd/W. He has 4 of them. The video cards may be another story, but to each his or her own. I personally hate video card folding, but that is me. Efficiency-wise, I don't think he is in bad shape at all.

True and true.
If I had to do it all over again now - and I was starting from scratch - there's no doubt I'd go SR-2, I would rather have 1 physical boxen than 2+ to deal with. If you really wanted to go nuts on PPD, drop hexas in there. I would love to sell off both of my x58+i7s and go SR-2+2 Xeons but financially it will be too much of a tradeoff, I would definitely do it with $0 spent or a minor spend but I can't spend more just to do it. I'd rather buy 2 cheap cases from the CM store and duct tape them together and install my 2 x58s in them and act like it's 1 system.

Even with 460s I still don't think I'd go gpu today. IMHO bigadv signaled the downfall of gpu farms. From a power and out of pocket cost standpoint it's just not worth having gpu farms anymore IMHO.

Anyway if you really want cards - 460 768's, there's no reason to have 1gb cards, the Anandtech review proved this to be true. CUDA 460 768 vs 1gb there was no difference because in CUDA the memory means nothing and both cards have the same amount of SP's.

Nevertheless welcome to the team, thanks for joining us and helping out, I'm jealous of your new toys but again thanks for joining us and welcome to the [H]orde.

 

[APOLLO]

Considering he went from the cool, power sipping 460s to the space heater 465s, I wouldn't say that is uber efficient. The 465s need to just die a quick death.

Perhaps, but I'm sure he knows this already and may not have the exact same concerns as other folders on the team. Collectively, the 465s could provide a bit of an edge PPD-wise (not sure about this), and that may have been more important to him in the end. I'm glad he's folding for us since we need all the help we can get however it's provided.

 

[jebo_4jc]

Yeah the 465 has an advantage in cores so it will have a ppd advantage
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[zero2dash]

I'm glad he's folding for us since we need all the help we can get however it's provided.

Hear hear!
Beers, tamales, quesadillas, diet mountain dews, BBQ ribs and whatever the hell else to that!

 

[sirmonkey1985]

Why would you replace 460's with the horrible 465's? The extra power draw is no where near worth it...Regardless, it's great to have you on the team!

because if he happened to get the models that can be unlocked to a 470.. well then there's the value of going with the 465.. but thats a big if..

 

[NobleX13]

Holy explosion of posts, batman! It seems you guys really took to discussing things while I was gone.... Funny how that works!

Here are some comments to your previous posts, without quotes as I'm feeling lazy:

• I ended up keeping the 460s, and will probably sell off one pair of cards or the other. I'm not really sure as of yet.
• Honestly, I am tempted to change course and move to an SR-2 build; if I sell off all of my current parts, mobos and two of the GPUs, that may pay for it. Hmmm.....
• The 465s are space heaters, let me tell you. My 460s hit about 58 on load, the 465s hit 80 or more.

Updates(and pics!)

I promised an update with photos sometime soon, so here they are (finally).

As of right now, I have all the motherboards in, three of the Core i7 920s, my two new Antec Neo Eco PSUs, and some other crap.

I'm at a crossroads here. Almost all of these parts were bought over in the FS/T thread, meaning that I can get about 90% or more of what I paid back out of them. Below I will calculate out my total estimated value of these parts, and price out an SR-2 build to see what you guys think.

Current Inventory:

(4) Core i7 920 D0 - $180 x 4 = $720
(4) X58 boards from miscellaneous manufacturers = ~ $100 each x 4 =$400
(2) ASUS 465s $200 each x 2 = $400
(2) GALAXY 460s $190 each x 2 = $380
(2) 6GB Kits of DDR3-1600 (mismatched) = $200
(3) Cooler Master Hyper N520 coolers = $30 each

Total: $2190! (realistically, about $1800 after shipping and fees

If need be I have a 1055T that I kept and its mobo I could give up, along with a 4GB Corsair XMS DDR3 kit.

Pricing estimate for SR-2 build:

Option 1: (Quad Core Xeons)

(Input needed)

Option 2: (Hex-Core Xeons)

(input needed)

Essentially, I need help deciding where to go here. I still don't have cases purchased for all these rigs, and need some help. (please!)

Photos will be uploaded right now and edited into this post soon.

If I go with an SR-2 rig, here are my main concerns:

1.) Where would I buy this board at a decent price?
2.) What cases will fit this monster?
3.) Will standard socket 1366 waterblocks fit this board?
4.) Where in the hell will I get two 1366 XEON processors at a decent price?

 

[NobleX13]

UPDATE!!

I decided to sell off everything and move to a 980x build or two, I'll let you know once the new parts get ordered....

 

[jebo_4jc]

nice!

Whatcha sellin?

 

[Mr34727]

Thanks guys! I was so happy to get in some packages today. I have the first two i7s and GTX 460s in front of me; the first two motherboards will get here tomorrow along with the GTX 240. I will sell off my AMD X6 rig next week after I hopefully go on a shopping spree tomorrow.

Why would you sell your x6? Mine is getting way more ppd than that i7 pic....Im around 11k usually

 

[ccityinstaller]

Glad to see you finalized what you your going to be building Noble..

Please don't think my comments about the 465 were meant to be rude, but your quote about their temps alone justified my thinking

 

[NobleX13]

I sold my i7's already, and have the GPUs and motherboards left.... I'll post a link to my FS thread in the DC FST forum. Thanks guys! And no, I did not take them as rude, just accurate!

Also, I kept the 1055T and ASROCK mobo for my backup main rig while I'm rebuilding the other one.

Stay tuned!

 

[APOLLO]

UPDATE!!

I decided to sell off everything and move to a 980x build or two, I'll let you know once the new parts get ordered....

That would probably be better in terms of efficiency. Good idea.

Why would you sell your x6? Mine is getting way more ppd than that i7 pic....Im around 11k usually

i7 systems can run -bigadv where the big PPD lies. Unfortunately, X6 cannot and that in itself would sway people the other way.

 

[DooKey]

For the money an i7 is a better folder than a X6 any day of the week.

 

[ccityinstaller]

For the money an i7 is a better folder than a X6 any day of the week.

You just had to rub it in didn't ya?!?

 

[NobleX13]

Well, I have almost liquidated enough of my parts to fund some new ones; I'll let you guys know ASAP when I get a 980x ordered. I'll open a new thread in the CPU section for some advice on the topic.

 

[10e]

You may also want to check Musky's thread on the Core I7 970. He has gotten some killer OCs with those chips, and they do come with that fairly decent Intel DB-X cooler like the Core I7 980x chips.

With such a high built in multiplier, you aren't losing much by saving a bit of $$$$.

Also in regards to your SR-2 setup, I seriously think the E5630 Xeons are a good way to go. Quad core/eight threads with 32nm. A decent BCLK in the 180+ range will get you mid to high 3 Ghz range on those with very little relative power usage.

And they are less than half the cost of X5650s too.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[nitrobass24]

Yea if you are going to OC i dont see much of a reason to spend money on 980x when you can get a 970 for a couple hundred less.

 

[musky]

Yea if you are going to OC i dont see much of a reason to spend money on 980x when you can get a 970 for a couple hundred less.

$750 Buy It Now on eBay, probably less if you look a little.

With such a high built in multiplier, you aren't losing much by saving a bit of $$$$.

My 970 is only at a 21x multiplier (203 bclk.) It can go to 25x. 25 x 200 = 5GHz - you ain't going to get that high, and you should very easily get your board/memory to 200 bclk. Therefore, there is no need for the higher and unlocked multiplier on the 980x IMHO. Maybe my chip is a cherry, but I doubt it. What I suspect happens is that people think they have to run at the max multiplier and end up with wierd bclks at max overclocks that put the memory or something else at a bad speed.

 

[NobleX13]

Hmm you raise a very good point. I plan on keeping my new CPU on a water-only loop, cooled with a fat Feser 240mm rad. All I need is 4.4-4.5 clocks regardless if I go Hex-core.

I'm still on the fence regarding SR2 vs 970

 

[ccityinstaller]

Hmm you raise a very good point. I plan on keeping my new CPU on a water-only loop, cooled with a fat Feser 240mm rad. All I need is 4.4-4.5 clocks regardless if I go Hex-core.

I'm still on the fence regarding SR2 vs 970

Are you considering a single i970 rig vs the SR-2, or dual i970 rigs vs the SR-2?