I finally did it

SmokeRngs

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - April 2008
Joined
Aug 9, 2001
Messages
18,210
Tonight/this morning I pulled the trigger on a new system. Q6600 with 4 gig of RAM. The only unfortunate thing about this will be that it's also my main system which means not 100% folding all the time. However, my current main system of [email protected] isn't doing too shabby and once the quad is up and running the E6400 will do pretty much nothing but fold which will help it's PPD a bit. This system should be up and running by the end of the week.

As a bonus, I might actually sell my E6400 to a friend for a decent price if I have the extra money to go with what I sell it for and pick up another Q6600. If this is the case, hello dual SMP on a quad core in Linux doing nothing but folding.

If both happen, this will definitely be my biggest production jump for folding ever. It should also catapult me into the top 20 producers for the [H]orde at least for a little while. Actually, just adding the Q6600 system should do it barely. I'm definitely looking forward to 7k+ PPD out of three systems. More if I'm able to swap the E6400 for a Q6600.

If I'm able to pull off the best case scenario, it should put a nice large dent into what MPC is trying to do to us. Not to mention I'll finally be able to climb ranks a bit faster. Even with the addition of 2 dual core systems in the last year, I've barely been able to move from about 140 on the team to my current 112. I'm telling you, the competition when you get up here is cutthroat.

Bill, I might be a good bit behind you, but I'm aiming to take you out eventually. relic, you better start ramping yourself as I'm also aiming for you and you're a much easier target than Bill right now. :D

Oh, and thanks to Bill for pointing out a couple of things to me with caused me to probably spend a little more money but get something I was wanting in the first place. Absolutely great deal on the case.

 
Good work :)

I wont be able to add another Quad anytime soon because I had to pay for new car... but I might be able to borg few PCs

 
... relic, you better start ramping yourself as I'm also aiming for you and you're a much easier target than Bill right now. :D ...

Better check my production stats again, my friend, it looks like something's changed. ;)

Grat's on the new system. :D
 
I'm waiting for my thumb to heal so I can use it, before I upgrade my dual cores to quad cores.
For the upgrade I need ...........

5x Q6600's, 5x mATX MoBo's, 20 Gig Ram, 1x 450 watt PSU. 2x X5355's, 1x Dual Xenon MoBo, 8 Gig FB Ram plus a load of new 120mm case fans.
Will only set me back ~£3K.

Luck ............ :D
 
Can you power all those off one PSU like that?

Its possible.
You'll probably be looking at 5 x 95 watts x ~1.5-2 or ~700-900 watts depending on extras.
This is how I've worked out how.
Start with a 1,200-1,500 watt PSU and 3x 120 watts picoPSU's.
Clone the main ATX connector and use it to power the second MoBo.
Use the PCI-E rails to power 3x picoPSU's on the other 3 MoBo's.
The SATA connectors can supply the extra 4 ATX wires for each MoBo with a picoPSU.
You then need to make your 3 extra P4 connectors.

So its possible but not easy or cheap.

Luck ............. :D
 
Its possible.
You'll probably be looking at 5 x 95 watts x ~1.5-2 or ~700-900 watts depending on extras.
This is how I've worked out how.
Start with a 1,200-1,500 watt PSU and 3x 120 watts picoPSU's.
Clone the main ATX connector and use it to power the second MoBo.
Use the PCI-E rails to power 3x picoPSU's on the other 3 MoBo's.
The SATA connectors can supply the extra 4 ATX wires for each MoBo with a picoPSU.
You then need to make your 3 extra P4 connectors.

So its possible but not easy or cheap.

Luck ............. :D

Why not just buy a few 200 watt PSUs?
 
**Raises Hand**

Um... sorry, because I'm sure this is a stupid question, but I have to ask what the benefits of setting things up as outlined above would be. It seems to be rather complex and expensive.....

 
PSU's work best at around 50-70% max load.
So when the system is only pulling 120-150 watts, to get max efficiency your only looking 250-300 watts PSU.
Finding a good PSU in that power range is hard.
Put a bigger PSU in thats not so efficient and you can add an extra 20 watts to the power draw out of the wall.
Add that over 5-6 systems and the difference starts to add up.

Hence running more than one system off each PSU.
Your trying to keep each PSU running at its most efficient.

The classic way is to clone the ATX connector so each PSU has two.
The more modern way is to use a picoPSU that 95% efficient.

Plus it saves space if you want to build a stack of MoBo's.

Luck ............ :D

 
Good work :)

I wont be able to add another Quad anytime soon because I had to pay for new car... but I might be able to borg few PCs


My car will be paid off at the end of the month. That should give me an extra $300+ per month that I won't be shelling out. It will be a good feeling.

Better check my production stats again, my friend, it looks like something's changed. ;)

Grat's on the new system. :D

Well, unless you add at least 2 quads, I still have a chance. I'm already pushing out the points for a decently configured quad as it is and I'm getting ready to overclock the piss out of an actual quad. Put together I figure I should be able to do 7k+ PPD on average without breaking a sweat. More than likely I will end up swapping out the C2D for a quad as it's ready for it anyway even if it might take an extra month or so. If I give up on my plans to get a new cell phone it will happen very soon. Then, after the summer is over, I should have plenty of money again and I can' start building cheap quad folders.

If I wasn't purchasing a new main system, I could have put together 2-3 barebones quad folders for the money I spent on my main system. If I really really wanted to, I could still build 2 more barebones quads with the money I have right now. However, I have other plans for the money which will save me money in the long run.

Just look out, I'm getting my bills paid off which means I can get some machines added other than the ones I've built from spare parts laying around. :D

 
The only reason I'm getting a PSU is I'm sure one of my old ones is on the way out.
I'm not going to power all my systems of it, just stated its possible to do ...... :p

I'll probably go for a 380w Seasonic S12II-380 PSU, Only £45 on this side of the pond and runs at +80% efficient.

Luck ............ :D
 
Tonight/this morning I pulled the trigger on a new system. Q6600 with 4 gig of RAM. The only unfortunate thing about this will be that it's also my main system which means not 100% folding all the time.



Man you have been waiting a long time for this Smoke. Congratz!!!!
 
Man you have been waiting a long time for this Smoke. Congratz!!!!

A very long time. I was originally going to get a quad for my current system back around September or October but funds did not come available.

Smoke what board and cooling are you going with?

I'm going with the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R. It should be a good mobo especially if it's anything like my current P965-DS3 I'm running. Plus it's a very good price and has everything I need.

For cooling I was going to nab a Corsair Nautilus 500 to run on it but decided to change my mind. I'm going to start out with my current Koolance EXOS. If that doesn't do what I want I have a Thermalright Ultima 90 with 120mm fan also coming which was going to be put on the E6400 and I'll see what it does. If I'm not satisfied with either cooling solution, I'll find something else that works better. I have a feeling one of those two should do the job well enough.

I just hope I can convince myself to sell my E6400 and get another Q6600 to drop into my current machine which will be moved over to folding only once my new machine comes in.

No matter what, my production should climb very well. Linux as the host OS with dual Linux VMs for any quad core I get my hands on. Luckily I run Linux to begin with. It's the only reason I've been able to output the points on my E6400 and X2 4000+ like I have. The Windows SMP client just doesn't cut it for PPD like the Linux client.

 
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