• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Need Advice on Amateur Folder

T

theoretical

n00b
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
3
Hi all,

I used to dabble a little in Folding@Home but I'm ready to get more serious. My budget is around $500-$600, and from the research I did, I could go with a couple options:

1) A 4p socket F build, maybe with four AMD 8400s. My concern with this is I can't find any good deals on boards that will take the 8400s. I was thinking of buying an HP DL585 G2 off eBay but apparently it only supports up to quad core CPUs. I also noticed Opteron 2400 series are much cheaper and are also six-core CPUs. Is there anyone folding with those?

2) GPU folding. With the release of Core 17 and OpenMM 5.1, it looks like GPUs are the way to go in terms of PPD/$. My question here is whether CPU will matter. Should I just get the cheapest CPU I can get my hands on?

Please disregard PPD/watt and noise issues. They will be taken care of. :) So does anyone have build advice?
 
theoretical said:
Hi all,

1) A 4p socket F build, maybe with four AMD 8400s. My concern with this is I can't find any good deals on boards that will take the 8400s. I was thinking of buying an HP DL585 G2 off eBay but apparently it only supports up to quad core CPUs. I also noticed Opteron 2400 series are much cheaper and are also six-core CPUs. Is there anyone folding with those?
Click to expand...

I have a DL585 G2 folding with 4 x 8431 Hex cores.

The 24xx are dual cpu only, can't use for a 4P.

H.
 
Huh interesting. Did not know that.

How is your system running? Were there anything you needed to change, or did you just plop in the CPUs and turn it on? How much PPD are you seeing?
 
theoretical said:
Huh interesting. Did not know that.

How is your system running? Were there anything you needed to change, or did you just plop in the CPUs and turn it on? How much PPD are you seeing?
Click to expand...

Flashed it to latest BIOS before dropping in the Hex's. Have a dual core you're welcome to if you need a bootable chp to flash it.

PPD wise it does 135K to 210K PPD depending on the WU.

If you're buying one on eBay, try and get one that comes with all four heat sinks and VRMs, also be aware it uses non standard power cords and they're not always included.

H.
 
theoretical said:
2) GPU folding. With the release of Core 17 and OpenMM 5.1, it looks like GPUs are the way to go in terms of PPD/$. My question here is whether CPU will matter. Should I just get the cheapest CPU I can get my hands on?
Click to expand...
The CPU doesn't matter. Pretty much any vaguely modern CPU core can keep a GPU properly fed if it needs much CPU time. Currently AMD cards on core 17 do not need much CPU time, while Nvidia cards on core 17 need a dedicated CPU core. Core 15 for Nvidia is still out there and doesn't require much CPU time, but with that budget you'd want to go with a Kepler, and they do much better on core 17.

At this time AMD and Nvidia PPD is roughly equal in terms of PPD/$. In the $500-$600 range, the 780 at stock does around 130k PPD, while I've been able to push both of the ones I have to a stable OC of 1215 MHz core on air, where they do between 170-180k PPD depending on project selection. From what I've read the 290x does around 140k stock and up to 200k if you can get to 1150 MHz core.
 
IF you already have a system with 2 pci-e x16 slots and a beefy PSU, i'd just go with 2 7970's. over 200k ppd and you wouldn't have to swear at your machine when you get 8101s :)

i started out with 2 socket F 4p machines (both with 8425's) and would still have them if i hadn't come across some awesome 2011 xeons.

edit 4x8425's == 113k - 170k ppd if memory serves me correctly.
 
Hmm dual 7970s might be out of my price range. I don't think I can find two 7950s for a good price either, since they're at least $200 each on eBay.

So I guess the way to go is a GPU route? I'm sure I can find cheap server boards with dual PCI-E x16 slots. What kind of power supply would I be looking at for two 7950s? 850W?
 
theoretical said:
Hmm dual 7970s might be out of my price range. I don't think I can find two 7950s for a good price either, since they're at least $200 each on eBay.

So I guess the way to go is a GPU route? I'm sure I can find cheap server boards with dual PCI-E x16 slots. What kind of power supply would I be looking at for two 7950s? 850W?
Click to expand...

There are plenty of consumer grade (read: cheaper) boards that will do 2x/3x PCI-e slots. Look for ones that leave more space between 2x GPUs for improved cooling. Remember that the QRB is what will be getting you the bigger PPD, so you may be better off getting one 7970 and saving your pennies for a second one. I wouldn't have thought that you would be busting your budget by too much. Think seriously about running an open case for heat dissipation. I am running dual 7970s in one box currently, but happened to have a 1kW PSU available. I haven't taken a power from the wall reading since installing the second 7970, but with a single 7970 it was 130W idle, 390W full load @ 1100MHz OC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top