The price of folding....

B

bwoody2016

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 26, 2010
Messages
169
Ive stumbled many times in life, but then i found folding again last month It gave me great pride in my system, knowing I could easily do 8k ppd and compete among the real men of [H]. Even going so far as to look at how I could use all pc's in my house to fold. Being the poor paramedic I am that idea faded quickly.

Then the electric bill came........


Simply put.... ouch....no really.... OUCH! My electric bill increased 2x. My wife is going to kill me when she gets home. Oh well... I guess I'll be eating pb&j's for a month.

All for this since Aug:

 
I see that, that is why when I have to have the A/C on, the Folding Boxen sit idle, or in power conservation states.

Computers do not fold well in the OFF position.
 
hmm....

*inserting ignornant single guy sayign* Hide the bill............*back to reality*


.....PB&J is good atleast....
 
Yeah, but the good thing is that winter is coming soon which means that the folding rigs should help offset your heating bill. This is why so many people are starting to pay more attention to the efficiency of their rigs when planning out future builds or upgrades. Ppd/watt is becoming pretty important, and many people are willing to pay a higher up front cost to maximize efficiency. This is partially why I don't touch GPU clients and stick with CPU folding via the SMP client.
 
get that with powebill,one short period I tried to run only cpu-clients,and mine doesn´t give that much,so it is so tempting to first go with one gpu,then a second.Luckily for me my soundcard pretty much blocks a third card there,So after this "race" I help what I can,and at least one pc goes in powersaving mode,have a gt 220 for that,or an old nvidia mx :D
 
amdgamer said:
Yeah, but the good thing is that winter is coming soon which means that the folding rigs should help offset your heating bill. This is why so many people are starting to pay more attention to the efficiency of their rigs when planning out future builds or upgrades. Ppd/watt is becoming pretty important, and many people are willing to pay a higher up front cost to maximize efficiency. This is partially why I don't touch GPU clients and stick with CPU folding via the SMP client.
Click to expand...

Well I'm rocking a i5 750 right now, and I got a E8300 folding 24/7. I think I might just switch to that full time. I live in California so winter is basically spring with rain for us. I think next time I'm going to go low PSU usage. Its not too bad, my GTX 280 is putting out alot of heat but it does a good job. I was looking at SLI'ing it but I think I'm just going to hold on that till after xmas and maybe do 460's.
 
Buying the SR-2 lower my powerbill and upped my ppd ;)
 
folding_rejects said:
get that with powebill,one short period I tried to run only cpu-clients,and mine doesn´t give that much,so it is so tempting to first go with one gpu,then a second.Luckily for me my soundcard pretty much blocks a third card there,So after this "race" I help what I can,and at least one pc goes in powersaving mode,have a gt 220 for that,or an old nvidia mx :D
Click to expand...

The thing to remember is that after we get passed by that corporate sponsored team, we are still going to need as much help as possible as we try to plan a way to overtake them again. Don't worry though as this team appreciates whatever anyone can contribute.

bwoody2016 said:
Well I'm rocking a i5 750 right now, and I got a E8300 folding 24/7. I think I might just switch to that full time. I live in California so winter is basically spring with rain for us. I think next time I'm going to go low PSU usage. Its not too bad, my GTX 280 is putting out alot of heat but it does a good job. I was looking at SLI'ing it but I think I'm just going to hold on that till after xmas and maybe do 460's.
Click to expand...

The 460's are probably one of the best values on the market, especially when folding. It is just sad that it took nVidia this long to get it to market. After your wife gets done killing you, we'll be here to help you fuel your addiction :)

Besides, it is for a good cause. If your wife complains, just tell her that she should be thankful that you havn't gone and stroked the motor along with installing full length headers with straight pipes on the family car like some guys do.
 
^This, sold my GPU farm (19 clients worth) and I maintained the same PPD but I could actually afford to run them all!
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Damn, ninja'd by amd, but what kendrak said
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Yes, the SR2 is worth running, but my 6 Q6600 machines are simply too expensive and hot to run.
 
Sell them all, go SR2
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
too bad the SR-2 doesnt fit in my Norco 4020.....it would make a great WHS :D
Guess ill have to stick with my 2x E5530s for now:eek:
 
So being the Captain of Spin that I am. I came up with a excuse.

I explained that due to the need to kick some corporate greed. I've joined a league of extraordinary folders.
In return she made me give up paintball, my upgrades on my car, my truck and possibly my motorcycle.

Yes I've been.... basically wife slapped. but I want that GTX 460 up for grabs. I'll take one for the team this time
 
bwoody2016 said:
So being the Captain of Spin that I am. I came up with a excuse.

I explained that due to the need to kick some corporate greed. I've joined a league of extraordinary folders.
In return she made me give up paintball, my upgrades on my car, my truck and possibly my motorcycle.

Yes I've been.... basically wife slapped. but I want that GTX 460 up for grabs. I'll take one for the team this time
Click to expand...

The other thing you can consider doing is upgrading that i5-750 to one of those LGA1156 Core i7 8xx series. If you get a fast enough stable overclock, it will allow you to run bigadv work units assuming that this rig is a dedicated folder, or almost dedicated folder. Running a bigadv rig will net you 17k ppd for 2684's upto 25+k ppd for the faster work units. For a LGA1366 Bloomfield, I believe the minimum overclock is 3.4ghz. For a LGA1156, it may be a bit higher due to being only dual channel memory.
 
I had to run my A/C last winter, or just open the window on especially cold days. :D That's when I realized I had a problem.

power.png


Efficiency is important. I'm doing more PPD now than ever (even not counting the SR-2) but my electric bill is lower. I stopped folding on the laptop, the PS3, the ATI card, etc. My PPD comes from four boxen, and I'll be selling one of those soon because it's the least efficient.

Fold with what you have, but avoid the urge to fold with everything you have.

(Also, I'm single and don't have the justify the power bill to someone else. :eek: )

 
Wow Sazaneyes, so if I read that right you peaked at $450 per month? $5400 per year?
 
amdgamer said:
The other thing you can consider doing is upgrading that i5-750 to one of those LGA1156 Core i7 8xx series. If you get a fast enough stable overclock, it will allow you to run bigadv work units assuming that this rig is a dedicated folder, or almost dedicated folder. Running a bigadv rig will net you 17k ppd for 2684's upto 25+k ppd for the faster work units. For a LGA1366 Bloomfield, I believe the minimum overclock is 3.4ghz. For a LGA1156, it may be a bit higher due to being only dual channel memory.
Click to expand...

[email protected] does 21,000ppd on a 2684, 31,000 on a 2685, 33,000 on a 2686
 
bwoody2016 said:
Ive stumbled many times in life, but then i found folding again last month It gave me great pride in my system, knowing I could easily do 8k ppd and compete among the real men of [H]. Even going so far as to look at how I could use all pc's in my house to fold. Being the poor paramedic I am that idea faded quickly.

Then the electric bill came........


Simply put.... ouch....no really.... OUCH! My electric bill increased 2x. My wife is going to kill me when she gets home. Oh well... I guess I'll be eating pb&j's for a month.

All for this since Aug:

Click to expand...

Unless your power bill was really cheap to start, I have trouble believing that just folding on an i5 could double your energy bill...unless you use VERY little energy otherwise.

Estimating a 300W power draw, that's .3kW * 24 hrs * 30 days = 216kWh for a month.

So if your power is $.15/kWh, that's $32.40 to Fold for the month 24/7.
 
He could just have a really low power usage in his daily life. When I first moved to my new house, before cable, I had like 35-40$ power bill. Thatwas during summer, no AC, 2 fans. Then I got cable, basic folding (PS3 and my gaming computer q66 w/ dual 260's) power bill went to 80ish. Fired up the while farm, no AC, over 200$!!

I believe ya bro, and I know where you're coming from, some people just don't use much energy. I am not one of those people anymore lol
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may i be worthy said:
Wow Sazaneyes, so if I read that right you peaked at $450 per month? $5400 per year?
Click to expand...

Yes, but you can see the downslope after I got that $450 bill and started turning stuff off. I've been averaging $200 recently, although it's spiking up again with the push to fend off the #2 team.
 
SazanEyes said:
Yes, but you can see the downslope after I got that $450 bill and started turning stuff off. I've been averaging $200 recently, although it's spiking up again with the push to fend off the #2 team.
Click to expand...
I'm with you.

Usually I'm a little smarter about my usage....I run lean and mean during the summer A/C months, then fire up full blast in the winter. However, my farm is at full output right now, despite the unseasonably warm temps outside (high of 91 tomorrow). I just want to get to 4 billion first.
 
Parja said:
Unless your power bill was really cheap to start, I have trouble believing that just folding on an i5 could double your energy bill...unless you use VERY little energy otherwise.

Estimating a 300W power draw, that's .3kW * 24 hrs * 30 days = 216kWh for a month.

So if your power is $.15/kWh, that's $32.40 to Fold for the month 24/7.
Click to expand...

in my apartment my $/kWh is about $0.30
summer with A/C on is about $120 a month.
spring, fall run about $100 a month (computer and two box fans)
winter is around $100 but I crank up the extra computers for heat. (I have an Amazon parrot and keep the place about 66*F minimum.)
 
I get 9.3Kw/H and i used 2700KW last month :)
I like to keep my house a nice 70F
 
Parja said:
Unless your power bill was really cheap to start, I have trouble believing that just folding on an i5 could double your energy bill...unless you use VERY little energy otherwise.

Estimating a 300W power draw, that's .3kW * 24 hrs * 30 days = 216kWh for a month.

So if your power is $.15/kWh, that's $32.40 to Fold for the month 24/7.
Click to expand...

I'm never really home to begin with. I'm running my i5 750 smp client and GTX 280 gpu client. I'm also running 24/7 a E8500 client. That alot more than a 300W power draw. I live in california try $.29/kWh
 
After my Electric bill came back at 280 bucks from its normal 80-100 range, I decided I better run some numbers ASAP.

Used a Kill-a-watt to calculate this stuff, It’s an i7 @ 4.01GHz and a GeForce 280 OC (BFG). The system does have a sound card, and a bunch of HDDs since it’s not dedicated to folding. It has a BFG ES-800 PSU, 80%+ Efficiency.

Watt Usage:
240-250w On-Idle
310-315w On-Idle GPU Client
410-415w Full Load CPU (SMP) , Idle GPU
447-485w Full Load CPU (SMP) & GPU Client

Costs me 0.18313 per KwH, so...

Cost Per 31 Days:
$32.70-$34.06 On-Idle
$42.24-$42.92 On-Idle GPU 95%+
$55.86-$56.54 Full Load CPU , Idle GPU
$60.90-$66.08 Full Load CPU & 95%+ GPU

Overall the power/cost doubles running the system full-tilt for F@H. Now that the ACs are off, i'm turning the beast back up.
 
After hitting $380 in August(a new record for me), i've been simply cutting back on other expenditures. I also moved my laptop down to the living room so that I wouldn't have to run the window unit in my computer room. Both my folding rigs are in the guest bedroom because the a/c in the computer room is unable to keep up even with only my laptop running. I also raised the central air thermostat from 76 F to 77 degrees F. I also stopped getting my weekly Mega Million lottery tickets and ate a bit more off the value menus.

My house is actually a very small two bedroom house, but it is absolutely inefficient. Right now, I just don't care as I want to get away from this crappy city they call Cincinnati.
 
My last power bill for two months was $975 Canadian, which was the highest I've ever experienced by over $250.00, and the previous highest was the previous one, which was the highest ever previously.

While it was an especially hot and humid summer in Toronto this year, this was too much for me. GPU clients were turned off and the cards got $old and the SR-2 came in today. That, with one GTX 470 will outdo my daily PPD from my highest pre-BigAdv day ever, so it was worth it.

Strangely enough this investment should save me a considerable amount of $$$ in the long run, and allow me to fold with probably two less computers with more points.

The worst part is, I live in an electricity rich part of the world, but we choose to gouge our own people while selling power to everyone else for very little to no profit. Nice system up here. Real nice.
 
"The worst part is, I live in an electricity rich part of the world, but we choose to gouge our own people while selling power to everyone else for very little to no profit. Nice system up here. Real nice.
Reply With Quote"

I know how ya feel. I'm in the heart of the TVA and yet we have brownouts all the time.
 
bwoody2016 said:
I'm never really home to begin with. I'm running my i5 750 smp client and GTX 280 gpu client. I'm also running 24/7 a E8500 client. That alot more than a 300W power draw. I live in california try $.29/kWh
Click to expand...

I just guesstimated based on your 8k PPD claim in your OP. With that gear, you're probably capable of more like 18k PPD and ~700W power consumption. And with those ouchie power costs, you're talking almost $150/month in power. So yeah, now I can see the problem.
 
Parja said:
I just guesstimated based on your 8k PPD claim in your OP. With that gear, you're probably capable of more like 18k PPD and ~700W power consumption. And with those ouchie power costs, you're talking almost $150/month in power. So yeah, now I can see the problem.
Click to expand...

Ouch when you put it like that, it comes out to half a brand new video card a month.
 
10e said:
The worst part is, I live in an electricity rich part of the world, but we choose to gouge our own people while selling power to everyone else for very little to no profit. Nice system up here. Real nice.
Click to expand...
Yup.
 
I wish my daughters apartment was in the lower 48. FREE UTILITIES!
You all could send me your boxens and fold for next to nothing!
Small fee to pay for apartment and internet!
 
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