Tobit's GPU Boxen Build Options - Looking for Comments

[Tobit]

So, I am looking to add another boxen to the farm purely for feeding three GPUs. The GPUs in question are currently in my i7 920 box and I'd like to yank them so I can reclaim 3m 40s on each frame of my -bigadv process.

The first thing that comes to mind is the P6N Diamond/Q6600 Combo that nitrobass24 is selling. It has way more CPU than I need for this task but I have a dual core box that could benefit from a CPU upgrade and the dual core would be just fine feeding the GPUs.

However, I recall there were some issues with folding on P6N Diamonds because of the 680i chipset but I don't recall exactly what it was. I think it was the inability to mix G92 and G200 GPUs but if you had all G200 GPUs you were fine. Does anyone remember?

For a truly low-budget approach, I am looking at the combo below. For brand new hardware, the price is yummy. I could probably do something similar for even cheaper if I search for used hardware. I know Zero82z uses this motherboard and is very happy with it.

 

[lehmann]

Sounds great. even better setup the video card see much cpu they use and setup smp to use whats left probably around 80% to 85% or whatever it may end up being. I have also seen some cheap cases at newegg with a huge side door fan 230mm i think for less than $50

 

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3m 40

ouch that's a lot. That's on you're linux box? Seems like the cpu usage is higher than windows I'm seeing 0% and rarely 1% per core (920 3.8ghz).

I think it's a great deal, the cpu can OC and give you some points, the ddr2 is bit pricey but that's expected.
If you wanna just fold on the gpus you can go super-cheap and get a single core celeron on ebay for $20 and 512mb of ram

 

[Tobit]

ouch that's a lot. That's on you're linux box? Seems like the cpu usage is higher than windows I'm seeing 0% and rarely 1% per core (920 3.8ghz).

It all depends on the WU the GPUs are working on. Some GPU WUs show no difference compared to Windows but some do use more CPU.

 

[lehmann]

Each video card is different too. my gtx260 uses a average of 4% bouncing from 3 to 5 on a 353 less on the 1888. while my gts250 uses 1% on a 353

 

[EvilAlchemist]

Instead of building one 4x GPU system, is 2x systems an acceptable solution?

You could use the Intel Celeron 420/430 (Single Core Core 2 Based 65nm LGA 775)
You can find them for $10-$20 on ebay or even in the FS section.
(Those CPUs are very popular with WHS builds & I have one in my Untangle Router)

** I even have a few Intel Stock Heatsinks I could give you for those I have sitting around.

Motherboards with 2 x PCI-E slots are a lot cheaper then one with 4x.
Would also be easier to handle system temps with only two GPUs.
It would also allow you to mix-n-match more gpu's - avoiding the mix gpu issue you spoke of.

 

[Tobit]

I think I found a motherboard in the FS/FT forum, waiting to hear back from the seller. It's an Intel 975X chipset and has 3xPCI-E x16 slots (x16 or x8, x8, and x4) and, best of all, is compatible with a 3.2 GHz P4 with HT that has been sitting on my shelf for awhile.

 

[Kendrak]

I think I found a motherboard in the FS/FT forum, waiting to hear back from the seller. It's an Intel 975X chipset and has 3xPCI-E x16 slots (x16 or x8, x8, and x4) and, best of all, is compatible with a 3.2 GHz P4 with HT that has been sitting on my shelf for awhile.

Baller on a budget jackpot.... just my style

 

[Zero82z]

The P45 ELA is a pretty solid board. I ran 3 GPUs on mine for several weeks without any issues aside from some heat problems caused by the case. It's not an overclocking monster, but it is stable and has an impressive selection of features, especially for the price.

 

[Tobit]

Have a bunch of various hardware on the way to make this happen. Also picked up a Q6600 to add even moar points to the farm.