Need a 24/7 folding box

[werxen]

what do you guys think? basic browsing + folding 24/7. needs to be a quad core and i will overclock the crap out of it. ideas on a setup? it needs to be the cheapest possible solution.

 

[orangegator]

We need a budget, etc. Typically Intel cpus and Nvidia gpus get the best ppd. The more you can spend, the more ppd you'll get.

 

[werxen]

tops i wanna spend is 400

 

[daship]

Good Luck. You wont be getting much folding done for $400.

 

[orangegator]

On that budget, forget the quad cpu. Get a cheap dual core and the best nvidia gpu you can afford, probably a 9800GTX+, and build a folding rig around that.

 

[englandr753]

Do you have any components from another system you can use or are you starting from scratch?

If you are starting from scratch you need to stash your cash and put about 50-100% more with it to open up a satisfying setup you will be happy with long term.

 

[werxen]

as far as i know folding does not support dual cores am i right? or did they fix that finally? last i heard they only report single or quads.

and as far as the money, are you serious? i was thinking a p2 with a cheap mobo and graphics card could definitely go for under 400.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

I built a folding box back in the day, and when I got my first electric bill I quickly uninstalled FAH, sold my second GPU, and set my computer to automatically turn off at night.

Long story short: beware of the electical cost of folding. My electric bill went from ~$70 to ~$130.

 

[werxen]

yeah i understand but luckily my roommate pays all the utilities. plus we have 5 computers, 3 xboxs and 4 laptops. usually half of those things run at once at all time so lol.

 

[orangegator]

as far as i know folding does not support dual cores am i right? or did they fix that finally? last i heard they only report single or quads.

and as far as the money, are you serious? i was thinking a p2 with a cheap mobo and graphics card could definitely go for under 400.

You apparently don't know much about folding. The smp client works great with dual core cpus. The gpu client will get much higher ppd than the cpu client, so you're better off spending your money on a good gpu. Do your research before building. Read the forums at the F@H website.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

You apparently don't know much about folding. The smp client works great with dual core cpus. The gpu client will get much higher ppd than the cpu client, so you're better off spending your money on a good gpu. Do your research before building. Read the forums at the F@H website.

The above statement describes my experience from folding in July of 2008. GPU was king. I don't know if things have changed though.

 

[werxen]

yeah i use my 4850 at home but it always crashes my client which sucks.

oh and to orangegator, i have done my reading and i don't think you have:

From their website:

We strongly suggest people run this client on 4-core boxes. While it will run on 2-core boxes, we have noticed some potential problems (we are looking into these issues now).

it is not about getting points, so while yes i can run it on a dual core it is no help to the team if they get potentially wasted data returns.

 

[orangegator]

yeah i use my 4850 at home but it always crashes my client which sucks.

oh and to orangegator, i have done my reading and i don't think you have:

From their website:

We strongly suggest people run this client on 4-core boxes. While it will run on 2-core boxes, we have noticed some potential problems (we are looking into these issues now).

it is not about getting points, so while yes i can run it on a dual core it is no help to the team if they get potentially wasted data returns.

I have been folding on and off for a while now. I have over 1.1million points. I can confidently say every statement I have made is correct. For more good info on folding, read as much as you can here. http://tinyurl.com/mexqmp

 

[englandr753]

If you build a single core system with a low grade graphics card, it will work but slowly compared to a dual or quad core setup and mid grade graphics card.

The GPU client is where the points are so you don't want to skimp there or on the cpu that can bottleneck it.

Getting points = more work done. More work done = getting more points. Your point of folding is to do work efficiently and in a timely manner. A better setup will be more timely with less errors.

So now you are right back to where I suggested to you on my 1st post...

 

[orangegator]

The Nvidia gpu client uses very little cpu power. Unlike with gaming, a weak cpu will not bottleneck a powerful gpu when folding.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

The Nvidia gpu client uses very little cpu power. Unlike with gaming, a weak cpu will not bottleneck a powerful gpu when folding.

This was my experience as well.

 

[englandr753]

True but I think he intends to run the cpu and gpu client at the same time. That would make the cpu choice more important.

 

[OvrClkr]

I built a folding box back in the day, and when I got my first electric bill I quickly uninstalled FAH, sold my second GPU, and set my computer to automatically turn off at night.

Long story short: beware of the electical cost of folding. My electric bill went from ~$70 to ~$130.

If your electric bill went up by 60.00$ it was not due to folding, well at least with your specs it should not have skyrocketed that high...Unless your neighbor steals your volts every now n then...

I fold as well and the difference between me using the PC 24/7(folding) and not using it at all is around 20 bucks a month....I stopped using my home rig for a month when I went on vacation a couple of months ago and this is how I know the price difference...

 

[amdfangirl]

Well you practically NEED a 9600GSO and a decent CPU seeing as they are so cheap these days.