folding@home thread. Updated as necessary - _dangtx_

[bwm]

Why doesn't anyone build a mobo designed from scratch to be a dedicated GPU folder?
Gotta be a reason for it, even cascading power supplies wouldn't be that hard to do as
long as yer talking at least two motherboards crammed with GPU's only.

[bwm]

Chill time for 2nite bro. Catch yaz l8rz.

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by bwm

Whatdaya think I'd get a bigger bang from the buck from: socket 764 to 1366 quads
or just upfrading the video cards after the new family is released. Yeah dump question
cuz I'll wind up doing both anyway but which one first?

CPU. An overclocked i7 folding -bigadv workunits puts out more points per day than two overclocked GTX275s.

Originally Posted by bwm

Why doesn't anyone build a mobo designed from scratch to be a dedicated GPU folder?

Because it wouldn't sell very well. There are already several boards perfect for multi-GPU folding, like the MSI K9A2 Platinum, MSI P6N Diamond, MSI 790FX-GD70, ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution, ASUS P6T7 Supercomputer, ASRock X58 Deluxe, EVGA X58 4X SLI Classified, etc.

[Dead Things]

Originally Posted by Zero82z

MSI K9A2 Platinum, MSI P6N Diamond, MSI 790FX-GD70, ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution, ASUS P6T7 Supercomputer, ASRock X58 Deluxe, EVGA X58 4X SLI Classified, etc.

You forgot my beloved ASUS P7P55 WS Supercomputer. *sniff*

But Zero's right - Bigadv provides the highest PPD ceiling right now, and from a PPD/W perspective it's a non-contest. Which I suppose is why, despite my better judgment, I just couldn't help but buy one of these: Newegg.ca - TYAN S4985G3NR Thunder n4250QE Quad 1207(F) NVIDIA nForce4 Professional 2200 + 2050 SSI MEB footprint Four AMD Opteron (Rev. F) 8000 series (dual/quad-core) processors Server Motherboard - Server Motherboar.

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by Dead Things

You forgot my beloved ASUS P7P55 WS Supercomputer. *sniff*

That's what the "etc." was for . There are others besides that and the ones I listed also, including a plentiful number of triple-GPU boards (such as my beloved Foxconn P45 ELA), and a whole bunch of server/workstation-class motherboards.

Originally Posted by Dead Things

Which I suppose is why, despite my better judgment, I just couldn't help but buy one of these: Newegg.ca - TYAN S4985G3NR Thunder n4250QE Quad 1207(F) NVIDIA nForce4 Professional 2200 + 2050 SSI MEB footprint Four AMD Opteron (Rev. F) 8000 series (dual/quad-core) processors Server Motherboard - Server Motherboar.

This might interest you then: Skynet!! - [H]ard|Forum

[_dangtx_]

Originally Posted by bwm

Ah man I've had some wild thoughts for a farm, like that damn nvidia mini supercomputer thingie, lord knows what that thing would to basic PPD but it'd bring down the roof with noise LOL. Gotta tell ya though, I think for the most part that the current 260's and 275's are pretty quiet in a decent case if all the other fans are standard 120mm case fans or uber quier 80's that still pump out some air. The later point is where I lose faith and have dropped back to 120's wherever possbile. But with one truth still heading the list, that being that in GPU folding the CPU doesn't do Jack squat except handle IRQ's and some memory management, I'm tempted to cheap out on motherboards, low-end of whatever is current, and one or two steps up from bottom on GPU cards. That's basically what I have now and they do better than I expected. But it does force me to never forget about overclocking again on the CPU and mobo, so there I'd be late as usual, leting all you guys see how they OC before I start throwing money into it.

cheap doesnt have to mean bad. gigabyte, i bought me bro a miniatx for..hmm..50-60? dropped a cheapo duallie in it, oc'ed to 3. something, a DECENT 1GHZ OC OF COURSE ON STOCK COOLING. thats a good brand for you. not spending 300 bucks lol.

Originally Posted by Zero82z

CPU. An overclocked i7 folding -bigadv workunits puts out more points per day than two overclocked GTX275s.

Because it wouldn't sell very well. There are already several boards perfect for multi-GPU folding, like the MSI K9A2 Platinum, MSI P6N Diamond, MSI 790FX-GD70, ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution, ASUS P6T7 Supercomputer, ASRock X58 Deluxe, EVGA X58 4X SLI Classified, etc.

how about costs? i7 is still expensive :) power consumption is interesting on that output tough.

Originally Posted by Dead Things

You forgot my beloved ASUS P7P55 WS Supercomputer. *sniff*

But Zero's right - Bigadv provides the highest PPD ceiling right now, and from a PPD/W perspective it's a non-contest. Which I suppose is why, despite my better judgment, I just couldn't help but buy one of these: Newegg.ca - TYAN S4985G3NR Thunder n4250QE Quad 1207(F) NVIDIA nForce4 Professional 2200 + 2050 SSI MEB footprint Four AMD Opteron (Rev. F) 8000 series (dual/quad-core) processors Server Motherboard - Server Motherboar.

holy crap. 4 quad core cpus? what ppd you may get out of it and whats the total mobo+cpus+ram cost??


and...waiiiiit a minute here






4 pci-e slots as well????????????????/ good lord all mighty!!!!

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

how about costs? i7 is still expensive :)

GPUs are pretty expensive too. And you need a system to house them, so it might as well be an i7 rig.

[_dangtx_]

well...how about the 100$ or less k9 platinum(the one with 4 pcie slotS) with whatever cpu in it and some 60$ 4gb ddr2 ram? that should be good. if you do the math, lets say 70 dollars per 8800gt. oc each, get say 5k straight. thats 20k out of 4 gt's. in my hands it will be 24k lol but thats me. now say the cpu is a nice lil ole 620 quad. again, with a 20$ cooler found on here, it will do a decent 2.5k ppd oc'ed. psu for all this? hmm..i say a corsair 850 watter should do well. 100$ used.

but then 260's will come down in price. say you snatch 3 for 100-120 each...hmmmm....

[Dead Things]

Originally Posted by Zero82z

This might interest you then: Skynet!! - [H]ard|Forum

Indeed! The daughter board is both difficult to source and stupid expensive. Twice as much as the motherboard, as if that makes any sense at all. So I have contented myself with just 16-core folding. *sigh*

Two things I don't like about his build:
1) 8347's are BA stepping, hence TLB errata, hence folding probably won't work out so well for him
2) I frown in the general direction of his passive heatsinks. Those 8347's have the same TDP as a Q6600. Could you imagine putting a 1U passive heatsink on a Q6600? No thanks!

But a noble endeavour indeed, and I certainly wish him the best. Tell him he only needs to plug in the 4-pin ATX cable if he's using quad-rank ECC RAM - so if he's not, then he'd be better off getting a 4pin-8pin adapter than a molex-8pin adapter for the second CPU pair.

I too will be going with an ultra-ghetto homemade test bench for my build. Parts are starting to trickle in now (just got the CPUs this morning!) so expect to see some progress reports show up in the Worklogs section probably tomorrow evening.

[_dangtx_]

interesting. looking forward to it. basically cram lots of power in one box/rig..nice, as long as it stays a 24/7 machine..

heat, yes. those sinks wont cut it. he needs to sxcrew in fans that will suck warm air from them, and have the top vent or side vent exaust it. as that much heat going up would be no good. psu must be on the bottom..the 4 cards..that will be interesting as well.