Questions... i7-2600k vs SR-2

[Grampa]

Hi folks,

Long time lurker, first time poster in this section.

I have a bit of downtime coming up in the next little while, that will allow me some time to work on projects (ie. finishing up some computer builds at home etc)

Now I'm not sure if you folks can help or not, but I hope you have some opinions from your experiences to chime in with.

Back in January I was in the midst of acquiring a couple of 1155 based motherboards & cpus wanting to join HWC folding team, (before the chipset debacle) I wanted to see how multiple boards would fair, in terms of ppd/w vs an SR-2.
I had originally sold my sr-2 rig, but ended up buying another board to perhaps give it another go.

Is it still worth it to work on another sr-2 rig for folding?
It appears the 2600k is putting up some really really respectable numbers on air.
Also appears to be much less hassle to get everything set up, and overclocked.

Another question is whether or not anyone is folding more than 2 graphics cards, while folding bigadv/smp on these 1155 boards? (are there any 4way sli boards for 1155?)
Or does the gpu folding eat too many cycles away like with the sr2?

Basically put, I'm still looking to put together a small farm for efficient folding, that will give decent yield.
At the moment I'm looking toward selling off the SR-2 board again (registered already but still brand new in the box, but too late to return), as the 1155 based setup looks very enticing.

Perhaps I'm asking the wrong questions?
Any guidance/opinions/suggestions/input is very much appreciated.
I'm an open book and very much interested to learn of everyone's experience.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

Cheers!

[enaberif]

SR-2 is a whole other ball park to play in.

A 2600k setup will ultimately be cheaper in the long run for many reasons..

SR-2 needs a custom case, twice the processors, ram.. etc etc.

PPD the SR-2 would win and if you have the money to throw at it why not.

[lowfat]

If you can work past the quicks & faults of the SR-2, it is without a doubt the way to go. My pair of E5649's @ 4.1GHz puts out nearly 4x as much as my 2600k would @ 4.7GHz.

As for GPU folding. I really don't recommend doing it on any system running bigadv. You may get a slight increase in PPD, but overall you get significantly lower performance per watt.

As for power consumption, the SR-2 definitely will consume less power than 3-4 2600k systems.

And I wouldn't suggest running 4 GPU's on any LGA1155 board, even if boards do exist. P67 chipsets only have 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes. It just doesn't have the bandwidth for more than 2 cards.

[chrisk]

The SR-2s are a high risk, high reward proposition. Really boils down to how much money you have, and possibly, a huge test of patience.

Personally, I would stick to a couple of 2600K builds for a starter to folding. I stopped running GPU folding in conjunction with the cpu/bigadv folding as I found that the extra wattage did not warrant the small increase in ppd. I was getting 10-11K on my 460s, and losing 8-9K from the bigadv in the process so my gpus sit idle right now. That said, I have not tried any recent WUs that would lead me to believe that I would see a good net gain in ppd if I ran both.

[Grampa]

I don't want to sound defeatist or like I'm giving up on the SR-2.
I love the features of the SR-2, which is why I was originally drawn to the board.

Cost isn't a major factor (as I'm willing to spend the same amount on either platform to get up and running)
Just want less headache than the first time around lol
Maybe I'll do as Lowfat and others suggested to me and cool the cpus with Megahalems, instead of building another loop.
I think it was maybe the loop I was building that was giving me frustrations.
It was my first time doing WC.

I read that the xeon pricing was reshuffled and a few new models came out, but I'll probably be looking at the lower TDP ranges regardless.
Trying to maximize benefit, and minimize waste where possible.

[ilya]

I would go for 2600k's for the first time around, unlocked multipliers makes for easy overclocking and simple board selection. Don't have to worry about getting exotic cases/components that are compatible too.

I'm personally waiting for the Ivy Bridge die shrink and z68 boards so I can set up a fire and forget low consumption folding box. Until then my lucky batch X3440 should hold me over.

Originally Posted by lowfat

And I wouldn't suggest running 4 GPU's on any LGA1155 board, even if boards do exist. P67 chipsets only have 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes. It just doesn't have the bandwidth for more than 2 cards.

AFAIK people have tried folding in 1x slots and noticed very little performance loss running F@H.

[_dangtx_]

2600k all the way, sr2 headaches not worth it!

[3.0charlie]

Originally Posted by lowfat

If you can work past the quicks & faults of the SR-2, it is without a doubt the way to go. My pair of E5649's @ 4.1GHz puts out nearly 4x as much as my 2600k would @ 4.7GHz.

As for GPU folding. I really don't recommend doing it on any system running bigadv. You may get a slight increase in PPD, but overall you get significantly lower performance per watt.

As for power consumption, the SR-2 definitely will consume less power than 3-4 2600k systems.

I second this. SR2 headaches are really worth it.

ppd/watts
ppd/$

Nothing can be it.

I'm building an X58 dedicated folder for 550$. We'll see how the numbers compare.

[lowfat]

2600k x 3 $990
ASUS P8P67 x 3 $510
4GB DDR3 x 3 $120
Thermaltake TR2 430W PSU x 3 $150
Radeon HD 5450 x 3 $115
Antec 300 x 3 $130

= $2015


E5645 x 2 $1100
SR-2 $600
6GB DDR3 $80
COUGAR SX700 PSU $150
HD 5450 $40
CM 690 II A $100

$2070. SR2 is a tad more money but it will consume considerably less power. And produce probably a good 10k to 20k more PPD.

[Charloz24]

Originally Posted by lowfat

2600k x 3 $990
ASUS P8P67 x 3 $510
4GB DDR3 x 3 $120
Thermaltake TR2 430W PSU x 3 $150
Radeon HD 5450 x 3 $115
Antec 300 x 3 $130

= $2015


E5645 x 2 $1100
SR-2 $600
6GB DDR3 $80
COUGAR SX700 PSU $150
HD 5450 $40
CM 690 II A $100

$2070. SR2 is a tad more money but it will consume considerably more power. And produce probably a good 10k to 20k more PPD.

Wow I was under the impression that a 1000W+ power supply was needed... and was thinking also more ram was needed....

Good to know Lowfat