Maximum PC

Will be starting a new thread with some ideas for Ridiculous Build 2.0 shortly..

Should I be going for server side with Quad CPU and tons of cores or lean towards the GPU side? Im going to build something with tons of CPU power for the hell of it...but maybe instead of 4 Optys I should get two and put the extra cash to GPU...

Just need a direction so i can make a list of parts for approval..

Something about having a QUAD opteron board with 12 cores each just sounds fun..

I ask because my last visit here was in March...been away for too long, have no clue whats been going on...

With the recent changes in BigAdv requirements, I would opt for server side (16+ cores). The consensus is it generates way more points than GPU, with less electricity.

Yeah, I too am thinking of going the CPU route in a few months. I might go with a nice supermicro 4P board even though they are around the 700-800 range, it'll allow me to just plug one cpu in there now and upgrade as I need to. Probably go with a 12 or 16 core opteron, but a lot of the hard ocp guys don't like the new bulldozer designed chips.

hey, how is it going, haven't seen you here in a while, lots of oldtimers seem to be showing up and folding again.

that's cause of the onslaught of HPCS, need to recall all the folding vets to help stave off defeat!

I've done a ton of research on the subject, but for the immediate and near future, 4P seems to be the way to go. There are tons of threads in multiple places to find info, but the [H] forum seems to be the best place to go. Someone else recently started up a 2P thread here and I posted some specifics there. Basically, you can build a 'starter' 4P rig for as little as $1100-$1400 and build a good one for around $1600-$2000 more. The price difference would be in the CPUs used. The starter would be two to four of Opteron 6128s, the 'good' build would be with four Opteron 6166 HE or 6174s.
Power usage is really nice on the rigs. For the 'starter' rig, you're looking around 400-500 watts being pulled and the 'good' rig will pull around 650-750 Watts. Points are around 200k-300k PPD on the 'starter' and 450k-550k+ PPD on the 'good' rig.

I kind of want to go towards the 6272 interlagos 16 core build, but wonder if my money would be better spent on the older 6128 magny-cours 8 core cpu's since those can be found used on ebay for uber cheap. But if I spend 700+ on a mobo for a 4P setup, I probably only have 500ish left to budget for the cpu(s). Or I could go with a 2P setup and save 300-400.

I'll probably build this as a 24/7 folding machine but have 1-2 cores set aside for home server duty and light hosting abilities.

If you only have $500 for CPUs, go for the 6128s. They'll do better than the 62xx points wise and power wise. The guy selling them on feebay should take around $400 if you offer for four (BIN is @ $150 each, IIRC).

really? $100 for those chips now? I thought the lowest was $150 per chip even when buying in bulk. But the question I have now is if its a better idea to go with a 2P 6272 or a 4P 6128? I'd still need to get a case and cpu coolers, but those are easy to find thanks the Hard OCP lists. I have a 700w psu that I can reuse from my older gaming rig, unless that's not enough?

I'm probably thinking (and more likely) going towards a simple 2P setup now that I think about it, just for the size factor.

Now I wonder if I can get a cheap 1U or 2U rack chassis?

I'd go with a 6272 over the 6128 if those are the only two options. As for the 1U or 2U rack, I thought I saw some on the egg for around $100, but I don't really know. Check this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERMICRO-AS-2 ... 20c177c1ed

throw in some chips and memory, ready to rock.

^OH SNAP! that looks sick... and not that expensive of what I was thinking what a barebones 4P setup would cost w/ a 1400w psu... nice

If I go 4P, I'd probably stick with 6128's. What would be a good cpu cooler to fit in a 2U rack? I haven't even looked at Hard OCP forum on smaller cpu coolers.

It's really not between the 6128 or the 6272, but thoses seemed the most cost effective specially the 6128 used. I looked at the dodeca cores, but they still seem quite expensive for what they are, unless we can find someone selling them fairly reasonable?


God... I wish modern games released server files so I could host my own gaming servers. Maybe I'll just startup a small LLC company for game hosting just so I can do this for my clan. If edgegamers can do it, I think I can (minus having 300+ members). lol

I really want something to use a test bed for server applications in home since I'm getting a sys admin job soon, plus do some folding on the side.

I have been seeing a lot of post about 2p and 4p builds. I just cant see doing a 4p system. The motherboards are $700 and up. The cases are hard to find and cost a lot. Then you have the cost of 4 CPU's and memory as many of those boards need Registered ECC RAM. Also, unless you are running some form of Linux, you will need a copy of server 2008. If it it were me I would go with a 2p system using a $400 Asus Motherboard, two 16 core interlagos socket G34 CPU's (32 Cores Total), and a case that can handle E-ATX motherboards. That way you can still use Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.

You could also go with a $270 Asus board (it is standard ATX), two 8 core socket C32 interlagos CPU's at 3.0 GHz. I dont know if that is enough to fold bigadv. But is would be a total of 16 cores and at least 400 - 600MHz faster than an affordable G34 interlagos or Magny CPU, in fact I dont think any of the G34 CPU's go as high as 3.0 GHz.

^actually, if you go on Hard OCP, they list quite a few cheap cases that can house a big 4P mobo. And most server boards are able to accept ECC RDIMM or non-ECC UDIMM's.


And yes, I would be running a form a linux. Either that, I could probably bum a copy of server 2008 from the new job since my friend is the main sys admins.

Do you have a link to these cases? I am building a multi CPU system for use as a VM server and need to run at least 16 virtual machines. Because the 4p boards don use the ATX form factor, they use the MEB form factor, I had a hard time finding any case that was not over $500.

LOL, yup...it's a buzz topic lately. 4P would be a good build if you take the time to research and purchase well. They're out there, but I've just had issues with the process and took a leap. The 2P I'm toying with is a Xeon dually and is about $600 with just one CPU. So add another 1366 Xeon for another $600 to net 16-cores and you're pushing that price Gero's pointing at for Opties. What's out there on Socket 1366 is what is left though, and I'm not sure if AMD's in the same boat. S2011 is pretty much out of reach for most of us IMO, as the quotes I'm getting even after discounts for just the lower end CPU is twice what these talked about dually builds cost new.

GPU's just don't cut it when it comes to money spent; up front and daily power bills. They rock if you just happen to have them already, but I just feel no further desire to buy more to up ppd any more. To ax a 6K ppd for a 12K ppd card has us forking out $250 for what's really a 6K gain. Great if you're adding the card to the farm, but eventually you run out of cases and are in need of replacing. It begins to feel like you're chasing your tail. And the power bill from just one 40K box with an i7 and two GTX cards will haunt you monthly.

In a business sense, the pay-off for building a dedicated folding farm off a server platform is w/in one year; which is spectacular! If I shut down the folding (not the boxes, just stop folding on them), I see an easy $150 off the electricity bill ($1800 a year). Coming from my standpoint, starting up one 500-600W machine to kill 5 others (of various pulls) just makes a lot of practical sense.

The down side of all this is the folding effort in itself, which I'm entirely unsure of. I just looked at HFM.net before restarting the box (cleaning time), it looks at all my nodes, and there were a LOT of WU's completed this month. To lose all those boxes for one server may mean more points, but HAS to be much less WU's to turn in to Stanford. I mean my itty bitty garage box turned in 80 WU's the past 4 days. It'd be a shame to trade in completed WU counts in lieu of folding points in the name of glamor. <-those are my words, not yours...don't feel bad either way you go dudes!
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If you build to fold, I'd just think pretty hard about the goal you have in mind. GPU's will net you good points while you can game with them and spit a lot of 300-600 credit units out daily. The Caveat is the power draw overall. With a CPU, a good OC has you at about 15kppd for what is really an entire build decision (GPU's fit in old $20 boards w/ P4's) for about the same cost as a GPU producer of the same pricing point. With QRB's gone for most desktops, it's GPU's by default. I leave out my opinion of a server only because it's pretty impractical. I see mine not doing anything but folding, and that's just not fun for the most part. Like the iTX WHS, it'll be stuffed away never to be seen nor touched.

well most of these cases required some sort of cutting and modding to work. Can't find the list, but someone here linked it in another thread.

For those that are interested here is the specs of the computer that I will be building in April (Tax time). I will use it to fold when not needing it for VM use.

Antec 300 Case - 69.99
Asus KCMA-D8 Dual Socket C32 ATX Motherboard – 289.99
Rosewill Hive PSU 650 Watt – 84.99 (May pay more for Corsair)
Opteron Valencia C32 8 core 3.0 GHz CPU – 699.98 (For 2 CPU’s)
Corsair XMS3 16 GB (4x4GB) – 159.98 (For 2 sets, 32 GB Total)
Zalman CNPS5x AMP CPU cooler – 59.98 (For 2 Coolers)
Total Before tax or shipping – 1364.91

The Asus board comes with an adapter to use AM2/3 CPU coolers. I will be using on board video. Also you wont need as much RAM as I am using, this build is for a VM Server Running Server 2008 RS Datacenter and Hyper-V. I would max out the ram because it is so cheap now, but you can easily get by with 4 GB per CPU.

EDIT: For the case i may also go with a Rosewill 4U rack mount case for $79.99.

The ideal with most of these are that you build into them and not go all the way all in one shot. That's what makes an Opty build chewable for most folks...you can start off with one 16-core machine to even qualify for -BigAdv QRB's and buy another CPU later. With a 1366 build, you chew on SMP units until you have another $600 to spare. With both, that idea is best jumped into at the beginning of the socket and not the end (1366). What if the 16-core minimum is just a temporary hike? What if you build a 2P based from dual 8's like I'm trying? You're out of room and in a dead socket. You build on hope that your faster 16-core stays within requirements for a while!

2U builds are tough. I'm showing my frustrations in the 2P thread currently. Most run nekkid on a shelf or desktop because 2U is pretty tight for loaded CPU's and they opt for tall tower coolers. I'm use to seeing forced draft cases and passive coolers, but for under $200 I'm not seeing that in 2U chassis' (they're loud anyway). My board's ATX and can easily stuff it into an old Soho case, but I do love the idea of racking it in instead of sitting on some floor. I'm sure there's simple and low cost methods out there, I've just yet to see them.

(Forum burp of some sorts...sorry for the split posts)
Doh! Not just me then I see

Might want to see the 2P thread and the pondering of deadlines. Those older Opties may net 100K just a few days ago, but they may not currently due to deadlines. Remember, it's not just a core count we're talking about lately. Deadlines could go way down. Hate to see you spend $1,400 on a folding box just to net SMP style points. I think there use to be a 4 day deadline which those CPU's could chug out easily. If it goes to two days, who knows if they can? I don't.

And I'm with ya as far as April goes. This is suppose to be my first good year in taxes (house, wife, kid, cars, bike, etc...) and I spent $500 of it on an experiment instead of parts for the Duc which I could use. I hope it turns out well! I keep running to the mail or online to see if my W2 is posted.

The other 2p build i am considering.

Rosewill RSC-L4000 Rack Mount Case – 79.99
Asus KGPE-D16 Dual Socket G34 Motherboard – 4.29.99
Corsair AX750 750 Watt PSU – 169.99
Opteron Interlago 12 core (24 cores total) 2.4 GHz Socket G34 CPU’s 799.98 (For 2 CPU’s)
Corsair XMS3 16 GB (4x4GB) – 319.96 (For 4 sets, 64 GB Total)
Noctua NY-U9DO G34 cooler - 151.98 (For 2 coolers)
Total – 1810.90

Again for folding you wont need near as much RAM. You could go with a cheaper PSU, but i picked this on because it has 2 8 pin CPU power connecters, this mobo needs 2. You could also go with dual 16 core CPU's, but those are between 539.00 and 659.00 each.

Keep in mind that folding is secondary to my reason for the build. This is actually being used to run 16+ virtual machines.