Maximum PC

What is the best AMD CPU for folding? I already have all other components and a max budget of $250 for the CPU. This budget should be enough, as no AMD I have seen cracks that amount.I folded a while back, cracked the top 1000 then had to quit, due to extreme power bills, as I gpu folded on a GTX 560ti. I am going to get back into folding using a new CPU, which should be a lot more power efficient.

Other info needed available on request.

check this thread. http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=140211

Thanks for the reply, however I live in Canada and MemoryExpress is my cheapest option. They do not carry the Phenom II X6 1055t, or any other Phenom II X6. They do however carry the 8120, and I could easily overclock. Would that be comparable?

whats wrong with newegg canada?

They don't have any Phenom II X6 chip either, and the 8120 is the same price at Newegg as it is at MemoryExpress. However, MemoryExpress is local and so I won't have to pay for shipping.

I think Tiger direct ships to canada and their price is worth paying the shipping http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1724262&CatId=4431

they have this one also http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=61038&CatId=4431

Thanks for the first link. I will be getting that processor. I will get it from NCIX however, as they are based in British Columbia, and the shipping will take a 1/3 of the time. They currently have it for $10 more.

Edit: Until my CPU comes in, I am going to fire up my GTX 560ti when I have spare time.

Where exactly are you? If you aren't too far from a border crossing, there are shipping warehouses on the south side of it or even the US Post Office. You could have it shipped to there from a U.S. distributor, then take a quick jog over the line to pick it up.

I live Alberta, Calgary, so shipping from BC will be fairly quick.

If summertime heat & power consumption are a factor, then I would look into one of the older Phenom X6 10xx series CPU's as they still give decent performance & can overclock well without a huge gain in system wattage. They won't catapult you into the top 20, but can land ya firmly in the top 50 in ppd production.

Summertime heat & system power consumption asside, I think the best best bang for the AMD buck would have to go to FX-8120, & people have had good luck overclocking them on air cooling alone up to 5GHz. Down side is heat generation & total system wattage used. While an 8120 at 4GHz will get you a pretty decent boost over even a 1090t @ 4GHz when it comes to folding (especially when folding some of the more recent WU's that have been released), you're paying for that boost through extra heat & about 30-80 Watts higher power draw, but at up to 35% higher ppd on some of the latest WU's, it can be a decent trade-off...


On higher clocked 8120's (4.2 - 4.8GHz) I've seen reported average ppd of about 18K - 22K. Compared to my own 1055t @ 3.5GHz which can barely top 15K with a good mix of WU's & closer to 12K - 13K on an average mix.

G.M.'s post of my thread where I was getting over 44K ppd on this lowly little 1055t, while fun, was due to a bad initial benchmark of the 8046 WU. After being rebenched, the point total & perfered deadline were both lowered by more than 50% killing the ungodly numbers. It's still a great performer after the points adjustments, still reaching around 15K ppd on my back to stock 2.8GHz 1055t, but without a steady stream of these, @ 2.8GHz, I'm only averaging about 9K ppd, while a stock 8120 can average about 12K-14K ppd with only a small increase in power usage, while from what I've read, a stock 8150 will get you into the 16K-18K, but with an even larger increase in power usage.




Honestly Intel is the way to go right now... an Ivy-Bridge i7-3770K, while over the $250 limit (but with added bonus of hyperthreading), clocked @ 4.5GHz can average around 50K ppd on a decent mix of WU's & still uses less electricity than my 2.8GHz 1055t. While an i5-3570K which comes in under the $250 limit (but without the hyperthreading bonus), at the same 4.5GHz can still average around 30K-35K ppd. You'd need an 8150 clocked at about 6GHz to reach 35K ppd, but would be using more than twice the system wattage of the i5-3570K in doing so...

Heat and Power consumption are not big factors for me. And the 8120 and 8150 are both available locally. So no shipping costs.

Well, someone along the line has to pay for the power & cooling, so save the "someone" a few bucks on power and save the environment from pollution that generating said power causes.

I agree... & before jumping on an 8150... check out it's power consumption:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/0 ... k-review/8 especially the 4.818GHz overclock loaded consumption.... 586 Watts Vs 244 Watts for the 3770K at 4.8GHz. And also the fact that a 30% overclock = a 240% increase in power consumption...

To put that into a more relavent perspective: With either processor clocked at 4.8GHz, cloning the hardware Bit-Tech used, & folding 24/7.
3770K should give you about 1.62 million points per month, and cost you 179 KiloWatt Hours per month in electricity.
8150 should give you about 0.77 million points per month, and cost you 428 KiloWatt hours per month in electricity.

For me, at my current electricity rate of $0.172 per kWh after fuel sur-charge:
3770K would cost me just $30.79 per month to run FAH 24/7 or about 52,614 points per dollar of electricity used.
8150 would cost me $73.62 per month to run FAH 24/7 or about 10,459 points per dollar of electricity used.

Now assuming I decide, well, I'll sacrifice that overclock for the sake of saving money & run the 8150 at stock speed... well now the electricity cost is equalled out, but at the cost of points... to the tune of just 0.51 million points per month at a cost of 179 KiloWatt Hours per month in electricity. So I'm now running at 16,793 points per dollar of electricity but with a lower total point output.

Your electricity costs and points per dollar of electricity used will obviously differ based mostly on your total cost per kWh of electricity, and exact system hardware specs.

Cooling is simple, the computer in question is kept in a basement that is almost always cool. And my power bill is a fixed rate of 8 cents per kilowatt hour. How ever, the sheer amount of power used is just scary. My PSU is a good Corsair 650 watt, but I already have a GTX 560ti in there. That kind of power usage might push it over the proverbial edge.

I might go with the Phenom II x6 series, as they look to use less power under load. 6 real cores should be better than 4 hyper - threaded cores.