Maximum PC

Hey all, I just moved back to Ohio and it looks like the movers smashed my desktop somewhat, so I'll probably be replacing some hardware here soon.

Does anyone know of an up-to-date chart listing PPD/$ and PPD/watt for current-gen hardware? I'd like to see numbers for both CPUs and video cards if available.

If someone so much as scratched my desktop gaming and folding rig, I would go thermo - nuclear. I don't know of any exact charts, but the general rule of thumb seems to be that Nvidia cards are the best for folding. Ivy Bridge cpu's crank out PPD and have lower power consumption than any AMD chip.

If you're going to build an exclusive folding machine and have some decent cash, you can build a 4P AMD Opteron rig and get 500k PPD and use only ~600-700W max, the downside is the cost (for this type of rig, $3200 or so). For a lower cost alternative, about $1100-1200, you can build a 'starter' 4P rig (2 processors, add more later); lower wattage too and you can upgrade later.

If not going exclusively for folding, an Intel rig with the best parts that you can get is likely the be best way to go.

It was insured, so the movers should be paying to fix it. This box is my gaming machine, and I'm only expecting maybe $1000 for repairs, so while a 4P Opteron box is alluring, I don't think it's going to happen.

I was figuring on Intel, I have an i7-2600k that probably still works (they asked me to not attempt repairs until they get to look at it). But the motherboard is definitely broken (PCI-E slot wiggles on one end) and the video card might be. (It didn't work in the other PCI-E slot - although I've had trouble with that one in the past).

I guess I'm glad to hear that the Nvidia cards are still on top, it seems like the bitcoin miners are keeping the ATI prices up there. But I was really hoping for an updated version of this thread: viewtopic.php?t=83681

AFAIK, there is no updated, consolidated thread, but feel free to create or update one. It should be fairly easy to find PPD measures for individual parts. i would not at this time recommend a GTX 600 series card, but that is because new FAH cores need to be coded to take full advantage, so in time they will turn out to be reasonably good (better than the 500 series in my guess). No idea or estimate when the new core(s) will be out. As far as the 'older' cards go, I can give you numbers for my cards and CPUs (all on Windows machines):

GTS 450 OC'd to 900ish: 10k PPD on P80xx WUs
GTS 450 OC'd to 920ish: 11k PPD on P80xx WUs
GTX 460 OC'd to 860ish: ~16k PPD on P80xx WUs

appx. OC'd wattage for the 450 and the 460s are 140 Watts: ~70-78 PPD/W


i7 930 @ 3.8 GHz: 12k PPD on P60xx WUs
Phenom 2 720 BE @ 3.0 GHz: ~3.5k PPD
i5 2320 @ stock (3.0 GHz): 10k-15k PPD

From what I've seen, these numbers (maybe minus the i7) are generally around what others are seeing. Unfortunately, the numbers from the 460 & the Phenom 2 are slightly dated as I am currently having troubles with that machine, but the others are pretty accurate for averages.

I get about 16 - 17k ppd on my GTX 560 Ti.
These where once the best value for folding, asides from server folding.

Right now, your best ppd/$ & Watt from a single socket motherboard would probably be from the i7-3770K.

GPU wise ??? The GTX600's will fold, but with current WU's they're no better then the GTX500's in ppd, however, they do use less power... i.e. a reference design 670 is rated for 170 Watts where a reference design 570 is rated for 219 Watts, so in ppd/W the 600's are a clear winner... but they also cost a lot more than their 500 series counterparts...

I get 13K - 16K on my 1st generation (256bit memory) 1GB GTX460, depending on WU & overclock. Of course I've been getting nothing but 8008's since re-starting GPU folding 2 days ago, to the tune of ~13,340ppd avg with the card clocked at 725 Core / 1450 Shader / 1900 Memory. Its also rated at 160 watts Vs 170 Watts for a 560 Ti 384 core or 210 Watts for a 560 Ti 448 core card. Still, I can get over 100 ppd per watt from my GTX460, though the average is closer to 85 ppd/W

Unfortunately, my Phenom X6 is all over the place on ppd... ranging from about 6K - 14K. Last 2 WU's have been these huge 2250 point (before any bonuses) WU's getting about 8,500 ppd when I'm not using the PC, but they take about 40 hours to complete.

As a whole, my system ranges between 64 & 100 ppd per watt & probably averages about 72 ppd/W. A system based on the i7-3770K should get 2 - 3 times that.

Currently my ASUS GTX670 (non-TOP) is averaging 15k PPD on an 8008. So PPD isn't so great but temps and power usage is a lot better.

In terms of gaming, this card is a monster.

Cool, thanks for the details. No insurance money yet, so who knows how long it will take before I get to use any of this advice...