P3 600 needs OS [Archive] - Icrontic Forums

Volvo

2 Jan 2005, 4:35pm

:scratch:
Hey,
I've been folding with this old PC and it's hardly getting anything done.
CPU Intel P3, RAM 256 Megs, MB Intel Sunriver, HD WD 80 Gig, OS Linux Ubuntu.
This box is folding in a termial window on the GUI desktop.
I don't pretend to know much about folding but I've set most of my PC's to fold as a service in WIN 2K and they fold fine. I've been playing with various flavors of Linux to increase my level of frustration.
I'm about to finish a WU on this old box and I've considered changing it's OS. I have access to most OSes except XP. Should I change it or leaved it alone???
-=Volvo=-

muddocktor

2 Jan 2005, 5:32pm

Volvo

2 Jan 2005, 6:12pm

I have no idea of whether a Windows OS folds better or worse than a Linux distribution any more. Used to be, the Tinkers folded much better in Windows and Gromacs folded faster in Linux, but the Stanford bunch has been optimizing the code for years now so I think they are all pretty comparable in folding speed.

I would say to run what you feel comfortable with, but that's just me. :cool:
Then about the only thing we can do to a maxed old box is to add RAM if we want to increase it's folding output?
Thanks for your reply,
-=Volvo=-
Look out I finally got 1000 points ;)

muddocktor

2 Jan 2005, 7:01pm

Since you already have 256 MB ram, you would only see a very minimal increase in efficiency with that old rig. If you already have the ram that's fine, but don't spend any money to add more ram for folding. The best way to increase it's efficiency would be to overclock it if that proc is a coppermine 600 and the board supports overclocking.

Volvo

2 Jan 2005, 7:44pm

No overclocking on this Intel SunRiver board :mad:
Thanks,
-=Volvo=-

mmonnin

3 Jan 2005, 4:00am

He could add RAM so he can get the BIG WUs. They are worth more since you let Stanford use up more of your RAM. Other than that there is nothing you can do.

Volvo

3 Jan 2005, 8:18am

He could add RAM so he can get the BIG WUs. They are worth more since you let Stanford use up more of your RAM. Other than that there is nothing you can do.
Hi Mmonnin,
I have a pc at work w/512 megs and my old trusty P3 933 Xeon has 1 gig I'm doing big WU's with them.
The P3 600 isn't worth upgrading to 512 it's quite fussy about Ram. It would BSD after a good workout until I spent $84 for a 256Mg stick. The Intel specs said it would run on lower quality RAM but they lied.
I'm waiting for a P4 3500, Intel D915PBL Motherboard, and 1 copy of XP Pro from Intel should arrive in 2 days. Cost me $218.+ from Intel it was a reasellers special of some sort that my nephew let me in on. I had to give them a code watch a bunch of short videos online and pass a 10 question test to qualify for the purchase. Although that part was a great deal I'm moanin about the $260 I have to part with to get a gig of decent Patriot Extreme Performance 240-Pin 512MB DDR2 PC2-4400 W/ Extreme Bandwidth and Latency and another $70 for a PCI express video card. I had some money for an AMD64 system and now I have another bunch of Intel stuff ugh.
-=Volvo=-

Tim

6 Jan 2005, 6:30pm

Volvo -

You might consider building another computer for folding, Newegg has several Abit boards in the $40-$70 range that should work well, add the fastest processor you can find that the board will take, and 256 MB or more memory. Should be able to assemble all you need (case, power supply, small hard drive, MB, CPU, RAM, etc for about $300 at the most. Abit boards are good for overclocking.

I'd stick with Windows 2000 for folding, it's similar to XP but uses less system resources. 98 might even be a little better, since it's simpler, but I haven't tested it or anything.

I've got a 366 Mhz P2 Dell laptop that runs better on 2000 Pro than it did on XP Home. It's folding right now, but the current work unit is going to take a total of about 16 days!

P3 or Celeron, I don't think a 600 Mhz CPU will ever be a fast folder.