budget farm build...

fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
edited July 2006 in Folding@Home
I dont think this has been done for a little while (semprons where the last budget build i see), so I think its a good idea to rack our knowledge again to come up with a good budget system for building a folding farm. I see that some Intel cpu's have gotten cheap that include dual cores, but I'd like to get the opinions of you guys, for it might be time for me (and probably some others want to) start building a nice little farm.

TIA

Comments

  • DonutDonut Maine New
    edited July 2006
    I was hoping I was on the right track with an 805D and an Asus p5p800se, keeping AGP and DDR, but the board won't hold up (at least for me)

    I guess we'll have to see what happens with the prices when the new Intel procs become mainstream.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2006
    The two best strategies I see would be to either:

    A) Buy fairly recent stuff just after it drops in price due to recent hardware releases. I'm with Donut about waiting to see what's going to happen once the new systems come out. With AM2 and DDR2 poised to really make a splash, there are going to be some decent Socket 939 systems available at a nice price.

    -or-

    B) Go budget all the way and load up on Semprons.

    Once I have enough dough to consider a farm I'm giving serious thought to trying to go for the fairly recent stuff, with an eye toward turning it over every year (or maybe even more often than that).

    Cheapo system:

    Sempron 64 2600+ $60
    ASUS K8U-X $41

    Socket 754 system, I'd use an old PCI vid card for setup, any old RAM and PSU, plus an eBay special $10 HD.


    Better system:

    Athlon 64 3500+ $111
    MSI 761GM2-V $50

    Socket 939 system, onboard video. Same as above for RAM, etc.
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited July 2006
    newegg has pretty good deals on moherboards and cpu combo's, i mean they are like PC chips boards but still a proc and a board for like $80? come on
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    But it's PC chips... with their boards, it's more like renting than buying, because your functionality won't last too long.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    There are a bunch of other mobo in the same price range, ECS, Giga, even an ocasional Asus with a Sis chipset. Some of these are old nF3 systems. One thing holding me back for picking up a couple of cheap P4 systems is the power usage.

    It is a good thought. Let's see where prices go in the next two weeks. After all AMD has promised to still deliver the most power for the money after Core2 hits.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    ok say we take prof's cheapo system vs a intel 805 with $ being the factor and building 4 folding clients, the beginning of a farm...(this is not EXACT $ amounts, just quick glances at newegg. I'm sure $ can be saved with some research)

    SETUP 1:AMD Sempron 2600+
    CPU 1.6ghz $60 + mobo $41 + 512mb pc3200 $40 + 400w psu $34
    we will consider u get mobo's with onboard video/nic and use old hdd's
    CPU is single core so we must x4 with this setup to get 4 folding instances...

    (60+41+40+34) x4 = $700

    SETUP 2:INTEL 805D Dual Core
    CPU 2.66ghz $116 + mobo $45 + 512mb DDR/DDR2 $40 +400w psu $34
    we will consider u get mobo's with onboard video/nic and use old hdd's
    CPU is dual core so we must x2 with this setup to get 4 folding instances...

    (116+45+40+34) x2 = $470 :wow:

    the cheapest AMD dual core is $297
    I understand the 805D probably is not the most efficient folding cpu.
    I only spent about 15mins on this...if you see an error let me know.

    fc6
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    Within a couple weeks, the D820 (2.8GHz/800MHz FSB) will be around $90 new. The only drawbacks with dual core Intels is that the motherboards require DDR2. We are not likely to get donated DDR2. Apart from memory demands, there is no affordable AMD alternative. I am not an Intel fanboy by any means. I really, really wish AMD had an alternative to the Conroe. But with that said, there is nothing affordable (for the team fund) that can keep pace with the cheap Intel D series dual cores.

    Don't get me wrong, I understand that we need to use the team's stock that is already in the parts bin. But we should be judicious with new acquisitions. I mean, we've already got more parts than we can get rid of, right?
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    Leo...I did find some mobo's that support Intel D procs and regular DDR, although I wont say they are the best option, but the point of my budget farm build was based on $ only.

    I also agree with your view on AMD. I sure hope they get something going.

    As of June 27, 2005, the SMx parts bin has the following:....
    CPUs
    1 - Athlon XP 2500+
    2 - Athlon XP 2000+ 1
    1 - Duron 1.3GHz
    1 - Duron 950
    1 - Duron 800
    1 - Celeron 800

    any way to see an updated parts list?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    OK, I did some checking - looks like the 820s wont' be under $100 probably until October.
    But on October 1st, Intel will introduce the 3GHz 925 - with no VT included at $133 to fill a certain hole in the market, whatever that hole is. That introduction will be followed by price cuts on the 915 and the 820 to $113 and $93 respectively.
    If you can put up with the heat and extra power consumption, nothing comes close to bang for buck for Folding with the 805s and 820s.

    But then, we'll see what dual core Opteron and AMD X2 prices are in October as well.

    Concerning the Team's parts bin: I though we had a P4 3.2 HT Northwood in there as well. Did we already issue that?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2006
    Leonardo wrote:
    ...Concerning the Team's parts bin: I though we had a P4 3.2 HT Northwood in there as well. Did we already issue that?
    Nope. :D

    That parts list is extremely out of date. For the last year we've been rolling out a rig (new or reissue) nearly every three weeks; it just got to be a pain keeping things current. Throw in the fact that we've been trying to upgrade some of the older rigs and parts have been flying around like mad. I intend to take the opportunity provided by the recent lull in activity to get things straightened out.

    That beast of a P4 you're referring to is good for roughly 2000/ppw. Once we get all our gaps filled we're going to get the SMx Project back on track in a big way. Of course, we're going to need some more good Hosts. ;)
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2006
    profdlp wrote:
    Nope. :D

    That parts list is extremely out of date. For the last year we've been rolling out a rig (new or reissue) nearly every three weeks; it just got to be a pain keeping things current. Throw in the fact that we've been trying to upgrade some of the older rigs and parts have been flying around like mad. I intend to take the opportunity provided by the recent lull in activity to get things straightened out.

    That beast of a P4 you're referring to is good for roughly 2000/ppw. Once we get all our gaps filled we're going to get the SMx Project back on track in a big way. Of course, we're going to need some more good Hosts. ;)

    hah...I have that same processor in the hp in the living room, I have it folding two instances, and I have set the affinity, hasnt seemed to churn out a point yet.:thumbsup:

    btw prof, I am sending those p4's tommorow, promise. Just been busy and forgot about 'em, I have them all boxed up for ya.:wave:
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2006
    airbornflght wrote:
    ...btw prof, I am sending those p4's tommorow, promise. Just been busy and forgot about 'em, I have them all boxed up for ya.:wave:
    Yippee - another reason to put off updating the parts list. ;D

    J/K - I'll be happy to add them when they arrive. :D
  • Ultra-NexusUltra-Nexus Buenos Aires, ARG
    edited July 2006
    I am about to build a small folding farm consisting of two ECS mATX ATI x1100 chipset with everything onboard, AM2... on newegg its like 46dls or something... I bought 2 sets of OCZ value 2x256Mb so both CPUs run at DC. The main reason I went for a AM2 for this budget project is that we have to consider that this platform should last up to quad core CPUs... imagine that for performance efficiency!

    Now that AMD have cut the prices big time, a pair or 3200+ for $xx is an excelent deal IMO and even more If I can OC those beasties a few 100´s Mhz more... ;)

    What do u think?

    EDIT: Link to the motherboard in question: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135011
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