ICx Rigs Pricing Guide

Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
edited October 2007 in Folding@Home
As most of you know the team is about to do a full refresh of our current team rigs. In this we are looking for the best prices online for parts for our new rigs. So with that said I want to open this thread to anyone in the community to help price out parts for complete rigs. Take in mind we want the best bang for our buck and want to keep it as cheap as possible. Along with that this thread can help others who want to build cheap dedicated folding rigs.

Below is the format I ask that you post your recommendations in. We are trying to stay clear from mail-in rebates but if it is to good to pass up we will take a look at it.

Format to post your Ideas in:

CPU:
Mobo:
Ram:
HD:
Case:
PSU:

Take in mind we want to keep these rigs inline with dual core CPU's to run SMP and want to future proof them for Quad Core CPU's upgrades. Due to the current cost we will not take Quad core CPU's in mind as they themselves are about the budget we want the entire system to come in at. Unless of course you want to buy the team a few Quad cores for new rigs :)

I should also note Intel C2D CPU's maybe more expensive than AMD CPU's but with the extra L2 Cache they outperform AMD systems by almost 2:1 making the best bang for our buck better with Intel C2D's. Along with that we will most likely keep these system running at stock speeds with a slight chance of a slight OC... so uber high end parts should not be spec'ed :)


Top Team Suggestions: (these will be updated as members post better options below)

CPU: Intel C2D E4400 2.00GHz - $132.99
Mobo: Intel 945GC - $54.99
Ram: Patriot 512MB - $19.99
HD: Jupitor 80GB HD 7200RPM - $36.99
Case: Foxconn TLA566-CN350C-HS Black+Light Silver (includes 350Watt PSU) $49.99
PSU: N/A

Total Shipped: $341.14 shipped = 7,000 - 8,000 ppw average running SMP

(Shipping to CA 92585)

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Mobo: Intel 945GC
    I am not sure that motherboard will accept a quad. No, we won't be buying quads at present, but we slit our own wrists if our motherboards aren't upgradeable to quad. I'm sure the Core 2 quads will be relatively inexpensive on the used market a year from now. Heck, if the new architecture 45nm models are good, the Q series may be really cheap before we know it.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    that mobo does run Quads :)
  • DanGDanG I AM CANADIAN Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    As you have it laid out, you're getting 23.5 points per dollar (8000 points /$341)
    Based on the same parts, but double the ram and a Q6600 (@$266) you'd be getting 46.8 points per dollar (21,000 points/$448).

    So for 25% more money, you'd be getting almost 2.5 times the points.
  • QeldromaQeldroma Arid ZoneAh Member
    edited October 2007
    DanG wrote:
    .... So for 25% more money, you'd be getting almost 2.5 times the points.

    I have to kick in with DanG on this. Understand that you get twice the performance with a quad for the price of one system. Your only real wildcard is making sure you get the G0 stepping and not the more inefficient B3.
  • QeldromaQeldroma Arid ZoneAh Member
    edited October 2007
    Sledgehammer70 wrote:
    that mobo does run Quads :)

    Please provide linky to exact model because what I see says it doesn't
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    The team does not have the funds to push out 33 quad core rigs.... the idea is to upgrade what we have with a dual core which is already 400% better than what we have. we want to upgrade as many rigs to dual core as we can. We will get into quad core once they are proceed below $170 per CPU...

    Even if we did 1 quad core at a time it would take 10 years to switch out the current rigs... We have to be practical to a point.
  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    True but we should make sure the road is paved for quads for the future, or if ICx owners want to give their machine a shot in the arm then it can be done easily. I know exactly what you are saying sledge but we should be sure that what our blueprint is for these machines have some future sustainability.

    I just think it makes more sense to plop a quad into an ICx rig 2-3 years down the road, than to have to get another mobo and the quad.

    the budget looks really good right now to me though. Kudos for getting the price down that low. My only question would be perhaps to consider gpu folding. Is it gonna push a lot more ppd if these shipped with x1600's or not?
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Any chance at rolling out new rigs? :D Or is this just a refresh.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    No new rigs for a while. We have a ton of current hosts with some REALLY crappy rigs. Sorry Airborn. :(

    Also... OCing of an SMx rig is going to be up to the individual. The rig needs to be stable so the OC will need to be conservative, if needed. If we can get similar setups, we can kind of get an idea what to expect for each rig. :thumbsup:

    As for the Dual vs. Quad... for the the next few rigs, we'll stick with the Dual. Maybe next year we can look into quads. Really, we want to stick to the $350 range. Of course, if you all want to chip in some donations, we can look into the quads. :D
  • DanGDanG I AM CANADIAN Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    ok, I just bought a $20 SMX donor subscription, so throw that into the pot towards a quad rig. I really believe the extra $100 and getting 2.5 times the points is a very worthwhile way to go.
    If the team has the cash now to upgrade all 32 active rigs at the above pricing, you'd be able to do 24 quad core rigs with the same amount of money. For the same cash outlay, you're getting 504,000 points per week out of the 24 rigs, compared to 256,000 for 32 brand new rigs.

    Honestly, to me it doesn't make sense to go with dual core systems, it will just take longer to do all the rigs, during which time prices will have come down even firther.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    FreeC8675 wrote:
    I just think it makes more sense to plop a quad into an ICx rig 2-3 years down the road, than to have to get another mobo and the quad.

    As I stated above:
    Take in mind we want to keep these rigs inline with dual core CPU's to run SMP and want to future proof them for Quad Core CPU's upgrades.
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    That's a very valid point, DanG.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    DanG wrote:
    ok, I just bought a $20 SMX donor subscription, so throw that into the pot towards a quad rig. I really believe the extra $100 and getting 2.5 times the points is a very worthwhile way to go.
    If the team has the cash now to upgrade all 32 active rigs at the above pricing, you'd be able to do 24 quad core rigs with the same amount of money. For the same cash outlay, you're getting 504,000 points per week out of the 24 rigs, compared to 256,000 for 32 brand new rigs.

    Honestly, to me it doesn't make sense to go with dual core systems, it will just take longer to do all the rigs, during which time prices will have come down even further.

    As of now I think we only have funds to move forward with 2 maybe 3 brand new replacement rigs. We are doing a ton of stuff in the back ground to make this number go up but we only have so much to work with. I personally donate $20 a month to the SMx/ICx subscription in hopes to keep the pot filling up.

    As much as Quad cores sound nice we just don't have the capacity to push that forward yet. And with prices dropping I can see rigs next year sporting them. We just need to keep the price way down for now and keep the rigs future proof... as in allow the systems to be a drop in Quad core upgrade :)

    Your point is well taken with the points, but take in mind our current active ICx rigs only bring in around 14,850 points per day while a dual core offering could bring in 200,000+ that alone is a huge leap for our team and if in 2 years they can be quad's than so be it... but we have to take the path we can afford. I am almost willing to bet we will only swap out 4 rigs before quad core will be the norm so in all this debate will be void :)
  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Sounds like things are on the right track nonetheless.:thumbsup:

    we should be kicking butts up into the top 10 again!
  • DanGDanG I AM CANADIAN Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    That makes a bit more sense Sledge, I was under the impression you guys had robbed a bank/won the lottery/moved to Nigeria and had the cash to do all the rigs at once. I suspect that with the upcomming introduction of the 45nm cpu's that the existing Q cores will take another price hit moving it closer to the magic price point. :)
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    We all want the best performance for the dollar. Unfortunately, Sledge is right, we only have the funds to perform very few full upgrades at this point.

    It would be absolutely awesome if we as a team could afford to upgrade 32 rigs at once. If that were the case, we'd definitely be going the quad-core upgrade of 24 rigs rather than the dual-core upgrade of 32. That makes a lot of sense. If someone would like to donate the approximately 16 thousand dollars it would take to do that, please by all means do so. ;)
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    DanG wrote:
    ok, I just bought a $20 SMX donor subscription
    Thanks Dan! :cheers2:
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    DanG, you rule. :rockon:
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Can we scavenge case/PSU/HDD from some existing units? I know that some of the PSUs may be too old to use, but a thought.

    What about OS? Some form of Linix I presume???
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Since we will have relatively standardized hardware, our very own resident technocrat is coming up with a Team 93 distro.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited October 2007
    Shipping wise, it's not worth shipping the cases to Sledgehammer and then shipping them back to the host. Right now, the Team does not provide an OS. That has historically been the responsibility of the Host. We ARE looking into sending a customized LINUX installed on the hard drives or even a bootable CD-ROM version.
  • Ultra-NexusUltra-Nexus Buenos Aires, ARG
    edited October 2007
    So $350 tops? Thats a tough one!
  • wthwwwthww Terre Haute, Indiana
    edited October 2007
    __ AMD __

    CPU:AMD X2 4600+, 2.40 ghz
    Mobo:Biostar K8M800, SOcket AM2, Built in video
    Ram:1gb DDR2 PC 4200
    HD:*
    Case:Powerup Black Corperate
    PSU:450w w/ Case
    $219, $210 after rebate (w/o shipping)
    ^link Cant post them yet.

    __ Intel __
    CPU:Intel Core2Duo E4500 2.2ghz
    Mobo:Biostar P4M890-M7 SE, Built in Video
    Ram:1gb DDR2 PC4200
    HD:*
    Case:Powerup Black Corperate
    PSU:450w w/ Case
    $249, $239 w/ rebate.
    link^ Cant post them yet
    *Hard Drive (for BOth Intel and AMD rigs): WD Caviar, Sata, 7200rpm, 80gb, 8mb cache


    ^link cant post them yet.
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