Dedicated Folding Rig
jared
College Station, TX Icrontian
Spurred by a side discussion I had with Leo in another thread, I decided to spec out a good rig that would rip faces at folding@home.
Obviously I was going to the cheapest parts that weren't complete crap while trying to follow the parts suggested by Leo.
This is what I came up with:
I assumed we wouldn't need an optical drive. The graphics cards had a $30 MIR each, so take $60 off that price and that leaves us with ~
$610 + shipping
Hardly cheap, but compared to what it used to cost to build a badass folding rig I'd say it isn't too bad.
Anyways, I'd like comments on what you guys think. I won't be buying this anytime this year with Christmas right around the corner (my wallet hurts just thinking about it), however I'm hoping sometime next semester I can build something like this and start racing through the team rankings
And all the really cheapy products like the PSU, case, motherboard - I looked at the ratings and comments to find ones that were generally favorably rated.
Discuss.
If we ever do decide to start up the ICX project again, I think its pretty feasible that we could build some beastly machines at fair cost
cheers
Obviously I was going to the cheapest parts that weren't complete crap while trying to follow the parts suggested by Leo.
This is what I came up with:
I assumed we wouldn't need an optical drive. The graphics cards had a $30 MIR each, so take $60 off that price and that leaves us with ~
$610 + shipping
Hardly cheap, but compared to what it used to cost to build a badass folding rig I'd say it isn't too bad.
Anyways, I'd like comments on what you guys think. I won't be buying this anytime this year with Christmas right around the corner (my wallet hurts just thinking about it), however I'm hoping sometime next semester I can build something like this and start racing through the team rankings
And all the really cheapy products like the PSU, case, motherboard - I looked at the ratings and comments to find ones that were generally favorably rated.
Discuss.
If we ever do decide to start up the ICX project again, I think its pretty feasible that we could build some beastly machines at fair cost
cheers
0
Comments
- Socket 775 has been out for a few years already and is at the end of it's life. There's not much upgrading for the CPU on the board left. But, the Q6600 is still way ahead of anything else in the quad segment for value. They overclock like crazy.
- Great choice on the CPU, but see first bullet
- Since this is a dedicated Folding box, you could probably save a bit of money by purchasing a used motherboard on a trading forum. I don't know if you plan on overclocking the CPU or not. If so, I doubt the Asrock will be your friend. That's also the main reason I made my comment about the Corsair vs. Raidmax PSU. But really, if you will be running two G92 video cards for folding, the CPU clock becomes much less important. The GPU 2 production from two cards will bury the CPU's SMP production anyway.
- Same goes for the hard drive (look for used). But that is a great price for a new hard drive.
- You probably will not get a rebate on both video cards. Most rebates are limited to one per household.
- Those XFX card coolers are not low noise, they are annoying IMO. I have an XFX 8800GT and replaced the cheapo stock cooler with an Accelero S1 R2. We're talking 41C overclocked, full load! That's nearly dead quiet with low RPM 120mm fan.
- Here's a recommended alternative for your selected 9800. MSI 9800GT OC. It is stock with a heatpipe cooler that works very, very well. I have an MSI 8800GT OC and 9800GT OC, both with that 4-pipe cooler. It's low noise, evan at 80% RPM. If I were looking for a new 9800GT right now, I'd definitely get the MSI heatpipe version. Oh yeah, it's $94.99 at Newegg after rebate.
- I don't know about the quality of Raidmax PSUs. (I simply don't know. Seems like in the past they got dismal reviews.) You might want to do some Internet checks. I would highly recommend the Corsair VX 5500. They are rock solid in quality and consistent performance. I will shortly be upgrading one of my rigs for dual GPU Folding on one of my Corsair 550-powered machines.
Man, I wish we lived closer! I'd give you an old Centurian case and sell you a 100GB IDE drive for next to nothing.If you overclock the shaders on those video cards and install one SMP client for the CPU, you've got a 12,000PPD Folding box in the making! Damn, this stuff gets my heart pumping!
IMO, the best 9800GT available: