teh folding boxen

mondimondi Icrontian
edited January 2004 in Folding@Home
righty folks:

Thanks to EQuito ... my rigs now run silent .. a large consideration :D

therefore because of

1 - the fact that one of my relatives died of cancer
2 - humanity in general
3 - my will to get into the top 10 - silly, but true :)

I have decided to invest teh bux that i was saving for an A64 rig (right now ~200) into another folding box ....

over and over since the beginning of S-M ive read the "what should i buy" threads ... but being memory retarded etc.. -- multiple excuses ..

all i need is a CPU, MB, and Case

(have 256 PC2700, Vid, NIC, HD, CD-ROM, and "current os" :D

so ... in your experience, for 200,, what would be the ultimate folding box ????

thanks much

teh mondi

Comments

  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Addiction is such a wonderful thing.

    My wife still doesn't know about the fourth machine.

    For the money, NF2 mobo and barton. Cheapest mobo and biggest CPU.
  • mondimondi Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    thats what i was thinking, thats what my two main boxen are, though over time ive seen that P4= bigger overclock(clock speed is king for folding?????)and Hyperthreading = best for folding (more WU's over time)????? ...

    At current count I have ~14 CPU's folding (a little less when people are working on them), only 2 of which are dedicated, This will be my 3rd dedicated box, so given the current state of the market,,, I want it to be optimized ONLY to fold ... other uses be damned :D

    so, apart from NF2/barton ... any orher recommendations ... will buy sooner than later ..

    thanks much ed. good to know someone else thinks the way I do :)
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2004
    Forget the barton get a good 1700+ or 1800+. The cache does nothing for folding so save yourself some money.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Well, Mondi, A Barton 2500+ which is not OC'd much and a P4 non-HT that is clocked at 2.4 due to motherboard limits, run equal output within 3%, and float back and forth as to which is faster on any one day based on what WUs they each work on. For the RAM you have, the Barton will give you more time slices in a second for folding, so clock rate and ability to process stuff that is mixed arithmetic and floating point (which both CPUs do well) are key, though more RAM like 768 to a GIG of RAM would let you fold that much more with bigger WUs. Almost a wash, given the money you have, would myself say what mmonnin says or a Barton 2500+. My Barton is running at 2070 true mhz on a cheaper board than the NF7-S and is stable as heck. It puts out about 160-190 points every two days reliably. The P4 is similar in pointage. I use two days, as I get a lot of p1000+ WUs that in fact take more than 12 hours in some cases to complete, and what box has one of those varies back and forth. Right now on stats mirrors I show 1100+ points for last seven days from one Barton 2500+ and one P4 clocked at 2.4, and that is kinda understated, by 50+ points right now.

    True production total is about 10,068 right now, the Folding stats server is getting hammered by folks trying to get their stats updated-- to the extent that the Stanford Folding stats server is showing a "too busy" message.

    John.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited January 2004
    I'm showing 750+ points for one week for one P4 2.4c at 2.88ghz.
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    I've got 4 machines going but don't know how to derive the point total from individual machines, is there a way?
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited January 2004
    man madmat im geting like high 600's low 700's a week and I have a 2200+ folding and a 1900+ @stock speeds
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    EMM or one of hte other folding monitors will tell you.

    Yes a 'slow' P4 with HT will turn in some good work, but I still think that you can go AMD for less money. There aren't many inexpensive 865/875 mobos out there.
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Abit IS7. Full featured and relatively inexpensive ($99 @ NE), the problem is that the processor is still ~$170.
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited January 2004
    I have my 1700+ running at 1.95ghz, and she is folding a like a charm. If you can get a good steeping 1700+ that would be great, since the prices are good for what you get. I'm going to look into getting another myself.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    For CPU, look at ZipZoomFly. A P4 2.66 GHz Northwood was 164.00 with free two day Fedex ship there last week.

    For board, NewEgg or ZipZoomFly (start with a pricegrabber search). 865 chipset is stable for those who have minimal OCing needs, will take older non-DUAL RAM until you can afford DDR400 Dual. A recent version P4C800 board, for example will run on slower RAM and take Dual channel later. This is a way to spread costs over time and get an upgradeable board. IS7 better for OC with P4, but check the RAM compatibility by subversion at mfr site in detail specs before buying, PLEASE. Max3 wants a dual RAM stick pair for best results. Max2 will take non-dual RAM, and non-ECC RAM.

    John.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited January 2004
    The 2.66 is a 533mhz FSB CPU so dont get that one. They dont OC as well as the 800mhz FSB P4s so it would be a waste.
  • seversphereseversphere
    edited January 2004
    $25 or less case

    newegg:
    Model# AXMH2400FQQ4C
    Item # N82E16819103400
    Price: $86.00

    you want a cheap mobo whether you get NF2 chipset or not.

    the key to a super cheap power folder is having an unlocked cpu that overclocks well, board with multiplier and voltage adjustment and quality heatsink and thermal compound. For the money 18X133 is just as good as 10X240. Don't let aesthetics get in the way :D.
  • mondimondi Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    thanks much for all your help fellas, will be purchasing later this week, ill let you all know what i finally end up getting. its good to see though that i was generally on the right track :D
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited January 2004
    Also, your PC2700 isn't going to do you much good on a HT P4, they're all 200fsb. I suppose you could use a divider (3:2, 5:4) to get there, unless your RAM overclocks real well. Can't believe I (we) missed that earlier.

    AMD is still the way to go in your suggested price range.
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