AMD 8 core CPUs and folding?

TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
edited July 2012 in Folding@Home
I was looking at the AMD FX-8100-series CPUs on tigerdirect, and I have read reviews about them not being the best for gaming, but I wonder how they'd do at SMP folding. Would a comparable i5 or i7 roflstomp them in PPD?

If so, I'm not surprised. I'd like to think the AMD 8 cores are good for something, but it's not gaming and I don't know what else they could do better than Intel.

The Opteron 12-16 core server CPUs seem to do well at folding, but are insanely expensive.

Comments

  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    The best PPD/$ is building 2-4P systems with opteron procs. The FX-8100 series did not impress in the folding realm and I can't find a ton of numbers for them, but significantly less performance (40-60%) than an i7-2600K at stock clocks, much less with some OC. Max performance equals creating a box with at least 16 cores and letting it run bigadv without messing with it. i7 running SMP anytime when you're not actively pushing CPU is a nice second best and what I switched to last time I got the itch to build. Buy the opterons used if you are looking to build out a system.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    WRT to SMP Bigadv Folding and AMD, go Magny Cours or don't bother with AMD at all. If building a 2P or 4P G34 system is not for you, then go Intel Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge. Both SB and IB overclock like crazy and the former is very reasonably priced when you factor in the performance. Concerning Bigadv Folding, 16 cores AMD (2 X 8-Core Magny Cours) will not be sufficient for some or most of the newer work units. A G34 4X6128 or 4X6136 will complete any work unit thrown at it, at a much lower entry cost than a 4P G34 built with 12-core Opterons.
Sign In or Register to comment.