Build: 24/7 Folding Rig Advice

FMTopfan

FMTopfan

FMTopfan

Associate
Joined
17 Mar 2009
Posts
1,053
Location
UK
Hello all :)

I've been wanting to build my own 24/7 Folding rig for a while but the combination of what components to pick for some decent points and other factors (spending money that could go on a holiday!) has delayed progress. I specialise in buildings mainly gaming/general work PCs and not Folding PCs - I don't know what hardware the F@H clients favours over another but I did read through some of the posts here.

A bit uncertain
From reading the various posts on here, the consensus is to pick a 2600K for -bigadv points but how many can I expect in a day? If I only run SMP then is it wrong to assume that I won't need a good GPU at all? Or, can I expect more points from GPUs but at a huge cost?

I have a good gaming rig atm but when it comes to folding, factoring in these would help:
- Heat: I would appreciate it if this rig didn't make me feel like i'm in a sauna since it will be in the same room as my main rig - the heat will be handy nearer winter ;).
- Costs: Nothing too exotic.
- Case: Compact case is ideal but not if it means components overheat, will spend more here for a really good case.

Tried to keep this initial post short and would appreciate suggestions from regular Folders on what has worked for them or better, thanks!

  • build list to date here

Note: I do have my work PC which is based around an old Intel QX6700 @3.3GHz air cooled, 8GB DDR2 800MHz, 4870, and a 1KW 80% efficient PSU that is too much power for that setup. For the power it uses this setup is too energy-inefficiency. I over compensated, I know :P
 
Last edited:
Hello and welcome!

Yes 2600K @ 4.6 and bigadv would be the way to go (unless bulldozer comes up with anything better), you would be looking at 40-50K PPD, depending on if you run in windows or linux (native or vm).

You are correct if you run bigadv you don't need a good GPU, anything will do, folding with bigadv is more energy efficient at the moment than folding on GPUs.

Sandybridge runs pretty cool, I don't know much about air coolers but I keep mine under water with a 120.2 rad and the noise levels are acceptable. Not having a GPU crunching will help keep the room temps down as well.

In terms of case size I don't see why you couldn't use a m-atx case so long as the airflow was good and it could fit a rad / appropriate size air cooler in, my SB MB is m-atx (albeit in a atx case at the mo) and it is running fine.
 
Last edited:
If you looking at keeping the case a a minimal size and antec 300 will suffice a 120.1 rad and a 120.2 rad.

Using a bay res/pump combo and and 5.25 converter you can mount the hard drive in an optical bay as it wont need and optical drive.

I'd be tempted to wait for BD if not then a 2600k is going to give you best points while keeping cost relatively low compared to dual socket systems etc
 
Thanks for the replies :)

I've never built a micro-ATX PC before and because of the lack of space in the room I use, decided to go that route. From the dozen or so cases I've read about, the Silverstone Sugo SG01B-F looks promising. The case fits larger GPUs than it would do otherwise, and for the Micro-ATX design it looks good. Should I use the supplied Intel cooler because of the Micro-ATX design and will it manage the temps running Folding 24/7?

[ Updated 23rd May '11 ] So far I've based the build around these parts (some I can get cheaper elsewhere), but feels free to correct me if there a better alternative :) .....

CPU : Intel Core i7-2600K (Retail) - £255
(thoughts: best bang per buck, not priced competitively on ocuk)

Mobo choice 1 : Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H Intel Z68 (Micro-ATX) - £110
(thoughts: picked for use of overclocking CPU whilst saving energy using Intel GPU, M-ATX factor, and slightly cheaper than Asus)
OR
Mobo choice 2 : Asus P8P67-M PRO Intel P67 (Micro-ATX) - £115
(thoughts: picked for price and M-ATX factor, love Asus mobos)

CPU COOLER : Corsair Hydro H70 - £80
(thoughts: H50/H60 not good enough but H70 with dual 120mm fans will keep thermals within limits. could be noisy so will buy better fans after testing.)

RAM choice 1 : G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz - £50
(thoughts: near maximum bandwidth for a bit more cash, could get another pair as it is a reasonable £50.)
OR
RAM choice 2 : OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - £42
(thoughts: more bandwidth and similar spec to 1333MHz modules, priced same or less too.)

CASE: Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case (Micro ATX / Black) - £29.60
(thoughts: nice design, great price and small whilst being big enough to fit H70's 120mm exhaust fans. good recommendation by danewesley)

FAN CONTROLLER : Scythe Kaze Master Ace 5.25inch (Black) - £33.70
(thoughts: not essential but worth having to maintain low heat/noise in conjunction with H70s exhaust fans)

PSU 1 : Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 80% - £55
(thoughts: based on price & reliability. 90% CPU usage equals estimated load of 550W)
OR
PSU 2 : Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W 85% - £68
(thoughts: based on silence & better efficiency but not enough juice)

OS : Linux x64
(thoughts: because its free and will gain more points than Windows)


Spare Components To Use
PSU : 600W (80% efficient) ENERMAX Noisetaker EG701AX-VE SFMA(24P) [from 2005]
HDD : 500GB Sata-150 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, 16MB Buffer [from 2006]
FANS : A couple of salvaged 120mm fans
​

Total of £626.30. I know I get this price down by shopping around. Price by using existing PSU is down to £558.30.
 
Last edited:
You'd need to get a decent air cooler so I'm not sure if it would fit in that case or have enough airflow (but I don't know much about the case so could be wrong), the stock cooler definitely won't cut it.

One of those H70 things might work if space is tight or a custom loop.

I'd like to move my MB in to a similar case at some point I love the look of them, but I would connect the water cooling to an external rad I have set up.
 
Why I can't use the brilliant Corsair's is because the Micro ATX case I'm using has 80mm exhaust fans, there is simply no space for it. Otherwise the heatsink would be ideal. Corsair need to release Micro versions of this.
 
danewesley said:
Id get this over the case above, same price, bigger, all black inside, better build quality.
Click to expand...

Nice suggestion danewesley :). My last 4 cases were all black (interior/exterior) and this would look nice alongside it - and at a similar price-point of the previous suggestion.

From the measurements (185(W) x 475(D) x 408(H) mm + 5.6KG) it would be nice if this case wasn't as long (D) as its just 100mm smaller than my full tower case (Corsair 800D) but 200mm shorter (H). I really wish OCUK would make it easy and simply put the measurements at the bottom (and the weight), there's simply too many cases! ;)

On a positive... the case is now a good size/price to pick up a Corsair H60 to cool a 24/7 F@H rig to do it the lazy way, uses the supplied 120mm exhaust fan for Corsair cooler, a standard ATX PSU fits, plenty of HDD bays but not a necessity. I would consider water but I've never built my own CPU loop - if someone with expertise could list the components to fit Micro-ATX case (note: CPU will be clocked to 4.6GHz) I would certainly have fun doing it myself for once :D
 
Marine Iguana said:
Folding, small rig, easy :p :D (Sort of) http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18046350
Click to expand...

Had a look at your build log and you've done a great job. You've also gave me an idea of using a Scythe Kaze Master Ace 5.25inch Fan Controller as loved the look of it on your photos.

Because your case was Micro ATX, you said heat was a problem despite using a Corsair H50. For my Folding rig, this hasn't got to be an issue otherwise its a waste of cash buying the 2600K to get near 4.6GHz clocks, thats why I'm glad danewesley + dekez pointed me in the right direction. I was going for convenience (space) over functionality. Because of the larger case I could get the H70 to rule out excess heat due to improved design and dual 120mm fans.

Marine Iguana; If you have any ideas/pointers whilst in the planning stage for decent amount of Folding points in this build then please make a post. Things have moved on since you've built that rig ;)
 
Fold bigadv with no gpu.

2600K bigadv with no GPU = 47-50K
2600K bigadv with 1 Nvidia GTX class GPU = 35K + 11-17K = 46=52K + bigger electric bills

Every GPU you add will lower the performance of the cpu.

Yes if you put 4 GTX570/580 in one rig and you might get 90-100K but you need a hex core with HT and you would need to dedicate 2 whole threads (one core + the HT) to the gpu's and then 10 threads for the bigadv. And it would cost mega mullah to run.

Or you could go the one box with multi-core-multi-chip cpus like the SR2 or Opteron boxes.. plus side is much lower power usage and much higher PPD but downside is much much higher outlay (although a 980X + 4 GTX580's run it close)
 
Thanks for the info Biffa on exactly what I can expect with 2600K, I was talking to my mate about possibly getting around 50K PPD and he said it sounded too unrealistic with that setup - don't worry Biffa as I'll always take your word over his :) I know from current setup, test-running SMP client over a week - without commands - the most I've earned is 21K PPD. With bigadv added running 24/7 plus bonuses, 45-50k PPD should be reachable. I could still run this rig overnight (8hours) to help with added points.

You suggestion for multicore CPUs was something I considered but this time I have to take a happy medium of getting 50K PPD for an outlay of around £600 vs 150K+PPD on the Intel SR2 route for £2.5K. I would love to do that but then I would love my gaming rig to have those specs.

I may be placing my unused 4870 in mix but that means from calculations I will need a 600W PSU and not a 500W based on 90% load. With the Mobo I choose (Asus P8P67-M) it's a shame I couldn't simply use the Intel onboard GPU to keep the noise/power/heat down. I think the upcoming Z-series of SB mobos enables you to overclock the CPU whilst still using the Intel GPU but it could be while until a Micro-ATX version surfaces.
 
Folding on a 4870 in the same rig will kill bigadv performance, sell it and slap the cheapest pcie card you can get in there and use the money to get faster memory. :)
 
Biffa said:
Folding on a 4870 in the same rig will kill bigadv performance, sell it and slap the cheapest pcie card you can get in there and use the money to get faster memory. :)
Click to expand...

Hi Biffa. I don't plan on using a 4870 for GPU folding just SMP folding. From what I recall with all P67 mobos guidelines, you need a discrete GPU as the mobo doesn't allow you to use the Intel 3000 unless you buy a H67 mobo in which it's then possible to forgo discrete GPUs. The Z67s are out but I haven't seen any Micro-ATX versions (to fit M-ATX case) to enable the ideal scenario of overclocked CPU + using Intel's onboard GPU which the H67 budget version doesn't allow you do.

You suggested getting better RAM: Would folding time improve that much with RAM above 1600MHz? If so, what speed is optimal? (I'm think 2133MHz as the CPU behaviour doesn't run 2000MHz RAM, it defaults to 1866MHz).
 
Well, just to let you know. I have a 2600k 24/7 folder set up and it gets around 50kPPD @ 4.6ghz on the 6900 Wu's easily running VM Linux. Very stable, it's been folding for weeks and i've not had to check it for ages (tempts fate!) On air, in an A/C lab it runs at between 55 and 60 degrees celcius using a 3rd party cooler (can't remember which one it is).

PC is naked on a workbench, no CD-ROM - used initially to set up windows but then removed, no keyboard or mouse and a 40Gb SATA HDD I found. Used an old case to strip out the buttons/hdd leds etc so I can power it on and reset it etc. It's only got a £15 PCI video card in it as well :D The PSU is also an old 500w I had laying around.

Total cost to build was around £380 as I had most of the stuff anyway and I only had to buy Mobo + CPU + RAM + cheap graphics. Simples. :D

As mentioned above, you could go SR-2 or the Opteron equivilent (can't remember what its called - someone tell me) but for 50k PPD you can't grumble at this setup.
 
Last edited:
FMTopfan said:
Hi Biffa. I don't plan on using a 4870 for GPU folding just SMP folding. From what I recall with all P67 mobos guidelines, you need a discrete GPU as the mobo doesn't allow you to use the Intel 3000 unless you buy a H67 mobo in which it's then possible to forgo discrete GPUs. The Z67s are out but I haven't seen any Micro-ATX versions (to fit M-ATX case) to enable the ideal scenario of overclocked CPU + using Intel's onboard GPU which the H67 budget version doesn't allow you do.

You suggested getting better RAM: Would folding time improve that much with RAM above 1600MHz? If so, what speed is optimal? (I'm think 2133MHz as the CPU behaviour doesn't run 2000MHz RAM, it defaults to 1866MHz).
Click to expand...

There is a Z68 M-ATX board available:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-343-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

Board, CPU & RAM = £360 (approx) - add another £50 (ish) if you want to move from 1600mhz to 2000mhz or 4GB to 8Gb RAM
 
Might be worth considering an i7-970, one of those at @4Ghz in Linux will give 70K ppd, but cost a couple hundred more than a 2600K.
 
Delboy said:
You sure?
Click to expand...

Yes, mine @4Ghz in Ubuntu with the ck patched kernel, and the kraken wrapper does p6901s @ 70k. I'm currently doing a p6900 @ 68.8K. I should say also that 4Ghz is a fairly conservative OC, unfortunately my cooling isn't great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom