My return to F@H, rig spec help please

dekez

dekez

dekez

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Hi all

A couple of months after moving and completely gutting and decorating our house there is some light at the end of the tunnel and we are nearly finished, only bathrooms, hallways and garage left, most importantly, there is somewhere to place a PC now :p. (News should be back next week, just waiting for one more weeks worth of data to complete the tables :))

So I’m looking to repopulate my rigs again and after a quick look on OcUK it’s clear a lot has changed in the year I’ve been away and I could do with some help please.

The long term plan is to have 2 rigs, a gaming / development rig, and a server. Both rigs will be split between folding@home and boinc.

Gaming rig:
Budget around £1000
Which socket / cpu? Is i7 still the best? Which one?
Which graphics cards? Is Nvidia still better? I would like at least 2, and PPD/W is important.
The rest I can sort myself.

Server:
This is going to be located under the stairs in a custom built server rack. This will be on 24/7 and be the hub for the house so PPD/W is very important.
I believe a 4P system is probably the best option here, is the PPD/W still as good as it was before I left? Are there any better options than 4P?

I’ll probably build the gaming rig first after Christmas (hopefully pic up some stuff in the sales), then the server later once my wallet has a chance to recover.

Any advice and help would be most appreciated

Thanks

dekez
 
For Folding server Intel 4P is more affordable now than it was, the motherboards are still the most expensive part. But the high cost cpu's are now being replaced by v2 versions leaving the previous ones at lower cost. Still would want to get them as ES versions if you can and YMMV.

Personally what I have done is free up the "home server" as either a low cost NAS or a quad core HTPC device that uses little to no power, that then frees you up to go crazy on the dedicated folding/and/or/boinc rigs.
 
That's good news on the 4P, that's to come a bit later so will contact you for more info then if that's ok. I think I would struggle to justify another PC to the Mrs, she's not best pleased that I have commandeered the understairs cupboard for use as a comms room :D

What about graphics cards? Any recommendations from anyone? Thanks.
 
NVidia should be better if your air cooling. I had an amd 7950 doing 80k ppd but the temps was just stupid high even with top notch case cooling , gtx760 should give nice ppd while staying cooler and using less power than amd cards, even 2 gtx 470s didn't get as hot as 1
7950 folding

its nice to see you back around :cool:
 
ozaudio said:
NVidia should be better if your air cooling. I had an amd 7950 doing 80k ppd but the temps was just stupid high even with top notch case cooling , gtx760 should give nice ppd while staying cooler and using less power than amd cards, even 2 gtx 470s didn't get as hot as 1
7950 folding

its nice to see you back around :cool:
Click to expand...

Cheers oz, thanks for the info yes I'll be air cooling so 760s sound like a good choice then. Graphics sorted!

What about a socket - 1150 I guess?
 
I guess what ever cpu socket you want. cpu folding isn't anything to rave about these days unless its a 2/4p set up, you say you want it for gaming and development so a 4670 i5 or the 4770k i7 would be a good bet I should imagen
 
why don't you get second hand gpus? most have a few years warranty these days and half of them for sale arnt more than 6 months old lol :D or if its biffa 6 weeks haha :D
 
after gaining 1000 posts and noticing there is a for sale section now showing I took a little browse. :eek: I cant belive how cheap everything is I will never buy anything new in my life again , after x-mas with jan pay im going to get my self at least 100k ppd! ( thinking about it that's not very hard, a 7970 will do this lol )
 
Ok, slight change of plan, looks like the 4P rig may be happening first ;)

Anyone know of any good 4P G34 guides? Need to get my head around set up and in particular operating systems etc and how I can get the server to function as a home file server + host for virtual machines.

Thanks
 
Using a 4P you would need to use Linux otherwise there is no point. Its possible you could do it in a Virtual machine under windows but the hit on the performance would be substantial. Also a 4P pumps out heat, a lot of heat, and needs to have that heat removed asap from the ambient area around the rig. Putting it in a closet under the stairs isn't a good idea IMHO.

I still think either a NAS (Synology etc) for the home server, or a mITX box with some drives. Stick that under the stairs, it will use next to zero power and will run cool and quiet.

Then have your main rig with the gpu's in it for gaming/whatever

Then have a dedicated folding 2 or 4P Intel rig kept somewhere cool.
 
hmmm. I may have to rethink, I thought as the power draw was (relatively) low compared to GPU rigs the heat output would be less.

I guess I could run it in the garage? Although part of the appeal was to help heating the house in winter.

But yes thinking about it, I think you're right, a light weight solution underthe stairs would be better.
 
Biffa said:
Also a 4P pumps out heat, a lot of heat, and needs to have that heat removed asap from the ambient area around the rig.
Click to expand...

Yes that isn't something I really thought about. Having mine sat next to me whilst I'm on the other PC gaming is proving a little sweaty :eek:
 
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