Folding Hardware Deals

[laptop-hpc]

Wow, I didn't know 4P motherboards cost that much, I was thinking $200-$300.
That really would kill any benefit of cheaper CPUs and lower power.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Performance per watt should be pretty good, especially with four of them, but I'd be concerned that the cost of the motherboard would negate any price/performance benefit.
$100 x 4 Opteron 6164 (+$25 cpu cooler?)
$633 SuperMicro Quad G34
$100 half decent used PSU
$66 4x4GB DDR3 ECC
$50 hard drive
~$1350 total, or $337 per processor (not bad, actually)

My Phenom II X6 1100t at stock appears to have roughly the same compute as one Opteron 6164. There shouldn't be much advantage at all unless you went for a 4P. Being that there would be 48 cores, any bump in clock speed would be hugely beneficial.

What, you don't like that $17 HDD?

If anyone is thinking about this, you might find Buck's journey helpful: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171252

I've been looking at this for a long time, so when I see these CPU's under $200 my jaw hits the floor. If only I could get a deal on a motherboard....

Wow, I didn't know 4P motherboards cost that much, I was thinking $200-$300.
That really would kill any benefit of cheaper CPUs and lower power.

No way. These are so efficient in PPD/watt/$ that the only thing that comes close is the GTX780 and the Titan. If Nvidia comes through with doubling the PPD with a Cuda update for OpenMM, then they would be they way to go in terms of PPD/watt/$, That is, unless Pande changes things again, which they've been known to do. A 4P build is the safest bet for DC, whether F@H or WCG. It's just hard to cough up $2000 at one time for charity, or as my son says it, "numbers on a screen".
BTW, about the GTX780, you'd think that the 290x is going to push its price down. Currently, people are getting 170,000 PPD with the Core_17 WU's. If Nvidia succeeds, imagine a card pulling 220 watts getting north of 300,000 PPD! For $500!

 

[xvi]

Yeah. I was just going to say that Buck and ION went through this journey. I think they managed to find a $600 quad-socket G36 board (same one), but I think that was after a good bit of hunting.

Like Laptop says, ppd/watt on this would be very good. Like I say before, My X6 performs about the same, but uses ~125-200 watts (at full overclock). Each Opteron uses about half that for the same performance. Add to that the fact you're only using one motherboard (albeit a workstation/server board), a low-power GPU, and you're consolidating four processors on one power supply (likely one with a good 80plus rating hitting peak efficiency) and it's actually not a bad deal for a dedicated folder/cruncher as long as you can afford the buy-in.

Additionally, you'd have to be pretty lucky to score a similar system for $337 each. If you're planning on building four separate computers at once as dedicated folders, you're definitely going to get the most bang for your buck doing one 4P instead.

"numbers on a screen".

A conversation between a friend of mine went something like that.
"So, what does your computer do all day?"
Crunches numbers for science.
"What do you get in return?"
Points.
"What can you do with the points?"
Nothing.
"....and you spend money on this?"
Yep!
"Why?"
So I can get more points.
"...that are worth nothing."
Eeeh.. yep.

 

[Norton]

This is the deal Ion got:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1768867&highlight=opteron
*paid a bit less than what's listed there

Best way to get in on a 4P is to jump on a (local) deal when it pops up. He essentially got an entire 4P rig for the cost of a 4P mobo. The other thing was that I happened to live about an hour away from the seller so I volunteered to pick it up for him.

 

[F150_Raptor]

Performance per watt should be pretty good, especially with four of them, but I'd be concerned that the cost of the motherboard would negate any price/performance benefit.
$100 x 4 Opteron 6164 (+$25 cpu cooler?)
$633 SuperMicro Quad G34
$100 half decent used PSU
$66 4x4GB DDR3 ECC
$50 hard drive
~$1350 total, or $337 per processor (not bad, actually)

My Phenom II X6 1100t at stock appears to have roughly the same compute as one Opteron 6164. There shouldn't be much advantage at all unless you went for a 4P. Being that there would be 48 cores, any bump in clock speed would be hugely beneficial.

My G34 rig used about 600 watts and got between 350k to 550k ppd. Don't skimp out on the coolers, psu, and the ram. This was taken from another website that some one posted.

the magny cours use 2 dual channel ddr3 IMC's, since the magny cour is actually 2 istanbul's combined which is why they create so much heat. so when you use dual channel(2 banks filled) its only using the one of the IMC's. when you use quad channel(4 banks filled for each processor) it uses both IMC's which combines into quad channel DDR3. the difference between dual and quad channel something like 5-10k PPD depending on the processor clocks.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

My G34 rig used about 600 watts and got between 350k to 550k ppd. Don't skimp out on the coolers, psu, and the ram. This was taken from another website that some one posted.

the magny cours use 2 dual channel ddr3 IMC's, since the magny cour is actually 2 istanbul's combined which is why they create so much heat. so when you use dual channel(2 banks filled) its only using the one of the IMC's. when you use quad channel(4 banks filled for each processor) it uses both IMC's which combines into quad channel DDR3. the difference between dual and quad channel something like 5-10k PPD depending on the processor clocks.

Whatever happened to your server Raptor? You still got it?

 

[F150_Raptor]

Yeah I still have the g34 and the sr2. With the new job I have, I'm not making as much money as i used to make but I'm not working as hard either. So I had to shut every thing down to save money. When the temps drop a little more around here, I'll fire them back up for the heat in the basement.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Just had to share.
http://portland.craigslist.org/nco/sys/4186547944.html

 

[thebluebumblebee]

~115 watts, ~50,000 PPD, $110 after MIR and promo code EMCPGHC223
PowerColor AX7850 2GBD5-DHEV2
Should be fairly quiet with that cooler, although I could not find any reviews in my quick search.
and no P8018's

 

[Nordic]

Sharing this. Amd 290's at $300 each.
https://pullman.craigslist.org/sys/4524982515.html

Pm me if your a long time folder/cruncher who would like me to do some local pick up and ship out.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

@james888 , thought you might like to see this: http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/sys/4523329910.html

 

[Nordic]

@james888 , thought you might like to see this: http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/sys/4523329910.html

I am so jealous of your portland craigslist. I rarely ever get anything as good as those 290's popping up.

More 750ti's would be cool. I really like them. Extremely low power usage, silent, and about as much gaming power as my first real gaming gpu (a 6950). If anything, I am looking to downsize though.

 

[xvi]

Found in the hot deals thread, Powercolor HD 7850 2GB $90 after MIR.

 

[Norton]

How about an MSI Twin Frozr GTX750 OC for $100 shipped nvm it's sold

In our B/S/T section here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/z87-itx-asus-z87-pro-gtx-750-oc.179797/

Not sure if it's the 1GB or 2GB version though?

 

[xvi]

I've been eyeballing that cpu/mobo and GPU for the steambox (holy extra PPD, batman), but I'd have two 5870s with no PC to put them in (yet). I should just sell them, but I'm bad at selling things.

..and the cpu/mobo combo just sold. Nevermind. That's 750 looks like a really nice card for how much power it uses.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

That's 750 looks like a really nice card for how much power it uses.

We really should not judge the ability of the Maxwells based on what they do with a beta WU. My 560 Ti's got over 130,000 on beta's at one time. Believe me, I want this to be true, but it just does not make sense to me that they can be so powerful AND so efficient without a process shrink.

 

[Norton]

I've been eyeballing that cpu/mobo and GPU for the steambox (holy extra PPD, batman), but I'd have two 5870s with no PC to put them in (yet). I should just sell them, but I'm bad at selling things.

..and the cpu/mobo combo just sold. Nevermind. That's 750 looks like a really nice card for how much power it uses.

Just picked up that card on a swap

 

[Nordic]

We really should not judge the ability of the Maxwells based on what they do with a beta WU. My 560 Ti's got over 130,000 on beta's at one time. Believe me, I want this to be true, but it just does not make sense to me that they can be so powerful AND so efficient without a process shrink

I do agree, but I also feel that the measly 30k I was getting was under performing for those cards. They should perform between a 7790 and a 7850 based on other open cl benchmarks not related to folding.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

We really should not judge the ability of the Maxwells based on what they do with a beta WU. My 560 Ti's got over 130,000 on beta's at one time. Believe me, I want this to be true, but it just does not make sense to me that they can be so powerful AND so efficient without a process shrink.

I remember that about 1-1/2 years ago. My GTX570 was pulling 180K. That was a crazy November/December in 2012.....and then it was gone....

 

[Nordic]

We really should not judge the ability of the Maxwells based on what they do with a beta WU. My 560 Ti's got over 130,000 on beta's at one time. Believe me, I want this to be true, but it just does not make sense to me that they can be so powerful AND so efficient without a process shrink.

I was just rereading this, and had to point out that yes they are that efficient and powerful! ....as long as you have core 17 wu's...

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I was just rereading this, and had to point out that yes they are that efficient and powerful! ....as long as you have core 17 wu's...

Well to you too!

 

[mx500torid]

Anyone interested in a GTX 680 reference 165.00 and a GTX 660ti 110.00 reference and maybe a GTX 780? shipped prices. Gonna take the Maxwell plunge and need to sell some cards all run flawless. If someone might wanna trade a 970 or 980 and cash. Yes I know a long shot but ya never know. 10.00 0ff active folders.

 

[bogmali]

Anyone looking for GTX-970's I have 2 on my F/S/T thread

 

[xvi]

FYI, Decent prices on some refurb stuff at Newegg. Of particular interest, hard drives, power supplies, and a Sapphire R9 270X for $133. Thought this might be of interest to anyone looking for inexpensive hardware.

 

[T-Bob]

On EVGA's website under the B-Stock section, there are some good deals on power supplies and graphics cards. Of particular interest to Folders, such as myself is a GTX 970 for $250.

I just picked up an EVGA G2-1300w psu for $119 to use in my SR-2 system. I really want to grab another 970 to increase my folding output and at $250 it's very tempting.

All of this hardware is refurbished and comes with a 1 year warranty. So not the same as retail in terms of warranty, especially on the power supplies that normally have 7 - 10 year warranty.