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What hardware are you folding with?

twoodcc

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Original poster
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
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Right side of wrong
DeSnousa said:
What is everyone running on these days? It's been a while since I updated myself on PPD.

What sites do you use to read up on rigs? Thinking about building something around xmas :D Budget would be around $600-1000 and I would just need CPU - Mobo - GPU.
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sweet! i normally look at the hardforum to see what those guys are doing when i need ideas. but right now, gpus are where it's at, unless you have over 16-cores for cpu.

so that price range, you want the best gpu you can get.
 
L

Louis Wu

macrumors 6502
Sep 1, 2011
429
0
Toronto
twoodcc said:
sweet! i normally look at the hardforum to see what those guys are doing when i need ideas. but right now, gpus are where it's at, unless you have over 16-cores for cpu.

so that price range, you want the best gpu you can get.
Click to expand...

I totally agree -- you can sell your GPU down the road if you need to; right now I think that CPUs are pretty fast for everyday use (and everyday CPUs aren't any good for folding) so just toss in a good GPU into whatever you have lying around and go to town!

----------

now of course...

...thanks to Christian's iPad app... I actually have a reason to save up for one of those flashy new iPad minis with the retina display :D
 
ChristianVirtual

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
Louis Wu said:
(Thanks for all the hard work to create that app!)
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Not "hard work", just a serious hobby. Very serious :cool:

Just wish my graphic skills would be better to make the UI more appealing. That's something for the long cold winter nights in front of us while sitting next to my hot folding rig heating my room.

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SilentPanda said:
Not enough PPD IMO. Get another GFX card instead.
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It would be really interesting to see what PPD an ARM with the GPU in an iPad could produce. That multiplied by 170 million sold devices could be nice. Of course only while connected to the charger.
 
twoodcc

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Original poster
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
SilentPanda said:
Not enough PPD IMO. Get another GFX card instead.
Click to expand...

haha. i'm all gpu'd out for this year. maybe next time.

ChristianJapan said:
Not "hard work", just a serious hobby. Very serious :cool:

Just wish my graphic skills would be better to make the UI more appealing. That's something for the long cold winter nights in front of us while sitting next to my hot folding rig heating my room.

----------



It would be really interesting to see what PPD an ARM with the GPU in an iPad could produce. That multiplied by 170 million sold devices could be nice. Of course only while connected to the charger.
Click to expand...

perfect plan! coding by the folder.

i would love to see some sort of folding app for iOS devices. give me another reason to upgrade every year!

OrangeSVTguy said:
Cool. I'm reporting 219,776 PPD from the Titan now. It's the superclocked one and it not currently overclocked.
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awesome! now you're talking! ;)
 
L

Louis Wu

macrumors 6502
Sep 1, 2011
429
0
Toronto
SilentPanda said:
I got some crazy 8900 WU's for both my video cards. One is 6 hours on my titan and the other is 16 on my 670! Meep! They're worth a lot more points though.
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My 660ti doesn't even get them -- it only gets 7810 and 7811. the AMD card in the same box gets the 8900s though. I prefer them as the TPF is more consistent. PPD is the same no matter which Core17 WUs that box gets though.
 
DeSnousa

DeSnousa

macrumors 68000
Jan 20, 2005
1,616
0
Brisbane, Australia
Is the i7 worth the extra hundred over the i5? Benchmarks do not really favour the performance gain, what would the increase be like in folding at stock speed?

Does a SSD help increase performance for folding too?

Also is it best to still stick with Nvidea over AMD for GPU even with the new core 17?

Thanks :)
 
twoodcc

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Original poster
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
DeSnousa said:
Is the i7 worth the extra hundred over the i5? Benchmarks do not really favour the performance gain, what would the increase be like in folding at stock speed?

Does a SSD help increase performance for folding too?

Also is it best to still stick with Nvidea over AMD for GPU even with the new core 17?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

i personally wouldn't fold with cpu i5 or i7. gpu is where it's at, unless you have 16 cores for your cpu or more.

both nvidia and amd are good. amd just announced the r9 290x for $550 that gives similar performance to the nvidia titan for $999.
 
L

Louis Wu

macrumors 6502
Sep 1, 2011
429
0
Toronto
DeSnousa said:
Is the i7 worth the extra hundred over the i5? Benchmarks do not really favour the performance gain, what would the increase be like in folding at stock speed?

Does a SSD help increase performance for folding too?

Also is it best to still stick with Nvidea over AMD for GPU even with the new core 17?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

others need to step in here -- I do folding on Windows 7 boxes with nVidia and AMD GPUs for GPU folding only and don't use any of the desktops for CPU folding as the points aren't worth it for me; I also have a 4 processor AMD server box running Linux for CPU folding that is eligible for the "big point" work units -- you have to have at least 16 cores to even think about doing those bigadv units.

I'm pretty sure that most folks who are chasing the larger points are using high end GPUs -- like nVidia 780s and Titans and the highest end AMD cards. I hear the 290X was just launched but no one has yet. Or up to 64 cores (16 core CPUs with 4 on a board) on the Linux box. And folks are now looking at the latest Intel processors; they're a lot more money upfront but are more energy efficient than the AMD Opteron processors so even out at a certain point.

Definitely work out your energy costs, unless you don't pay for it yourself!

Good luck and also check out what others here are saying!

:)

There you go. by the time I finished thinking, twoodcc already beat me to it!!

someone on another thread was noting that the new AMD card did take 30-40% more power than a Titan -- but then again the cost of entry is way lower...
 
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ChristianVirtual

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
I use CPU mainly to fill idle gaps on my GPU system; there is an i7 2600S in. Each of my three NV cards get one core; one core for the system leave me 4 cores for CPU folding; get around 10kPPD. Not bad but not too relevant either compared to the 320kPPD the NV card can cook.
Same on my ESXi server; there is a CPU:3 VM folding for fun; another rough 10kPPD.

GPU is clear in pool position right now. Or serious bigadv folding on multi CPU systems (man, do I like the new E5 v2 Xeons; need only two of them ;) )

But also: every WU counts. There are still many WU in the pipeline require CPU folding. If you have i5 I would keep that and invest later in a GPU.

SSD don't help much with the WU we are working on. More impact when using the big WU as the amount of data can be high.
 
L

Louis Wu

macrumors 6502
Sep 1, 2011
429
0
Toronto
that's good advice from Christian there -- and if you were considering spending a couple of hundred to go from an i5 to an i7 and had the money as part of your "folding budget" how about sticking with the i5 and picking up a GPU with that money?

Is your rig a dedicated folding rig? my dedicated GPU folding rigs run on entry-level celerons. very slow but I don't use them for anything else. so slow I'd hate to even surf with them.
 
DeSnousa

DeSnousa

macrumors 68000
Jan 20, 2005
1,616
0
Brisbane, Australia
Thanks all, very good advice.

I have an AMD CPU from a few years back. I am looking at a new CPU which I think I will just get an i5.

I think my GPU at present is a HD 7750 which now folds using core 17.
 
840quadra

840quadra

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 1, 2005
9,261
5,979
Twin Cities Minnesota
geforce-gtx-780-ti-reveal_678x452.jpg

If this is true, I am glad I paid attention to recent rumors! Essentially a faster than Titan GPU, for 780 money, if it is released at that price-point. Was flip flopping between buying a Titan and a 780, leaning more in the direction of the 780 for cost reasons, as It is hard to justify such a beast (as the Titan) for how little I render, and for how little I plan on gaming.

http://videocardz.com/47287/nvidia-geforce-gtx-780-ti-3dmark-score-exposed

Was about to take the plunge on a 780 last week, Still may get the old model if they are available even cheaper. A Titan speed bumped, and badged as a 780ti, must mean they have one hell of a new Titan card in the works!

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7433/nvidia-announces-geforce-gtx-780-ti
 
SilentPanda

SilentPanda

Moderator emeritus
Oct 8, 2002
9,992
31
The Bamboo Forest
840quadra said:
If this is true, I am glad I paid attention to recent rumors! Essentially a faster than Titan GPU, for 780 money, if it is released at that price-point. Was flip flopping between buying a Titan and a 780, leaning more in the direction of the 780 for cost reasons, as It is hard to justify such a beast (as the Titan) for how little I render, and for how little I plan on gaming.
Click to expand...

Yeah. The 780 and 780ti are both nice. I would have likely gotten a 780 but I really needed the 6GB of VRAM. But I figured I should get the card for what I want to do first (rendering/gaming) then folding second.
 
ChristianVirtual

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
Damn, I got the 660TI short before it discontinued, I just got my second 780 short before it discontinued ... I should start reading nvidiarumors.com :p

But hey, I'm happy with them, except they fold already quite some numbers on my power bill :mad:

What I read the 780TI will even have a higher watt (270W); better for a long & cold winter :)
 
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