hi, thinking about folding

[dark bishop]

hello all

ive been reading about folding and think my might have an ok setup to do a little bit of folding on. im still new to this so be gentle.

system 1:
MSI KT6V LSR mobo
AMD athlon fx @ 1.29ghz
1 1/4 gb of ddr ram
xfx 7600gs agp
need psu
need hd

system 2:
MSI k8n socket a
AMD sempron @ 1.27
1gb of ddr ram
onboard video
austin (pos) 330w psu
need hd


i realize these arent the best rigs to fold with but i was thinking of putting linux on them and running them layer'd.

thanks

[Adak]

Welcome, DarkBishop!

Your main rig would be a fine folder, System 1 and 2 are obsolete for folding - they'd burn up more electricity than would be prudent, for a very small amount of folding work.

Don't worry, in jig time, you'll be sooo motivated to upgrade those older systems. We see it all the time. :)

Welcome to our team and our forum! :welcome: :welcome:

[dark bishop]

i knew id probably get a comment about my main system but sorry, thats my gaming rig.

the reason i said these two was because theyre sitting in my room taking up space and i need something to do with them.

thanks for the welcome.

[thideras]

i knew id probably get a comment about my main system but sorry, thats my gaming rig.That is where the nice part is, you can run folding on your computer while you game without a performance hit. Folding automatically backs off just enough so that the processor usage is at 100%. I fold all the time while gaming on my rig and there is no adverse effects to doing so! :D

[dark bishop]

still doesnt give my oyther systems a purpose and im sorry but the main system isnt folding, i cant have it on 24/7 like the other two.

[Adak]

Semprons and such make fine net browsing rigs, checking email; I even program on an older laptop, and play some of the old games of yesteryear, myself.

For FAH, to be honest, there is no good purpose for a sempron. I nostalgically wish there was, but technology and science, have both moved on, leaving your sempron, and my laptop, unable to work in a meaningful way, with FAH.

I think you'd get along OK with the Graphical client, and just shut it off when you want to game, it's very simple. I believe the text only console client, installed as a service, would also be fine. Start with just one client program, and see how that goes. No big packets, and no advanced work units, so minimal impact on any gaming.

I really doubt you'll know the text console version, installed as a service, is even there. The graphical client should be stopped before game however, since it uses a graphical library that most games also use, and there's a potential for trouble.

[dark bishop]

well thanks guys. not going to argue with the facts. maybe ill run it on my main rig.

heres another question though. by layering my two old systems would i get any preformance boost?

[Adak]

well thanks guys. not going to argue with the facts. maybe ill run it on my main rig.

heres another question though. by layering my two old systems would i get any preformance boost?

No. The best thing to do with an old system like this is to stick in a top of the line ATI video card (one that FAH supports), and then fold on it with the GPU client.

Unfortunately, you know those cards aren't cheap, and while the work they do is good, the cards tend to get too hot if you're not careful, and then die prematurely from the long duty cycles and heat (less than 3 years).

If that interests you, let me know.

[jonspd]

i knew id probably get a comment about my main system but sorry, thats my gaming rig.

the reason i said these two was because theyre sitting in my room taking up space and i need something to do with them.

thanks for the welcome.


you could run the console on the 2

but I also have a main gaming rig and it does just fine running smp client while playing COD4:beer:

welcome to the team none the less if you decide to join 1, 2 or all 3 of them :D

[dark bishop]

it interests me very much so :) ive always wanted to find a way to utilize that gpu power thats normally being wasted. heat isnt going to be an issue, oregon = cold. maybe ill build a small cluster and fold on it.

[Adak]

This is the FAH GPU info sheet. You can skip over a lot of the history, etc., but all the info is in there - which cards are supported, etc. :
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-ATI

Unfortunately, FAH already IS set up as a cluster itself (and no jokes about that, please), so clusters are, how shall I say this? "Heroically slow folders". :D :D :santa2:

[dark bishop]

hm... well i dont have an x1600, 1800, or 1900 so i guess thats out. thanks for the info though. F@H runs as a cluster? cool. my idea before was that i would layer/cluster the 2 systems and run the linux os with F@H integrated. if all else fails i can trade/sell my parts cause i cant use them currently.

[Adak]

Yes, my thoughts, exactly. Selling your old stuff, upgrading to new(er), and you'll be amazed at how much the newer stuff (C2D's quad's, etc), has come DOWN in price! They game like a rape* ape, and fold like a million bucks, as well. :)

No, there is no special cluster client at this time, being released. They made one at Stanford, and it ran like a dead horse's as*, to put it delicately.:D

[WarriorII]

Hi DB,

Glad your interested here. Yes you can run FAH on your two smaller rigs.

Run the 5.04 client if using windows. Linux, I'm not sure what client you'd use
but I know it's ready to DL @ Stanford.

The thing is, your 2 older pcs, take just as much power, if not more than running F@H on your main rig. But its do-able.

Your points will also be less. a regular WU, for an older machine, will net you 100 - 700 pts for a Work Unit. I still have a lone Borg running and see what it turns in.
It's right along the lines of what you have.

It is doable though. Please give it a try at least. We all start somewhere.
I also run my game rig with FAH, I run 2 OS on it. Window XP & Linux (Ubuntu7.10)

Once you get ready, anyone here will be able to help you get through the configuration if you need help.

:welcome: to T32

PS - you can Fold on your stuff untill you sell it (I see that now from what Adak says.)

[||Console||]

you could prob sell the 2 rigs and get a nice cheep frys combo that would put out some nice ppd

[ChasR]

The 2 old rigs together will net you about 135 ppd. While others may not think it's "worth it", these old rigs do the same amount of work as they did before SMP and it was worth it then. I still have a lot of old slow rigs chugging away, making 30 ppd. I recommend you give folding a try on those rigs. Run one 5.04 client on each. No need to run linux on them as it offers no performance benefit over Windows, unless they're Windows 98/ME machines. Your main rig would likely make 6-8 times more ppd on the same power as the two old ones.

[dark bishop]

well then it looks like ill be selling them and building a more up to date rig for folding. ill post up a list once i get the parts picked out.

until i get them sold ill just run small stuff on them.

thanks for the info.

[Adak]

I look forward to seeing what you decide upon, DB.

[dark bishop]

thanks for your support guys :)

im gonna try and set up one of my old systems, because as of now i dont have a big enough power supply for the one with the 7600, and just run small packets on it.

they are up for sale if anybody is interested, i want them gone, all items are best offer.

so far im looking at the amd athlon x2 3800+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103732

trying to find a low priced mobo is a little more difficult.

[dark bishop]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135080

about how much ram should i get, i think im only gonna get a gig to keep costs down.

[WarriorII]

STICKY http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=511295

Not sure how well that board will let you OC, but at $50, that'd make a one of many nice layers in a farm.

[dark bishop]

yeah i was reading that, maybe there are things to come later on:D i went with the ecs because it fits my needs, and isnt to expensive. i read a little about some other ecs board in the mobo section and they seem to do ok for oc'ing. i feel cool because ill finally have more than one functioning computer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161198

[dark bishop]

ok so hard drives arent a problem, neither is disk drives or a case, though a graphics card and good power supply are a little higher priority.