Building a folding farm!

[=ACID RAIN=]

The concept I came up with was to have sliding motherboard plates, with enough room for extra PCI cards if needed. Must have room for my hands to fit in there as well, but an attempt at optimizing space usage is a must.

The concept, just laying things out:
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/folding_rack_1.jpg

One motherboard plate. Just some wood I had laying around in the garage:
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/folding_rack_2.jpg

Rails glued, mobo plate in place. Looks good!
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/folding_rack_3.jpg

Got the rest of the plates cut:
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/folding_rack_4.jpg

More to come!

[myststix]

Good idea...a homemade blade rack unit!

Remember, though, you will need grounding!

Also, some things you could consider (Funds permitting)

use boards with onboard video only (to eliminate the PCI card problem, and using small CF cards to boot using adapters mounted to the back of the boards.

I considering setting up a rack one with laptops with busted screens, a CD-ROM OS to run seti completely in RAM, with WIFI cards built in...each unit woul dhave a min-UPS (the battery) and the whole rack woul dbe fairly quiet and use little power compared to a desktop., plus you could remote manage them wirelessly..

[=ACID RAIN=]

All electronics will be grounded through the PSU :)

I plan on going this route soon for 2 mobos:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078

Those boards with quads and 2 600w OCZ PSUs. Wanted corsair, but the OCZ is best bang for buck as of today (no rebates). The other 2 slots will be the 939 system you see above and a 478 system that is currently my fileserver (will be replaced soon, and I need to recap the 478 when it's pulled). The 939 is already recapped :). I might be adding a small mounting bracket for the cards in back, for any mobos like above without onboard video. That would be real easy with some angled aluminum, and it could be affixed to the back.

[WarriorII]

http://ocfoldingteam.wordpress.com/ is the T32 Home page.

You find various links to other members Farms for some cool ideas you may look at using or stealing borrowing. :D


Looking good so far, keep up the good work.

Keep us posted.

:attn:

[myststix]

just nitpicking here, but would I be correct that managing these though remote desktop (or any remote method) would be slightly more power friendly, since no power is wasted on KB & MS? (5v ea I think)

If your running a farm, every little bit saved helps.

[freakdiablo]

just nitpicking here, but would I be correct that managing these though remote desktop (or any remote method) would be slightly more power friendly, since no power is wasted on KB & MS? (5v ea I think)


Yeah but if they are USB they would be 2 1/2 watts MAX, and I doubt there are any keyboards/mice that would use that. But yeah, the remote desktop would cut out the need for a monitor, just remote control everything through your main desktop.


Its a great idea, compact space, with some wheels easy to move, and in the winter it doubles as a space heater :)

[myststix]

Its a great idea, compact space, with some wheels easy to move, and in the winter it doubles as a space heater :)

I must make one for the fall, I was freezing my butt off!

[=ACID RAIN=]

just nitpicking here, but would I be correct that managing these though remote desktop (or any remote method) would be slightly more power friendly, since no power is wasted on KB & MS? (5v ea I think)

If your running a farm, every little bit saved helps.

Yeah I'll be doing that. I'll need the monitor etc for initial setup, but after that I'll take them off and it will run headless and be managed through RDP. Each machine will communicate through wireless as well, with a usb wireless adapter. That way I am not stuck with these machines in the computer room, which is already toasty with 3 computers (2 of which are folding). I'll probably put these downstairs where it's nice and cool.

[G3F0RC3<>R4D30N]

Now are they gonna operate individually or as one computer?

[=ACID RAIN=]

Individually most likely. I considered PXE, but I think I'd rather just drop an OS on each and remote in over wireless.

[G3F0RC3<>R4D30N]

Individually most likely. I considered PXE, but I think I'd rather just drop an OS on each and remote in over wireless.

What about MOSIX?

[=ACID RAIN=]

Never heard of it. I'll google it later :)

[=ACID RAIN=]

Turns out folding under a cluster situation is a bad idea, from google searches anyways.

[pillowsack]

Your pretty much building a giant space heater, this would be a recommended project for the winter.

[=ACID RAIN=]

And yet I live in houston, TX! :beer:

We have no winters really. Haven't seen snow in 25 years.

[Sam__]

Wooo to the folding farm!... cant wait to see it up and running full of folders :D

[43longtime]

wow cant wait to see it up and running

[=ACID RAIN=]

Here is the first machine. This is the board I replaced the caps on here: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=551421

http://texasoverclockers.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/folding_rack_1mach.jpg

And a closeup:
http://texasoverclockers.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/folding_rack_com1.jpg

This is the easy one, the others are slightly narrower due to a measuring mistake. Heh.

The machine runs headless, no video card, no onboard vid card, no keyboard, etc. I am logged into it right now via remote desktop :)

[=ACID RAIN=]

2nd rig just added last night!

http://texasoverclockers.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/farm_2_rigs.jpg

I decided to put the PSUs on top and glued them down with hotglue. The thing wedged between them sticking up is the wireless adapter, and I have the onboard LAN of rig 1 bridged to the wireless so both rigs can connect to stanford via wireless. The 2nd rig passes through a router first, so I can plug and unplug anything without PCI cards taking up room on the 1st rig. Works great :)

[Diddyu]

The machine runs headless, no video card, no onboard vid card, no keyboard, etc. I am logged into it right now via remote desktop :)

Thought of running diskless? I know theres a thread in the Folding forums on the subject.

[=ACID RAIN=]

I have, but I like being able to remote in via RDP.

When SSH is incorporated into notfreds image, I might consider using that instead.

[eternaljammer]

Nice keep up the work great job!

[Shiggity]

This is a little off topic, but how often do you guys with farms check the rigs to make sure they are still folding?

I assume you guys just watch your PPD and if it spikes or drops off really fast, obviously you know something is wrong.

Is there some kind of utility that can keep track of all the farm rigs from an exterior source?

P.S. Nice farm, very clean mounts :cool:

[=ACID RAIN=]

I check mine daily. FAHMon or FAHSpy can keep track of the machines on the LAN. All you have to do is share the folding directory and point to it in the program. The offsite borgs are a different matter - you have to physically check those, unless whoever owns them allows you to remote into them (unlikely).

[Mr.Guvernment]

doh, more dreams crushed...



i guess just buying one large PSu like a 1000W and splitting it to power multiple systems wouldnt be good?

[=ACID RAIN=]

I have considered it.

The two rigs above pull 240 watts combined, so I guess I could hook them both to the same PSU. Sounds like a cool project :)

/digs around for extra ATX bundles...

[ghettocomp]

I have a headless/diskless foldign farm, awesome thing to have. Been using NotFreds setup for years, and have no complaints. in fact.. once it is all up an running, there is no reason ever to access the layers anyway. It is possible to check the progress using the IP address of each layer anyway.
total cost for me? only the price of a mobo and ram. (Frys Elextroniks Specials) :D
Oh and I forgot. I have started using the MicroATX PSU's now. the power requirements are so little, anything else has been a waste. Also discovered that trying to put two layers on a single PSU is bad ( has been for me ) something happens that causes the layers to quit running really really too soon.

Edit: Forgot to say I like the design you have come up with for your farm, excellent idea.

[=ACID RAIN=]

Thanks! And thanks for the heads up on PSU vs layers. I'll avoid that then.

I wonder if there is a feedback induced from board to board over the voltage or signal lines. Might could be fixed with diodes inline...maybe? I dunno, but not worth the trouble IMO.

[defiant79]

Wow! I'm impressed. I've thought about doing something similar for years, but never had the spare boards or the room to setup it up (plus the wife was like, "why do you need a shelf full of computers for?").

Would love to see more pictures after you have everything finished.

[wingless]

Acid, thats just your folding rack. You need to post pics of the other multiple rigs you have in every corner of your house.

This is the guy that 3 months ago said he wasn't going to get into folding when I asked him. Then he went insane....

[Ninth]

I'm speaking completely hypothetically here, but If I decide to get on good terms with my father again, and his pediatric office still has their basement, I might be able to... "Obtain" a massive (10-20) number of oldish pc's, probably not monitors, probably 3+ years old. I begged him about the prospects years ago but he said not while I was living in his house... Guess it's time to try again ><

Also, I heard differently about beowulfing. I would think it would increase your folding capacity... but I could be wrong. I'll see if I have any friends via aquaintence at like, argonne or cern who would know... if anyone would, it's them X.X

[EmAn]

You could try to implement a KVM switch with one mouse, keyboard, and monitor so you wouldn't have to remote into them to check them but to each their own...

[SINNISTER]

very different and unique nicely done thou

[eternaljammer]

We need new pics big guy. I want to see how you have progressed. thx!

[=ACID RAIN=]

Farm was taken down for a while, due to unforeseen circumstances.

[Mr.Guvernment]

huh, wtf,.... now i am curious.....(pm?)

[Godfather1138]

Wow, yeah I too am curious now. Care to PM me about it?

[=ACID RAIN=]

I prefer not, what's done is done :)

I don't want to continue discussion of it here either if y'all don't mind, so this thread will remain visible so I can link the continued project later :D

[Adak]

I'm speaking completely hypothetically here, but If I decide to get on good terms with my father again, and his pediatric office still has their basement, I might be able to... "Obtain" a massive (10-20) number of oldish pc's, probably not monitors, probably 3+ years old. I begged him about the prospects years ago but he said not while I was living in his house... Guess it's time to try again ><

Also, I heard differently about beowulfing. I would think it would increase your folding capacity... but I could be wrong. I'll see if I have any friends via aquaintence at like, argonne or cern who would know... if anyone would, it's them X.X

Fewer and newer is better than older and more of 'em. FAH is kind of cruel that way, but older computers just have a larger amount of power being used and heat being created, for a smaller amount of points and WU's. Time has marched on, and no dc project I know of, has marched on faster than FAH.

You can NOT cluster FAH and have it increase the efficiency of individual folders, not in a cluster.

The guys at Argonne or Cern will always tell you some cool cluster idea is great - they're super geeks, what do you expect, eh? :)

Stanford has a cluster, has actually tried it, and found the problem with folding that way. You can ask them at the Stanford forum.

Edit: Whoa, Acid!

[cw823]

I prefer not, what's done is done :)

I don't want to continue discussion of it here either if y'all don't mind, so this thread will remain visible so I can link the continued project later :D

YGPM

[PhysX]

Hmm.. what was the power consumption : folding ratio ? musta have been high ? Cheaper to sell all the parts and but a mobo that supports sli and but two GXT cards :)