Most efficient farm blades

I've been out of the heavy farming for awhile and wanted to know what the concensus is on the most efficient folding blade combos are. i.e. CPU, MB, RAM, HD (or not), PSU, etc.

I have 3 PC-DL / 2x 1.6lv xeon blades from back when to set up and was wondering if this is the most cost effective setup.

Thanks!

Out for a while?

Glad to have you back !!

check this out.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=436219

i am kind of partial to the p4 D's atm since they gobble up qmd's which bigpacket+advmethods p4 rigs are guaranteed to get atm.

I have put my farming thoughts on these in to this thread -> http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=436285

If there was a better supply of WU's to feed them the dual core AMD's would be even better since they have lower power and cooling needs (not sure if capital costs are lower)... but atm the same number of intel d's will outperform ppd wize the same number of opterons given the current WU supply. For some, power and cooling costs will dominate, for others min # of rigs for a particular production goal will win.

Others will swear that a farm of Dothans is better than the bunch, but they suffer the problem of guaranteed food (WU) supply too i think.

So if you are about to build, forcasting the future might come into play. and as we all know, there are only 2 things guaranteed in life ,,, and folding farm production is not one of them.

back!!

the 8xx series dual core intels seem like an awesome value for the PPD.

atm, it still seems intel is on top with QMDs since you can be almost guaranteed a steady supply. Given server doesn't go down and whatnot.

Silver has done some work with celly d's and tried to close in on 450ppd bust just couldn't make it there completely. A celly d setup (cpu/mobo/ram) can be had for 150. Then split a psu between two layers and run it headless/diskless. ~$350 and with enough tweaking you could be looking at 900ppd.

What's the cheapest you can throw a 8xx setup together for? I haven't priced that stuff, might be the better option. Less stuff to buy.... but each costing more...

godofgorks said:

atm, it still seems intel is on top with QMDs since you can be almost guaranteed a steady supply. Given server doesn't go down and whatnot.

Silver has done some work with celly d's and tried to close in on 450ppd bust just couldn't make it there completely. A celly d setup (cpu/mobo/ram) can be had for 150. Then split a psu between two layers and run it headless/diskless. ~$350 and with enough tweaking you could be looking at 900ppd.

What's the cheapest you can throw a 8xx setup together for? I haven't priced that stuff, might be the better option. Less stuff to buy.... but each costing more...

Click to expand...

I think that rather than the cellie d, grab a 506 for about $120 or less. These will usually clock to almost 4ghz on air, and I think a high percentage will hit 4ghz. These have 1mb cache, so dont suffer from the same bandwidth issues as the cellie d's.

dwschoon said:

I think that rather than the cellie d, grab a 506 for about $120 or less. These will usually clock to almost 4ghz on air, and I think a high percentage will hit 4ghz. These have 1mb cache, so dont suffer from the same bandwidth issues as the cellie d's.

Click to expand...

What kind of ppd will a 506 do at 4ghz....

A celly D 310-315 can be had for ~$50

godofgorks said:

What kind of ppd will a 506 do at 4ghz....

A celly D 310-315 can be had for ~$50

Click to expand...

ChaseR said:

Intels are easy, between 40 and 50 ppd/GHz on a single instance on all the non bonus, non SSE2 WUS. But they should be folding QMDs anyway. 90 ppd/GHz for the celeron and 135ppd/GHz for the P4 on QMDs. P4 5xx and 6xx get about 145-155ppd/GHz on QMDs.

Click to expand...

This would net 580-620ppd for the 506@4ghz. You would only have to hit 3.1ghz to hit the 450ppd mark, and the 506 clocks well over that easily. The cellie's fold alright if you can get the fsb up to 200. The small cache really hinders them and forces them to rely on memory bandwidth more, which sucks with low fsb. At least with the 506, it will perform about the same ppd/ghz no matter how high you can clock it. If you are really on a tight budget, get the lowest multi cellie you can, but I would find the extra $$ to get the 506.

I'm not an expert on the numbers but I would opt for a varied farm.

eg for a 4 blade farm try 1x CellyD oc'd or 509 OC'd, 1x dualcore Pentium-D, 1x Dothan, 1x Dualcore AMD.

That way fluctuations wont hit you so hard.

Well this prompts me to ask the question:

Which would be better and by how much?
2x3GHz Xeon processors on an i875P chipset
or
one 3GHz dual core Pentium D on the latest chipset.

Both on decent but not super expensive memory. The P-D will have DDR2 and the Xeon will have DDR.

Memory bandwidth will be key here.

Audioaficionado said:

Well this prompts me to ask the question:

Which would be better and by how much?
2x3GHz Xeon processors on an i875P chipset
or
one 3GHz dual core Pentium D on the latest chipset.

Both on decent but not super expensive memory. The P-D will have DDR2 and the Xeon will have DDR.

Memory bandwidth will be key here.

Click to expand...

I would have to say the dual core wins ATM based on reliable qmd supply. With an 830D running on a 945 chipset (not the latest and most expensive 955 or 975) I am getting 900 pdd on one, even with mixed memory! Similar results as another i have on same p5ld2 mobo with 'better' memory (have not really finished seeing if i can tweak more out of the memory).

If the WU workload were to change, the dual cores might be limited by lack of HT ... but i don't build for 'maybe's', at least currently.
I would not be suprsied if I end up following David's suggestion of a 'balanced' farm capability ... time will tell to what extent I will need to adjust my farm's production capabilities IF qmd's stop dominating the points game.

I'm getting ~550PPD on my DH800 Xeon duallie.

Two single P4 rigs @3GHz/800MHz QPfsb will also get me 900PPD. Two such rigs cost ~$900-$1k.

Three OCed Celerons might also come close but...

One DC rig is more fun as a multi purpose machine like my Xeon duallie is. You can't add the 3DM-05 benchies of a farm together now can you

If they ever end QMDs and the Intel guys get stuck with the little bits that many AMD64 guys get stuck with, I'm not sure if they would stay in the game at the same level. It's very expensive to power Intel folding rigs compared to AMD64. That QMD bonus is very addictive.

I'm thinking that most of the simpler models have been worked out and we are going to see larger and more complex WUs in the future. Hopefully some that will take advantage of AMD64 processors. All that is lacking now is a uber fast compiler that's free of the anti competitive EULA Intel/AMD BS that Stanford is saddled with now.

Audioaficionado said:

One DC rig is more fun as a multi purpose machine like my Xeon duallie is. You can't add the 3DM-05 benchies of a farm together now can you

Click to expand...

LOL...

my blades... (after I start farming).... will have a hard time passing any 3DMark tests considering they won't have a video card, hard drive, or an other "fluff"

I do not fully utilize my 920 capabilties ... I am just comparing it as a pure folder to my 830's and cheaper 945 mobos.

If you are going to use it as intel intended, i think the 920 would do much better than the 800's. That is certanly the sense i get from those that have done the early 900 comparisons on the intel forum.

The 920 has a much nicer toy aspect to it and combined with the p5wd2 basic, -P or -E versions would make it fine a multimedia machine i think. I am certainly no expert on those aspects tho ... hey i am running a 5 (or more?) yr old 8 mb pci video card in them! nor do i have any sound connected. and all the 'unnecessary' features for folding are disabled by me in bios!

My focus has been purely on raw ppd folding potential.

Joe Camels Asus P5WD2-E Deluxe is really nice but $269 is not a good bang for the buck folding layer.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131589
P5WD2 $167.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131547
P5LD2 Deluxe $158
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131539
P5LD2 $119.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131538

Will that $119.00 P5LD2 do that 900PPD trick without H₂O on an 8xx Smithfield? I was thinking of a High-end heatpipe cooler because water systems are more hassle than I'm prepared to take on.

pscout, what PPD with this combo?

P5LD2 $119.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131538
820 Smithfield BTX version $266.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116226
820 Smithfield 800MHz ATX version $243.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116213
OCZ Gold OCZ25331024ELDCGE-K 1gig kit $96.44
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820227044

How high did you get your P5LD2/820 to overclock on air?

Audioaficionado said:

P5LD2 $119.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131538
820 Smithfield BTX version $266.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116226
820 Smithfield 800MHz ATX version $243.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116213
OCZ Gold OCZ25331024ELDCGE-K 1gig kit $96.44
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820227044

How high did you get your P5LD2/820 to overclock on air?

Click to expand...

I dont have an 820 ... but assuming it OC's nicely you should be well over 700, maybe 800? Maybe a bit more? My 830's are all doing nearly 900 since i learned/remembered to tweak the memory better.

And if you are a little adventurous and careful and patient, i bet u can get an 820 for $180 on ebay.
I got 2 of my 830's there for that with some luck (one was an ES). i believe ihsetrdr got an 820 for that recently there. my 1'st 830 there was $235.
+ shipping on all them ... some ship really cheap (cost), some charge way too much.

I am not sure if the 820 will go higher fsb than my 830's on the p5ld2 ... my 830's are at 260 and 265 fsb on air. Vcore is around 1.4V +/- .25 on each i think. Temps from high 40's to low 50's but both are caseless and have an outside (cold usually) air supply. Both have TT sonic towers on them. I am guessing the 820's might do a bit better due to lower thermals ... but this is really just a guess (one of my cheap 830's was supposed to be an 820 for me to try out but the vendor screwed up and gave me an 830 instead to settle my complaint).

/edit ... I am pretty sure you don't want the BTX version with that 920.
I also like OCZ cuz it will usually run better timings than spec if you feed it volts.

Well I threw together two wish lists: the 820/P5LD2 & the 920/P5WD2 and the 920 list only costs $70 more. That would put it ~$300/core layer.

Audioaficionado said:

Well I threw together two wish lists: the 820/P5LD2 & the 920/P5WD2 and the 920 list only costs $70 more. That would put it ~$300/core layer.

Click to expand...

For that price difference, i would definitely go with the p5wd2/920 combo!

On air and not my best memory (corsair 5400c4) is is doing 910-920 ppd atm.
Running on an ocz 420 powerstream and a TT big typhoon.