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The most folding for the $?
- Thread starter Dell_Axim
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2006
Id have to say probably either the 21XX Pentiums (core 2 duo based) Or probably the 4XXX core 2 duo series. The 21XX series can be OCed with ease from what I heard, but lack the full cache of their bigger brothers.
Depends what you mean by best folding perf for $.
Overall best folding perf is gonna be running the smp client and the c2d or c2q's are the best performers (better floating point than amd). They are simple to oc on intel chipset mobos and will oc from 25%-50% on air depending on how good your chip is, mobo and to some degree on memory.
A well oc'ed 21x0 c2d is gonna be the cheapest entry point but will only get up to 1500 ppd depending on wu and oc. They also can't run 64 bit linux or vmware. Some of the current wu's are cache intensive and the 21x0's are not gonna do very well on them. E6300/6400 are ok if cheap but will be held back by their 2MB cache.
Next up the cpu cost range is gonna be any of the 4MB cache c2d's. With a good oc on a 6320 or 6420 you will produce as much as most e6600's. The 6320 will need faster and more expensive memory to perform as well as 6420/6600 since it runs a lower multi. A well oc'ed one will produce 1800-2400 ppd depending on wu mix.
Overall best perf for the $ is gonna be a quad and the q6600 GO stepping will be best in general if you are going to OC. B3 q6600's are a bit cheaper, but will usually require more volts to get a similar oc to a GO and so will cost more to run. The G0's are more likely to get a higher oc as well. Xeon x3210 and x3220 are also good candidates especially if you get the newer G0 steppings at similar pricing to the q6600's. A well oc'ed quad will produce 3000-4500 ppd depending on wu mix, os, and oc.
There are good cheap quad oc'ing mobos like the giga p53-ds3l at < $100.
Memory - you will get added performance if the memory oc's so you can run it at > 1:1 ratios. Any 6400 rated ram should do fine. Some 5400 will also oc well. You can get by with 1 GB dual channel but 2gb is a better choice and usually is not twice the price of 1 gb.
PSU - a STURDY 400 + watt psu should work ok. <$100
video - for a dedicated folding rig don't waste money on high end cards ... you won't want to fold on them with SMP on the quad, and they draw more power and produce more heat. A cheap pci video card that supports your monitor resolution is all you need. A low end pci-e card is ok too. $15-$30.
A small hdd - 60+ gb is more than enuf and allows dual boot to win/linux and vmware options. I prefer sata over ide.
You only need a cd/dvd drive for 1 time setup so you can borrow one from another rig.
For a dedicated folder, I like a caseless setup to simplify cooling as long as you have a safe place for it. If you need a case, something that will allow good airflow.
A few extra fans for cooling NB etc. $10-20
A lowend HSF like the Arctic Freezer 7 will work but at higher oc and volt settings will limit the oc. There are better ones but i am not up on the current best $20-$60+.
Linux is free and the 64 bit ubuntu 7.04 performs better on most smp wu's atm than windows smp. I would avoid vista although it works. I still prefer wxp if you want to go the windows route.
Overall best folding perf is gonna be running the smp client and the c2d or c2q's are the best performers (better floating point than amd). They are simple to oc on intel chipset mobos and will oc from 25%-50% on air depending on how good your chip is, mobo and to some degree on memory.
A well oc'ed 21x0 c2d is gonna be the cheapest entry point but will only get up to 1500 ppd depending on wu and oc. They also can't run 64 bit linux or vmware. Some of the current wu's are cache intensive and the 21x0's are not gonna do very well on them. E6300/6400 are ok if cheap but will be held back by their 2MB cache.
Next up the cpu cost range is gonna be any of the 4MB cache c2d's. With a good oc on a 6320 or 6420 you will produce as much as most e6600's. The 6320 will need faster and more expensive memory to perform as well as 6420/6600 since it runs a lower multi. A well oc'ed one will produce 1800-2400 ppd depending on wu mix.
Overall best perf for the $ is gonna be a quad and the q6600 GO stepping will be best in general if you are going to OC. B3 q6600's are a bit cheaper, but will usually require more volts to get a similar oc to a GO and so will cost more to run. The G0's are more likely to get a higher oc as well. Xeon x3210 and x3220 are also good candidates especially if you get the newer G0 steppings at similar pricing to the q6600's. A well oc'ed quad will produce 3000-4500 ppd depending on wu mix, os, and oc.
There are good cheap quad oc'ing mobos like the giga p53-ds3l at < $100.
Memory - you will get added performance if the memory oc's so you can run it at > 1:1 ratios. Any 6400 rated ram should do fine. Some 5400 will also oc well. You can get by with 1 GB dual channel but 2gb is a better choice and usually is not twice the price of 1 gb.
PSU - a STURDY 400 + watt psu should work ok. <$100
video - for a dedicated folding rig don't waste money on high end cards ... you won't want to fold on them with SMP on the quad, and they draw more power and produce more heat. A cheap pci video card that supports your monitor resolution is all you need. A low end pci-e card is ok too. $15-$30.
A small hdd - 60+ gb is more than enuf and allows dual boot to win/linux and vmware options. I prefer sata over ide.
You only need a cd/dvd drive for 1 time setup so you can borrow one from another rig.
For a dedicated folder, I like a caseless setup to simplify cooling as long as you have a safe place for it. If you need a case, something that will allow good airflow.
A few extra fans for cooling NB etc. $10-20
A lowend HSF like the Arctic Freezer 7 will work but at higher oc and volt settings will limit the oc. There are better ones but i am not up on the current best $20-$60+.
Linux is free and the 64 bit ubuntu 7.04 performs better on most smp wu's atm than windows smp. I would avoid vista although it works. I still prefer wxp if you want to go the windows route.
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Personally I would avoid any cpu with less than 2 MB cache per core and those without VT. While ATM there aren't that many cache intensive WUs out there, you can bet there will be.
My first C2Ds were 6400's and it pained me greatly to see them go from 600 ppd/GHz on p2605 to 1/2 that on p2608. THe 21xx will be absoultely hammered by a similar WU, perhaps to the point of not making the deadline.
If you assume you'll spend about $400 for all the parts but the cpu to create a decent OCing rig in a case, you'd have $575 in a E6550 rig and $675 in a Q6600 rig. On p2653, the E6550 is going to make about 2400 ppd @ 3.3 GHz and the Q6600 is going to make about 3400 ppd @ 3.3 GHz on a single instance of p305x. Ppd/$ for the E6550 = 4.15. Ppd/$ for the Q6600 = 5.03, quite a bit better than the E6550. Further, the quad output is almost constant (the benchmark machine is a quad) while the E6550 is going to drop as low as 1800 ppd on some WUs. You can substitute an x3210 at 3.2 GHz and perhaps do a little better in terms of ppd/$ (5.07). I'm sure you can seek out the best number's for the necessary parts and the Quad's still going to be the best bang for the buck in the long run.
My first C2Ds were 6400's and it pained me greatly to see them go from 600 ppd/GHz on p2605 to 1/2 that on p2608. THe 21xx will be absoultely hammered by a similar WU, perhaps to the point of not making the deadline.
If you assume you'll spend about $400 for all the parts but the cpu to create a decent OCing rig in a case, you'd have $575 in a E6550 rig and $675 in a Q6600 rig. On p2653, the E6550 is going to make about 2400 ppd @ 3.3 GHz and the Q6600 is going to make about 3400 ppd @ 3.3 GHz on a single instance of p305x. Ppd/$ for the E6550 = 4.15. Ppd/$ for the Q6600 = 5.03, quite a bit better than the E6550. Further, the quad output is almost constant (the benchmark machine is a quad) while the E6550 is going to drop as low as 1800 ppd on some WUs. You can substitute an x3210 at 3.2 GHz and perhaps do a little better in terms of ppd/$ (5.07). I'm sure you can seek out the best number's for the necessary parts and the Quad's still going to be the best bang for the buck in the long run.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2004
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
If you are planning to upgrade the system in your sig (which I believe is S939?) an Opty165 (overclocked to 2700mhz which should be fairly easy) would provide you with the best percentage increase per dollar spent I believe. The 165 is posted on Newegg right now for $94. You might be able to get a used one significantly cheaper if you are willing to wait for it.
If you want to build a new system for folding (or switch to LGA775) the above posters have great suggestions.
EDIT: Ack, that is a socket 754 board...back to the drawing board. Listen to the guys above, they are the experts.
If you want to build a new system for folding (or switch to LGA775) the above posters have great suggestions.
EDIT: Ack, that is a socket 754 board...back to the drawing board. Listen to the guys above, they are the experts.
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2006
- Location
- Buford, Georgia
BTW, that's P35-ds3l
(I'm looking to build a nice little farm with the new job money, so am following this discussion very very closely.)
Speaking of.....
How would this do for a power supply or does anyone have a specific recommendation?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817128001
I dig the cabling and the look gives me some ideas on building a rack.
Also, regarding the video card, would it be possible to go up just a tad (or maybe down) for the motherboard to get an on board video adapter? I would rather not have any cards in the system(s) if possible. (yes, I know I could set it up and then remove the video card later, but I'd rather not if I can get away with having it be built in and still be be to oc the system.)
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- Joined
- Nov 1, 2006
- Location
- Buford, Georgia
Right, the cost of the video card was not the problem, I just wanted to cut down on the vertical items on that side of the motherboard. So better to go with the listed mobo and a cheap card. I suppose I could always use a low profile video card.
re: onboard video ... i have a g33m-ds2r which oc's pretty well but I think a ds3l with a cheap video card is better. I would need to swap the quads and maybe memory i have in each mobo to see if it is the mobo or the cpu's which result in my ds3l's performing better than my ds2r. I have a b3 x3320 in the ds2r @ 3.0 but never got around to trying in in another mobo so it may just be a poor oc'ing cpu.
The g33 chipsets do oc VERY well compared to previous integrated video options, but the mobo is an matx, is a little limited on oc'ing settings (memory V and ratios), and the ds2r has raid which is not needed on a dedicated folding rig so i would buy a ds3l + cheap video over it for next build vs ds2r. ds3l + cheap video can be cheaper depending on video.
If the ds2r's size and raid are of value to you then it is not a bad choice. Asus has a p5k-vm which is similar and also oc's well. I think primary market for these matx mobos is hptc's.
The g33 chipsets do oc VERY well compared to previous integrated video options, but the mobo is an matx, is a little limited on oc'ing settings (memory V and ratios), and the ds2r has raid which is not needed on a dedicated folding rig so i would buy a ds3l + cheap video over it for next build vs ds2r. ds3l + cheap video can be cheaper depending on video.
If the ds2r's size and raid are of value to you then it is not a bad choice. Asus has a p5k-vm which is similar and also oc's well. I think primary market for these matx mobos is hptc's.
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