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Thanks guys for your help and everything else. I have my paws an a supermicro h8qme2+ with 4 6 core opteron processers that I used to use for community computing. I'm looking for recommendations if this is just way overkill for a home server Nas type of use as well as a cheap case and power supply if y'all know where to find such a thing. It called for a 1000w ps and seems to be setup for a 1u chassis but I might opt for a taller or even a desktop style case if reasonable. Any info about power consumption vs benefits would be very helpful. Also if anyone has run win 10 please reply to let me know if that is an option.

Hi everyone, thanks to Linus' and Slick's mentions of Folding@Home ("FAH") in the YouTube live stream archives, I got interested and downloaded the client and am since folding on 2 machines. More will follow. In the past, I had participated in malaria research @ home project, climate prediction @ home, etc etc. Background info: Now I want to concentrate on the two projects Folding@home and Asteroids@home. I'm willing to donate a dedicated machine for this. Donating means that there will actually be something like a foundation or a non-profit association receiving money (and saving me some taxes) to buy and run this system. The initial costs of the system(s) may be up to 4000 EUR (for parts that may even be used / from ebay - I will assemble the system(s) myself). But the total cost of ownership over the next 3-4 years should be optimized in that the system should deliver the most scientific progress at a low power consumtion (green it). Here, I assume that scientific progress roughly translates to the points per day (PPD) that the system receives from the FAH-servers. The system will be run in Germany at a current electric energy price of about 0,26 € / kWh (= 0,34 USD / kWh) with an expected average 5% increase per year so energy cost is already a point to take into account from an economic viewpoint. Moreover, besides running all systems with green energy, I try to keep my stuff as energy efficient as possible by principle. Questions: Now, the general question is, what components I should get to meet the sweetspot of putting out my PPD while keeping the power consumption as low as possible. I did some research in this direction and the so-called 4P-systems (4P = 4 processors) seem to be a good alternative. Whaler_99 from this community has already built or started building such a system and you can find his thread here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/10066-building-a-4p-system/ Going into the details of 4P, I read (somewhere, unfortunately I lost the tab in my browser), that older 12 core Opterons from the 6100 series (=48 cores total) perform better for Folding@home, at least when it comes to PPD / watt) than newer 16 core Opterons from the 6300 series (=64 cores total). Is this still true with current FAH-cores and for the currently sold Opterons? The important part for me to mention here is that I'd rather buy two, say, 6100 series 4P-systems (or one 4P and one 2P) at a higher initial price than buy one 6300 series 4P system if the 6100 series has a better performance per watt and thus hopefully creates more scientific progress at a lower energy consumption. Also, I then need to get more info on the performance of a 85 Watt TDP HE-Opteron vs. a 110 "normal" Opteron vs. a 140 Watt TDP "SE" Opteron. Which one would deliver the best PPD/wat ratio? I currently assume the HE ones will. Another question is whether or not the whole 4P FAH legend still holds with FAH Core 17 being released. I read that they got up to 110000 PPD on a 7970 and almost as high on NVIDIA graphics cards that consume even less power. So with the new FAH-core, is GPCGPU the better choice over a 4P-system? I also looked at a XEON Phi coprocessor card, but apparently that is not yet (and is unlikey to be) supported by FAH :( Any thoughts? :) Thanks for all you help! :D

Folding1 is just the hostname I use, for my HFM.NET. Update July 2013 - I have now also finished the 24 core Folder - follow this to go to the post - http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/15102-whalers-primary-4p-folder-build-log-32-cores/?p=168806 Update March 2014 - Due to the changes in the bigadv project (core requirements increase this spring and announced discontinuation of project in December) I no longer have either unit. But, I keep these up and can answer any questions you might have in regards to these or your specific builds. When you are this Big, they call you Mr. (haven’t I used ^^^^ before? Nahhh….) OVERVIEW So… the purpose of this build log will be to detail my adventures in building out my first 4P folder. So, up to now, 4P systems have been the way to Fold for major points (with the new Beta core for GPU’s this may change). So, some issues that come to mind are 1) how to do it and 2) it can cost a lot of money. So, start the reading, I spent many a night reading various threads and forums and doing research. I decided not to go whole hog to start but to get a decent system to start. The other issue, costs. I can hunt around and get some deals, but the board and CPU’s and such are pretty exclusive. So, I hunted around and found some Folding forums that sell used gear to other folders. Bonus. So, got all the gear ordered and here and ready to start building. I will detail various components below. For the record though, here is some of the links I liked and/or referenced (or will be) a lot. Computer tech station: http://richchomiczewski.wordpress.com/ Design and Build Guides: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1638127&mpage=1&print=true http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1652906 Home Rack Garage Build: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?high=&m=1678549&mpage=1%20-%201678549 Ubuntu stuff: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1601608 http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?4298-Setting-up-Linux-bigadv-folding Musky’s Hyper 212 mounting method: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1662099 CASE Original I was not going to bother, Fold naked and just have everything laying there. Naked means no case, everything open and exposed. Because of the size of the board and the heat sinks, you typically need expensive, custom case, like what SuperMicro make. BUT – on browsing a forum post I came across custom case builder Spotswood. His cases are simply amazing. And he makes an open frame case for folding systems that allows you to tie down the PSU, hard drive, etc, leave it all open. Looks so clean and does the job. And… you can stack multiple ones. Awesome. See below for pics. Motherboard & CPU So… I managed to pick up via one of the Folding Forum sites I discovered, 4 x AMD Opteron 6136 chips. These are 8 core units, and can be overclocked. The motherboard I ended up getting was a SuperMicro H8QGL-IF-O. Was able to get an ok deal on this on Ebay PSU So, the one place you don’t want to scrimp on is the PSU – so I went and picked up a Corsair AX850 unit. This puppy gets a 9/10 rating over at jonnyguru.com. I think I now had 5 AX series PSU’s between various systems. Heatsinks Need to pay some attention here. The stock ones I got are the typical low profile, with SUPER noisy fans (think Delta’s). So, I picked up four Cooler Master Hyper 212 units. The great thing, direct from the CM store, you can buy them refurb. Now, the socket is G34, not exactly compatible. But, musky from [H]ard forum has a detailed mod to adapt the Hyper 212 to work on a G34 board. Better cooling and a lot quieter. J Memory Again, paying some special attention here. I got some GSkill ripjaws 2GB sticks. I needed 4 sticks per CPU, so had to find 16 of them and want the CL7, XMP versions. You need these ones to support the overclock on the CPU. Finally managed to find 16 of them through newegg. Funny enough, considering, this was probably the most expensive part. Other Components Not much to say here. Basic hard drive to run Ubuntu. Parts List Case – Spotswood 4p/MEV/SWTX Open Frame tray Motherboard – SuperMicro H8QGL-IF-O. CPU – 4 x Opteron 6136 (8 core) Cooler – Hyper 212 Plus + musky mod RAM – 16x2GB GSkill Hard Drive – Seagate 7200RPM, 80GB SATA Fans – CoolerMaster 120mm x 7, Noctua NF-P12 x 2 PSU – Corsair AX850 Week one... My biggest issue, waiting for all the bloody parts to arrive from various sources. Got the cooler and CPU’s. The ordered the case, the mobo, memory, etc… Now, it is finally all here. I started with case assembly. I have to say, the workmanship by Spotswood on this A+. The case just looks beautiful. I won’t lie, took a bit of work putting together, got the old level out for a couple parts, various adjustments. But nothing some patience couldn’t solve. Once done, magnificent. I also assembled the second one I got for the other 4P unit I am putting together and stacked them to get a look, perfect fit. And such a clean way of doing this, especially if you have 5 or 6 systems… For the cost his systems destroy anything you can get from say Highpoint. So case is assembled. Check. Mount in the PSU and hard drive. Check… Now, onto my mods to get the Hyper 212’s I ordered to fit on the board. I basically follow musky’s guide to the letter and everything works. Some minor notes – have a dremel or other power tool for cutting the brackets. I tried one with my steel hand saw and forget that. J Now, when you get to the point when you are swinging the x brace and brackets around (after slipping them through the cooler base) to attach to the other end of the x brace, he states that although “snug” he had no issue. So, maybe my brackets were just a bit wider, don’t know, but I couldn’t attach the other end without crimping the copper heat pipes. And I DIDN’T want to do that. So, pulled the x-brace back out and slight bent the inside edge of the bracket inward, just a wee bit. I only had to do it on one end. (see attached pic) This then gave me just enough clearance to get everything screwed in nice and tight. And yes, the brackets are up against the copper heat pipes, but that isn’t an issue. Now, next step is mobo mods. To get the 6-32 thread through the mounting post in the board he gives a couple of options. I honestly couldn’t figure out how cutting the head off would allow this to work. The 6-32 is still a bit too wide to fit. So, I completed the drill out method he talk about. How I did this…. Got a strong cardboard box to support the motherboard. Got the drill with the 5/32 bit and drilled from the top down. Main thing to remember here, don’t force the drill, let the bit do the work. If you force it, you could warp/bend the board. Also, by using a cardboard box, once through, you just go through the cardboard. J Once through, back out and onto next. Remember, when done, pay special attention to getting all the metal filings off the board. Surprisingly, took quite a few shakes (being careful) and blasts of compressed air to get all the filings out. And this is where I take a break kids... going to be travelling for work for a few days and mother's day this past weekend tied me up. So, hopefulle make some progress this weekend...

so recently i have been having abit of trouble with folding and can't really connect to the server to retrieve any work, so for the time being im turning my 4p machine towards boinc, and i will probably switch to boinc whenever theres trouble with folding. so a few walls of code later boinc is installed and ready to start calculating. my question to you guys is, among the many many projects that are out there, which projects do you prefer/find most important? what are you working for?, im probaby going to run Einstein@home for now, while finding pulsars might not be the most important thing in the world i still think they play a big part in understanding how things around us works, i also think it's cool that you help them use the real data they are acquiring from something that is actually out there, im looking at climateprediction, asteroids, constellation and cosmology aswell, i just want to contribute to anything that expands our knowledge about the universe and how things around us interact. i want to hear your thoughts, ideas, viewpoints aswell, if you have anything to share go ahead!.

mini Malossi i have added all the sources i used at the bottom, a big thanks to whaler for talking to me and helping me for the past month. it ended up costing me about 3000$ and the folding numbers i have been getting so far are. WU 8103 frame time 11:04 PPD 490k WU 8101 frame time 15:08 PPD 300k WU 8104 frame time 08:28 PPD 465k WU 8105 frame time 11:04 PPD 460k this has been in the making for well over a month, spendt pretty much all that time looking around trying to find parts, the actual assembly and installation process took about a day, i went full out with a g34 board and newer processors, it cost a crapload of money (3000$ to be exact..) but the benefit to this over a 500$ partly pre assembled solution with the lower end hardware is that this is going to live for alot longer(well duh), later on i can just swap out the processors for better ones because the motherboard supports it, it should also be more efficient power to performance wise, not to mention that it is great fun to play around with all this new shiny and amazing hardware . The speccs are: CPU: 4x amd opteron 6172 12 core processors. (bought on ebay) Motherboard: Supermicro H8QGL-IF+ (also bought from ebay) PSU: Corsair rm 850W (the rest were ordered from various online stores within norway) CPU cooler: 4x hyper 212 evo Ram: Corsair 6 memory stick kit 1333 mhz cl9 1,5 volt and all that, these sticks look aswesome! to bad they no longer sell them so i could only get 6 of them. 10x kingston hyperx ram with the same speccs as the corsair ones to fill the remaining slots. Storage: corsair force 128 GB ssd, the ssd was gifted to me for the sake of helping me get it up and running. a 500 GB Hitachi harddrive. 2x 4TB WD green. First up is the Musky modded 212 evo heatsinks. the standard mounting bracket, just bend off the black clips at the end, and slide off the screws/springs. This is how it looks once you have taken it appart, i kept everything incase i would need it, i got a drawer full of screws and whatnot, il be using the tension springs later when mounting the heatsinks, which later proved to be a not so great solution.. but it worked out. i took the rails from an old closet, just took out the rails used to hold the drawers and used the ones that seemed like they would fit the best. cut them to the proper length with an old rusted saw, my arm was about to fall off once i was done .. so was the saw, i came to the conclusion that about 5cm beetwen each screw hole should be sufficient, but i was lucky so i just followed the pattern on the rail. This is the finished result.

This post will track LinusTechTips 2P and 4P owners, and to some extent highlight their commitment to the team. For those of you who don't know, this refers to two and four CPU based Folders that have 16+ cores and fold in Linux or ubuntu and therefore can get access to bigadv projects. These projects yield a LOT of points. It will have some links, details on user's and links to their builds. To gain membership you must: - Have a 2P or 4P server, that is folding bigadv, and that can be verified through your build log, photos and to some extent, stats Popular Links: For version for running in Ubuntu, here is a link from [H]ardForum for their Ubuntu Desktop Install version: Ubuntu Desktop Installation Guide for F@H - [H]ard|Forum And also a link for their new Ubuntu Appliance version: http://hardforum.com...d.php?t=1769083 The guys over at [H]ard are very helpful and it is a great place to hang out and learn. That are the #1 team and have lots of info there for people to check out. [H]ardForum Distributed Computing Current Members: 1 - @Whaler_99 System 1 Details - 32 Cores, 4 x AMD Opteron 6136, Magny Cours, Hyper212 Plus custom mod coolers, SuperMicro H8QGL-IF-O, @Spotswood open frame case, 16 x 2GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series memory System 2 Details - 24 Cores, 4 x AMD Opteron 8425, @Spotswood open frame case, 8 x 2GB DDR2 ECC memory System 3 Details - 24 Cores, HP ML330 G6, 2 x Intel Xeon E5649, 16GB DDR3 Whalers_4P Build Log 2 - @Imaginaerum System 1 Details - 24 Cores, 4 x AMD Opteron 8425 HE, copper heatsinks with Antec 3 speed fans, Supermicro H8QME-2+, 16GB DDR2 System 2 Details - 16 Cores, 4 x AMD Opteron 8386 SE, copper heatsinks with Antec 3 speed fans, Supermicro H8QM3-2+, 24GB DDR2 My 24 & 16 Core 4P Folding Rigs (Updated!) (large pics) 3 - @ray_p1 System 1 Details - 24 Cores, 4 x AMD Opteron 8431, copper heatsinks with sweet Intel cooler fans, Supermicro H8QME-2+, 16GB DDR2 cheap 4p folding rig 4 - @tobben System 1 Details - 48 Cores, 4 x AMD Opteron 6172, CM Hyper 212 Evo custom modded coolers, Supermicro H8QGL-IF+, 16 x 2GB DDR3, Corsair and Kingston Tobben's 4p Build log (48 core folder, the monster is here!) 5 - ?? Will this be YOU?? Please keep posts in this thread related to and about 2P, 4P, bigadv, etc... thanks!