Considering f@h

[dizmo]

So I've been considering building a F@H rig for a while now, mostly out of boredom.

I have a couple of questions that I didn't find during my (admittedly half assed) searching.

 

I'm thinking something like a dual LGA1366 Xeon board with either 1 or 2 560Ti's.

• What's more important, CPU or GPU?
• Will dual CPUs even help that much?
• When they're performing calculations, are they under severe load? Trying to calculate power consumption.

 

[ARikozuM]

Depends on the WU.

Depends on the WU and your electric bill. 

Mine are usually around 80-100% usage depending on the WU.

[Ithanul]

GPUs will give the higher points.  CPUs and GPUs do different WUs.

 

WUs vary by load.  I usually see a load moving between 95-99% on my GPUs.  This load under Windows 7 of course.

 

For GPUs, probably better to find some used 750Tis or 950s.  950s do a decent bit of PPD for low wattage draw.

[dizmo]

2 hours ago, Ithanul said:

GPUs will give the higher points.  CPUs and GPUs do different WUs.

 

WUs vary by load.  I usually see a load moving between 95-99% on my GPUs.  This load under Windows 7 of course.

 

For GPUs, probably better to find some used 750Tis or 950s.  950s do a decent bit of PPD for low wattage draw.

Is power draw the main consideration there? I'd be getting the 560Tis for free.

[Imakuni]

8 hours ago, dizmo said:

So I've been considering building a F@H rig for a while now, mostly out of boredom.

Rather than building new rigs, it's always preferable to:

1. First and foremost, use ones idle ones you don't currently crunch with. That's the obvious step.
2. Upgrade existing machines. Have a Gtx 1060? swap it for a 1070. Do you have yourself a bad LGA775 pentium? Time to jump to Kaby (or Ryzen).

Only after those steps are done that you should think about building rigs.

8 hours ago, dizmo said:

I'm thinking something like a dual LGA1366 Xeon board with either 1 or 2 560Ti's.

• What's more important, CPU or GPU?
• Will dual CPUs even help that much?
• When they're performing calculations, are they under severe load? Trying to calculate power consumption.

1. GPUs are far more important (for F@H) than CPUs. Also, you don't really need many cores. For a single GPU setup, pretty much anything you have will do.
2. Not much.
3. Yes. Power consumption will go up. And that's the main reason why we say to upgrade components first, build new rigs later: newer parts are much more energy efficient. Right now, don't buy anything pre Gtx 9xx series for folding.

4 hours ago, dizmo said:

Is power draw the main consideration there? I'd be getting the 560Tis for free.

Yup, that's the biggie. And while the power bill is the immediate concern, remember that all energy becomes heat that has to be dealt with. If you've got free 560tis, sell them and use the money to (as per before) upgrading components.

[Firecheetah13]

1. My RX 470 (+20MHz -> 1250MHz) Gets 275,000 points per day while my i5 6500 gets 20k points per day. Take a hint.

2. Not really, but it depends on the work unit and the CPU.

3. Well, it's kind of weird. My RX 470 will be at 100% and drop to 0% quite frequently while it is running. It is usually pinned at 100% though. As a 13 year old with his parents paying the power bill, I can say that power consumption is the main issue when running 24/7.

[dizmo]

On 2017-02-12 at 1:46 AM, Imakuni said:

Rather than building new rigs, it's always preferable to:

1. First and foremost, use ones idle ones you don't currently crunch with. That's the obvious step.
2. Upgrade existing machines. Have a Gtx 1060? swap it for a 1070. Do you have yourself a bad LGA775 pentium? Time to jump to Kaby (or Ryzen).

Only after those steps are done that you should think about building rigs.

1. GPUs are far more important (for F@H) than CPUs. Also, you don't really need many cores. For a single GPU setup, pretty much anything you have will do.
2. Not much.
3. Yes. Power consumption will go up. And that's the main reason why we say to upgrade components first, build new rigs later: newer parts are much more energy efficient. Right now, don't buy anything pre Gtx 9xx series for folding.

Yup, that's the biggie. And while the power bill is the immediate concern, remember that all energy becomes heat that has to be dealt with. If you've got free 560tis, sell them and use the money to (as per before) upgrading components.

I'd rather have a computer off in a closet out of the way of everything else just running in the background. I don't have systems that old laying around. I wonder how a 1050Ti would fare for folding. Is it possible to have two of them running on the same thing? I know they can't be ran in SLI, but running two cards is possible iirc.

 

15 minutes ago, Firecheetah13 said:

1. My RX 470 (+20MHz -> 1250MHz) Gets 275,000 points per day while my i5 6500 gets 20k points per day. Take a hint.

2. Not really, but it depends on the work unit and the CPU.

3. Well, it's kind of weird. My RX 470 will be at 100% and drop to 0% quite frequently while it is running. It is usually pinned at 100% though. As a 13 year old with his parents paying the power bill, I can say that power consumption is the main issue when running 24/7.

Yeah, power isn't terribly expensive but if it's a powerful enough computer it does get a little high. I just think of all the cinnamon buns I could have bought instead...

Do you get to pick workloads that cater more to your set up, or are you given something and if it's more CPU intensive, too bad.

[Imakuni]

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I'd rather have a computer off in a closet out of the way of everything else just running in the background.

Beware of the heat...

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I wonder how a 1050Ti would fare for folding. Is it possible to have two of them running on the same thing?

While a 1050ti would do okay on it's own, it would be wiser to sell the first one and upgrade to a single better GPU rather than putting 2 1050ti together in the same rig.

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Do you get to pick workloads that cater more to your set up, or are you given something and if it's more CPU intensive, too bad.

You can tell the program not to run on the CPU (or GPU), but that's as far as it goes. You don't have an once of influence as to what you get.

[Ithanul]

This database can give you an idea about PPD output of cards.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vcVoSVtamcoGj5sFfvKF_XlvuviWWveJIg_iZ8U2bf0/pub?output=html#

[Firecheetah13]

3 hours ago, dizmo said:

I'd rather have a computer off in a closet out of the way of everything else just running in the background. I don't have systems that old laying around. I wonder how a 1050Ti would fare for folding. Is it possible to have two of them running on the same thing? I know they can't be ran in SLI, but running two cards is possible iirc.

 

Yeah, power isn't terribly expensive but if it's a powerful enough computer it does get a little high. I just think of all the cinnamon buns I could have bought instead...

Do you get to pick workloads that cater more to your set up, or are you given something and if it's more CPU intensive, too bad.

In fact, F@H scales perfectly, because each work unit is independent and only runs on either GPU, so have at it if you are just using it for folding. You do get to pick WUs actually, if you go to File Explorer->This PC->Users->Username->AppData->Roaming->FAHClient->Work You can delete the WU file of the WU you want to dump (check what the Work Queue ID is in Advanced Control). When you start it up again, it will give you a new work unit. Be careful not to do this too much though, because if you return less than 80% of the WUs you are assigned, you will lose your QRB (Quick Return Bonus).