Dedicated F@H Rig

[Cysquatch]

I've toyed with this idea for a while, and I think I'm at a point where I want to peruse a build for folding.  I understand cpu folding is a waste,  does that mean I'm good getting a celeron or similar CPU?  Does RAM amount matter?  I have a few Ideas for what GPU to grab.  Any info/suggestions/criticisms would be appreciated.

[LazyDev]

I found disabling SMT on my Ryzen 7 3700X improved the PPD on all 3 of my GPU's. Nvidia GPU's require 1 CPU core per GPU. Also, PCIe bandwidth becomes an issue. You can get away with X1 for decent GPU's, such as the 1060 6GB, but it's recommended to run 4X. AMD CPU's are better due to the quantity of pcie lanes. For example, the 3700X has 24 PCI gen 4 lanes, whilst most Intel's are capped at 16.

 

Also, check out @Gorgon's post for more, detailed, information on what you may want to achieve. 

 

[TVwazhere]

On 6/23/2020 at 5:44 PM, Cysquatch said:

I've toyed with this idea for a while, and I think I'm at a point where I want to peruse a build for folding.  I understand cpu folding is a waste,  does that mean I'm good getting a celeron or similar CPU?  Does RAM amount matter?  I have a few Ideas for what GPU to grab.  Any info/suggestions/criticisms would be appreciated.

Yes you can easily run the program using an old dual core or quad core like I am in Project ITNOS. Keep in mind that for each NVIDIA card you want to leave one CPU thread available, plus one thread to run your operating system, the program, etc. So if you have three GPU's, you want at least a 4 thread or core CPU. 

I dont believe ram matters, but I managed to snag 8gb @$40 $20 not that long ago and I've had no issues with it. I cant recall if it's ever gone above 4gb as I dont actively monitor it (it chills in the basement folding away)

[LazyDev]

16 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

I dont believe ram matters, but I managed to snag 8gb @$40 $20 not that long ago and I've had no issues with it. I cant recall if it's ever gone above 4gb as I dont actively monitor it (it chills in the basement folding away)

I have 3 GPU's in my system. I've no idea which one is using huge amounts of ram.

 

[TVwazhere]

7 hours ago, LazyDev said:

I have 3 GPU's in my system. I've no idea which one is using huge amounts of ram.

I think it depends on the work unit, meaning GPU that's taking the longest to complete is the one with the bigger Work unit, hence more memory needed to store it. 

[Cysquatch]

Thanks for all the info!  I appreciate this 

[Gorgon]

On 6/30/2020 at 9:07 AM, TVwazhere said:

Yes you can easily run the program using an old dual core or quad core like I am in Project ITNOS. Keep in mind that for each NVIDIA card you want to leave one CPU thread available, plus one thread to run your operating system, the program, etc. So if you have three GPU's, you want at least a 4 thread or core CPU. 

I dont believe ram matters, but I managed to snag 8gb @$40 $20 not that long ago and I've had no issues with it. I cant recall if it's ever gone above 4gb as I dont actively monitor it (it chills in the basement folding away)

You’ll need about 1.5GB RAM per GPU plus whatever your OS needs. That’s the max RAM I’ve seen F@H use