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Potential BOINC / FAH Rig

Hey guys.

 

Lets say hypothetically I would want to create a dedicated machine with the sole purpose of participating in BOINC / FAH. What would be the best way to go about selecting and obtaining hardware? Should this be a PC with one CPU and two GPUs - (one for FAH and BOINC)? Should I go for server hardware or something else on used market? Really just looking for general information. Ideally I wouldn't want to spend mass amounts of money on hardware or electricity, just exploring my options.

My PC Specs: (expand to view)

 

 

Main Gaming Machine

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K - OC to 5 GHz All Cores
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT (Front Mounted AIO)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600

Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD (x2)
Video Card: Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB GAMING Twin Edge OC

Power Supply: Corsair RM850 850W
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow
Case Fan 120mm: Noctua F12 PWM 54.97 CFM 120 mm (x1)
Case Fan 140mm: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm (x4)
Monitor Main: Asus VG278QR 27.0" 1920x1080 165 Hz
Monitor Vertical: Asus VA27EHE 27.0" 1920x1080 75 Hz

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My PC Specs: (expand to view)

 

 

Main Gaming Machine

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K - OC to 5 GHz All Cores
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT (Front Mounted AIO)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600

Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD (x2)
Video Card: Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB GAMING Twin Edge OC

Power Supply: Corsair RM850 850W
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow
Case Fan 120mm: Noctua F12 PWM 54.97 CFM 120 mm (x1)
Case Fan 140mm: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm (x4)
Monitor Main: Asus VG278QR 27.0" 1920x1080 165 Hz
Monitor Vertical: Asus VA27EHE 27.0" 1920x1080 75 Hz

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If you are wanting low power cost your best bet is the newest HW out there like an RTX 4070 system with a Ryzen chip. 

If you don't mind eating the power cost, then an old server platform is ideal and very cheap 

My Folding Stats - Join the fight against COVID-19 with FOLDING! - If someone has helped you out on the forum don't forget to give them a reaction to say thank you!

 

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates
 

Please put as much effort into your question as you expect me to put into answering it. 

 

  • CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
  • Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus GA-AX370-GAMING 5
  • RAM
    32GB DDR4 3200
  • GPU
    Inno3D 4070 Ti
  • Case
    Cooler Master - MasterCase H500P
  • Storage
    Western Digital Black 250GB, Seagate BarraCuda 1TB x2
  • PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1000w 
  • Display(s)
    Lenovo L29w-30 29 Inch UltraWide Full HD, BenQ - XL2430(portrait), Dell P2311Hb(portrait)
  • Cooling
    MasterLiquid Lite 240
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1 minute ago, GOTSpectrum said:

If you are wanting low power cost your best bet is the newest HW out there like an RTX 4070 system with a Ryzen chip. 

If you don't mind eating the power cost, then an old server platform is ideal and very cheap 

Where should I look into finding old server platform? Alibaba? I am not very familiar with older hardware - especially hardware.

My PC Specs: (expand to view)

 

 

Main Gaming Machine

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K - OC to 5 GHz All Cores
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT (Front Mounted AIO)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600

Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD (x2)
Video Card: Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB GAMING Twin Edge OC

Power Supply: Corsair RM850 850W
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow
Case Fan 120mm: Noctua F12 PWM 54.97 CFM 120 mm (x1)
Case Fan 140mm: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm (x4)
Monitor Main: Asus VG278QR 27.0" 1920x1080 165 Hz
Monitor Vertical: Asus VA27EHE 27.0" 1920x1080 75 Hz

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Just now, TylerD321 said:

Where should I look into finding old server platform? Alibaba? I am not very familiar with older hardware - especially hardware.

Where are you located? 

My Folding Stats - Join the fight against COVID-19 with FOLDING! - If someone has helped you out on the forum don't forget to give them a reaction to say thank you!

 

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates
 

Please put as much effort into your question as you expect me to put into answering it. 

 

  • CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
  • Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus GA-AX370-GAMING 5
  • RAM
    32GB DDR4 3200
  • GPU
    Inno3D 4070 Ti
  • Case
    Cooler Master - MasterCase H500P
  • Storage
    Western Digital Black 250GB, Seagate BarraCuda 1TB x2
  • PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1000w 
  • Display(s)
    Lenovo L29w-30 29 Inch UltraWide Full HD, BenQ - XL2430(portrait), Dell P2311Hb(portrait)
  • Cooling
    MasterLiquid Lite 240
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Just now, GOTSpectrum said:

Where are you located? 

USA, Specifically Kentucky.

My PC Specs: (expand to view)

 

 

Main Gaming Machine

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K - OC to 5 GHz All Cores
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT (Front Mounted AIO)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600

Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD (x2)
Video Card: Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB GAMING Twin Edge OC

Power Supply: Corsair RM850 850W
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow
Case Fan 120mm: Noctua F12 PWM 54.97 CFM 120 mm (x1)
Case Fan 140mm: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm (x4)
Monitor Main: Asus VG278QR 27.0" 1920x1080 165 Hz
Monitor Vertical: Asus VA27EHE 27.0" 1920x1080 75 Hz

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Just now, TylerD321 said:

USA, Specifically Kentucky.

Hmm... I would look for a US-based company. I use these guys, but there are companies like this everywhere. 

https://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/

Ebay is a good place to start

My Folding Stats - Join the fight against COVID-19 with FOLDING! - If someone has helped you out on the forum don't forget to give them a reaction to say thank you!

 

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates
 

Please put as much effort into your question as you expect me to put into answering it. 

 

  • CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
  • Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus GA-AX370-GAMING 5
  • RAM
    32GB DDR4 3200
  • GPU
    Inno3D 4070 Ti
  • Case
    Cooler Master - MasterCase H500P
  • Storage
    Western Digital Black 250GB, Seagate BarraCuda 1TB x2
  • PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1000w 
  • Display(s)
    Lenovo L29w-30 29 Inch UltraWide Full HD, BenQ - XL2430(portrait), Dell P2311Hb(portrait)
  • Cooling
    MasterLiquid Lite 240
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It's also important to know what you are buying, research is your friend and feel free to message me if you are unsure 

My Folding Stats - Join the fight against COVID-19 with FOLDING! - If someone has helped you out on the forum don't forget to give them a reaction to say thank you!

 

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates
 

Please put as much effort into your question as you expect me to put into answering it. 

 

  • CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
  • Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus GA-AX370-GAMING 5
  • RAM
    32GB DDR4 3200
  • GPU
    Inno3D 4070 Ti
  • Case
    Cooler Master - MasterCase H500P
  • Storage
    Western Digital Black 250GB, Seagate BarraCuda 1TB x2
  • PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1000w 
  • Display(s)
    Lenovo L29w-30 29 Inch UltraWide Full HD, BenQ - XL2430(portrait), Dell P2311Hb(portrait)
  • Cooling
    MasterLiquid Lite 240
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Low Cost and Power efficient:

 

x570 "SLI" motherboard (they support 2 x8/x8 PCIE slots)

5900x or 5950x (lots of threads for BOINC)

2 x 2-slot RTX 4070s (more than twice as efficient as 3000-series) but I'd wait for the price to drop

650W Gold PS (yes, if you power limit the cards for best efficiency you can get away this)

32 or 64GB DDR4-3200 (F@H uses small amounts of RAM but some BOINC projects use huge amounts)

Mid Tower Case with good airflow

 

Honestly old server hardware is fun to play with but 14-22nm process nodes are horribly inefficient compared to 5-7nm.

FaH BOINC HfM

Bifrost - 6 GPU Folding Rig  Linux Folding HOWTO Folding Remote Access Folding GPU Profiling ToU Scheduling UPS

Systems:

desktop: Lian-Li O11 Air Mini; Asus ProArt x670 WiFi; Ryzen 9 7950x; EVGA 240 CLC; 4 x 32GB DDR5-5600; 2 x Samsung 980 Pro 500GB PCIe3 NVMe; 2 x 8TB NAS; AMD FirePro W4100; MSI 4070 Ti Super Ventus 2; Corsair SF750

nas1: Fractal Node 804; SuperMicro X10sl7-f; Xeon e3-1231v3; 4 x 8GB DDR3-1666 ECC; 2 x 250GB Samsung EVO Pro SSD; 7 x 4TB Seagate NAS; Corsair HX650i

nas2: Synology DS-123j; 2 x 6TB WD Red Plus NAS

nas3: Synology DS-224+; 2 x 12TB Seagate NAS

dcn01: Fractal Meshify S2; Gigabyte Aorus ax570 Master; Ryzen 9 5900x; Noctua NH-D15; 4 x 16GB DDR4-3200; 512GB NVMe; 2 x Zotac AMP 4070ti; Corsair RM750Mx

dcn02: Fractal Meshify S2; Gigabyte ax570 Pro WiFi; Ryzen 9 3950x; Noctua NH-D15; 2 x 16GB DDR4-3200; 128GB NVMe; 2 x Zotac AMP 4070ti; Corsair RM750x

dcn03: Fractal Meshify C; Gigabyte Aorus z370 Gaming 5; i9-9900k; BeQuiet! PureRock 2 Black; 2 x 8GB DDR4-2400; 128GB SATA m.2; MSI 4070 Ti Super Gaming X; MSI 4070 Ti Super Ventus 2; Corsair TX650m

dcn05: Fractal Define S; Gigabyte Aorus b450m; Ryzen 7 2700; AMD Wraith; 2 x 8GB DDR 4-3200; 128GB SATA NVMe; Gigabyte Gaming RTX 4080 Super; Corsair TX750m

dcn06: Fractal Focus G Mini; Gigabyte Aorus b450m; Ryzen 7 2700; AMD Wraith; 2 x 8GB DDR 4-3200; 128GB SSD; Gigabyte Gaming RTX 4080 Super; Corsair CX650m

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