Folding on a server

[Syntaxvgm]

I'm about to buy a few opteron server blades soon, and I won't be using them 24/7 so I was wondering about folding. I was wondering what kind of Points per day I'd see just coming from a small cluster of CPUs? Is it even worth it? Or should I also buy a couple of GPUs?

Are the PPD from the client accurate after a while or do I need to calculate it mylself?

Pretty new to folding, so forgive me. 

[AMD Lover]

The GPU's fold faster and can fold more at a time than CPU's. About the CPU's IDK, sorry

[Victor Golf]

I think the 4P and 2P projects are going to be retired soon. @Whaler_99 would know more about this.

[Syntaxvgm]

I think the 4P and 2P projects are going to be retired soon. @Whaler_99 would know more about this.

might I ask what that is exactly? Sorry to sound stupid. 

[Victor Golf]

Well, a 4P system would be a system running with 4 CPU's on the same board. It is essentially a server but some people run them with a client and they get massive PPD with them. But I think that F@is shutting down that client. Just something I saw @Whaler_99 post a while ago.

[Whaler_99]

Server blades typically cannot have externally GPU's in them, and you cannot fold on most iGPU's found on servers. The 2P and 4P projects refer to the number of physical CPU's in the server. These are very high point return projects, but FAH has indicated these are coming to an end at the end of this year. Regardless, if you have a bunch of server blades, you can also load the FAH client on them and run the normal SMP/CPU folding client and probably rack up some decent points.

 

Typically PPD can take a little while to sort itself out after a new project download, but eventually does. However, if you have more then a couple of systems / blades running, maybe monitoring from one central system using HFM.NET which will give you a consolidated view. Check the FAQ for details on all this.

[Syntaxvgm]

Well I meant is it worth even trying or should I just invest in some GPUs for one of my desktops? 
I really just want a few 2 socket blades, but I may consider going for a couple of Sunfire 8 socket machines instead. 

As for the 4p projects, I assume it was much more efficient than just allocating a bunch of threads to one WU? Is regular folding on a cluster of CPUs worth it? Or should I go for machines like the sunfire 8 socket ones to have it all on one WU at a time? Or not do folding on these machines at all? 

[Syntaxvgm]

Btw as far as I remember, I think the sunfire machines have a bunch of 8x slots, and full sized brackets as they are 4u blades, but I would not run GPUs there simply because the 8 sockets produce a lot of heat and it would probably overheat any GPUs there without some kind of special solution. I probably have a spare mobo and I have tons of hard drives and PSUs, and would just buy a case and CPU if I were to GPU fold. 

[Whaler_99]

Sunfire... I believe those are the Sun OS ones? They are old - so most likely wouldn't even Fold, but even so, you need to run a decent kernel of Linux or Ubuntu... and as such, when run those OSes, GPU folding is pretty much not happening. There are apparently Linux beta drivers for folding on NVidia, but beta...

 

If you have the gear, it is always worth it. For the BIGADV projects though, you need a min 24 core server. If less, then just SMP/CPU folding, which is still good. If you don't have it, don't buy gear like that for folding. You would be better off getting GPU's for a desktop system.

 

You cannot combing multiple systems to one WU - each computer/server gets its own WU to work on, but you can fold on multiple systems with the same ID and such, so you get all points to you one ID. 

[Syntaxvgm]

Sunfire... I believe those are the Sun OS ones? They are old - so most likely wouldn't even Fold, but even so, you need to run a decent kernel of Linux or Ubuntu... and as such, when run those OSes, GPU folding is pretty much not happening. There are apparently Linux beta drivers for folding on NVidia, but beta...

 

If you have the gear, it is always worth it. For the BIGADV projects though, you need a min 24 core server. If less, then just SMP/CPU folding, which is still good. If you don't have it, don't buy gear like that for folding. You would be better off getting GPU's for a desktop system.

 

You cannot combing multiple systems to one WU - each computer/server gets its own WU to work on, but you can fold on multiple systems with the same ID and such, so you get all points to you one ID. 

Yah I mean I'm looking at an 8 cpu quad core one, or a newer 8 CPU xeon one. they still make them, just different brand.