Who can suggest a F@H build for $500-$750?

Worth · July 23, 2013

Any suggestions? What should my folding@home build be for $500 to $750?

Edit: Preferably low power consumption.

Whaler_99 · July 23, 2013

If you are looking at a PC, you are somewhat limited. You need a basic PC setup, as cheap as you can get, like a corei3 something. Small driver, cheap case, then get a decent PSU and then with what you have left, the most power single GPU you can get.

This would be the simplest and most straight forward build option for the average user.

For something a little more advanced, you can typically find used 4P AMD 8000 series solutions for 400-600 dollars. Add in a power supply and you good to go. More advanced though as you need to know a bit about hardware, lot of times you are piecing these together. May need additional cooling above and beyond, and if running "naked" have to be setup correctly. Also, these rigs will run Linux but more like Ubuntu with some customization. This solution though will typically yeild more PPD then the above Windows build, but may not be quiet as energy efficient.

And, the word Folding and the term " low power consumption" typically do not mix. When you fold, things run at 100% drawing MAX power. Power consumption goes through the roof, as does heat output.

Now, the most energy efficient builds comparatively, still has a 4P AMD 6000 series solution beating a 4 GPU solution. We are talking 1000+ watts here and the most PPD per watt....