SPCR

Due to some electrical failures (1 ram stick, 1 videocard), I'm retiring my old folding rig (basically a 3GHz Phenom II with 2 GTX460s 1Gb), but I wouldn't want to build a brand new system for the task (even if current hardware would be far more efficient).

If you mind, I would like to receive your advice.

As I have a chance, I might substitute that AMD rig with an also just retired ex video editing workstation: the relevant hardware is not anything special for today standards (about 2010, Intel X3360, aka Q9550, 8Gb DDR2, GTX 560Ti-448), but it looks like a bit hot to run continuatively.

What do you think about it? And would it worth to overclock that hw? At which performance level? Which could be rough settings to run it reliably 24/7? And above all, according to your experience, can it run then enough "quiet", if oc'ed to some level?

Thanks you in advance for any kind advice.

The video card is the key thing for Folding - if it is supported, then it will far outstrip the CPU for getting work done.

NeilBlanchard wrote:The video card is the key thing for Folding

Thanks for the sound advice Neil: btw, that GTX-560Ti-448 is a tad less performing than the GTX 460 pair, roughly a 20-25% less, but as it should account also for a 20-30% less power draw, I am thinking about how exploit the CPU too, in order to bridging the gap.

You could try OCing it, probably wouldn't hurt the cpu too much if you put a decent cooler on it. I used a couple of 560s for a while, they're pretty decent. I'm not sure how much you could OC the 560 without it making a lot of noise, though, it depends a lot on the card. Having decent airflow in the case helps. The cpu can still make a contribution, though, I wouldn't discount it. But leave a couple of cores for the gpu folding. Good luck!

Such a pity that AMD socket AM1 motherboards are so limited in slots. You can pick up a new 25 watt process for like $40. But you can forget about PCIe slots, let alone 2 of them.

Oddly enough my Sandy Bridge quad core with integrated video would idle at 35 watts, so perhaps the point is moot.

I'd love to know what PPW and PPD this would be capable of.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813190005

I'm assuming it can run Ubuntu, but what do I know?

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