Building From Scratch or Retrofitting an Existing Rig

            After reading my previous blog entry, you are probably touched by Syrillian’s unexpected passing or persuaded by me to get your feet wet in the world of computers, from learning about the hardware to having the ability to have an intelligent conversation with a computer geek. This first step by you will surely impress your family and friends alike. If you can’t tell, I was only making fun but if you seriously have a genuine interest in Folding, let’s begin from scratch.           

            First, you have to decide on a budget to construct a dedicated folding rig. Also bear in mind about what you learned earlier. As a review, there are two types of approach to FoldingatHome, CPU and GPU. For the CPU, the 2600k provides the best point to watt ratio and for the GPU, I’m not certain on what provides the most bang for buck. The problem is whether you want to buy newer hardware compared to older hardware.

Older hardware in the computer world are seen as outdated and not the latest and greatest. There’s nothing wrong with outdated hardware, it’s just the fact that present technology grows leaps and bounds compared to six months ago. I’ll use an example of my own. My mom recently replaced her 2002 Honda Odyssey that had 160,000 miles on the odometer with a 2011 model. The newer model is vastly roomer and is more fuel efficient compared to its predecessor. I hand calculated the miles per gallon to be somewhere from 16-18 on the premise that she fills up every four days and drives 60 miles roundtrip. Compare that to the improved version that features cylinder deactivation, a gas saving feature that allows a car to disable half its cylinders when cruising at a steady speed, which achieves almost 26 MPG. The same analogy applies to video cards as well. I purchased a second hand GTX275, featuring 240 stream processors, that can produce about 7000 PPD for $60 shipped. That was a quite a steal right there when you browse at the cards for sale with less power consumption, die shrinks and higher clocks. For the price you pay, you may receive the said benefits at the expense of stream processors, a must for folding.

For the budget builder who is going to mainly utilize graphics cards to fold, you really need a cheap, low-end processor manufactured by AMD, another CPU company. Next you need an AMD compatible motherboard with multiple PCI Express slots where the cards will fit into. The arguably most critical component is the power supply. Think of it as the heart of the machine and if it blows, your entire computer goes bye-bye. Some of the reputable brands include Seasonic, Antec, Corsair and PC Power & Cooling. The other peripherals such as the hard drive, ram and the enclosure isn’t a top priority; in fact, most folders run caseless as it improves the airflow.

Alternatively, if you wish to go the CPU route, you will be focused on achieving a high overclock and to do so, you need to ensure that the operating temperature is as low as possible. To accomplish the extreme overclock, you have to look at aftermarket cooling as the stock heatsink supplied is inadequate of cooling the processor properly, even at stock settings. There is a plethora of options available from low end and high end air coolers to all-in-one water cooling system to a full blown one. Most folders use their main rigs to fold instead of one from bare parts because it’s more cost efficient. Who in the front mind would invest hundreds of dollars for a watercooling loop for strictly folding when you can do the same in a computer you can use for gaming or watching movies? Like in the previous paragraph, the power supply is significant, not so much for the other parts including the video card. You would need a cheapo one to provide video input and I think that onboard video (no graphics cards) might also work.

 The best option, in my opinion, is to upgrade your computer given it isn’t a prebuilt computer from Dell or HP. Do you know why it’s so cheap? The companies mass produce them and are after profit so they skimp on computer essentials using no name power supplies, ram and motherboards. To put it plainly, you have really limited options when it comes to expanding. First, the motherboard settings are locked so you cannot alter the voltage and frequencies. Second, the power supply is cheap so unless you swap it out for a higher capacity one, you are restricted to low power consumption video cards. Third, most of the computer cases are fanless, other than the processor heatsink fan internally and the power supply fan externally. There are no air intake fans or exhaust fans so most of the heat produced by the system remains inside, not that it’s any danger to the hardware but us overclockers, are overachievers when trying to maximize the distance between the thermal threshold.

If this is your first time folding, you can decide to fold for an existing team, create your own team or fold for anonymous (default). Looking at the stats, I gather that most of the folders belong to one team or another. The main benefit for me personally by folding for a team is that you belong in a tight knit community. Take for overclock.net for example, if you have a questions regarding folding or hardware issues, the members of the forums are extremely helpful and will answer all your questions promptly. Aside from questions, it provides a place for folders and potential folders to address issues, chat or goof off, to a certain extent.