The Folding Hardware

Photos/Diagrams to follow

The i7 2600k CPU may produce hefty points but costs a pretty penny.

            Time to get into the core of Folding at Home, the hardware that will serve as your army to rake in points like nobody’s business. To construct a rig that will maximize your points per day, you have to determine how your folding setup. Like previously stated, there are two ways to go about it, CPU and GPU folding. Let’s clear the pros and cons of each method of out the way first. The Sandy Bridge, king of the PPD, produces the highest amount while at the same time, is more efficient with a higher point to watt ratio. In addition, running only one piece of hardware can reduce the noise and heat that is produced. Like all advantages, there are disadvantages. To achieve the high amount of points, you have to push your system’s limit, over the original factory settings, to be able to complete the work unit for the bonuses. This approach also increases the instability of the entire system which can compromise the entire work units and also your points. A perfect analogy is putting your eggs in one basket. You can fit and overload your basket with them but when it breaks, all your eggs are broken. Losing a work unit like that can drastically affect your entire output because when you lose the work unit, you lose the point value of it as well as the time your system is spent running.

Atlas' folding farm in Aug 2009 contains 23 GTX295s and 32 9800GX2 video cards. Think of the heat output.

            Next up is the graphics processor that is able to finish smaller work units in a shorter timeframe. Think of it as a turbo mounted on an engine in a car. There are two types of turbo options available: small, fast spooling turbos or one big turbo. The former is able to generate ample power quickly while the latter takes a while to spin but is able to generate huge amounts of power. GPUs are flexible in the way that if your motherboard and power supply can handle the additional load, you can plug and have it running within a short time. They are also more consistent, meaning they can complete a work unit in a matter of hours instead of completing a work unit every few days for the central processor and by going this route, you have more leeway for setting up a folding schedule. Video cards are less volatile so if the work unit is incomplete due to stability issues, the work unit will end early and will be uploaded, giving you credit for what had been finished. Since the work units do not have high point values, the lost of points are minimum. There are downsides to this method as well, you will be earning less points per day than your processor counterpart and definitely, no doubt about it, earn less points per watt. The flagship Nvidia GPU is the GTX580, capable of producing around 17k points per day with a maximum consumption of 150W while an i7 processor can produce 34k points, consuming 125W. The more graphics cards you add to your computer, the more expensive the farm gets. Besides the money issue, the heat produced by the cards is tremendous. During the summer, the heat is unbearably hot but in the winter, the cards serve as a standalone heat source. Either approach is a double edged sword but is similar to a person working. Either the person has to work a double shift to earn his or her pay or he or she can set their own hours but receiving less pay. There is no clear winner between the two but in the end, science wins.