Cheap M/B CPU Combo for F@H Rig

[Clocker]

Can you guys recommend an inexpensive CPU M/B combo for a GTX970 based, open air folding rig (single GPU only)?

Thanks,
CxP

 

[Clocker]

I have everything already, just need a M/B & CPU. Probably use the old wood frame I made from my mining rig of years past.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm assuming you want to do GPU folding. My go-to combo at the moment is a Gigabyte H81N with either an i3-4160 or a Pentium G3220. Down side is that's an ITX system that can only handle one graphics card.

 

[Clocker]

Thanks Merc. My main concern is making sure I have a combination of CPU that won't hold back the single GTX970 I plan on running. Any knowledge as to if the CPUs you recommended will work well in that capacity?

 

[CougTek]

The i3 won't hold you back. The Pentium, not so sure. During the brief period when I GPU-fold, I had two rigs with GTX 570: one with an Intel i7 950 and one with an AMD X3 450 CPU. The system with the Core i7 produced almost a third more points than the one with the low-end AMD CPU.

You don't need more than an i3, but a Pentium Gxxx, that might be limit.

Are GigaByte's mini-ITX motherboards still only guarantied for 18 months or have they increased the lenght of the warranty? 5 or 6 years years ago, that was the case. I'd probably go with an ASRock motherboard if it was my system, but that's just me.

 

[Stereodude]

The i3 won't hold you back. The Pentium, not so sure. During the brief period when I GPU-fold, I had two rigs with GTX 570: one with an Intel i7 950 and one with an AMD X3 450 CPU. The system with the Core i7 produced almost a third more points than the one with the low-end AMD CPU.

Were you also folding on the CPU cores? If so would that account for the PPD difference?

 

[Clocker]

Is there anything like this but for Folding? http://bamt.wikia.com/wiki/Litecoin_BAMT

Also, something like this is appealing for price, think it would work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/BIOSTAR-A68...753057?hash=item462bb156a1:g:uOwAAOxyw3NTl195

 

[CougTek]

Were you also folding on the CPU cores? If so would that account for the PPD difference?

You can see the daily output of the individual clients on the same system. The GPU client's production was lower on the low-end AMD system than it was on the Core i7 system. The CPU wasn't participating on the AMD system because I didn't feel it was worth it. Its contribution was too low to justify the increased electrical consumption.

@Clocker:

That motherboard/CPU combo should be able to let you run the GPU client, but I believe it will hamper the production of the GPU because it won't be able to feed it fully. Or at least that's what I expect. How much will it decrease the GPU production? I don't know.

 

[Clocker]

Ended up ordering one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138416

We'll see how it goes. Should have the 9600GT 'Folding' next week.

 

[Mercutio]

That's still a pretty anemic CPU, Clocker.
As a shorthan, the big difference between the Pentium G and i3 CPUs is basically that the i3s have hyperthreading and some virtualization features enabled. For a single-thread task, an i3 and a Pentium G should be pretty much identical if they're running at the same clock speed. If the task can use up to four cores and runs well in parallel, the i3 could be as much as ~50% faster

@Coug

With regard to Gigabyte v. ASrock for H81 boards, the Gigabyte board has mSATA, mPCI-e and an extra SATA port. That makes it a lot more flexible for builders, even if the warranty is shorter.

 

[Clocker]

Merc - I'm not planning on using the CPU to Fold, just the GPU. Main concern is that it is capable of doing enough to keep the GPU moving at its full potential, which, with some google searching, I think this one can likely do.

 

[Handruin]

Sorry I didn't have much to offer for suggestions but I just wanted to say thanks for putting in the effort to get a system built for GPU folding. We're happy to have whatever you're able to offer for contributing to the F@H team.