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DPete27 wrote:

Flying Fox wrote:

Not that dominant once you go to the Folding benchmarks.... with explicit SP mode.

SP Folding Benchmarks show the $350 7970 GE beating the $650 GTX 780. That's a win in my book, even if you take Anand's results that the 7970 is more comparable to the $400 GTX 770. But again, I don't know much about folding. I'm just looking at some benchmarking graphs.

I think I trust Anand's results a bit more than THG, yes, same old bias. The 7970GE is closer to $400 but I think the vanilla 7970 is closer to the 770 or even 780 I guess. It may depend on how much a WU is explicit vs implicit. Suffice it to say I think the OpenCL code really levels the playing field in terms of folding. It may come down to price and power consumption/noise.

BIF wrote:

think I can build the box anytime now with cash outlays only for the case and GPU to get me started. I may even be able to order these as early as early to mid August.

Who needs a case?

I know, I know!

But I want to put it in the kitchen or a spare bedroom, and I want it to look good; like it's there on purpose and not by accident. Haha!

I've been doing some "cost to operate" math regarding the final build.

New 2P Server:
2P system with 8 sticks RAM and (eventually) two HD 7990 GPUs, a hard drive and DVD drive, running folding 24/7.

Approximately 1,000 watts.

Electrical Cost:

I pay 14 cents per KwH above 1000 (and my home is always above 1000 for any given month).

I figure my monthly electrical cost for the new server/system would add about $90 per month to my electric bill, not including increased air conditioning electrical costs.

I figure the direct electrical cost (of the new server) would be 90% of the cost anyway, so if I add 10% for air conditioning and call it $100 per month, would that sound like an accurate starting point for budgeting purposes?

You must be loaded to the gills with disposable income.

DPete27 wrote:

You must be loaded to the gills with disposable income.

I am not loaded, but I understand your sentiment, so I'll lay it out for anybody who might be curious.

I did say at the very beginning that I have been thinking about all of this and I recognize that it is a donation; a pretty big commitment, even.

I have very little free time to donate to good works. Also, for many years now I have been uncomfortable with the idea of just giving money to charitable outfits. I have recited a few times my distaste with the American Red Cross and their strategy of never-ending harassment for ever more and more. I'll never ever forget the United Way and their heavy-handed way of getting company's management to force employee donations during the 1980's and 1990's, and of course their numerous spending scandals during those years.

I'm very cautious now. I prefer to donate cash because it's untrackable, and makes it harder for me to get spammed for future donations. I never donate money to the same organization in consecutive years, either. I don't like dependent relationships in that way.

But I still want to do what I can to help make a difference, in keeping with my own time and financial limits. Here, with folding, I have the ability to make a difference. And, maybe more importantly to me, I remain in complete control of my donation. It is an ongoing commitment, but I can revoke it at any damned time I want to. So if Stanford/Pande start supporting or working toward things that I find morally, logically, humanely, or nationally objectionable, I can just shut down my donation. Simple. Immediate. Without stop-payment or credit card hassles. I like that idea quite a lot.

So back to my topic. In my post above, I did not say that this project was easily affordable, either for the server buildout or for the electrical costs. I have said in prior posts that this will be done in phases. And who knows, next month I may learn that I need a new roof, so plans can change.

All I really need to know now is whether or not my electric consumption estimates are ballpark accurate.

Thanks!

If you can find a 2P board in E-ATX, this may be the case for your future beast?
http://techreport.com/news/25483/double ... end-builds

Flying Fox wrote:

If you can find a 2P board in E-ATX, this may be the case for your future beast?
http://techreport.com/news/25483/double ... end-builds

That's awesome! Thanks for the link.

I am watching the GPU space with enthusiasm, hoping to see an R9 dual GPU soon to replace the 7990. I would buy a 7990 or two (eventually 4), except that the prices went up.

There's an Asus 2P E5 workstation motherboard that I think will be perfect for my build, and this case should hold it.

The Asus board will accept up to four PCI-E 3.0 GPU cards (double-wide I think). Make 'em all dual GPUs, throw down with a couple of 8-core or 10-core CPUs, and we'll be able to double our points next year for Frankie! Now all I have to do is figure out how to come up with $10,000 while avoiding burning down the house with the heat; yeah...