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DiMaestro · Thu May 30, 2002 3:09 am

These: http://www.msicomputer.com/product/netp ... model=HERA

NewEgg shows them for 130 ( minus floppy, CD, HD, CPU, RAM ) I figure I can get a Duron 1 gig, 128 megs of ram ( or less ) and if it net boots, do a network image, or if not, create a cdrom/floppy boot system for them. It has integrated LAN/Video/Sound, only thing I really need is the lan.

Mobo/Case: 130.00 + shipping
Duron 950 38.00
Heatsink <8.00
Ram: I got a couple 128 meg sticks floating around somewhere.
Floppy: <5.00 if needed.

So, for 181.00 + shipping I'll have a .95 ghz AMD FPU, figure I get, ohh 2-3 systems in this, and I can crank out some good WU's.

And if I ever do get bored of folding, I can always donate them to a friend/family member who needs a cheap computer.

Thu May 30, 2002 5:21 am

Does the F@H process run better on the Morgan core Durons (1.0GHz & newer) rather than on the Spitfire Durons (<1.0GHz)? Most other things do. The price difference is extremely small. The 1.0GHz at $42 or the 1.2GHz at $52 with free shipping look like better deals than the 950.

Have you looked at the micro-ATX motherboards appearing based on the SIS-740 chipset? With PC1600 or PC2100 DDR, these should outperform systems with PC133 memory.

Thu May 30, 2002 6:19 am

I don't think folding is affected too much by memory speed, it's spending too much time crunching numbers in the FPU. And I don't know if the Palamino/Morgan cores do any better than the Thunderbird/Spitfire ones, at least in the current version of F @ H. The new scientific cores in v3.0 promise to use SSE or 3DNow! depending on the processor used, it may make a difference then. Anyway, the 1GHz Duron is a whole two dollars more, I'd get that instead.

DiMaestro · Thu May 30, 2002 12:59 pm

The limitations of the board are forcing me to make the 950 mhz Duron choice.

It either accepts a Duron up to 950 mhz or a Athlon up to 1.3 ghz. So, I opted for the Duron, especially considering the athlons where 30.00 to 40.00 more.

Thu May 30, 2002 6:10 pm

http://www.msi.com.tw/support/bios/bios ... el=MS-6378

With the updated BIOS, that motherboard will accept and properly recognize the newer socket A chips, including Morgans (Duron 1.0GHz and up) and Palominos (AthlonXP).

The page that you were looking at listed the fastest AMD chips available when the board was introduced, not the fastest ones that are available today.

Coldfirex · Thu May 30, 2002 6:33 pm

I could use a cheap computer

Ya, folding pretty much only cares about FPU rather than memory/bandwidth/clockspeed.

DiMaestro · Fri May 31, 2002 12:20 am

JustanEngineer: Cool, I had never thought to check the bios page. That's great news, with a new fast duron, it should crank out some good WU's.

Coldfirex: Just as a general computer these things look relatively nice, not a gaming rig by any means, but powerful enough to just about anything else you'd need.

Fri May 31, 2002 4:10 am

http://www.msi.com.tw/products/mainboar ... el=MS-6568

I might prefer the MSI-6568-L motherboard with the SIS 740 chipset over the MSI-6378-L motherboard with the VIA KLE133 chipset.

Ttocs · Sat Jun 01, 2002 6:38 pm

I still think that the Powerleap SBC's that they have (with a Tualatin adapter) are better... I'm not sure about the cost difference, but considering you can stick 5-6 in a case, it definitely saves a lot of space.

Oh.. Linkage:
http://www.powerleap.com/Products/Ren370S.htm

It only uses the ISA slot for retention.. you don't even have to have a 'base' motherboard on it!

Powerleap will be making a tualatin-native one soon, but for now you can use the adapter...

Again, I haven't factored in cost.. I still like the idea of having a "Folding-Farm-In-a-Box"..

.:Ttocs

DiMaestro · Sun Jun 02, 2002 1:14 am

Cost wise they are 149.95 a piece, minus CPU/RAM/HSF.

Hmmm... This may be a better route to go, it's 10.00 more, but I would save on room ( quite a bit of room actually ). Now I wonder what kind of PSU would be needed to pwer 4 of these..

The real killer is the cost of the P3 processors tho... that's about 100-130 a pop.

Ohhh.. I wish they had these in AMD configs, I'd be all over them.. Might still be all over em.. that's a nice setup.

Ttocs · Sun Jun 02, 2002 2:32 am

You'd probably want at least a 500+ watter.. not sure. But you'd have to solder together a bunch of ATX Headers - or put in a small 200-250W PS for each of those units. Individually I can't see them being more than a desktop P3 PC.

.:Ttocs

DiMaestro · Sun Jun 02, 2002 11:44 pm

One other downside to them is the usage of AT style power supplies. These are getting almost scarce it seems.

Coldfirex · Mon Jun 03, 2002 12:07 am

DiMaestro wrote:
The limitations of the board are forcing me to make the 950 mhz Duron choice.

It either accepts a Duron up to 950 mhz or a Athlon up to 1.3 ghz. So, I opted for the Duron, especially considering the athlons where 30.00 to 40.00 more.

Check this out Dim if your still interested in these.
http://www.msi.com.tw/support/cpusuppor ... el=MS-6378
It supports fast cpus now, just didnt right out of the gate.
I personally would like to find that case and buy up some cheap micro-atx Sis735 mobos, ddr ram, and 1ghz durons for a little "blade" action.

I have that above combo but in a minitower version and it does exccellent, even at folding.

DiMaestro · Mon Jun 03, 2002 2:36 am

Woops, my bad, it does accept ATX headers.

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