Dedicated build, please review

[LancerSykera]

Hello all,

I'm planning on doing some dedicated builds for folding. Basically, I've got a warehouse to put them in, I've got the cash, and I've got the personal reasons for doing so. Below is a wish list I've come up with, it comes out to a total of $1777, I'm planning on doing maybe 6 of these, and I'd like y'all to check it over for any issues and potential cost savings. Also, if there's any reason folding under linux wouldn't work on them, that would be good to know as well. Thanks!

[davidcoton]

Make sure the combination of GPUs, motherboard, and case will physically fit together -- my last attempt was an expensive mistake.

[toTOW]

And make sure the CPU / Motherboard will expose enough PCIe lanes to ensure at least 8x speed for each GPU ...

[LancerSykera]

Checked the manual online and it looks like 2 x16 PCI should be no problem.

Can I get away with replacing the i3 with a cheapo Celeron? $75 difference on them.

[mmonnin]

A 120gb SSD should be around the same price, maybe $5 more. Less heat and power.

I find it hard to pay that much for the 980Ti cards now that 1080s are out. I wouldn't pay that much for a 980Ti atm. Prices on those cards are dropping and that will only continue.

[artoar_11]

Checked the manual online and it looks like 2 x16 PCI should be no problem.

Can I get away with replacing the i3 with a cheapo Celeron? $75 difference on them.

Motherboard Asus Z170-A: 2xPCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8) lanes.
CPUs i3-6100 or Celeron G3920 ...: Max # of PCI Express Lanes: 16

I would bought 2x4GB memory (dual channel) instead 1x8 GB (single channel).

......................

I find it hard to pay that much for the 980Ti cards now that 1080s are out. I wouldn't pay that much for a 980Ti atm. Prices on those cards are dropping and that will only continue.

+1

[kiore]

I second the comments on the GTX 980ti, expect considerable price drop soon.
If you are to buy 6, why not go for less but multiple GPU boards? They are harder to cool I must admit, but if this is a GPU rig then money should be spent on GPUs. My current board has had 3 generations of GPUs on it.
Re the CPU, consider having enough cores to allocate to each GPU plus a 'spare', this is needed currently on Windows and really doesn't alter the price too much.

[LancerSykera]

Re the CPU, consider having enough cores to allocate to each GPU plus a 'spare', this is needed currently on Windows and really doesn't alter the price too much.

Are you saying dual core isn't good enough? I'm seeing a $120 price difference to go from a Celeron to an i5 quad core.

Also, the GPU is down to $619 at the moment. There are cheaper 980 Ti's, but... I dunno... They all gonna give me the same performance?

[toTOW]

To feed my NV efficiently on Windows, I need to leave at least 2 threads free on my i7 ...

Things might be different on Linux, and with non HT CPU, so I don't know what to tell you here ...

[jrweiss]

Re the CPU, consider having enough cores to allocate to each GPU plus a 'spare', this is needed currently on Windows and really doesn't alter the price too much.

Are you saying dual core isn't good enough? I'm seeing a $120 price difference to go from a Celeron to an i5 quad core.

Also, the GPU is down to $619 at the moment. There are cheaper 980 Ti's, but... I dunno... They all gonna give me the same performance?

A dual-core with hyperthreading should support 2 GPUs. Dunno 'bout a Celeron, but it should support a single GPU without any problem...

Also, you can get the i3-6100T at only 35W TDP for the same price as the 6100, and save a bit on heat and electricity. It will also support a 2 x x8 configuration.

Once you're at that level, the increased Folding output with the OC'ed GPUs will be marginal, at the cost of heat, power, and noise. Put the $$ into some good case fans instead.

Also, spend the extra $10 on the USB3 version of the case. there's little reason to limit yourself to USB2 these days. You can dispense with the optical drive and simply load the OS using a thumb drive or an external SSD/HDD.

[LancerSykera]

Just pulled the trigger on 3 with the i5-6400. I guess I'll let y'all know how it goes, then. Thanks for your help!

[Nert]

Just pulled the trigger on 3 with the i5-6400. I guess I'll let y'all know how it goes, then. Thanks for your help!

Thank you for spending the money to make this contribution.