Noob hardware advice, please

[Nathan_P]

Look at the MSI 790FX-GD70. 4 PCIe x16/x8 slots. Throw a Athlon II x4 620 in there along with 4 GTX 260's or GTS 250's and you've got ~36,000PPD(260's) or ~26,000PPD(250's). A Corsair TX950 can power all of this for $170.

That is pretty much what I have decided on as far as motherboard and GPUs. Hadn't settled on CPU or P/S yet, I'll check them out.

Found Zotac GTX 260s for $135.00 each. Am I entering the realm of additional cooling hardware with this setup or can a bunch of fans keep it cool enough?

Depends on how you leave the case, I've layed my rig on its side like an old desktop style case, rested one fan on the corner of the case above the cards sucking warm air out and rested oe case on top of the cards near the power connectors blowing air in. Whether you have the case right way up or on its side i would have the side panels off to aid airflow.

[Slowride]

Depends on how you leave the case, I've layed my rig on its side like an old desktop style case, rested one fan on the corner of the case above the cards sucking warm air out and rested oe case on top of the cards near the power connectors blowing air in. Whether you have the case right way up or on its side i would have the side panels off to aid airflow.

Actually, I am thinking of placing this box out in a different room to keep the heat down in the office which is at least 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. I'm concerned about little fingers in there so leaving the side panels off is not an option. Any recommendations on cases with good airflow without spending too much, say less than $100.00?

[Nathan_P]

Depends on how you leave the case, I've layed my rig on its side like an old desktop style case, rested one fan on the corner of the case above the cards sucking warm air out and rested oe case on top of the cards near the power connectors blowing air in. Whether you have the case right way up or on its side i would have the side panels off to aid airflow.

Actually, I am thinking of placing this box out in a different room to keep the heat down in the office which is at least 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. I'm concerned about little fingers in there so leaving the side panels off is not an option. Any recommendations on cases with good airflow without spending too much, say less than $100.00?

Hmm a quick look on the egg but not convinced by any of the models under $100. How many 260's are you thinking of putting in?? If you're looking at 3 or 4 you might need to think full tower as those cards will pump out a lot of heat. Trouble is full tower cases are expensive. i'll have another look and if i see anything i'll let you know

[Slowride]

Hmm a quick look on the egg but not convinced by any of the models under $100. How many 260's are you thinking of putting in?? If you're looking at 3 or 4 you might need to think full tower as those cards will pump out a lot of heat. Trouble is full tower cases are expensive. i'll have another look and if i see anything i'll let you know

My intention is to use 4, I agree that a full tower is warranted. Looking around I see your point that $100.00 is probably not realistic so I'll adjust accordingly.

A few I am considering: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=1510

And: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=1510

A little flashy but: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811103010

This appears to have good airflow: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811103011

Not really sure what to look for, any thoughts?

[Slowride]

And the winner is......Cooler Master HAF 932

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=1510

Caught it on sale for $99.99 w/free shipping so I am pleased.

Just need a couple more items and I'll be ready to put this thing together.

[Nathan_P]

And the winner is......Cooler Master HAF 932

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=1510

Caught it on sale for $99.99 w/free shipping so I am pleased.

Just need a couple more items and I'll be ready to put this thing together.

nice find - keep us updated on the build and let us know what you're getting out of it in terms of PPD

[kiore]

And the winner is......Cooler Master HAF 932

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=1510

Caught it on sale for $99.99 w/free shipping so I am pleased.

Just need a couple more items and I'll be ready to put this thing together.

Even with the HAF 4x GTX 260's will get VERY hot on some units if you overclock them, was having serious issues with my 4 in a case (CM 690), even with the sides off under aircon ( 23C) with a desk fans blowing..
All the best
kiore.

[Slowride]

Even with the HAF 4x GTX 260's will get VERY hot on some units if you overclock them, was having serious issues with my 4 in a case (CM 690), even with the sides off under aircon ( 23C) with a desk fans blowing..
All the best
kiore.

I'm sure keeping this rig cool will be a challenge. I intend to max it out with fans in an attempt to keep it cool only using air. I may reconsider it's location to allow leaving the sides off. Liquid cooling isn't out of the question either which is why I chose this case, it appears to be well designed for it.

I've seen comments elsewhere that this is an ugly case, but I think it is georgous!

The only thing keeping me from putting it all together is that the GPUs are on backorder until the 10th, possibly not being delivered until after Christmas! I intend to start pestering them in a week or so.

[k1wi]

the HAF 932 is good

I've got the 922 running my i7 CPU folding rig

[Slowride]

Status update:

Everything except the video cards has arrived. They should ship this Tuesday (fingers crossed). Kept looking at the boxes, couldn't stand it any longer so I put what I had together with a GTX250 for now. Should I do a native Ubuntu install or do I want a dual boot? I don't plan on using this rig for anything but folding.

Also, I want the server version since it is 64bit, right?

[codysluder]

I can't think of a good reason why I would dual boot that machine, but your plans may be different than mine.

FAH doesn't care whether you have a server version or a smaller, stripped-down version. You do need a 64-bit version plus the 32-bit libraries.

[kiore]

Status update:

Everything except the video cards has arrived. They should ship this Tuesday (fingers crossed). Kept looking at the boxes, couldn't stand it any longer so I put what I had together with a GTX250 for now. Should I do a native Ubuntu install or do I want a dual boot? I don't plan on using this rig for anything but folding.

Also, I want the server version since it is 64bit, right?

OK running Linux and gpu's is difficult at present, usually multi gpu folders use windows, winXPpro 64bit should be good for the gpu's and if you want to try vm smps on your cpu, that way you can run Linux for the cpu and winXP for the gpu's.
Reason for winXP is its cheap, smallish and doesn't require the dummy plugs etc that 7 or vista do for the gpu's.
kiore.

[Slowride]

You do need a 64-bit version plus the 32-bit libraries.

Unless I missed something, the only version that is 64 bit is the server, the desktop/laptop version shows 32 bit.

that way you can run Linux for the cpu and winXP for the gpu's.

That would be running Ubuntu as a virtual machine then?

[kiore]

Just a 'normal' 64bit OS so you can utilise more RAM, as I said many multi gpu folders use XPpro 64, then you can run a virtual machine and run a Linux image preconfiged for folding on it, there are several around, 'notfreds' etc.
Not sure you could run big advanced units while running 4 gpu as well but should be able to do SMPs well if you config the priories correctly. NB the VM will slow down your gpus to a crawl unless forced to a lower priority.
kiore.

[Slowride]

Just a 'normal' 64bit OS so you can utilise more RAM, as I said many multi gpu folders use XPpro 64

Ok, I understand what you are saying about the 64 bit Windows OS, what I am still unclear about is which Linux OS is 64 bit. The Ubuntu website shows the PC/laptop version as 32 bit and the server version as 64 bit.

I tried installing the server version on another computer since I am not the least bit familiar with Linux at all but I have a command line, not sure what to do with it. So far, all the info I have read talks about using a GUI, can't figure out how to get to it if it even has one.

Also, I kept getting errors when I tried to install the Folding client per the download guide on here.

So, bottom line is where can a find a few copies of XP Pro 64 (preferrably cheap!) and which Ubuntu should I use?

Thanks!