Folding Forum

Hi, currently im running a CPU only folding machine with i5 3570k, theres some offers on retired xeon E3 V2, which basically same as non-k I7, so i'd like to know does it really worth upgrade to a CPU with hyperthreading (clock speed are same, both 3.4GHZ)?
thanks

If your computer is dedicated to Folding@home only, then the i5 is about equal to the i7. If you use your computer for other tasks, then the i7 is superior. From LifeHacker, "...operations where tasks have to be done in serial, or where one operation has to take place before another can begin, generally don't benefit from Hyper-Threading."

Slight offtopic but if you want to get big into FAH try a GPU graphics card.

The older CPU folding core - A4, gets more benefit from HT than the newer A7 core. As best as I can tell, A7 is better at saturating the arithmetic unit, esp. FPU, and leaves little excess capacity for additional threads from HT to provide much additional computing throughput. So running at a CPU thread setting that will use all available threads gives only a small boost over just using a number of threads equal to the number of cores. With A4 I would see a 15-20% boost using HT, much less on A7 WU's.

However the i7 still has one advantage over an i5. If you are running at a thread count equal to the core count, system services and other low CPU usage processes will have less effect on the folding performance. With the i5 each time one of these other processes needs CPU time WU processing will be interrupted reducing performance more than on an i7.

If you fold with both the CPU and a GPU, the extra virtual threads are a benefit for the same reason Joe_H gave. The FAHCore_21 occupies a thread but uses only a tiny amount of the shared FPU.

thanks for recommendations!

foldy wrote:Slight offtopic but if you want to get big into FAH try a GPU graphics card.

well, i dont have the luxury of living in big house so im currently putting the folding machine under the table of tv, apparently theres no space to install gpu. If have, the noise of GPU would annoy everyone hell of it, so unfortunately

i think maybe its better to stick with current cpu as it seems HT wont benefit FAH very much. and CPU with more cores are just way too expensive

Unless you have a laptop, you probably have a half-height case, making you believe that there's no room for a GPU. Search the market for GPUs with the LP designation (Low Profile). There are fewer choices, but you can probably find one that will fit your case AND your budget. (Not surprisingly the more expensive ones produce more points.) Some are low-power enough to be silent (no fans) but you get to make the choices.