Anyone server fold?

[LZ_Xray]

I can get into a 4p 6128 Magny-Cours folding rig on a Supermicro board for about $1100 completely ready to go. Used 4P board and CPUs, new RAM. I already own drives/PS which would work. Would cool with H50s in a box I make myself most likely. Would be around 250K PPD in Linux (Ubuntu) based on the old Bigadv. 32 cores should be good for new Bigadv as well.

Thing is... I've built countless desktops but never a server. I don't mind the cost, but wonder if this thing will be more of a pain in the ass than it's worth to set up and run since it would be strictly a folding rig not used for anything else, ever. I'd basically just run this and stop folding on my destops due to the huge PPD/KW efficiency advantage.

If you've run a Linux folding server, what's your take on it. Easy? PITA? Highly reliant on the opinions of others here due to my server-noobishness :confused:

Thanks
Xray

[xeromist]

I had my 16 thread machine running Ubuntu for a while. The only problems that I had were that Linux doesn't like fake RAID so I had to bang my head against the wall for a while until I sorted that, and Origami had to be manually updated with the right core. It wasn't hard once I found instructions for doing it though. Origami is a management interface for F@H, btw. It allows you to easily start & stop via command line as well as get basic progress information and schedule folding in cron (not needed on a dedicated box, ofc).

[LZ_Xray]

I'd be running barebones, so no fake raid gremlins :D

I've heard talk of people running a separate client on each physical core. As we know with AMD, they're all physical cores. Is there any actual scientific advantage to this, i.e. good for the program, or is this just some Linux PPD-maximizing scheme someone cooked up like the fake threadcount trick? Haven't quite been able to sort that out based on what I've read. Seems like you'd lose out just due to the overhead of that many clients running.

Does Origami have any GUI, or does it just run command line in the terminal? Based on what you and others have said, Origami is probably what I'd use. Like you said, wouldnt need to cron it since it would run all the time.

[xeromist]

The client per core deal sounds like some sort of PPD scheme and honestly I'm not sure why it would work. Maybe it has something to do with capping out bonuses on really big machines? I dunno but I didn't think anyone was capping yet. Anyway, I'd recommend just running one client for simplicity's sake and letting Stanford assign you the work that needs doing.

Origami is CLI, not GUI, although I'm guessing someone out there may have created a simple GUI for it if you really needed it. It shouldn't matter though because I would do the following:
-Set the machine to resume last state on power failure (if it's off then it stays off, if it's on then it turns back on)
-Set up Linux to automatically log in. ie no password screen
-Set Origami to fold on login. I'm not sure if it sets itself up as a system process or if it's still attached to your user account I always had to sudo to start & stop it.

That way it's just set and forget. You'll only have to touch the box if you need to change hardware or update a folding core. Either that or instead of the last 2 you could potentially set it up as a system process that always runs (if it doesn't do this already) that way you don't even have to be logged in to fold.

[LZ_Xray]

Ever tried The Kraken? FAH core wrapper that Tear over at AMDzone coded, and it gets really good reviews on [H], OCN, and OC.com. I'll probably give that a shot as well. At this point just waiting on my computer toy fund to get cash in hand and do this thing in one fell swoop.

[Grandpa]

From what I understand the Kraken is the only way to go with multi Processor rigs for folding. You can find tear over at the [H] now he no longer folds for the AMD team. There is allot of useful information there at the [H] they probably have more multi socket rigs there than any other team and have been doing allot of work on OCing them with bios mods they do. I am looking forward to you build as that will be my next project but it is likely going to be a while for me as I am hoping ASUS will come out with a ROG multi socket board. Which there are rumors of. (ARE YOU LISTENING ASUS) :cool:

[LZ_Xray]

I was really looking into that 4P barebones that hoth found over there until I saw his Youtube of it running, sounding like an F16. I will have to sleep in the same room with this thing occasionally :P

[xeromist]

I was really looking into that 4P barebones that hoth found over there until I saw his Youtube of it running, sounding like an F16. I will have to sleep in the same room with this thing occasionally :P

Time for a custom submersion case. :cool:

[Grandpa]

Time for a custom submersion case. :cool:

Or liquid cool it and install a 240mm fan in the top for cooling the MB and remove all of those fans that is my plan for cooling a MP rig.

[LZ_Xray]

I think I can get H50s or Coolit ECO120s to work. I'm pretty handy with sheet metal and metal stock. My plan is to make something like a test bench, but with the rads mounted on a rack above the board that I can slide up and down, blowing upward. That way when I change CPUs I unscrew the pumps, slide the rack up, and all the cooling goes up out of the way. When done apply TIM, lower, remount, profit.

[xeromist]

I've just wanted to do a submersion build for so long. That was my original plan for the SR-2 but I ran out of cash. Now it's just going to be parted out. *sigh* maybe someday.

[LZ_Xray]

For me, when it came time to kerplunk all that expensive gear in liquid I'd chicken out. What are you looking for for it? I'd do 2P Intel but don't think I can do that for any cheaper than a 4P AMD really. I'm all about keeping the cost down - I really don't want to spend much more than 1200 or so on something that does absolutely nothing but fold

[xeromist]

It's not a complete build; that's the problem. I only ever got my hands on one CPU because they're $800 a pop (x5650). If you wanted to complete the build you would be looking at a big cash layout so I don't think this is what you want.

Putting parts in oil? I've got no issues with that. Plenty of people have gone before without damaging anything. It's the cost and the work to ensure that there are no leaks or spills that holds me back. Maybe I should go with a Puget pre-fab but those are pricey in their own right.