[Build Log] - Oogway

[firedfly]

For the last few weeks, I've had a 12gb 3080 and a 3070ti (both EVGA FTW3) sitting in boxes waiting to be put to use.  My original plan was to upgrade my main desktop from the gtx960 that it has been running for years.  I'd never make use of either card while gaming, but my desktop was a good option for housing both GPUs for folding...or so I thought.  I finally installed the 3080 a few days ago and realized that while the 3070ti would also fit in the case, the the top card would not have any breathing room to keep cool.  Unfortunately, this left the 3070ti without a home.

 

Digging through my limited supply of old hardware, I came across an old HTPC from around 2011:

• ASRock H67M-ITX motherboard (yes, a tiny itx board)
• i3-2100t (2 cores)
• 2x2gb DDR3-1333 ram

 

This motherboard has a single PCI-e 2.0 x16 slot.  Finding out how old (and tiny) this system was, I started having doubts that the 3070ti would work, much less fold.

 

I cleaned out the decade of dust:

 

 

Installed the tiny ITX board into a spare case:

 

 

 

And, finally, installed the 3070ti:

 

 

 

 

There were some issues booting with the 3070ti outputting to the display, but the onboard video worked around the issue.  Soon, I was presented with an old copy of Windows 7!  It had 4gb of space free on the 60gb ssd.  I uninstalled a slew of old software that wouldn't be needed and to free up some extra space.

 

Nvidia drivers for Windows 7 installed without a hitch.  I didn't even know they still released drivers for Windows 7.  Folding@Home also installed without issue.  It wasn't too long before this ancient system with a new GPU was folding.

 

 

 

I'm quite impressed that this system is able to fold on the 3070ti.  I'm even more impressed at the performance.  I have another system with a 3070ti (currently not powered on) that will get about 5.4 million ppd in Windows 10 on p18201.  This old windows 7 system with a dual core processor and pci-e 2.0 is getting about 4.4 million ppd!

 

I'll eventually re-work some of my other systems to move this 3070ti to a faster, more capable system for better folding performance.  But for now, Oogway will fold on!

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by firedfly

[Sir Beregond]

I must say, I always have a chuckle when I see an ITX board installed in a full case! 

[firedfly]

  On 10/04/2022 at 22:29, Sir Beregond said:

I must say, I always have a chuckle when I see an ITX board installed in a full case! 

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Agreed.  I find this build quite funny.  Itx board in a full case.  Giant video card installed on the tiny board.  

[ArchStanton]

Strangely, everywhere I believe there should be a picture, I see a minus sign .

 

[Avacado]

Getting broken links on the pictures too Fired.

[Sir Beregond]

Huh, yeah I am seeing that now too.

[firedfly]

  On 11/04/2022 at 01:04, ArchStanton said:

Strangely, everywhere I believe there should be a picture, I see a minus sign .

 

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@ENTERPRISE Do you have any guidance on how to resolve the broken pictures mentioned above.  I see the pictures fine and even tried on a second computer in a different location and the pictures displayed properly.

[Avacado]

This is what I see, if it helps.

 

[firedfly]

  On 11/04/2022 at 19:38, Avacado said:

This is what I see, if it helps.

 

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I'll try to redo the images.  I just checked one of the ones I can see and it shows as pulling from google.  Perhaps I did mess up when adding them.  I had copied the pictures from Google Photos and pasted into ehw.  I *thought* that copied the actual image, but perhaps it just copied a link?

[firedfly]

  On 11/04/2022 at 16:50, firedfly said:

 

@ENTERPRISE Do you have any guidance on how to resolve the broken pictures mentioned above.  I see the pictures fine and even tried on a second computer in a different location and the pictures displayed properly.

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@ENTERPRISE It looks like this was an issue on my side when adding the images.  You can ignore this issue.

 

@Avacado Are the images working for you now?

[ArchStanton]

Sadly, I cannot claim to be 'cado, but the images do appear for me .

[Avacado]

  On 11/04/2022 at 20:54, firedfly said:

@ENTERPRISE It looks like this was an issue on my side when adding the images.  You can ignore this issue.

 

@Avacado Are the images working for you now?

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Images are fixed! Thanks!

 

I highly suggest an anti-sag bracket for that 3070Ti. It can't be good stressing the PCI-e slot like that. 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Avacado

[firedfly]

  On 11/04/2022 at 21:17, Avacado said:

I highly suggest an anti-sag bracket for that 3070Ti. It can't be good stressing the PCI-e slot like that. 

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Got an amazon link to your preferred bracket?  I'll buy it now if so.  Otherwise, I'll never get around to picking one

 

EDIT:  Also, the sag look on the picture where I added the 3070ti isn't sag.  The system was laying down at that time.  I still think an anti-sag bracket is a good idea, though!

Edited April 11, 2022 by firedfly

[Sir Beregond]

Confirmed, images are working again!

[Avacado]

  On 11/04/2022 at 21:36, firedfly said:

 

Got an amazon link to your preferred bracket?  I'll buy it now if so.  Otherwise, I'll never get around to picking one

 

EDIT:  Also, the sag look on the picture where I added the 3070ti isn't sag.  The system was laying down at that time.  I still think an anti-sag bracket is a good idea, though!

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I don't have a recommendation. All of my boards are horizontal mount right now. Any should be fine.

[Supercrumpet]

In my most recent build I also stuffed an itx board and a 3070 Ti into a fullsize case. The card barely fit because of the layout of the drive bays; it was rather comical indeed.

 

Any significance behind the name? Glad you got more of your hardware working for you.

[firedfly]

  On 12/04/2022 at 14:10, Supercrumpet said:

Any significance behind the name?

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I asked my wife to give me a name for something that is ancient, slow and yet powerful.  She pretty quickly came up with Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda.  It seemed very fitting.

[Supercrumpet]

  On 12/04/2022 at 15:13, firedfly said:

 

I asked my wife to give me a name for something that is ancient, slow and yet powerful.  She pretty quickly came up with Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda.  It seemed very fitting.

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Nice, that's a really good name. Tbh I didn't get the reference at first haha.

[Mr. Fox]

  On 11/04/2022 at 21:36, firedfly said:

 

Got an amazon link to your preferred bracket?  I'll buy it now if so.  Otherwise, I'll never get around to picking one

 

EDIT:  Also, the sag look on the picture where I added the 3070ti isn't sag.  The system was laying down at that time.  I still think an anti-sag bracket is a good idea, though!

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Inexpensive, yet very effective.

 

https://www.amazon.com/upHere-Graphics-Anodized-Aerospace-Aluminum/dp/B076GYL25H

 

https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-GPU-Graphics-RTX3090-309EZ-Black/dp/B09466LNV3

 

Pictures are working fine for me now. 

 

[firedfly]

  On 26/04/2022 at 22:56, Mr. Fox said:

Inexpensive, yet very effective.

 

https://www.amazon.com/upHere-Graphics-Anodized-Aerospace-Aluminum/dp/B076GYL25H

 

https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-GPU-Graphics-RTX3090-309EZ-Black/dp/B09466LNV3

 

Pictures are working fine for me now. 

 

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Thanks!  I did pick up an upHere model support bracket, though a different one from what you linked to.  It looks like it will work well.