cfp ExtremeHW Community Folding Project

[ENTERPRISE]

 

 

 

Hello all,

 

I am pleased to announce that we will be looking to put setup a dedicate folding machine that will fold on behalf of ExtremeHW and its members. Not only is Folding@Home a fantastic cause that we want to continue contributing to, we also appreciate that contributing to Folding can be an expensive venture on the higher end and not all will be able to afford to put together an entire folding system for themselves or have the time.

 

It is with that we have decided to open up a community folding project ! So what does this entail ?

The folding machine in question will be a dedicated GPU folding machine. As most of us know, GPU folding is the most efficient and it only made sense to go with a multiple GPU setup. For this build we will be going for an 6x GPU system.The neat thing about this is whenever we need to upgrade the system, it will only be the GPU's we have to look at, we like it simple!

 

As this will be a community project we are hoping that of those that are able to, can donate towards this cause. This will help us get the components for the build that we need to really make this rig the best it can be. ExtremeHW will of course be putting in its own resources into making this happen. All donations received will go into the community folding project ONLY. Any donations received after the build is completed will go to A. The running of the machine & B. The next GPU upgrade.

 

You can donate here:

DONATE VIA PAYPAL

 

We are also looking for reputable sponsors to join us in this noble cause, so if anyone would like to come forward or if anyone knows of a sponsor that would like to get involved then please send me a message.

**UPDATE**

We are pleased to announce that Overclockers UK & TeamGroup have stepped up to the mark and supported our project by supplying us with the SSD and RAM components required. You can see exactly what they have kindly sponsored us below. A huge thanks to OCUK and TeamGroup !

 

Machine Build & Specs

Case: 6x GPU Blake-256 Rack mount Case & 6x 6000RPM Fans (Purchased) £160

 

 

Motherboard: MSI B360-F PRO (Purchased) £70

 

 

CPU: Intel i7-9700 (Purchased) £245

 

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D9L Dual Tower Intel/AMD CPU Cooler TBC

 

RAM: Team Group Vulcan T-Force 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (Sponsored by Overclockers UK & TeamGroup)

 

 

GPU's: TBC (Also dependent on donations as this will be the heart of the project) Provisionally going for ex mining cards like the Zotac P106-090 Mining Cards

SSD: TeamGroup 250GB Vulcan SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive (Sponsored by Overclockers UK & TeamGroup)

 

 

PCIe Riser Cards: 6x PCI-E Riser 1x to 16x Powered USB 3.0 GPU Extender Adapter Card (Kindly donated by InverseTundra)

GPU PSU: ATNG 1300W Black Edition Mining PSU 80+ GOLD ATX Single Rail TBC

GPU/System PSU: EVGA G2 1300Watt (Kindly donated by InverseTundra)

Backup Drive: 120GBM.2 Drive (Kindly donated by InverseTundra)

Fan Filters: Silverstone 120mm Magnetic Filters

 

Startech 4U Wall Mount: https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-Wall-Mount-Server-Rack-Low-Profile/dp/B004NO0KEU

 

Build Images

 

**Coming Soon***

 

Kind Donors

[GS]1GAYUnxlML0clx2Ntpe0H8LFwOSFA0HS1r0gOl--ANXs[/GS]

The community folding rig will fold under ExtremeHWCFP for Team 239902 so that we can all track its progress.

Feel free to comment on the build, make suggestions and discuss the community folding project in this thread, lets make this happen.

 

All the best,

E

[ENTERPRISE]

Folding Performance Based On Differing PCIe bandwidth settings

 

During this build process which essentially making a mining rig into a Folding rig, the loud question we have all been asking is, does going down to PCI-E 1x bandwidth affect TPF and PPD to a point where you see horrible performance loss. Thus far thanks to @tictoc we gave been able to do some comparisons to see what sort of loss you are looking at if you go from folding at PCI-E 16x bandwidth to 1x. Take a look at the table below.

 

 

[GS]1Hu9VcbUci_axnOKowXLad2BRKMC-ft-k0GqPcrBeqpU[/GS]

 

 

 

 

 

Item Sales

 

 

I am currently selling the following items with a view to helping to fund the CFP project. If anyone is interest in purchasing then please send me a PM. I am UK based so please be aware that international shipping is a little more expensive but nothing crazy. Please be aware these items are listed elsewhere so it will be on a first come first serve basis.

 

*NEW* Nidec Servo Gentle Typhoon D1225C12B5AP 120mm 1850 rpm Silent Case Fans (No longer widely available)

 

​

Quantity 8 Of Remaining

 

£20 Each or £35 for a pair.

Edited May 31, 2020 by ENTERPRISE

[Simmons]

Interesting idea! Subbed :thumbs_thumbup:

[axipher]

Wish I could help build this in person.

[ENTERPRISE]

Wish I could help build this in person.

 

That would have been cool bud, instead you can give me your valuable knowledge.

[Supercrumpet]

Very interesting, I'll definitely be following this project and may contribute at some point as well.

[Andrew]

If this is a dedicated folding rig, why a 256GB drive? You can pick up a 120GB M.2 (SATA) drive for around £30 or regular 2.5" drive for around £25.

[ENTERPRISE]

If this is a dedicated folding rig, why a 256GB drive? You can pick up a 120GB M.2 (SATA) drive for around £30 or regular 2.5" drive for around £25.

 

Looking at the motherboard chosen, there is no M.2 slot. But granted we could go for a smaller capacity SSD, 256GB is my default go to size as it is always the "Safe" minimum size for a boot drive with apps etc. However as it will only be Windows +Updates and F@H then we can likely go smaller. Not decided yet if will go Linux route.

 

 

[Supercrumpet]

 

Looking at the motherboard chosen, there is no M.2 slot. But granted we could go for a smaller capacity SSD, 256GB is my default go to size as it is always the "Safe" minimum size for a boot drive with apps etc. However as it will only be Windows +Updates and F@H then we can likely go smaller. Not decided yet if will go Linux route.

 

 

Now that you mention it, I would definitely look into Linux since folding outputs tend to be 10% better or more, in my experience, compared to Windows.

[ENTERPRISE]

 

Now that you mention it, I would definitely look into Linux since folding outputs tend to be 10% better or more, in my experience, compared to Windows.

 

Yeah, will re-look into Linux folding to see how easy it is to setup again.

 

On another note.......

 

Thanks to @axipher for pitching in and donating $75 to the cause ! This will go towards one of the integral components for the CFP !

[Bastiaan_NL]

Oh yeah, I'm into this!

That motherboard is pretty cool

[ENTERPRISE]

Oh yeah, I'm into this!

That motherboard is pretty cool

 

I have to say I was impressed when I saw this motherboard over the one I was looking at originally which was based on the B250 chipset. Aside from offering various features, it allows us to consider a higher core count CPU which would be needed in order to cater for all the Nvidia GPU's as you need to reserve a core for each GPU in order for you to get the best performance.

[Bastiaan_NL]

That's a pretty important detail for a motherboard with that many ports.

And it's better to be safe... who knows where this build will end!

[ENTERPRISE]

That's a pretty important detail for a motherboard with that many ports.

And it's better to be safe... who knows where this build will end!

 

Well it is best to build the core platform with longevity in mind. Ultimately the only thing you want to be changing out now and again are the GPU's when they get to the point of poor efficiency. Thanks for the headsup on the donate link as well, this is now fixed

[ENTERPRISE]

Thanks to @Bastiaan_NL for getting us that bit closer to getting the components we need with a generous donation of £83.12 :thumbs_thumbup:

[bonami2]

I would says get at least a 6 core Hyperthreaded. Idk for nvidia but my amd go mad if i take more than 2-3 core on my 2600k 4.5

 

 

Could even host the website on it haha

[ENTERPRISE]

I may go for a 6 Core 12 Thread CPU, not 100% decided yet. Finances/donations will be the biggest factors here The next supported CPU on this board which is the 6 Core 12 Thread is the Coffeelake i7-8086K or next up from that is the Coffeelake i7-8700. The hyper threaded variants are almost double the price, While I agree will offer a better performance, have to be careful on cost to make it viable. Ultimately speaking it makes sense to go for an 8 Core as technically I can fit 7 GPU's in this machine for folding, and with having to dedicate a core to each Nvidia GPU to get best performance then technically an 8 Core would see us through comfortably. I will have to see how many is + any donations given as this will decide what we end up getting.

 

Lol my net could not handle hosting a website

[Andrew]

Have you seen the upcoming Ryzen 3100? $100 (so around £110) for 4c/8t. That would probably limit your motherboard choice, or maybe even not even an option but it might be worth taking a look at.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, just saw you've already purchased a motherboard.

[ENTERPRISE]

Have you seen the upcoming Ryzen 3100? $100 (so around £110) for 4c/8t. That would probably limit your motherboard choice, or maybe even not even an option but it might be worth taking a look at.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, just saw you've already purchased a motherboard.

 

Yeah already got the mobo but that was a good suggestion though, less selection form AMD mining motherboards but still would have done the job. The motherboard purchased however looks pretty awesome, looking forward to getting it setup eventually.

[ENTERPRISE]

Good news the case is now here with us, bad news is a couple of the super mad fans are broken (transit damage) so will be speaking with the seller to get those replaced.

 

 

 

I have to say I am impressed with the build quality. Here are the case pics:

 

 

As you see here they have these padded rails top and bottom which will be to sandwich the backend of the GPU's to reduce movement, the nice thing is that they thought about the fact that there are many GPU lengths on the market, so they have given a good bit of flexibility on moving the rails further back to accommodate longer cards.

 

 

 

So here are the mad fans. These beasts are heavy, rated at 6000RPM and have a rating of 2.7Amps. I reckon this thing may just take off and never be seen again. Will definitely be getting some fan filters for the front however, otherwise this thing will just act like a hoover, cool....but a hoover lol. With 3 of these fans as intake with three additional in the mid section of the case to pull the hot air through and out the back, it will be interesting to see the temps once this is fully populated with GPU's.

 

 

 

[axipher]

Can probably just use some kitchen vent-hood filters, or a furnace filter on the front.

 

Run some thin weather stripping foam tape in the rectangle around the edge of the filter size you buy, then some industrial Velcro throughout to hold the filter in place and hold against the weather stripping.

[ENTERPRISE]

Can probably just use some kitchen vent-hood filters, or a furnace filter on the front.

 

Run some thin weather stripping foam tape in the rectangle around the edge of the filter size you buy, then some industrial Velcro throughout to hold the filter in place and hold against the weather stripping.

 

Not a bad idea, looking at magnetic fan filters for easy maintenance and they are only £3-4 each and only need 3 for the front. Once I get the hood filters and velcro it will likely cost more in the long run but will take look, could be wrong.

[Bastiaan_NL]

The case looks good! Can't wait to see it with all those gpu's inside

Sucks about the fans, I always hate to go through the trouble of getting things replaced..

[ENTERPRISE]

Yeah always a bummer when something goes right but already got two replacement fans being sent out to me . Fingers crossed they arrive safely !

[ENTERPRISE]

Selling my Ducky 1008-C with Cherry Mx Blues. Special OCN Edition, hence selling their. Proceeds go to the CFP.

 

Selling Here

 

​​​​

Edited April 23, 2020 by ENTERPRISE