Dedicated Folding machine build log

General Computing Hardware & Networking
1

Well, I know this has been a while coming, but finally I’ve got all the pics in decent sizes for web and online.

Order date 28/9.

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 125W C3 (Socket AM3) Processor - Retail
ASRock 880G Extreme3 (Socket AM3) DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
Mushkin 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 9-9-9-24 Blackline - 996659B
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler

Using Aria WishList - Link

Using an existing Coolermaster power supply, a 80Gb sata WD hard drive and a Chieftec Dragon case with all fans installed.

So, a basic picture log of the install with short comments.

  1. The Citylink protection mechanism, otherwise known as a nice big box with all my order in.

    aria-box.jpg600×632

  2. Really nice to see, lots of air pockets to keep things nice and secure in the box.

    aria-box-packaging.jpg800×600

  3. All unpacked, laid out on the kitchen table ,cleared plenty of space so I can take my time with the install and get some reasonable pics for the log

    aria-order-contents.jpg800×600

  4. I have to say, one of the best set of accessories I’ve seen included with a motherboard, knowing that this board has many SATA ports, nice to see 3 cables included.

    aria-motherboard-contents.jpg800×600

5-13, some pictures of the motherboard

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the rest of the motherboard pics, to save this being an epic image post I’ve just linked to.

Nice colouring on the heatsink
Around the CPU socket
All the USB ports you could ever need
PSU connector with warning sticker :slight_smile:
Around the CPU socket, a nice distance left for the aux power
Backplate connectors, clear cmos a nice idea
The standard heatsink retainer backplate
AM3 Socket interestingly but not visible in the pic, a little Foxconn logo top left of the socket.

2
  1. Cpu installed, nice and simple drop in :slight_smile:
    cpu-installed.jpg800×600

15&16. You really need a warning with this cooler, it’s so darn tall !!

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17&18. Having had a 212 before, I remembered that the fan was quite “thick”, so RAM installed next, second pic taken to show how close to each other the slots on this board are, much more of a heatsink on the ram may cause problems.

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  1. Easy slot in, missed taking close ups of the fan as many have done that before, mind the clips orientation when fitting the 212 as it can appear a little odd.

    installed-motherboard.jpg800×600

  2. Power supply time, a iGreen Power 500W by Coolermaster - used to run a Xeon pair link

    power-supply.jpg800×600

3
  1. A few cable ties, and we have a nice clear airflow route in the case. At the lower part of the pic the hard disk ‘racks’ each have a 80mm fan in them.

22&23. A couple of pics for reference, the cooler that came with the 955 has to be one of the meatiest coolers I’ve seem come with a CPU :lol:

24&25. A nice pic here, showing my choice of bay to put the HD in to keep a nice airflow in the case, chosing the lower bay. Yes sharp eye, that is a floppy drive in the case, the motherboard doesn’t have a connector !! :lol:

  1. Really showing how I’ve hidden the power cables, not a modular PSU doesn’t mean it can’t be tidy. No airflow above the DVD drive anyway, so cables “stored” there, out of the way :slight_smile:

  2. Finally all done, installed Windows7 and running stable Folding@Home pretty much straight away :slight_smile:

and finally, because I missed this pic earlier on, what the case looked like empty :smiley:

4

stable now since installation with a very easy overclock.

The system is at my feet today as I’m working in the office :slight_smile:

50.4degrees on cores, 1.32V, 18.0 multiplier giving me a 3.6Ghz speed with it just being a multiplier change a very easy overlock.

It will do 4Ghz, given 1.45V to the cpu, a drop in multiplier and raise HT clocks. To me, this is a decent comprimise of heat, power and need. The real reason for the system purchase was to eventually build up a GPU cruncher for Folding@Home, that is going to need a new PSU to give me enough power.

It will need 6 PCIE power connectors if the plan goes ahead to put in 3x460s. One machine will then mean I can turn all my others off, which I can’t see happening :lol:

Pretty happy so far, just waiting for that mega 1000+ posters deal on a Coolermaster PSU Aria now stock with 6 PCIE connectors :slight_smile:

If you want any system readings etc, then feel free to post and if findable using software then I can do as rig now has remote access sorted as well :slight_smile:

DT.

5

Cracking pics mate :thumb:
Installed that very same cooler myself last night, knocking 20 degrees off the stock cooler temps :smiley: It is a tad on the large side though, I took the precaution of shoving a measuring tape in my case with board installed and worked out I have just over 1cm clearance :thumbsup: Cracking value though!

Totally failed at overclocking at lunchtime today, not too surprising though as I’m a complete noob at it these days :smiley:

6

That cooler is one big mother-hubbard DT!!! Great pics and it’s making me jealous.

7

what most amazed me about the build was installing the OS, or lack of installing the OS. I upgraded Michaels machine to SSD and because he had homework etc I just left the mechanical drive in his case plugged in. A few weeks pass and I disconnected it without telling him, no shouting so he must have all the files across now :chuckle:

This was on a socket775 dual core machine, so as far away as can be from this setup. I put the drive into this and missed the boot from cd prompt thanks to it loading so fast, two reboots later and Windows7 had completely sorted itself :smiley: It’s still on that install now …

DT.

8

Good work DR nice write up!!!

Butuz

9

Palit GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Should arrive tomorrow, all things going to plan :slight_smile: I’ll have one of these in my home machine at stock, and when left at that does about 11k ppd. I’ll try the PSU out with both and see if it copes for a little while, then I can budget for the next step.

DT.

10

I have one of those, cracking card for games :thumbsup:
suppose it should be good for folding too :smiley:

11

plan is, try the one I got from the special 1000+ post count deal on Aria on it’s own with that PSU, then try it with mine from home in the same rig to see if it copes - if it does then come the end of the month there will be a second in there, if the psu doesn’t cope then that cash will have to go on a new PSU.

DT.

12

Nice box and cooler … big (HUGE)

3 x 460’s Should make lots of points also make a great house heater…LOL! 1200 WATTS is what you’ll need for PSU for sure to be safe. I’ll just keep plug’n away here with what I have a save on light bill…LOL!

13

so here we go with an update, camera phone pics this time though as I’m a numpty.

In my rush to install, I’ve lost the pics I took of the unboxing the psu. General thoughts were that it was well organised, but I was apprehensive of the flat cables as the case doesn’t have the ability to run the cables “under” the motherboard.

Just as I had worried about slightly, the stiffness of the flat cables actually made cable routing harder than if they were the standard round cables. It was pretty close in length terms to reach the bottom 460 as well, but other than that the psu had a nice feel of quality and is whisper quiet compared to the Coolermaster it has replaced. Whilst in the machine and due to adding the second 460, I put the fans on the fan controller, which is a very basic high/low setting of voltage.
Pic first …

So the lower case fan at the front and the case fan in the hard drive bay are intakes, then two exhaust at the rear, + the psu exhaust and gpu exhaust means a slightly negative pressure, so I run the bottom fan at the front faster than the others. Keeps the GPU temps (both cards) at a steady 68, with the GPU fans running at about 60percent, 2500rpm. Of course that’s under full load :slight_smile: CPU still stuck at 55degrees, with the hyper212 fan not registering in AMD overdrive on fan0 at all. Speedfan reports the cpu fan as 680rpm :lol:

Overall, I’m pleased with the machine, it does what I set out to do and that was to fold units for TPR. A third 460 is out of the question, there just isn’t the space to put anything large into the second pci-e slot, the Palit 460 is just too large :frowning: I might squeeze in a 9500, or something of that ilk that won’t pull much power but may add another 1500 or so ppd to the machine.

The PSU, well it works, but I think you need to match it to a case that has the cable management features that many do today of allowing the cables to go under the board. I would have expected slightly longer PCI-E power leads, nice it has two sets, but surely that means you would give one set longer than the other, one of them needs to be longer in every case/install to reach the lower GPU.

DT.

14

[QUOTE=DoubleTop;457539]
The PSU, well it works, but I think you need to match it to a case that has the cable management features that many do today of allowing the cables to go under the board. I would have expected slightly longer PCI-E power leads, nice it has two sets, but surely that means you would give one set longer than the other, one of them needs to be longer in every case/install to reach the lower GPU.

DT.[/QUOTE]

PSU manufacturers are starting to make some progress in design by going towards modular cabling but the result of that is they become more expensive.

For many years I have used spiral-wrap on my builds which does go someway towards tidying up the runs, but I am too lazy to shorten the cables and re-do the molex’s…