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OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
Well I am thinking of trading a i7 950 CPU($199 new) for new X58 EVGA SLI LE mobo with 4 PCIe(room to upgrade), i7 920 CPU and an Ultra X3 1600w PSU.

I will just have to buy a HDD, memory and maybe GPU. I already have a 8800GT I can throw in the rig till I can buy something to put some good numbers down.

I think I'm finally going to get rid of my G5 quad to fund some of the purchases for better GPU(s).
 

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Well I am thinking of trading a i7 950 CPU($199 new) for new X58 EVGA SLI LE mobo with 4 PCIe(room to upgrade), i7 920 CPU and an Ultra X3 1600w PSU.

I will just have to buy a HDD, memory and maybe GPU. I already have a 8800GT I can throw in the rig till I can buy something to put some good numbers down.

I think I'm finally going to get rid of my G5 quad to fund some of the purchases for better GPU(s).

First off, are you trading just the i7-950 for the parts you mentioned (Mobo, 920 and PSU)? Also, 4 PCIe slots at what rates? x16? x8?

I would also advise to getting the best of the best GPU you can get your hands off. That way you can do CPU and GPU folding. A 8800GT is fine, but something higher would do nice.

However, take into consideration if a higher GPU will yield better results than that G5 folding on its own.
 

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
First off, are you trading just the i7-950 for the parts you mentioned (Mobo, 920 and PSU)? Also, 4 PCIe slots at what rates? x16? x8?

I would also advise to getting the best of the best GPU you can get your hands off. That way you can do CPU and GPU folding. A 8800GT is fine, but something higher would do nice.

However, take into consideration if a higher GPU will yield better results than that G5 folding on its own.

Yes. the i7 950 for the 920 i7, mobo and PSU. I think I may just buy 2x of the 950s and sell off the 920. Pretty good trade IMO.

I don't use the G5 for folding. I tried it for a week but it put off way too much heat lol, didn't need to run the furnace. I think my MBP did better with 1 client then with the 4x on the G5 lol. Hell the 8800 alone will probably do better.:p

I'm going to buy one GTX 480 at least. Or maybe a couple GTX 280/295s. I'm still basically learning all this folding stuff and glad to help out the MR team.
 

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Yes. the i7 950 for the 920 i7, mobo and PSU. I think I may just buy 2x of the 950s and sell off the 920. Pretty good trade IMO.

I don't use the G5 for folding. I tried it for a week but it put off way too much heat lol, didn't need to run the furnace. I think my MBP did better with 1 client then with the 4x on the G5 lol. Hell the 8800 alone will probably do better.:p

I'm going to buy one GTX 480 at least. Or maybe a couple GTX 280/295s. I'm still basically learning all this folding stuff and glad to help out the MR team.

That's great man! Any and all help is appreciated.

As per the trade, that is a very nice trade. The 950 is just $300, but you get a motherboard, a replacement CPU and PSU (although I've never heard of that brand). The only way you can use 2x i7-950s is through a Server motherboard with dual LGA slots. However, a setup like that can be very expensive and you'd need to buy the Xeon counterparts instead.

That said, there is no difference in the i7-920 and i7-950 but the higher multiplier in one of them (assuming the 950 and 920 have the same D0 stepping). All in all, if you want to GPU fold, I'll advise against the GTX200 series since they are too old. A GTX 480 is too hot and power consuming and provides less performance than the GTX 580; might want to take a look at the 580 instead.

SLI isn't supported in the newer GPU3 core, so buying a couple is wasted crunch power; unless, you have a display hooked up to the second GPU and run a third client for that GPU. (I'm still learning that bit).
 

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
I might buy 2x 950s, one to trade and then keep the other and sell the 920 off on ebay. Possible to get close to the cost of the 950.

I will run multiple GPU clients, no SLI. I've heard of the VGA trick so you can run the client without a monitor hooked up.

I figured this would be a good rig to have around and will be a decent folding rig with room to expand.

edit:
580s are still $400+ and 460s are near the $100 mark. So I'm thinking of running 460s since they produce less heat.
 
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OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
GTX 460s are nearing the $200 mark on many of them. I don't see any at $100 on Newegg though....
The Galaxy 460 is $105 after rebate on newegg. There is a limit of 2 per address. Guess I'll be buying them now!

I saw them on ebay for around the same price. > Low $100s.
 

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
sounds like a good rig to me. you would probably be just fine with the 920 though. do you plan to overclock? you will need to push at least 3.7-3.8 ghz to really get any bonus on -bigadv units. 4.0ghz is better.

also, the 460's are good GPUs for your money (bang for the buck). i would recommend them
 

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
Ok I will have a nice rig up and running. I bought 2 950s and 6gb, one for the trade and the other for my rig. Will sell off the 920. He said he had the 920 at 4.5ghz stable water cooled but 4 is good on air. I wonder what the 950 will do on air? Ordered 2 460s from new egg so I can't wait to get them.

I will have a nice rig to fold on as well as game and encode. So long G5 :). You will be missed but never forgotten. I also have an extra G5 case to throw all the guts into. I'm going to paint it all black.
 

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
2x 460s are going to be awesome. Yes a 950 or 920 can be OC'd on air safely to 3.8GHz-4.1GHz.

Yeah can't wait to get them. I'm using the 920 @ 3.8ghz right now and a measly little 8800 gt. I'll install the 950 once the 460s come in the mail. Going to buy an antec 900 as I think I don't want to spend too much time nodding my g5 case unless I can find a cheap mobo tray and backplane.
 

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Yeah can't wait to get them. I'm using the 920 @ 3.8ghz right now and a measly little 8800 gt. I'll install the 950 once the 460s come in the mail. Going to buy an antec 900 as I think I don't want to spend too much time nodding my g5 case unless I can find a cheap mobo tray and backplane.

What about a HAF 922? Decent mid-sized case with IMO, better airflow.
 

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
What about a HAF 922? Decent mid-sized case with IMO, better airflow.

i think that's the exact case i got. (can't remember if i got 922 or 932). i got it on sale for $90. i love it. best case i've ever bought (even though i haven't bought many, but still)

also, keep in mind - just b/c a 950 comes in at a higher frequency, that doesn't mean you'll be able to overclock it easier than a 920.

but good luck, and keep us updated on how it's going!
 

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
What about a HAF 922? Decent mid-sized case with IMO, better airflow.
I already got the Antec 900 and everything installed. I may buy a bigger one later but I really do like this case. I like the HAF 932 too. Was just looking on newegg and found the Rosewill Thor. Really like the layout inside and it's all black too. Has three large 200mm fans. This was my first PC build from scratch so I think it went pretty good.

I need a full size case as I can't install a dual PCI width card in the lower slot as it hits my PSU. I have both my 460s in the 16x and 8x slots and noticed the one on top is 20*C higher since it has less airflow. Would moving it down to the 4x slot cause any performance issues? My board goes 16x8x4x8x and like I mentioned already, can't use the lowest slot. Edit: Just did it and still the same when they were in the 16x8x slots.

i think that's the exact case i got. (can't remember if i got 922 or 932). i got it on sale for $90. i love it. best case i've ever bought (even though i haven't bought many, but still)

also, keep in mind - just b/c a 950 comes in at a higher frequency, that doesn't mean you'll be able to overclock it easier than a 920.

but good luck, and keep us updated on how it's going!

Yeah seems the 950 is more difficult to OC than the 920. But I plan on watercooling soon so I'd like to be able to take it up much higher.

Also ran out of cables so now I can't use the 8800GT for now :p Anyways HFN reports I'm bringing in 49,596 PPD right now. I think it took me a year just to get to the first 50k lol.
 
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twoodcc

macrumors P6
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
I already got the Antec 900 and everything installed. I may buy a bigger one later but I really do like this case. I like the HAF 932 too. Was just looking on newegg and found the Rosewill Thor. Really like the layout inside and it's all black too. Has three large 200mm fans. This was my first PC build from scratch so I think it went pretty good.

I need a full size case as I can't install a dual PCI width card in the lower slot as it hits my PSU. I have both my 460s in the 16x and 8x slots and noticed the one on top is 20*C higher since it has less airflow. Would moving it down to the 4x slot cause any performance issues? My board goes 16x8x4x8x and like I mentioned already, can't use the lowest slot. Edit: Just did it and still the same when they were in the 16x8x slots.



Yeah seems the 950 is more difficult to OC than the 920. But I plan on watercooling soon so I'd like to be able to take it up much higher.

Also ran out of cables so now I can't use the 8800GT for now :p Anyways HFN reports I'm bringing in 49,596 PPD right now. I think it took me a year just to get to the first 50k lol.

sounds like you are coming right along. so you just have the 2 x 460s and the cpu folding? what did you get the 950 to?
 

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
68
Northeastern Ohio
sounds like you are coming right along. so you just have the 2 x 460s and the cpu folding? what did you get the 950 to?

I think I'm humming along nicely. I have it set to 160 with the multiplier at 23 which has been the most stable in my situation. But now that I have everything in place, I'll probably take it back up to 170-180. 200 when I'm water cooled. I'm still learning all this OC stuff too and trying to get one fast as hell and 100% stable machine.

Guy I know has his 950 at 5.2ghz using an H50 Corsair water cooler.
 

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
I think I'm humming along nicely. I have it set to 160 with the multiplier at 23 which has been the most stable in my situation. But now that I have everything in place, I'll probably take it back up to 170-180. 200 when I'm water cooled. I'm still learning all this OC stuff too and trying to get one fast as hell and 100% stable machine.

Guy I know has his 950 at 5.2ghz using an H50 Corsair water cooler.

so 3.68 ghz?

in my experience, the H50 isn't all that great. i mean, it's good, but not over 5 ghz good. i think that depends more on the processor that you have, and all other factors come in to play also. have you seen this 5.2 ghz machine?

i wouldn't get your hopes up for 200 x 23 with an H50. i have an H50 on one of my machines, and i have a friend who bought a rig online that came with a liquid cooling system. it's much better than the H50. the H50 has very thin liquid lines, and a small radiator.

i would keep this in mind as you move forward. but please keep us updated on how it's going. we all would like to help you if we can
 

rwh202

macrumors regular
Nov 14, 2010
114
11
UK
I'd just like to echo what twoodc says about the H50 - I think 4.6 will be a bit too hot for it. I'm sure a 950 will go a fair bit higher than my 860 did on one, but not that much.
If you're planning on using a H50, definitely add a second fan to it, and ideally replace the stock one as well. I got a 12C reduction just doing that.

Hope that helps
Rob
 

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
I'd just like to echo what twoodc says about the H50 - I think 4.6 will be a bit too hot for it. I'm sure a 950 will go a fair bit higher than my 860 did on one, but not that much.
If you're planning on using a H50, definitely add a second fan to it, and ideally replace the stock one as well. I got a 12C reduction just doing that.

Hope that helps
Rob

yeah i just didn't want him to think that the H50 was gonna be so great. i mean, it is a water cooling system, and a cheap and easy one at that, but it's not magic. there are some air coolers out there that are just as good.

but like i said, keep us updated on how its going. we are here to help.
 
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