New pc.

[themarker0]

So i am building a new pc.

Dual quad core (8 cores right?)
Striker II mobo
4gigs ram
random 512mb gfx card (Nvidia so works on linux)
Sound card that comes with the mobo

Will this work good on linux?

[MooPi]

Super overkill, and yes it will work. Are you going to re-map the Human genome or plot the orbit of an extraterrestrial planet or do planet climate models in your spare CPU cycles?

[Dayofswords]

he's going to save the world with them

one electron at a time!

[undecim]

Dual quad core? You mean two quad core processors, or one of those AMD quad cores that had 2 bad cores that were disabled?

A google search says that Striker II is an Asus mobo, and in my experience Asus is great with Linux.

Sounds good to me.

[Crunchy the Headcrab]

So i am building a new pc.

Dual quad core (8 cores right?)
Striker II mobo
4gigs ram
random 512mb gfx card (Nvidia so works on linux)
Sound card that comes with the mobo

Will this work good on linux?

Hmm...all that power and only 4gigs of ram and a 512mb video card?

I'd drop one of those quad cores and pick up an extra 4 gigs of ram for 8 total and a 1Gig video card.
Or just get a REALLY nice quad core.

[undecim]

Also, you shoud definitely should fold with your spare CPU cycles.

It's easy to do. Install origami, then run "sudo origami install -t 45104 -n username"

Then you're doing medical research in your spare time. Username can be anything, or you can leave out the -n username. the -t 45104 puts you on Ubuntu's folding team, so there's really no reason to leave that out.

[chrisxuk]

Wow, looks to be an impressive build! Although I agree with Crunchy the Headcrab regarding RAM. Dual quad cores and 4 gig of RAM. You might as well just go full out and get at least 8, maybe 12 depending on what motherboard you get.

Definitly have a look at folding if you do get a build like that!

More information can be found at - http://folding.stanford.edu/

[themarker0]

Also, you shoud definitely should fold with your spare CPU cycles.

It's easy to do. Install origami, then run "sudo origami install -t 45104 -n username"

Then you're doing medical research in your spare time. Username can be anything, or you can leave out the -n username. the -t 45104 puts you on Ubuntu's folding team, so there's really no reason to leave that out.

I was planning to do that. I want to share the power really.


Wow, looks to be an impressive build! Although I agree with Crunchy the Headcrab regarding RAM. Dual quad cores and 4 gig of RAM. You might as well just go full out and get at least 8, maybe 12 depending on what motherboard you get.

Definitly have a look at folding if you do get a build like that!

More information can be found at - http://folding.stanford.edu/

I don't know if my MOBO can support that. I'm starting to think i misread the box since a google search doesnt' show any dual quads. I'll see when i pick it up from teh store next week.



Hmm...all that power and only 4gigs of ram and a 512mb video card?

I'd drop one of those quad cores and pick up an extra 4 gigs of ram for 8 total and a 1Gig video card.
Or just get a REALLY nice quad core.

I got the quad because i sold a dual and another computer i have spare. I don't like selling things to others anyways. A new video card is on my wishlist once i get a job again.

[MindSz]

Also, you shoud definitely should fold with your spare CPU cycles.

It's easy to do. Install origami, then run "sudo origami install -t 45104 -n username"

Then you're doing medical research in your spare time. Username can be anything, or you can leave out the -n username. the -t 45104 puts you on Ubuntu's folding team, so there's really no reason to leave that out.

wow, I didn't know about this, and it sounds like a really cool way to help. Reminds me a bit of Hyperion (if you've read the books).

How taxing is it for a 'normal' computer? Will it slow down my system?

[themarker0]

wow, I didn't know about this, and it sounds like a really cool way to help. Reminds me a bit of Hyperion (if you've read the books).

How taxing is it for a 'normal' computer? Will it slow down my system?


I think it does it when your computer is idling.

[chrisxuk]

Have you got direct links to the specification of your hardware? We'd be able to give you more information then!

[kaldor]

I don't get the point of having a home computer with that much power other than for bragging rights. Especially running Linux.

[cascade9]

I think it does it when your computer is idling.

Depending on how its setup it might... but normally folding runs all the time, its just given a low priority (so in theory it doesnt really affect your system speed, but in my expereince it does. Been a while since I had anythign to do with folding, maybe its got better).

If yuo really want to run folding, get a PS3 LOL.


Hmm...all that power and only 4gigs of ram and a 512mb video card?

I'd drop one of those quad cores and pick up an extra 4 gigs of ram for 8 total and a 1Gig video card.
Or just get a REALLY nice quad core.

Video RAM only helps when your playing games..... and a dual-quad setup is not the best thing for gaming IMO.


I don't know if my MOBO can support that. I'm starting to think i misread the box since a google search doesnt' show any dual quads. I'll see when i pick it up from teh store next week.

Sorry to tell you this, but yeah, the striker II is single CPU socket (LGA 775) only- so the best you would be able to run is a Core2Qaud.

There are dual-quads around, but they are only opteron (AMD) or Xeon (intel). for dual CPU, you are looking at a different socket to normal desktops, and a lot of the time, ECC or buffered RAM. Not cheap.

[chrisxuk]

Depending on how its setup it might... but normally folding runs all the time, its just given a low priority (so in theory it doesnt really affect your system speed, but in my expereince it does. Been a while since I had anythign to do with folding, maybe its got better).

If yuo really want to run folding, get a PS3 LOL.





The folding client changes how much of the CPU it uses. It knows when the computer is idle that it can use more of the CPU, so it does. When you're doing something that requires more resources, the client alters how much of the CPU it uses. It's very clever :)

[The Real Dave]

Nope, folding won't really slow down your system. It only uses the spare CPU cycles, at a very low priority, so if something needs CPU, it gets it, and the folding turns down. All that happens in an instant.

I used run fulltime Folding on a 3GHz PIV, whilst using it as a regular desktop. It never once lagged, though the CPU always registered at 100%. I did need to clean it more though, because I made the system work harder (and suck in more dust) to keep it a 35C under load, chilly for a PIV.

Dual Quads isn't overkill, it's killing a puppy with a hydrogen bomb. Unless your doing some serious work, you won't need it. Get a nice Quad core chip, 8GB of RAM (again, overkill for almost everyone), and maybe two good Nvidia cards, in SLi. With power like that, you could take on anything.

Put it this way, I do almost all my work on a 3Ghz PIV (800Mhz FSB, 1MB L2). I fold, play flash games, run VMs, encode video. And it does all that perfectly. Yours will do all that, just quicker :)

[oobuntoo]

Super overkill, and yes it will work. Are you going to re-map the Human genome or plot the orbit of an extraterrestrial planet or do planet climate models in your spare CPU cycles?

Assuming that the OP is referring to ASUS Striker II Extreme as his choice for motherboard, then this is not overkill at all. This motherboard only has one socket and supports Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo CPUs. But this is a poor choice of a motherboard, in my opinion. This motherboard is two years old and still cost around $300. There are much cheaper motherboards out there that are more up-to-date; that is, they have USB 3.0, eSATA II, and HDMI support. Whether the OP choose to go with Intel or AMD, I think he can do better than the specs he listed.

[undecim]

How taxing is it for a 'normal' computer? Will it slow down my system?

It only uses spare CPU cycles. I.e., if you have any program running that wants to use the CPU, that program will get to use all the CPU it needs before F@H continues computing.

If you don't have you CPU frequency governor configured a certain way, it can keep your CPU scaled up, which can lead to heating problems.

Actually, I recently rewrote the previously outdated and incorrect howto at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoldingAtHomeTeamUbuntu/HowTo to cover the CPU scaling thing and installation/management with origami, and tips on getting the most folding credit.

[witeshark17]

Here's a challenge: list the number of times you ever exceed 2 gigs of RAM :guitar:

[undecim]

Here's a challenge: list the number of times you ever exceed 2 gigs of RAM :guitar:

every time I turn on my computer, the kernel uses the spare RAM as cache, leaving me with only about 20 Mb of 3 Gb unused. Most system monitors only report it as a few hundred Mb used, since all the cached ram is still available to applications, but it's still being used.

More RAM = more caching = faster computer - hard drive wear and tear.

[themarker0]

Assuming that the OP is referring to ASUS Striker II Extreme as his choice for motherboard, then this is not overkill at all. This motherboard only has one socket and supports Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo CPUs. But this is a poor choice of a motherboard, in my opinion. This motherboard is two years old and still cost around $300. There are much cheaper motherboards out there that are more up-to-date; that is, they have USB 3.0, eSATA II, and HDMI support. Whether the OP choose to go with Intel or AMD, I think he can do better than the specs he listed.

Not with the price i got this stuff at.