My Folding Farm

[jamesavery22]

Definitely not done yet. Still have to make the front door which will have 2 120s and filters and I have to make the backs which will cover up everything except the IO ports and the exhaust fan that is on each CPU Heatsink. Mad props to OCedXeons for the amazing deal.
I was running F@H but I might be switching over to www.find-a-drug.org due to its ability to focus soley on cancer research.

Each board has:
A7V266-M OEM
2000+ XP
128mb pc133 cas3
1.5gig hd
and 150w microatx PS

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jtorres/Pics/Folding/FoldingFarm1.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jtorres/Pics/Folding/FoldingFarm2.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jtorres/Pics/Folding/FoldingFarm3.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jtorres/Pics/Folding/FoldingFarm4.jpg

[5siz]

haha, got a super computer going there lol.

A friend of mine is planning on doing that, very cool.

[DoZeR]

Wow, that is really awesome.

[Colossus]

Looks awesome!

I am looking into doing something like that if my mood doesnt change :)

But I was probably going to go diskless..

So how does the board on the bottom access that cdrom drive on top? You have a ribbon that long?

[number1sixerfan]

Looks sweet, but all that power just for folding? Using it for anything else?

[Colossus]

Originally posted by jamesavery22

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jtorres/Pics/Folding/FoldingFarm4.jpg

Why are you cooling the cake box of CD's ? :)

That 120mm fan keeping those CD's cool enough?

[jamesavery22]

Originally posted by Colossus
Why are you cooling the cake box of CD's ? :)

That 120mm fan keeping those CD's cool enough?

ahahahha I had the 120 there cause I was measuring where on the door I am going to place it. still not sure how im gonna do placement =\ maybe one for two levels... I was going to just make a huge hole in the front and put a big filter from an A/C unit there but once I set it all up I realized once its closed I need something pushing air towards the back...

Yeah I was thinking about going diskless but I got all 4 boards, all 4 HDs, all 4 procs, all the sticks of ram and all the heatsinks for 250$. So I couldnt complain =) The hds dont take up the most room anyways. If I had no hds I could save maybe 2 inchs in the depth. So I didnt think it was worth it. But if you are planning on going diskless a guy over at 2CPU forums did.

http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46480

Only the top maching is hooked up the the CD-rom. When I was installing them I just took the tray that had the machine I was installing and swapped it with the one on the top :D They are just on drawer rollers.

All they do is fold. Well the top one is running win2k3 enterprise so its folding and being my router. Eventually I am going to put ISA server on another so two will solely do folding. One will be the ISA and fold, and the last will be my router and DHCP server and fold.

Thanks for all the comments guys. I take this stuff pretty seriously and very personally. I really recommend people look at www.find-a-drug.org. there is no sharky team, yet :D. I just made the team for 2CPU (number 2125). Unfortunately the amount of followers is very small. Its very hard for me to turn away from F@H but for me its not a decision. F@H hits a very broad spectrum of medical research. While it does give real world results and is an awesome project I am very focused on Cancer research. From their news-page (http://www.find-a-drug.com/press6.html)
They found some new drugs that inhibit the growth of cancer.
So naturally I was compelled to join their project. Their projects do envolve quite a lot. Cancer, HIV, Pesticides, bioterrorism antidotes, Proteome, Respiratory diseases, multiple Sclerosis, Malaria. All of which you can select to, or not to, work on. Naturally I only do Cancer projects.
The founder of find-a-drug is the same guy that made the United Devices engine. I was doing that project before folding until UD was bought by grid.org and just went to crap. No focus on Cancer at all and they basically sold computing cycles to the highest bidder. I am very glad this guy broke away from them and did this, course I guess he could still be working for them I really dont know.

In terms of software the app is very nice. I had no problem installing it on any of my 7 machines (2 intels, 5 AMDs). It uses HTTP for DLing and uploading projects so those of you using your work computer wont have a problem behind firewalls.

I really am at the point where I am begging people to join this project. There are too few people giving their CPU cycles to this cause and way too many people with diseases that it can help with.

[Thermo]

It looks nice and neat, and looks like it will function a lot like a rack mount. My experience says that you will need more cooling. Air flow quality is as important as quantity. Also, I think you’ll need to get those hard drives off the board and up into the air flow. My experience with stacks is that as they begin to heat up, the warm air cools them less and less and the air gets warmer and warmer. The whole thing just seems to snowball, and the heat becomes unmanageable. I think you will need intake and exhaust fans at each level. Also, be sure to have it set up so that it was easy to get the KVM cable plugged in to the board. When the board refuses the VNC connection you’ll need to get a monitor on it.

Good luck and keep us posted :D

[ryuson99]

im with thermo in that you need an exhaust and intake fan at each level and also the hard drive shouldn't be flat on the board you should raise it a little

and those are my two cents (really thermo's)

and like everybody says keep us updated

[jamesavery22]

Will do.

Works been wearing me out lately so I havent had the energy to work on it the past week. This week wont be much better. But once I get something done I'll post it. Thanks guys.

[Flexo]

Run 2 on folding and the other 2 on www.find-a-drug.org :p

[jamesavery22]

Originally posted by Flexo
Run 2 on folding and the other 2 on www.find-a-drug.org :p

If the best person you've ever known, heart and soul, has been fighting Cancer for 4 years what would you do? :(

[Colossus]

Originally posted by jamesavery22
If the best person you've ever known, heart and soul, has been fighting Cancer for 4 years what would you do? :(

Look at it this way... Either folding or the other site is looking for a cure for cancer...

So you cannot loss if you fold for either one :)

[jamesavery22]

Originally posted by Colossus
Look at it this way... Either folding or the other site is looking for a cure for cancer...

So you cannot loss if you fold for either one :)

Thats true but you cant specify F@H to only do projects that benifit Cancer. F@H's target is very wide and its projects dont always hit Cancer research. Protein Folding is only part of Cancer medicine, it is a good chunk though. This was the only reason I was running F@H.

[Ashpool]

If you can, see if you can drill in a fan or two on the top for exhaust. AT THE LEAST.

It would be best if you could seal off each individual node and form up individual cooling for each.