Post
by cordis » Tue Sep 21, 2010 1:00 pm
Yeah, it depends on which way you want to go. You could get a cheap processor and add a gtx 460, those are supposed to get around 10k, or get an i7-860 and OC it a little, that should also get around 10k, or split the difference, get a gtx 450 and an mid to high end i5, the combo should get close to 10k. If the system is going to get used often, that can help with the decision. If it's going to be a gaming system, might as well get the good gpu, but if you're doing more cpu intensive stuff might as well get a good cpu. Not sure about the 6 core AMD cpu, if you've heard it gets 12k it might be a good way to go, I typically stick with Intel because the hyperthreded 4 core cpus, with an 1156 or 1366 board you can upgrade to doing bigadvs, not sure if AMD has the upgrade path in mind. But from what I can find on foldingforum.org it sounds like the 6 core AMD can do 10-12kppd. It also matters if you want 10k average or 10k minimum. The worst case WUs can knock you down a peg or two, I have an i7-860 that goes between 9k-12k depending on the WU. Think it averages out to a little over 10k. The other thing to worry about is that for new clients, the ppd tends to drop, so over time any system will generally get slower. For something with an upgrade path, I'd probably get the cheapest 1366 i7 board/cpu combo I could find. An i7 930 would get 10k ppd with no trouble, but motherboard+memory would probably take you above $500.
There's also the question of how quiet you might want it to be. If noise is an issue, it's a lot easier keeping a high end cpu quiet than it is to keep a high end gpu quiet. I'd suspect that a cheap processor + a 460 would get you under $500, but it wouldn't be as quiet as a faster cpu. Something to think about.