F@h Server

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
06/30/2020 at 16:18 • Filed to: None

Precision T7400 Workstation. Dual Xeon quad-core 2.0 gHz procs and 16 GB of RAM. Comically large case, but lots of room inside to let the 1080 Ti breathe. And 1000-watt power supply... I have the OS installed on a 80-GB Intel SSD, one of the first, that cost something like $179 when it was new. I’ll keep it out here in the shed so it doesn’t heat my house. I’ll reinstall the 1060 in the PC at my desk. It’s a more comfortable fit and much less warm. I’ll be pushing 2M PPD...

I might install a second GPU in this big box, but it’d have to be one of those hybrid jobs with a radiator because two big GPUs up next to each other, how would they breathe?

DISCUSSION (20)

HammerheadFistpunch > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 16:27

Thats basically the windows machine I have, but without the nice card. Thermal management on these cases is really good.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 16:29

I spy, with my little eye, something yellow.

404 - User No Longer Available > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 16:35

Is it only running F@H? Converting to Linux may yield some points boost .

https://forums.evga.com/Linux-vs-Windows-foldinghome-performance-m2799608.aspx

PS9 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 16:41

The FOH server. "What? You want how many TB of video downloaded? FOH with that. Bih tryina blow up my IO reqs right at peak load time, tf"

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > HammerheadFistpunch
06/30/2020 at 16:47

There’s a spot for, and I am going to add, a 120mm exhaust fan.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
06/30/2020 at 16:49

What you spy is a bunch of CRAP. Only there’s much less of it now because of how I spent part of my quarantine time. I like being out here, though. This will be my tele-teaching studio when the school year starts back up.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > 404 - User No Longer Available
06/30/2020 at 16:49

I just know so zero about Linux. I’ve wanted to try it for years though. This would be a good box to do it on.

HammerheadFistpunch > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 16:51

all my fans slots are full, I guess thats why. The ducting is what makes it really work. The hard drives, CPU’s and card slots are in discrete areas with discrete airflow paths.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 16:51

Wrong! it was the broom.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > 404 - User No Longer Available
06/30/2020 at 16:56

Are you prepared to walk me through it and support me if I try? In the day, folks said that Linux was leaner and faster than Windows. Since then, I’ve also heard that it’s become more bloated and many of those performance gains have been lost.

404 - User No Longer Available > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 16:56

You could start with a desktop distro, it’s not much different than installing Windows. B ut if it’s just a server I prefer a pure text just for removing overhead.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
06/30/2020 at 17:01

Dang! I’ve been looking for that!

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > 404 - User No Longer Available
06/30/2020 at 17:02

I wouldn’t know where to begin.

barnie > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 17:19

Long ago (‘99?) I recall cutting 6 ” holes on top and bottom of an old beige box and installing fans, one blowing in, the other out. It was an overclocked Abit dual P90 with peltier coolers . Also 4 or 5 SCSI drives and an MFM on a WDD11 00 card (remember them?) . Box was laid on it’s side like yours and blew a lot of air thru it. Might help here since you don’t have to listen to it all day.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > barnie
06/30/2020 at 17:31

There is a location for a 120mm exhaust fan on the back of the case which I will fill. Then take it from there. The GPU makes quite a bit of heat. I think the power company is going to like me. That’s what Mrs. Vandura is afraid of...

404 - User No Longer Available > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 17:32

Depends. There are many different distros which serves different purposes, some are dressed up to compete head to head with Mac OS or Windows, those are the rather bloated ones as they aim to be an out of the box solution. Then there are more specialized ones and some optimized for performance. That’s the beauty of Linux, it’s not one-size fits all.

I would start with something like a Debian-based distribution like Ubuntu, and the lightweight variants like Lubuntu using LXDE. I used to run this distro on my Pentium III laptops.

https://lubuntu.me/downloads/

Create a USB, boot it up and install, then install F@H. It’s easy as installing it as doublclicking an installation package. You shouldn’t even need to deal with hardware drivers as most hardware has built-in support.

https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/installation-guides/linux/

Then later on if you feel adventurous you can go pure terminal with a server distro, or even running F@H inside a container.

jminer > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 17:37

Very nice! I used to mine for years in a similar size HP tower server and it lived on it's its side with the case off so it's two GPUs could breathe.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > 404 - User No Longer Available
06/30/2020 at 17:38

I might give it a try. I’d use a separate hard drive so I can just switch it back out if I get fed up with trying.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > jminer
06/30/2020 at 17:40

There’s a spot for a 120mm exhaust fan back of the case and I’m going to install one. From what I’ve been able to read online, 84C is the design running temp. I can bring it lower by speeding up the fans on the GPU.

jminer > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
06/30/2020 at 18:01

I’d probably set your fans on the card to run at 75% which is a bit noisy but will definitely help keep it cooler.