[billybob128]

i wanna build a BIG farm and try to catch some people up becoming a serious player in the competitions

i no ill need:
a motherbord* however many i need
at least 1 HD per motherboard

but what will i need in the way of power units and graphics cards could i just use one and set the computers to auto connect when thy need reducing the need for many cards and screens as id only need to check them every month or so.

and where would i get all this stuff from for cheap and im not too bothered about the speed as i can build the farm up over time

[jbcool]

I would look for a motherboard that has video and ethernet built into the motherboard. You can try netboot but I finally gave up and was luck enough to buy a bunch of low price hard drives from a source that scott had. Then you can run linux on them and use a program like VNC to get to them. I will try and hunt down some links for you in the next few days.

Windows Folding Server

Jason Rabel's well known article

The SETI Monster

Virtual Network Computing

[Scotttheking]

Ways to build up a farm:

1) Watch for fry's electronics deals, they usually have ECS K7S5A pro mobo and chip combos for a good price. I haven't been able to beat these.
2) Online buy/sell forums. You need cheap PCI video cards, power supplies, HDs, networking gear, etc.
3) Watch for me selling stuff. As jbcool mentioned, I sometimes get good deals on things like HDs (although these are mostly over). Right now, I've got 2 20GB WD HDs for $30 each, shipped. I also keep most farm equipment for 6-12 months, so usually twice a year I sell stuff. I might have some systems for sale in the next 2 months, for instance.

When building a farm, there are some very important factors.
The big three are power, space, and heat.
You need enough electricity to power the machines, enough space to keep the machines, and a way to remove the heat the systems generate.
One way to reduce electricity is with netboot, since you can remove the HDs.
For space, mounting the mobos on a shelving unit can reduce space. Heat is a problem, however. Removing the HDs can help, but you just have to have a way to pull the generated heat out. I dissipate heat into an 800 square foot room in my basement, and from there it exchanges with the concrete walls of the basement, as well as is assisted by the AC unit. However, it's hot and loud.

I hope this helps.

[billybob128]

hmm i see so if i bought really old broken machines and fixed them up which ilike doing then it would justify the idea with a good side effect

[billybob128]

ok last post should have gone in with the othe one of my posts what i meant to say was thank for the help and scott if anything comes up let me no ill probably be interested

[jbcool]

Fry's Electronics is great the last two weeks they have offered a $59 motherboard with a boxed AMD 1800+ cpu. You can buy the cheaper PC 133 memory to use with these boards. Since I burn up a motherboard, CPU, or memory stick every three months or so the cheap prices make it nice.