Community Boxen Program - Bring it Back?

There has been some interest in building some community boxen systems again ...

For those of you who don't remember, the 1st Community Boxen Program in mid 2008, you can read up on it here -- http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1303071&highlight=Community+Boxen

If the program was brought back, I think there needs to be a change in how the program works ..

The original program has members send parts to the builder and then the completed unit was shipped out to a member. This proved very hard because it was hard to get all the parts needed to complete a system.

Later, when we moved to buying video cards and sending them to users, proved more useful and got some great ppd. After a set time (3-6 months) users were allowed to switch the GPU over to their name vs the [H]Boxen user name required to give back to the team.

Now that I will have a "dedicated" server room in the house, this has opened another options for this program to take. I now have the ability to run the systems locally, instead of having multiple items at multiple locations.

Users could all donate to a general fund and that money could be used to build new systems and run them under the [H]Boxen names we had from the original program.

With the current economy, not sure how much $$ we could raise and get the program up and running ...

It really all depends on the Team thoughts and how much they want to help the team ...

What does the community think?

It certainly sounds possible. Once I find a job, I'd throw some money at it, but as of right now I can't afford to.

not a bad idea, but I think gathering the money would be the killer. Hell, I've got a small farm here (3 PC's with 7 GPU's) just waiting on me to get more money so I can afford the bills to run it again (Plus Im always out on orders to some damn state that isnt home)

Again, if it got up and running, I think It would be great!

Last time it came down to gathering misc parts and dropping a bit of cash on a 8800GS.

Most of us have a part or two that could go to a system. And now with windows 7 still in open, no OS worries for the GPU.

Kendrak said:

Last time it came down to gathering misc parts and dropping a bit of cash on a 8800GS.

Click to expand...

I think this time, we will plan a certain system.
Then ask for specific parts or donations to get the system up and running.
While we did get a ton of parts, it was hard to mix & match to get entire system.

Before we do any of this, have to make sure the team is behind it, otherwise it will never get off the ground

EvilAlchemist said:

I think this time, we will plan a certain system.
Then ask for specific parts or donations to get the system up and running.
While we did get a ton of parts, it was hard to mix & match to get entire system.

Before we do any of this, have to make sure the team is behind it, otherwise it will never get off the ground

Click to expand...

True.....

Would it be just a GPU folder? That is the cheapest one. To get a proc that can do a VM would cost 4x as much.

Kendrak said:

True.....

Would it be just a GPU folder? That is the cheapest one. To get a proc that can do a VM would cost 4x as much.

Click to expand...

I am going to say yes to GPU folder at the moment.Getting a motherboard & low end CPU should not be an issue to feed some nVidia GPUs.

I would think we could get the base systems up for under $100 - $150 depending on what psu is used. We probley could get some Intel 2140/2200 or AMD 4050e type cpu from F@H members that no longer need them or have them laying around. Motherboard should also be easy to find very cheap, worst case I can get a lower end open box board from newegg for around $50.00

O/S is not an issue since I have a Technet Subscription.

I have space in my rack for 5 4U systems, not that I think we would ever raise enough funds to build that many for the team ... so in *theory* , we could house 20 GPU's for [H].
Since the boxen would be located at one location, it would be easy to switch them for team events when needed.

It will really depend on how it goes and what the team is willing to do to get this launched again...

The main goal is stability and benefit for the team .....

*Added* A Q9550 can go 5000 PPD, and is on sale at microcenter for $169.00, Intel Board $50 ,Ram $25.00 , and i already have PSUs for non-gpu systems ... So about $250.00 for a CPU based System

I bet whatever PSU you have in that rig it would support a 8800GS.

You would get more than doubble the points, but you more than doubble the cost of a GPU only folder.

I bet you could cobble one together for right around $120 including the GPU.

25 bucks CPU
40 bucks Mobo
30 bucks PSU
15 bucks RAM
10 bucks HDD
=120
Then add $40 for the GPU

Some of that you should be able to scrounge/have donated, HDD, PSU, RAM to offset the 8800GS

I've got a couple of Earthwatts PSU's (430w and a 500w) I'd be happy to donate to the cause. Also some older 40 Gig IDE hard drives if needed. Let me know.

Ax

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813158004R

Cheap, and might blow up in a few years, but to get some ppd out it will work.

K9A2 platinums are all over ebay for $80 and we know those work great.
Personally i would rather pay 80 than 40 for something that we can throw in a bunch of gpus and we know is stable.

I have two 9800GX2's laying here doing nothing ATM so i could throw those in.

I bet we could convince the admins to put a sticky in the reg FS forum for cheap CPU's/ram

Someone would almost give away an AMD4050e 48550e or something of the sort

Or even these Single Core AMD limas would be enough to boot XP and run a few GPU2 clients.

I dont really see this working for CPU or VM Folding, but for GPU i could see this working, and would definitely be willing to help out.

I've still got my GPU that I got from the original program folding (the 9600 in my fileserver), so I'm definitely ++ for seeing where this could go. Don't know how much I can really dedicate to the project at this point above where I'm at (heat and money), but it certainly gets my support.

The single cores are at a nice price point.

I think this will be a lot easier to do this second go around ... now that we have learned from the past boxen program.

I am still slightly concerned how much money we can raise ... coming up with a $100 might be easy, but $200 or $300 may be hard during this economy.

I really wonder how many ppl will donate $ and equipment

On a small side note, I talked to my heat/cooling contractor for my house and we discussed the cooling for my F@H / Server room.

They are installing a 3rd AC for my house, with it being dedicated just to that room.
He said it could keep that room at 60F if I really wanted to.
I described how many systems it will have, and he told me it would be no issue for the unit since it is designed to keep equipment rooms cool and it power usage is very low , which is good for me.

Hi all,
I'm glad to see this program getting going again! I hate to see hardware sitting around waiting to die when it could be working to save us! So, count me in on the project just like last time. If all goes well, I'll be able to help in about a week. Thanks!