Buying big fast overclocked rigs is easy, but for me at least paying the running costs is a major factor. Moving to dual cpu rigs certainly helped me in that regard. also your proposed 24 cores running at 2.3 would likely need the single processor running at 4.6 or more to get more work done.

You will not actually NEED 1GB ram per thread running but the closer you can get the better in that even running CEP is easy and with less reliance on swap. Running dual channel or tri channel works ok especially if MCM or FA@H is your preference.

I use both ssd and hdd and don't really see any benefit with the former. Consider too that multiple cores running CEP will put a lot of writes on your drive so when choosing an ssd it might be best to consider TBW figures.

Everything you run depends on the psu. My personal take on this is to buy the best quality you can afford. Bronze gold platinum do make a small difference but not huge in power use. If you buy 750w plus it will likely still be close to optimum when running a 33% to 60% load which means that either with a gpu running wu's as they become available or with no gpu you will be good...and you may be able to run 2 gpu's per rig in the future if you get the right psu.

looking at the spreadsheet ....4 coolers for 4 cpu's

Thank you all for providing great feedback on the build,
Here is the new build, priced per unit, to make it easier to read.
Changes include a new PSU and more RAM. The SSD has not been changed because I will not be using this for my personal use, i also think that its pricing is very appropriate for it being an SSD and the amount of memory it provides.

This build is more expensive but i think will be worth it for optimal performance in the long run. 2 units as of right now wouldn't be possible until I can raise some more funds and cover the extra cost. I will post updates with pictures of the build once i have the parts which may take a while, but i will deliver :). On a final note, is there any specific WCG forum where hardware is discussed? i feel like it would create great discussions

I know its old school, but you need a CD drive.

It's not the watts he needs, it's the power supply which supports dual cpu. His choice happens to fit the bill plus expansion needs for powerful gpu's.



Not really, you can install Linux and probably other operating systems via usb stick. Once loaded you can download anything else you need.

I had missed out on the MCM GPU part, great to hear it is on its way!

On topic:
Without digging too deep into that build...does not XEON need ECC REG RAM?