Hi guys, big noob here. I've known about the existence of f@h for a while but I didn't know what it was for, nor did want to know what it was for; that ends today. I've started folding, of course that doesn't mean that I am going to be good at it on this system, but it's a start! Already joined team evga, didn't put much thought into it except that I knew this team before any of the rest. My PPD is pretty low and I don't expect to earn big evga bucks unless i get a gpu upgrade later this year, or buy some parts and put together a 24/7 folding rig in addition to my main pc.
 
Also not sure about my numbers. Neither My Folding nor stanford's user stats page have updated to show my scores. The client says I'm sitting at about 21517 total ppd, but a closer look shows that roughly 16000 comes from my i7-3770 and a mere 5510 comes from my GT 640. I know Kepler is bad at compute, but this bad? Not sure if it's a big no-no but I don't have any evga parts...the GT 640 is the DDR5 version on this page  , basically a 650 downclocked and without a power connector. A bit paranoid about my temps, I'm running stock heatsink and hitting consistent 70-75°C across the cores. Too warm?

Welcome.
 
Have you turned in a Work Unit yet?  You don't show up in the stats until you've completed and returned a WU.  Stanford's stats page updates at the top of every hour, while the third-party stats pages update every 3 hours.  One thing to note is that a WU returned too close to an update might not make it into that update; a WU received at 8:58 pm probably won't show up on the 9 pm Stanford update, but should be in the 10 pm one.
 
21k PPD would actually get you the full 10 Bucks every month assuming you folded 24/7; currently it's 250k points per month for the first 5 Bucks and another 250k (so 500k total) for the second 5.  They haven't announced what the point levels will be for next year, which for EVGA's purposes starts in March, so those levels could rise in a few weeks.
 
If you haven't done so, you should get a passkey.  The PPD that the current public release of the client estimates assumes that you have one; the next public release will only do so if there's a valid passkey detected.  All CPU WUs, and some GPU WUs, use a Quick Return Bonus point scheme where a good deal of the points earned are based on how fast a WU is returned.  You need a passkey to earn the bonus, and you need to complete 10 bonus-eligible WUs to start earning a bonus.
 
The GT 640 isn't a particularly powerful card, but the PPD will also be affected by what core is running.  The core is what does the actual calculations, and there are several of them.  On the Nvidia end of things, there are currently two cores in use, core 15 and core 17.  Core 17, introduced a little under a year ago, is newer and runs particularly fast on Kepler cards; a quick google search found someone reporting 23k PPD on a 640, and on high-end Keplers the PPD can be in the hundreds of thousands.  Core 15 is the old core and is both slower than core 17 and earns less PPD because it's not as capable as core 17.  My guess is you're running core 15 WUs right now; if the WU you're running is not from project 8900 or 9401, then you're using core 15.  BTW core 17 uses the QRB, while core 15 does not.
 
Normally there's no way to specify which project or core to run (the ability to set a project preference is in the client but hasn't been implemented in Stanford's work servers), but by some server quirks there is a way to all but guarantee core 17 WUs; this is a step-by-step guide.  You're not really supposed to be running the beta flag if you're not a beta team member, so you won't get any official support if you do, but other than that they don't care much.  They certainly won't kick you out or anything.  There are many members here who can help with issues.
 
No one minds if you're not running EVGA parts; part of the Bucks program is to make sure that you will be in the future.
 
70-75C is warm, but not dangerously so.  Most GPUs are designed to get up to 100-105C without failing, though I try to keep mine under 90C.

I presume that a WU is whatever the progress bar in % is for? In that case, I'm not even close...i have about 70% to go. I may leave it on overnight tonight though. I'm a bit nervous about my computer though to leave it 24/7; everything seems OK except for my 2TB Barracuda that I'm keeping an eye on ever since activeSMART told me that it was reporting critical condition for no reason (everything else in SMART was a-ok)...I'll try to let it finish its work tonight. I take it that if I don't get the WU in 12 hrs, then 21k isn't accurate in terms of points? Damn...this is going to hard without a folding rig.
 
I see. I wasn't expecting much out of that GPU anyways. For the temps I meant my CPU; I can keep my GPU at a constant 70° which is below what I can hit during BF3/4 gaming. 
 
Thanks, for your help man, I really appreciate the welcome.

Yes, a WU is what the progress bar is showing, and yes, the PPD figure it shows assumes that it's going to keep running 24/7.
 
Temps of 70-75C on a desktop CPU are creeping up near what I'd consider to be uncomfortably warm, but I don't think that's dangerously high (a laptop CPU would be a different story, as they're usually rated to run a lot hotter).

tabascosauz
I presume that a WU is whatever the progress bar in % is for? In that case, I'm not even close...i have about 70% to go. I may leave it on overnight tonight though. I'm a bit nervous about my computer though to leave it 24/7; everything seems OK except for my 2TB Barracuda that I'm keeping an eye on ever since activeSMART told me that it was reporting critical condition for no reason (everything else in SMART was a-ok)...I'll try to let it finish its work tonight. I take it that if I don't get the WU in 12 hrs, then 21k isn't accurate in terms of points? Damn...this is going to hard without a folding rig.
 
I see. I wasn't expecting much out of that GPU anyways. For the temps I meant my CPU; I can keep my GPU at a constant 70° which is below what I can hit during BF3/4 gaming. 
 
Thanks, for your help man, I really appreciate the welcome.

a bit nervous running 24/7?
dont be.... been running my machines 24/7 for years....4 years for the q6600 with no breakdowns
 
actually it's easier on hardware - less power spikes - and less heating/cooling cycles
businesses keep systems up 24/7 for backup reasons and mission critical necessity 
 
As for the seagate drive...I don't know the issue...so it's up to you to monitor or find out what the issue is
 
Folding points fluctuate...the "PROJECTED" PPD is just an estimate...things like network issues, cpu usage, computer downtime will affect things
 
at 21k daily  is about 140K weekly - about 600k monthly

Welcome to the team tabascosauz!!!  Lots of us arrived here in exactly the same way that you did.  It is not at all unusual for people (at first) to be wary of running their rigs 24x7.  As with all PCs there will be eventual failures, but I have not found failures on my rigs (running 24x7) to be anything excessive or frequent due to this work.  Products with moving parts like HDDs can be affected by total run time/duty cycle, but those things are so cheap that if I lose one every 5 years, it was worth the sacrifice.   
 
The thing that some of us face (who are running multiple rigs 24x7) is electrical costs and room heat.  Fold whatever works for you, what you are comfortable doing and eventually you will be just as addicted to finding cures as the rest of us are!  

Well, I tried to leave it on but I still went and turned it off last night at 45% of the WU. I was playing with the settings to see if I could find a good balance between PPD and CPU temps because I ended up in high 70s and that's quite warm for a CPU (maybe I should consider a cheap closed-loop like the H55 or just a 212 evo), but there's only so much I can do with the stock heatsink in the XPS 8500 (the heatsink is stock intel, but the fan is some random 92mm that Dell slapped on there).
 
So it's possible to build a folding rig with 2 GPUs without SLI? Like if I had my GT 640 and another DDR3 GT 640 or a GTX 650 I could set it up so that both GPUs work on one slot? Or would I need to SLI? Obviously I wouldn't be gaming on that anyway
 

If your worried about cpu heat, the 212 evo is a really good cooler for the money. The factory ones aren't usually very good,especially if your overclocking. The AIO are good as well from what I have read.
 
If you added another GPU , you should disable SLI. Either way each card will fold a separate project [WU].
Also if you do plan to add a card, I would advise you to get a better performing card. Like Tex said, most of us started out small, then upgraded like madman when the folding bug hit. It becomes an addiction, for many of us there is no cure...lol
 
And with that I want to say welcome to TEAM EVGA!!!
 
EDIT: before you buy the 212, make sure it will fit in your case. It is a tall cooler. GL!

tabascosauz
Well, I tried to leave it on but I still went and turned it off last night at 45% of the WU. I was playing with the settings to see if I could find a good balance between PPD and CPU temps because I ended up in high 70s and that's quite warm for a CPU (maybe I should consider a cheap closed-loop like the H55 or just a 212 evo), but there's only so much I can do with the stock heatsink in the XPS 8500 (the heatsink is stock intel, but the fan is some random 92mm that Dell slapped on there).
 
So it's possible to build a folding rig with 2 GPUs without SLI? Like if I had my GT 640 and another DDR3 GT 640 or a GTX 650 I could set it up so that both GPUs work on one slot? Or would I need to SLI? Obviously I wouldn't be gaming on that anyway

Yes, Folding is one of the most intensive applications that you can run on a PC and it will heat things up to new levels.  Running on a stock heatsink can be too little or on the edge of what you are comfortable seeing when Folding.  As notfordman suggested, look into a decent heat sink for your i7.   It doesn't hafta be expensive either (i.e. the CoolerMaster 212), but needs to fit your case, and can provide way better cooling than a stock sink.  You may want to start a new thread over in the main section of this Folding forum for technical/buying advice too.  Your a team member now and we have lots of talented people that can help you make some good decisions on products and squeezing the best Folding performance. 

One last question before I go, if I add a GPU like the GTX 660 or 760 to my system not in SLI, would there be any way to set one GPU to fold without holding back the other. I would, in an ideal situation, like to save a few bucks on the extra mobo and CPU by not getting those and that way, I can use the 760 for gaming and the 640 for folding. Would that be possible, like how people set up a stronger GPU as their primary when gaming and use an older one like a GTS 450 or 560 Ti to handle PhysX? Right now, the 640 is crunching some good numbers but it lags my system hard when i fold with GPU (CPU works like a charm).
 
Thanks for all the helpful replies and warm welcome to EVGA forums! I'll take my time to explore my options for folding; sorry for bothering y'all with these questions in this thread.