My next project,
Run a dual Xeon 10 core CPU system for boinc; and it has to be cheap!
 
I've found a site selling a Xeon E5 2650L V2 CPUs for only $45 (shipping included)!
The normal price is in the $65-70 range.
Amazon sells $80-100 motherboards for them, but I found on Ebay, some for only $66, shipping locally. I bought 2. Its got 3x full size slots (probably in a PCIE 2.0 16x 4x 1x configuration, it'll be a surprise..)
Running 2 single boards surely beat a $300-500 dual CPU motherboard compared to running 1 board with 2 sockets, and overall, it comes with more PCIE slots too.
All it costs is some extra DDR3 ram (which should be pretty cheap)
Slower DDR3 (1600Mhz), the Xeon only reaching up to 2 Ghz under load, but it has 10 cores, 20 threads, and running at only 65Watts (100Watts on the wall with a GT 1030 added as main graphics card under full load).
 
I have preordered 2x Xeon CPUs, and the 2x motherboards; a $16 24 pin splitter cable, a $10 HDMI switch, $17 USB switch, 2x $16 200GB SSD drives, splitting one 500W PSU to the two boards.
I've also bought a set of $12 Brass Spacers, to separate both motherboards, and stack them on top of one another, for a cheap setup; as well as these 2x $13 CPU coolers.


I'll probably populate them with a few GT 1030 and GT 701 GPUs (which they sell on Ebay for like $15+shipping) , running a fixed 300W for both systems.
I know they're not the fastest in terms of performance, and a bit older tech, but they cost nearly nothing, and consume nearly nothing.
 
I realize that CPU crunching is still necessary, and on the decline.
So that will be my next project.

Keep in mind that with the mining craze simmering down, loads of those mining boards are being parted out dirt cheap with cpu, ram and risers. No good for folding but they do work well for crunching. I found no difference other than cooler gpu's in an open air frame. (for gpu crunching on the cheap)

Most boards are standardized. Only Dell and HP have their own motherboard and CPU connectors.
 
I realize quadcores are very cheap, and probably can crunch the same amount of data (if they're running at 4+GHz) than the Xeon CPU I have running at 2Ghz. Still, there's something about running 40 threads of cpu tasks at a time, and potentially additional GPUs.
 
For 8 threads (4 cores or more), CPUs are still quite expensive.

ProDigit
Most boards are standardized. Only Dell and HP have their own motherboard and CPU connectors. 
 I realize quadcores are very cheap, and probably can crunch the same amount of data (if they're running at 4+GHz) than the Xeon CPU I have running at 2Ghz. Still, there's something about running 40 threads of cpu tasks at a time, and potentially additional GPUs.
 
For 8 threads (4 cores or more), CPUs are still quite expensive.

That is not true, some dual socket supermicro boards have PSU connectors that are not standard pinned as desktop PSUs. The pinout is different. They look just like a regular 20 or 24 pin socket, but they are not. I am not talking about those with the propitiatory connectors like on a dell. Just regular looking sockets, not pinned the same. 
16 thread AMD opterons are as low as a lot of 2 CPUs 28$ for the set.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/...uad+socket+motherboard
 
That e5-2650L CPU you bought can work in a dual socket processor with another CPU.
The e5-26xx are dual socket capable. Multiplier locked
The e5-46xx are for quad socket boards . Multiplier Locked
the e5-16xx CPU are for single socket boards.  Multiplier unlocked
 
AMD 61xx and 62xx and 63xx can be 2 or 4 socket CPUs Same as the intel e5-46xx
 
I have here in my house a few computers, dual, quad and single socket. One is 48 cores, couple are 24.
Does look cool in windows task mgr with all the cores showing.
 
If you really want to go cheap, AMD G34 quad socket with 4 Opteron 6376.  The 61xx series seems to do better at data per core.
Or the dual socket AMD.. 2 CPUs 28$ the board is 70$  32gb DDR3 1333 server ram 25$
 
Most of the hardware I buy is used off of forums or ebay. Pennies on the dollar.
 
 

The AMD 6178 are rated at 115w or so, but don't use that much normally.
The Intel are around the same watts 90 to 125, not bad at all.
 
http://www.cpu-world.com/...-%20OS6378WKTGGHK.html

I'll believe CPU crunching is important when the points reward reflects it to be some sort of priority for Pande Labs

Unless you're absolutely sure that the motherboards I purchased have incompatible power connector pins, I think they're freshly manufactured, new boards, with the modern convenience of compatible Mobo and CPU pins.
 
Yes, pandelabs prefers speed over anything. You're better off with GPU folding. On boinc, speed matters too, but less.
Do double the work in the same time, get double the points.
However, it doesn't make much sense, If the CPU uses double the power to do so, and costs double the price.
 
I've looked hard, and long, and for a modern CPU, to do the same amount of work, at the same 65 watts, you'd need a 4c8t running at 4Ghz, or a 6c12t running at 3,33Ghz. These CPUs still are quite expensive.
And while some are out there, their Mobo/DDR4 RAM configuration usually is more expensive.
I also don't want to be buying too cheap second hand eBay stuff that are bulky in size, God knows has how many working hours on it, and full of dust, using older chips (like bridges, USB hosts, etc... t) that all add to mobo power draw.
 
When the order arrives, and works, I'm planning on getting another board. Having 3 of them stacked on top of one another, being cooled by a plain 50W box fan, and powered by a single, spare 750W PSU might be worth it.