Senior Mod Project...Suggestions

[PrudentPrincess]

Ok heres the situation. Me and my bud are taking this class called "computer projects" next year where they basically give you basic outlines (essay/writeup on what you want to do, conclusion, notes, etc) and set you free for 9 weeks to complete any project based on computers. The cool thing about building this computer (think innovative!) is that it will also meet new graduation requirements at my school by counting as a senior project! This class isn't until next year so I'm open to any suggestions and will be bumping monthly. (sorry mods!) I don't know how far they are willing to let us go but if you guys have any suggestions let me know.
Oh and just to let you know me and my "bud" have complete access to two Athlon X2 3800's, adequate PSU's, two M2N SLI Deluxes w/dual gigabit lan and 4gb of memory. We are willing to buy what we need but we have a kinda tight budget. We are pretty much set on linking these two systems as a dedicated high school F@H machine. We also have full access to an amazing full-size metalshop at our school, and all the computer-building utilities we could ever hope for. We were also toying with the idea of using a car radiator to water cool both but keep in mind we want it to be stable for at least a year. (no leaks, crashes, etc)

All input wanted/needed! Don't be afraid to suggest!

-Prude

 

[Thermopylae_480]

If you're planning on giving it to the school to fold I wouldn't use water cooling; to much maintenance.

 

[Kreij]

Define "kinda tight budget".

 

[beyond_amusia]

Will you be allowed to keep the PC you make?

 

[PrudentPrincess]

@Thermopylae_480:
Sorry one of our ideas was to build a dedicated F@H computer but it looks like we won't b/c of watercooling, OC, etc. And who wants to donate 2 M2N SLI Deluxes anyway?

@Kreij
We're willing to chip in max 50$ each so about 100$ to spend. We have all the parts we need and we could have the comp up and running tommorow but we're looking into a good case mod/15k drives. (if we really feel the need)

@beyond_amusia
Well we're probably going to separate it at the end of our Senior year so yes and no.

 

[btarunr]

How much of that F@H processing we all do actually gets used/implemented? I run it on two machines simultaneously and they do the same job? I think this 'coolness factor' that has been attached to F@H is making it a useless thing. I agree it's a very useful thing but we're left with little clue if our contributions actually paid off. It's just a waste of energy. Your CPU runs at 100%, keeps drawing 65~135W of power (depending on which CPU you use, Brisbane~Smithfield).

 

[PrudentPrincess]

How much of that F@H processing we all do actually gets used/implemented? I run it on two machines simultaneously and they do the same job? I think this 'coolness factor' that has been attached to F@H is making it a useless thing. I agree it's a very useful thing but we're left with little clue if our contributions actually paid off. It's just a waste of energy. Your CPU runs at 100%, keeps drawing 65~135W of power (depending on which CPU you use, Brisbane~Smithfield).

I agree but the idea was that we could have an information station with the dedicated machine to teach kids about what F@H is etc. Anything to impress adults.

 

[PrudentPrincess]

Bump!

 

[PrudentPrincess]

Sorry that I already bumped but I'm going to do it monthly so....bump!

 

[commandercup]

you need to tell us what your working with and what your goals are...

do you wan't a SFF case? a HTPC setup?

a full tower? a midtower? a microtower? a desktop?

do you want us to tell you exactly how to set everything up?

post a case you are starting with, post indepth pictures and then tell us what you wan't to do...

if your making a F@H PC for school... what is there to mod? just install the components and bam! your done...

if its for school as you said... then you'll probably wan't to spend a lot of time writing up an explanation to Folding and how it effects the world rather then designing some super cool computer

 

[PrudentPrincess]

you need to tell us what your working with and what your goals are...

do you wan't a SFF case? a HTPC setup?

a full tower? a midtower? a microtower? a desktop?

do you want us to tell you exactly how to set everything up?

post a case you are starting with, post indepth pictures and then tell us what you wan't to do...

if your making a F@H PC for school... what is there to mod? just install the components and bam! your done...

if its for school as you said... then you'll probably wan't to spend a lot of time writing up an explanation to Folding and how it effects the world rather then designing some super cool computer

I just talked to my partner for the project and we're thinking about using a old Genuine Pentium HP Server for the case then installing two or more Athlon X2 setups in there. As for where we're going with this I have no idea. Thats why I made the thread. Really, any idea you have will be appreciated at this point, don't focus on our limits.

 

[commandercup]

Well for starters, you might have to drill the correct holes for your motherboards if its an older generation HP server case... and you can always do some nice painting for internals and externals...

You could go passive and have fun like that heh, installing lots of mesh everywhere and getting some good passive coolers as well as a really slow fan for intake and maybe an extake if you want.