GPU2 folding?

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muddocktor

Wandering about

6,250 Posts

24 Jun 2008, 4:02am

Any of you guys tried out the new GPU2 folding app with an GeForce 8800 or better vid card yet? The guys over on the OCForums team have been seeing some really good ppd numbers out of them. I've seen numbers posted in excess of 5,000 ppd with 8800GT vid cards so far.

If you are running an AMD system and have a GeForce 8800 or better, that would probably be the way to go with it as the vid card will absolutely smoke the ppd of the SMP client on an AMD rig. The only drawback with it is that the new GPU2 client only runs in Windows.

EDIT: Here's a link to their benches thread on the Nvidia GPU2 folding for you to check out.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

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24 Jun 2008, 5:32am

Almost enough to make me think about a high end video card! Mudd, what about running one of the 8800s simultaneously with a CPU SMP client on a quad core Intel?

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mas0n

technosexual

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24 Jun 2008, 5:56am

I would think you could run the GPU2 client alongside a single SMP client on an Intel Quad. I'll give it a try in the next few days.

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muddocktor

Wandering about

6,250 Posts

24 Jun 2008, 6:29am

Yeah, I think there are a few over there doing this also, with pretty decent results. IIRC, they are getting more points doing that than even running 2 smp clients in VM's running Linux. And they have 1 guy running the gpu client in the thread I linked running it on one of those new $650 Nvidia 280 cards and is getting over 7500 ppd out of it, but it's not economical since you can get a 9800gtx class card for around $200 or so that will do 5000-6000 ppd.

I'm not real sure on concrete numbers since I don't fold any more (they got too labor intensive for my job being away for 2 weeks at a time to run the smp clients). But you should be able to hunt up some concrete numbers on simultaneous smp/gpu2 folding in their folding forum.

EDIT: For now, it looks like the Nvidia cards rule in GPU2; their drivers are better optimized than the ATI drivers right now. But with ATI coming out with the 4850 series forcing Nvidia to drop the price of the 9800GTX cards down to the $200 range, it's looking pretty good for you folding guys.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

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24 Jun 2008, 7:43am

Thanks, Mudd. I really had no interest in high end video cards...until now. I knew that there had been significant progress made on GPU processing and Folding code, but had no idea it had developed to this point. I may just have to start looking for a good card. (darn, I've already sold off most of my spare parts from the bin that will actually make money!

)

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Qeldroma

Veteran Icrontian

1,783 Posts

24 Jun 2008, 1:44pm

Quoting Leonardo

I really had no interest in high end video cards...until now...

Yeah, and this would be the ONLY reason I would dual GPU in Crossfire (sorry, I have ATI) or in SLI. GPU folding has had good numbers- just not to this extent. I've avoided this because of power, cooling and inconsistent driver support issues.

I would presume that the ATIs would probably hold their own here as well- they've been able to fold for a while longer than nVidia.

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muddocktor

Wandering about

6,250 Posts

24 Jun 2008, 2:02pm

Qeldroma, from the little I've read, the GPU2 points are benchmarked on an ATI 3850 card and are set at 1500 ppd for it. And the faster ATI cards to get better ppd than 1500. But it looks like Nvidia's drivers are much more efficient than ATI's. Be aware that you can only fold with the newer cards, such as the Nvidia 8 class and higher and the ATI 3 class and higher. I don't know if even the ATI 2900 cards can fold. I kind of doubt that if you are running an Intel quad processor system with the smp client and you try running an ATI vid card on GPU2 you would see a point improvement but it looks like you will with an 8800GT in an Intel quad system.

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Qeldroma

Veteran Icrontian

1,783 Posts

24 Jun 2008, 3:17pm

My understanding is that only and any nVidia board that supports CUDA can run this client. And maybe that is why nVidia tops the ATIs- and if that's the case, I'm kind of surprised GPU2 works with ATIs. You see, questions as to whether the next ATI driver release would run Folding has not gone down well with me and this would not have been unlikely.

It's speculation on my part if ATI needs to have a similar programming standard streamlined for its GPUs to match nVidia production- and it kind of misses the point here. Yet I also find it inconsistent that equivalent performing GPUs should have such a discrepancy in Folding point output and there has to be a reason.

Still, the die are cast with me- I have ATIs. Sorry for the distraction- it sounds like there is more incentive to buy nVidia for Folding purposes now. Can only hope at this point that ATI catches on.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

25 Jun 2008, 6:54pm

I've been running the new GPU client on two AMD Phenom X4 machines, one with an 8800GT and the other with a 9800GTX. I'm getting 4985 ppd on the 9800, and would be getting about 4600 ppd on the other card, except that its on a Vista machine, and the nVidia drivers and Vista don't seem to play well together. That card has to be monitored pretty constantly, because after running a few successful units, it will suddenly not run any more until the client is stopped and restarted. Also that machine is my son's gaming rig, and his gaming slows things down a bit. Still I'm getting about 2000 ppd from it.

There are SMP clients on both machines, and they have only slowed down a little due to the GPU client (less that 5%).

I was also running the GPU client on an 8500GT card, and was getting about 700 ppd from that card until I replaced it with the 9800.

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everyguy edited : 25 Jun 2008 at 7:03pm .

mertesn

Icrontic Duke of Haxor

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25 Jun 2008, 7:36pm

As you can see in my sig, I've got an 8800GT SLI rig with a Q6600... I'm going to try two GPU2 clients and one SMP client... Can't wait to see the results! I'll post some results in a couple days.

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mas0n

technosexual

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25 Jun 2008, 9:01pm

Tried to get it running this morning, looks like I'll need a modded .inf file to run GPU2 on nVidia under 64-bit Windows. Will get that going later when I have some more time.

EDIT: Got the .inf installed, GPU2 is running. Looks like ~1 minute 15 seconds per frame on Project 5205. I'll let you know PPD after FAHMon has enough time to have an accurate average. Right now I've still got 2 SMP clients running on this rig and it doesn't look like they are slowing down much (they may be slowing the GPU2 client down however)

Crazy.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

25 Jun 2008, 10:19pm

Quoting mas0n

They may be slowing the GPU2 client down however.

To keep this from happening, set the priority in the GPU2 client configuration to "slightly higher." Keep the SMP client at the default.

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mas0n

technosexual

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25 Jun 2008, 10:46pm

Quoting everyguy

To keep this from happening, set the priority in the GPU2 client configuration to "slightly higher." Keep the SMP client at the default.

Yeah I did that the first time I started the GPU2 client.

I did some thinking and reading and have now uninstalled Affinity Changer and have moved to a single SMP to run alongside the GPU2 client. The SMP clients were definitely suffering. The GPU2 client (FahCore_11.exe) gets all of one CPU core. The 3 remaining CPU cores were being fought over by 8 folding cores (FahCore_a1.exe) resulting in 1 SMP client running on 2 CPU cores and 1 SMP client running on a single CPU core. Bad.

This setup of a single SMP client + GPU2 client looks to be the way to go, at least until I move to an Oct-Core CPU.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

25 Jun 2008, 11:26pm

Quoting mas0n

This setup of a single SMP client + GPU2 client looks to be the way to go, at least until I move to an Oct-Core CPU.

That's how I have it set up, and the SMP client hardly loses anything.

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mas0n

technosexual

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26 Jun 2008, 12:55am

Sweeet.

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DanG

Not Y2K compliant

1,102 Posts

26 Jun 2008, 3:41am

I keep getting an error saying that nvidia could not find any drivers that are compatible with my current hardware. This is when installing the 177.35 drivers from the nvidia site.

I'm getting it on both systems that have nvidia cards, one is a BFG 8800GTX on Windows XP Pro and the other is a G92 8800GTS on Vista ultimate 64 bit.

Any ideas? Google didn't come back with anything recent...

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mas0n

technosexual

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26 Jun 2008, 3:52am

Quoting DanG

I keep getting an error saying that nvidia could not find any drivers that are compatible with my current hardware. This is when installing the 177.35 drivers from the nvidia site.

I'm getting it on both systems that have nvidia cards, one is a BFG 8800GTX on Windows XP Pro and the other is a G92 8800GTS on Vista ultimate 64 bit.

Any ideas? Google didn't come back with anything recent...

Are you using the modded .inf file? Look here

To get it working under x64 start the first half of the install but cancel when it is done extracting to c:\NVIDIA\blah and close the installer before it moves on to the next step. Then copy the modded .inf file to the directory it just extracted to and replace the existing .inf file. Run the setup.exe within said folder; this time going through the entire install. Reboot and start GPU2.

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DanG

Not Y2K compliant

1,102 Posts

26 Jun 2008, 4:08am

I got it going on the 8800GTS with Vista 64. On the XP Pro system, I get an error about the hardware not being compatible or needing a newer driver, and this is with the 177.35 drivers installed. It's a BFG 8800GTX that nVidia lists on their page as being Cuda compatible

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

14,696 Posts

26 Jun 2008, 4:44am

Check me if I'm wrong, so far here's where Folding@Home stands with Nvidia GPUs:

- 8800GTX is a go
- 9800 series are a go
- maximum points configuration for quad Intel processor is 1 X GPU client Folding simultaneously with 1 X CPU Win SMP client, Affinity Changer not installed

Correct?

Also, what is the power draw for 9800, at stock core frequency with F@H engaged? The reason why I ask is it's simply a matter of household economics. I've already got 5 overclocked Q6600s each churning at 100% utilization. I consider my power bill increase for Folding@Home to be a part of my charitable giving (but not for tax purposes). I don't mind at all, but I have to draw the line somewhere with the power bill. Maybe it would be worth my while to part out one of my rigs and use the proceeds for a couple high end video cards for two of the remaining computers?

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_k_

deep in the bush

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26 Jun 2008, 5:36am

I got this working on my sig rig, took some loading current drivers and cuda drivers in a this order doing an overlay load. Looks like I am actually going to stick with this since vid is a lot cheaper now than my proc and its very interesting how this cycles across all the cores. Its really fast too.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

26 Jun 2008, 5:41am

Quoting Leonardo

Check me if I'm wrong, so far here's where Folding@Home stands with Nvidia GPUs:

- 8800GTX is a go
- 9800 series are a go
- maximum points configuration for quad Intel processor is 1 X GPU client Folding simultaneously with 1 X CPU Win SMP client, Affinity Changer not installed
Correct?

Actually all the 8800 cards are a go. The consensus seems to be that the 8800GT offers the best bang for the buck. Also you need to update your nVidia drivers to version 144.55 or 177.35. To upgrade to the 177.35, you need a modded .inf file.

The client also works on other nVidia cards. Basically, anything from 8* and up should work.

You can get a lot more info on the folding forum site, right here: http://foldingforum.org/viewforum.php?f=43

If you need links to the nVidia drivers, including the mod for 177.35, I can post them.

Quoting Leonardo

Also, what is the power draw for 9800, at stock core frequency with F@H engaged?

Power consumption for a 9800GTX at full load is about 235 watts. For that it produces almost 5000 ppd. I think it would make economic sense to eliminate a machine running the SMP client and put the cards in the other machines. You have to have good power supplies in those machines, at least 500 watts, with a PCI-E connector.

I just bought my 9800GTX card at Fry's for $227 with a $50 rebate.

Since I started with the GPU clients and two cards, my weekly average has risen from about 22000 points to almost 40000. Today I had over 10000 points from my machines, even though the 8800GT card is not running all the time, because the machine is being used a lot for gaming. Before I was averaging a little over 3000 a day with four machines running SMP.

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mas0n

technosexual

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26 Jun 2008, 5:49am

The 9800GTX is a waste of money if all you are going to do is fold. GPU core and memory clocks are insignificant and the 9800GTX consumes more power than 8800GT. 8800GT + RivaTuner + GPU2 = WIN.

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_k_

deep in the bush

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26 Jun 2008, 5:53am

Ah I wondered how you raised your numbers everyguy...i can't catch you now.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

14,696 Posts

26 Jun 2008, 5:53am

PSUs are no problem, just look in my signature. I just might be able to get enough $ from parting one of these systems for a couple cards. Anyone want a Q6600 system with good RAM, a high performance motherboard, good drives, and a TRUE heatsink (lapped)?

Oh yeah, it would come with a retail WinXP Pro installation with CD. Case is on you - too expensive to ship from Alaska.

Really, I am seriously thinking about retiring a system for a F@H GPUs. I went to the OCForums link Mudd posted. We're talking serious production from the video cards!

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

14,696 Posts

26 Jun 2008, 6:24am

GPU core and memory clocks are insignificant and the 9800GTX consumes more power than 8800GT

For Folding, what is the relationship between video RAM quantity and production rate? Is 512MB superior than 256? If so, how much? The 8800GT 256MB cards are actually very reasonably priced, especially after rebates.

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mas0n

technosexual

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26 Jun 2008, 6:47am

Quoting Leonardo

For Folding, what is the relationship between video RAM quantity and production rate? Is 512MB superior than 256? If so, how much? The 8800GT 256MB cards are actually very reasonably priced, especially after rebates.

I was wondering the same thing and found this post. Looks like it doesn't make a difference.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

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26 Jun 2008, 6:52am

That's good news. The 256MB models are definitely less expensive.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

26 Jun 2008, 8:59am

Quoting mas0n

The 9800GTX is a waste of money if all you are going to do is fold. GPU core and memory clocks are insignificant and the 9800GTX consumes more power than 8800GT. 8800GT + RivaTuner + GPU2 = WIN.

I use the 9800GTX, but it was the same price as an 8800GT at the time I bought it, because it was on sale. It gets about 10% better ppd than my 8800GT. In reality, it's a lot better because I've had some stability problems with the 8800GT + Vista (evil Vista) + nVidia drivers + GPU2 combo. I'm not overclocking any of them. I haven't had problems with the 9800, but maybe that's because I'm running it on an XP box.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

26 Jun 2008, 9:01am

Quoting _k_

Ah I wondered how you raised your numbers everyguy...i can't catch you now.

Awww... That takes all the fun out of it! I was enjoying the race.

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mas0n

technosexual

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26 Jun 2008, 1:47pm

Quoting everyguy

I use the 9800GTX, but it was the same price as an 8800GT at the time I bought it, because it was on sale. It gets about 10% better ppd than my 8800GT. In reality, it's a lot better because I've had some stability problems with the 8800GT + Vista (evil Vista) + nVidia drivers + GPU2 combo. I'm not overclocking any of them. I haven't had problems with the 9800, but maybe that's because I'm running it on an XP box.

If you were to overclock the Shaders on the 8800GT to match those of the 9800GTX you would close that 10% gap almost entirely. The remainder could be attributed to Vista being crappy. What is interesting is that the extra 16 SP that the 9800GTX and 8800GTS have over the 8800GT don't look to be making a single shred of difference, at least not yet.

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DanG

Not Y2K compliant

1,102 Posts

28 Jun 2008, 8:28pm

My 8800GTS under Vista 64 bit is running like a champ, averaging about 4950ppd, and I've given up on my 8800GTX. I've posted on the folding forum, messed with so many different versions of drivers and had nothing but headaches. I finally got it working, it made it through 10% of the first WU then crashed. I restarted the computer and got the same message I'd been struggling with before, my GPU is not compatible.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

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28 Jun 2008, 10:13pm

What is the core clock on your GTS? Is it overclocked?

I'm getting ready to purchase an 8800GT, 600MHz core clock.

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DanG

Not Y2K compliant

1,102 Posts

28 Jun 2008, 11:01pm

My GTS is at 675.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

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1 Jul 2008, 8:10am

Alright, I sold some parts and purchased an 8800GT, 600MHz, 512MB from a trading forum. I should get it towards the end of the week.

Preparation for GPU Folding:

1) Downloaded Nvidia drivers 177.35
2) Downloaded Folding client Beta 6 GPU2, "612b8"
3) Downloaded CUDA (for drivers 177.35)
3) bookmarked some pertinent threads

I'm still confused about the .inf issue. The machine that will host the 8800GT is running WinXP SP3 (32bit). Is that a factor for the .inf thing? Please tell me what else I need to do to prepare.

This thread at Folding Forum recommends to use drivers 174.55. Are those recommended because that thread was opened before newer drivers were out?

Is there a GPU Folding how-to guide somewhere. OK, I really haven't looked that hard yet, but I'm finding stuff piecemeal, not all in one place.

This is for Team 93, boys. Get me started right!

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_k_

deep in the bush

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1 Jul 2008, 3:19pm

Just install the nvidia driver. Try to install the cuda driver, you should get an error part way through, then go to the directory where the cuda driver decompressed(Nvidia folder) and make a spare copy of the .inf file that matches yours just in case. Copy paste the edited .inf file into the correct folder. Then tell the cuda driver to install again but do not allow it to replace files that are already present. After all the reboots install the GPU2 client and run.

if you want to run a CPU folding or SMP with this you need to set affinity of the cores to allow for the GPU to have its own core or you can set the priority of the GPU2 slightly higher in the install setup, in the config box during install its somewhere in the top right.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

1 Jul 2008, 5:11pm

Quoting Leonardo

I'm still confused about the .inf issue. The machine that will host the 8800GT is running WinXP SP3 (32bit). Is that a factor for the .inf thing? Please tell me what else I need to do to prepare.

This thread at Folding Forum recommends to use drivers 174.55. Are those recommended because that thread was opened before newer drivers were out?

You need a modded inf for 8800GT because 177.35 really isn't supposed to support that card (although it does). I had an easy install with the files from here: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/...p?showforum=94. That link has the modded .inf. Make sure you use the 177.35 and not a later one. I heard they don't have CUDA.

I think the 175.44 driver is the one recommended in the GPU2 faq because it is the latest that "officially" supports CUDA for all cards, but the 177.35 driver seems a lot more stable and it folds twice as fast on an 8800GT.

I had good luck just going to add programs in the control panel, uninstalling the previous nVidia drivers, and installing 177.35 with the modded .inf.

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everyguy edited : 1 Jul 2008 at 5:21pm .

_k_

deep in the bush

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1 Jul 2008, 10:32pm

I just changed to the 177.39 driver and i still get the same rate as with the older drivers. I haven't seen a difference in the folding rate between drivers.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

1 Jul 2008, 10:57pm

Quoting _k_

I just changed to the 177.39 driver and i still get the same rate as with the older drivers. I haven't seen a difference in the folding rate between drivers.

What kind of rate are you getting. I'm getting about 4500-4700 with the 8800GT without overclocking. Maybe I had something wrong when I was running the 174.55 driver. I was only getting about 2500 with that one.

This is in Vista by the way.

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_k_

deep in the bush

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1 Jul 2008, 11:20pm

I am getting 2970 per day, roughly. That is based on production trend over an hour period and then projected out for a 24 hour period. I am also running SMP with it as well as doing my daily stuff on here.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

1 Jul 2008, 11:26pm

Quoting _k_

I am getting 2970 per day, roughly. That is based on production trend over an hour period and then projected out for a 24 hour period. I am also running SMP with it as well as doing my daily stuff on here.

If your daily stuff is gaming, I can understand why it might take a hit. Otherwise it seems pretty low. I went from 174.55 directly to 177.35, and that's what I'm running now. It's running SMP too. It's a quad-core phenom at 2.3 GHz.

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mas0n

technosexual

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3 Jul 2008, 4:03am

Quoting _k_

I am getting 2970 per day, roughly. That is based on production trend over an hour period and then projected out for a 24 hour period. I am also running SMP with it as well as doing my daily stuff on here.

That does seem low. If you are running SMP + GPU2 did you set GPU2 to use "Slightly Higher Core Priority" on the advanced tab of the configuration? If not, you need to. When you look in Task Manager "FahCore_11.exe" should be at a solid 25% CPU usage. It should be getting one dedicated core/thread and not fighting for priority with SMP or whatever else you are doing. If you aren't already, run FahMon and see what it tells you after it's had an hour or so to average out your PPD.

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_k_

deep in the bush

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3 Jul 2008, 5:59am

Well I just fixed the acid vision problem so we will see if it goes up any, real quick it was saying 3020
//ok after 30 minutes of it running while i watched stuff projection is 4547.87; fo'sho. So apparently the driver issue was slowing everything down a lot more than what I was thinking. I uninstalled video drivers...and a few others by accident.....and loaded up the 177.35 and its giving me those numbers as well as fixing the acid vision problem in all video games. Its kind of sad to no longer be able to play TF2 with crazy Ghost Riders coming at you shooting boxes of flames in every direction and what looks like mysterious satanic text over all the walls.
//4986 ppd

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_k_ edited : 3 Jul 2008 at 4:00pm . Reason: testing

Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

14,696 Posts

11 Jul 2008, 8:14am

Alrighty, I've got GPU Folding now. Here are the pertinent hardware specifications and software settings:

System 4 (signature) running WinXP SP3
XFX 8800 GT (stock), 600MHz Core/1500MHz Shader/700MHz DDR3, 256MB, 256-bit
Video card settings - "3D Settings" option set to "Performance;" all other settings at default
Video drivers: ForceWare 177.35 with modified .inf
F@H GPU2 6.12B8
One WinSMP client running
Affinity Changer uninstalled
GPU2 Fahcore_11 affinity is set to Core 3 (fourth core of the Q6600); each WinSMP FahCore_A1.exe is set for affinity to cores 0, 1, and 2
GPU2 configuration: -forceasm and -verbosity 9 flags set, Core Priority set to "Slighty higher," CPU Usage percent set to maximum. "Do NOT lock cores to specific CPU" I left unchecked

I'll let this run overnight and we'll see what production data develops.

It's been years - about five I think - since I've tweaked video cards for performance, other than quality settings for photo editing. So I'll be looking for your advice and assistance in optimizing this video card. I've already installed Riva Tuner and familiarized myself with it. I experimented for a little while but set all the video card hardware settings back to stock. I will be removing the stock thermal paste on the GPU to replace with premium TIM.

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lemonlime

Veteran Icrontian

2,727 Posts

11 Jul 2008, 3:47pm

Very cool

I've got an older 640MB 8800GTS that I'll be giving this a try with.

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mas0n

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11 Jul 2008, 7:03pm

FYI: I'm running GPU2 on my HD4870 now and am getting ~2200 PPD. The word from the folding community seems to be that the 4800 series will not see much better performance until the next core optimization and/or until the WUs contain larger proteins. When I run GPU2 and watch the "GPU Load Meter" in CCC It hangs between 50 and 70 percent while CPU usage is double that of GPU2 on nVidia cards, so it looks like there is much optimization to be done. I'll miss the PPD from the 9800GTX, but man this card rocks.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

14,696 Posts

11 Jul 2008, 7:27pm

mas0n, K, and Everyguy, results are in for three GPU2 work units. The average PPD is about 3700. Just to refresh your memory:

System 4 (signature) running WinXP SP3

XFX 8800 GT (stock), 600MHz Core/1500MHz Shader/700MHz DDR3, 256MB, 256-bit

Video card settings - "3D Settings" option set to "Performance;" all other settings at default

Video drivers: ForceWare 177.35 with modified .inf

F@H GPU2 6.12B8

One WinSMP client running

Affinity Changer uninstalled

GPU2 Fahcore_11 affinity is set to Core 3 (fourth core of the Q6600); each WinSMP FahCore_A1.exe is set for affinity to cores 0, 1, and 2

GPU2 configuration: -forceasm and -verbosity 9 flags set, Core Priority set to "Slighty higher," CPU Usage percent set to maximum. "Do NOT lock cores to specific CPU" I left unchecked

What tweaks for the card, Folding configuration, or what not should I try? I will also be overclocking the card, but will take that slow and easy. Last time I overclocked a video card was about five years ago. I'm reading that overclocking the shader clock is more effective than overclocking the core clock.

But anyway, I'm listening closely for any suggestions...more points for Team 93!

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

11 Jul 2008, 10:30pm

It seems a little low to me. I'm getting over 4500 with exactly the same card and drivers. What is the max ppd reported by FahMon? Are you using the computer for other stuff? If you use the newest GPU2 core, it allows you to set the affinity with an environmental variable. You probably know that you have to reset the SMP affinities everytime a new WU starts or when you reboot.

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everyguy

Icrontic Regular

37 Posts

11 Jul 2008, 10:38pm

FWIW, here is the FahMon report and some information about my rigs that I recently sent to _k_ in a private message. I'm not overclocking anything.

AMD: AMD Phenom Quad Core 9850 "Black" 2.5 GHz, 32-bit Vista, 9800GTX
Abexia: AMD Phenom Quad Core 9600 2.3 GHz, XP home, 8800GT
Ku-chan: AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core 5600 2.8 GHz, XP Pro, 8500GT (I'm not running GPU2 on this card at the moment. I lose from the SMP what I gain from GPU.)
All running SMP client ver. 5.92 and GPU2 ver. 6.12, beta 8 with 1.06 core, 177.35 drivers.

Also Ideaholic is a Toshiba notebook with Turion 64 X2 running the SMP client at 1.6 GHz

The ones that say GPU are the cards. Abexia is actually a bit lower in real life because my sons use it for gaming. The affinities on the quad cores are set with GPU2 running on core 3, and the SMP clients running on cores 0, 1, 2.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

14,696 Posts

12 Jul 2008, 2:08am

It seems a little low to me. I'm getting over 4500 with exactly the same card and drivers. What is the max ppd reported by FahMon? Are you using the computer for other stuff? If you use the newest GPU2 core, it allows you to set the affinity with an environmental variable. You probably know that you have to reset the SMP affinities everytime a new WU starts or when you reboot.

It seems low to me also. No I was not aware that one had to reset affinities at every new work unit.

No, I'm not using the computer for other things, maybe just half an hour per day.

"Environmental variable?" I've set the Core Priority to "Slightly higher," if that's what you mean.

In task manager, if you right click on the GPU2 Core_11 and the FAH Core_a1, there is an option to set Priority - Realtime, High, AboveNOrmal, NOrmal, BelowNormal, and Low. What should those be set to, both for GPU2 and WinSMP?

As for relatively low production, I had wondered if the card was underclocked or something. Riva Tuner and GPU-Z both show the card to be at default of 600/1500/700.

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Leonardo

F@H Reign of Terror is back!

14,696 Posts

12 Jul 2008, 2:13am

GPU2 units folded so far have been 5007 and 5214, which are credited for 480 and 479 points respectively.

Is there any advantage to setting a flag for -advmethods. I did though, set config to allow upload and download of assignments over 10MB.

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