LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
For an older dual core CPU, I don't think you can improve on that much at all. Good work! Now find yourself a couple of cheap, second-hand 8800GT video cards.
For an older dual core CPU, I don't think you can improve on that much at all. Good work! Now find yourself a couple of cheap, second-hand 8800GT video cards.
A couple?
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
Well, yeah, why not. The more the merrier. For as little as $60, up to 6000PPD.
Multi-GPU, depending on how many PCI-e slots the motherboard has.
This mobo has 2 PCI-e slots but is Ati based w/ "crossover" rather than Sli.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
For multi-GPU folding, Crossfire and SLI are irrelevant. You run a separate GPU2 client for each physical GPU and do not combine the operations of the separate GPUs. If you have a motherboard with two PCI-e slots, and assuming that your PSU is adequate, you could run up to four GPU2 clients simultaneously if you use dual-GPU video cards, such as ATI's X2s or Nvidia GTX 295 or 9800 GX2.
Definitely something to think about. I doubt my current psu would handle two, but maybe one dual-gpu.
I will look into those three cards ...been a while since I've done video card shopping.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
I wasn't necessarily recommending a specific video card, merely pointing out potential you might not have considered. One firm recommendation though: if you wish to acquire video cards for Folding, with gaming being a secondary use, go Nvidia. Although ATI worked closely with Pande Group to pioneer the first GPU Folding, ATI GPUs don't compare well at all to Nvidia's with respect to [EMAIL="Folding@Home"]Folding@Home[/EMAIL].
My video card comments were made solely with respect to GPU2 [EMAIL="Folding@Home"]Folding@Home[/EMAIL].
You can easily drive two 8800GT and/or a 9800GX2 with a decent 80+ PSU. I have used a Antec Neo 550w and a Ultra LSP 650W for that, you can't throw 10 HDDs behind them but most systems still have a low enough draw that the PSU is not maxed or over worked with a 24/7 run time.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
Yes, confirmed. A good 550W PSU will easily suffice for two GPUs.
What's the difference between the 8800gt and the 9800gx2? Did the rebranding start with the GTX series? I'm really far behind on all this.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
The 9800GX2 is the approximate equivalent of two 8800GTX cards together. Each of the GX2's GPUs (two, total) is a little faster than a single 8800GT's GPU. The only dual-GPU video cards in Nvidia's inventory are the 9800GX2 and GTX 295.
The rebranding trend did not involve either of the two dual-GPU cards. "Rebranding" started with the 9800GT, which is essentially an 8800GT with cosmetic changes. The shell game continued with the 2XX series. Sorry, I don't remember exactly which card was essentially a die shrink of the previous GPU core, packaged in a card with a new name, but the same performance capabilities as the 8800/9800 predecessors. It may be the 260. By the second round of rebadging, Nvidia was starting to put me to sleep...except for the dual-GPU Folding monsters!
...but two dual-gpu's?
Noooo, a 550W PSU is not adequate for two dual-GPU (4 X GPU). For that task, and especially if you have an overclocked CPU, I'd recommend nothing less than a good quality 750W PSU.
The only dual-GPU video cards in Nvidia's inventory are the 9800GX2 and GTX 295.
If your a cool guy you can still find the 7950 GX2 cards for sale. They will not fold but they are a dual GPU card Nvidia made
The wattage isn't the issue on lower end PSU's its the amps on the 12v rails.
Here is EVGA specs on their cards. most cards will not boot in systems without the min specs. For dual cards the requirement is slightly higher than cards with 2 chips on 1 PCB/2 PCB's.
GTX 295 - 680Watts min - 46amps - 6 PIN/8PIN
9800 GX2 - 600Watts min - 28amps - 6 PIN/8PIN
7950 GX2 - 450Watts min - 28amps = 6 PIN (Will not fold F@H)
8800GT - 400Watts min - 26amps - 6 PIN
If you want to see basic numbers for 1 GPU on a GTX 295 look at the performance of the GTX 260 and X that by 2. Currently one of my GTX 295 cards is pumping out 14,293 PPD over both GPU's this numbers depends on the work units but it is always chugging a good 14k PPD. My 9800GTX+ that I use for physX is pushing about 6.4k PPD
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
The 295 should be significantly better than the 9800GX2. They're both dual-GPU, but they're not the same hardware.
Yes, just as Sledge verified with his figures. The GTX 295 has 480 (2 X 240) stream processors, whereas the 9800 GX2 has 256 (2 X 128). Stream processor count is the single most important factor for Nvidia GPUs with respect to GPU2 Folding. For months, I had been hoping that Nvidia's new Fermi-based cards would push a lot of the GTX 295s already circulated into the used market, where I could snatch them, just as I've done with the 9800GX2s. Looks like that wait will continue indefinitely.
Slap me in the face... the 7xxx series will not fold as they do not support CUDA my fault... I was just listing the dual GPU cards that Nvidia has made.
Also, it seems that my dual-xeon @ 3.0ghz folds slower than my dual-core opteron @ 2.8ghz. Maybe I haven't compared identical wu's. The HFM.NET monitor isn't reporting everything on the xeon machine at work.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
The HFM.NET monitor isn't reporting everything on the xeon machine at work.
If you haven't already, ensure that HFM's properties are set to automatically download new projects.
If you haven't already, ensure that HFM's properties are set to automatically download new projects.
Leo I hate to seem dense but I'm not seeing that option. I think I remember it on the home system but now I'm drawing a blank.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited March 2010
You're not dense. Sorry, I guess I was remembering FahMon. I think you can only download new projects manually - Tools\Download Projects from Standford.
Oh yeah I do remember that from fahmon ...no need to apologize.
I just don't know why this thing will not display my PPD or Core info ..it does display almost everything else including Core Version which really has me baffled. Credits and Client Type don't display either.
Oh yeah I do remember that from fahmon ...no need to apologize.
I just don't know why this thing will not display my PPD or Core info ..it does display almost everything else including Core Version which really has me baffled. Credits and Client Type don't display either.
YHPM i have a similar problem with a few clients and well read the PM :bigggrin:
If it's a solution, can we post it up here as well? Or even in its own "make HFM work correctly" thread?
Nope its a possible reason HFM doesn't have the details idea, and csimon and leonardo are the only other people here who could possibly have the problem.
Comments
Multi-GPU, depending on how many PCI-e slots the motherboard has.
I will look into those three cards ...been a while since I've done video card shopping.
My video card comments were made solely with respect to GPU2 [EMAIL="Folding@Home"]Folding@Home[/EMAIL].
What's the difference between the 8800gt and the 9800gx2? Did the rebranding start with the GTX series? I'm really far behind on all this.
The rebranding trend did not involve either of the two dual-GPU cards. "Rebranding" started with the 9800GT, which is essentially an 8800GT with cosmetic changes. The shell game continued with the 2XX series. Sorry, I don't remember exactly which card was essentially a die shrink of the previous GPU core, packaged in a card with a new name, but the same performance capabilities as the 8800/9800 predecessors. It may be the 260. By the second round of rebadging, Nvidia was starting to put me to sleep...except for the dual-GPU Folding monsters!
Noooo, a 550W PSU is not adequate for two dual-GPU (4 X GPU). For that task, and especially if you have an overclocked CPU, I'd recommend nothing less than a good quality 750W PSU.
So is this right:
2 x 8800GTX = 9800GX2
9800GX2 = GTX 295
I'm making an assumption on the second one here.
I think I would rather a dual-GPU than 2 x gpu's.
On second thought ...two vid cards @$150 ea > one vid card @$550 ea
So I take it that 8800GTX is entry level gpu folding?
Is everything greater than 8800GTX a greater folder? Nvidia wise I mean.
On another note. Leo ...don't you have an iditarod to go to???
If your a cool guy you can still find the 7950 GX2 cards for sale. They will not fold but they are a dual GPU card Nvidia made
The wattage isn't the issue on lower end PSU's its the amps on the 12v rails.
Here is EVGA specs on their cards. most cards will not boot in systems without the min specs. For dual cards the requirement is slightly higher than cards with 2 chips on 1 PCB/2 PCB's.
GTX 295 - 680Watts min - 46amps - 6 PIN/8PIN
9800 GX2 - 600Watts min - 28amps - 6 PIN/8PIN
7950 GX2 - 450Watts min - 28amps = 6 PIN (Will not fold F@H)
8800GT - 400Watts min - 26amps - 6 PIN
If you want to see basic numbers for 1 GPU on a GTX 295 look at the performance of the GTX 260 and X that by 2. Currently one of my GTX 295 cards is pumping out 14,293 PPD over both GPU's this numbers depends on the work units but it is always chugging a good 14k PPD. My 9800GTX+ that I use for physX is pushing about 6.4k PPD
Supported cards
Quadro FX 360, 370, 570, 1600, 1700, 3600, 3700, 4600, 5600
Quadro NVS 130, 135, 140, 290, 320
Tesla C870*
MCP77/78*
I just don't know why this thing will not display my PPD or Core info ..it does display almost everything else including Core Version which really has me baffled. Credits and Client Type don't display either.