GPU folding and newer cheaper cards...

Kalsius

Kalsius

Kalsius

Associate
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Posts
257
I have posted a thread over in the general forum in regards to upgrading my media server to be a bit more beefy with the folding effort (the wife would kill me if I had another box so I figure I can replace the guts without her knowing :))

There is a question in the post here in with the other general Q's in relation to the new 256mb PNY 8800GT which is cheap as chips... I figured I'd ask for a more detailed response in here regarding GPU folding generally. What are the major factors on the GPU and if I were to put this in with a Leadtek OC'd would I notice much difference between the 256MB card and one that is twice the price if I can get some OC headroom out of the cheaper card?

Another Q would be, will CPU folding (SMP) ever get close to GPU folding or does the specialised nature of GPU's just give them a better foundation that we couldn't see CPU's matching even with multi-cores over 4?
 
With the current proteins, I don't think the 256MB card won't really fold any slower than a 512. What might be an issue is Windows lagging, which I think some people have experienced with 256MB cards. If the card isn't the primary GPU, though, I don't see why it should matter. Can't really predict what will happen with future WUs, though, so more memory might be a good insurance policy.

As for CPU and GPU folding, are you talking in terms of science or in terms of points? In scientific terms, GPUs can run a limited set of projects very quickly, but CPUs will always be required to cope with the less specialised stuff which GPUs can't handle.

As for points, a top-end CPU running Linux SMP will produce roughly equivalent PPD to a high-end GPU. For example, you'll get around 7000ppd out of a GTX280, which is about the same as an overclocked Q9xxx running the new a2 SMP WUs under Linux. Another point of comparison is that my 8800GT scores about 5000ppd, almost exactly the same as my two Linux SMP clients which can do 2600ppd each on the right WUs.
 
Hmm I do remember there being problems with some 256MB ATI cards back in the day though I don't think it was all of them by any means.

Currently with the Asus GeForce EN8800 GT 512MB being on this week only at £72.84 inc VAT rather than the normal £93.99 inc VAT the 256MB PNY being just £46.99 inc VAT isn't that much cheaper but in a normal week it would be very tempting to my tight nature :p

I guess with the crazy price of electricity it's all small potatoes in the long run anyway :o
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I realise that the price difference isnt all that much but I'm a tight yorkshireman ;)

I may just go for the 512 and then be able to SLi them up if I ever need to...
 
oh well - they are at the silly price of £40+VAT again so one has fallen into my shopping basket, will see what they can do and give feedback.

I may well live to regret not going for the 512MB version but probably not as much as the £200 I spent on the X1900 that is currently sitting there doing nothing of much use :o
 
So far so good - it's on its 5th WU already and is chucking out a good 4300PPD on the p5013 and p5014 WUs, did see it doing quite a bit more on a p5504 WU earlier though FahMon crashed out so don't have the PPD figures for it :o

Wish I could say the same for my SMP clients - been having a mare with the VMs today, ended up reinstalling one of them as it refused to use more than one core by the looks of it :rolleyes:
 
Mine's doing 4900-5000 ppd rich (same card). They come with an unusually low shader clock. My advice to you would be to download riva tuner, unlink the core and shader clocks and push the shader clock up to 1800 just for starters.

I've got mine at 620/1880/700 from the default of 600/1500/700

My 8800GS gets the same exact ppd's on various WUs at the same clocks which is really odd as it has 96 SPs rather than 112. It uses less power too and has more memory running at a higher speed.
 
The VM's can be a real pain. So far the only ones I've enjoyed are the current Ubuntu Server ones which seem to have settled down now.

What you reckon I could achieve with my 9800 GTX?
It's at stock at the moment not quite up to speed with overclocking graphics cards.
 
Well all I've done with riva tuner is to set the shader clock the same speed in 2d mode as it is in 3d mode (1800MHz on the 8800GT) - just means it's performing the same as it would if there was a game or something running so no chance of it being unstable. :)
 
rich99million said:
I would assume so - stock 2D on my card is 1500 on the shaders as opposed to 1800 with 3D clocks.
Click to expand...

It should ramp up to 3D clocks when the GPU2 client runs a WU. Check Rivatuner's hardware monitoring utility (Or gpu-z) :)
I'm thinking about getting one of these cheep little gems, 4000-5000 is awesome performance for the lecy draw...
________
Vaporgenie Vaporizer
 
Last edited:
sarge78 said:
It should ramp up to 3D clocks when the GPU2 client runs a WU. Check Rivatuner's hardware monitoring utility (Or gpu-z) :)
I'm thinking about getting one of these cheep little gems, 4000-5000 is awesome performance for the lecy draw...
Click to expand...

I don't think mine did as after changing the 2D shader speed from 1500 to 1800 I went from 4300ish PPD to 4700ish on the same WU :confused:

It's working happily now so I'm keeping well away from it :p


edit: You won't regret it A.N.Other - I've doubled the output I was getting from my VM SMP'd quad, plus an X2 and SocketA on standard clients :cool:
 
Mine doesnt appear to have seperate clocks, acording to the RivaTuner monitoring software it's just running at 675/1688/1100 no matter wether the GPU2 client is running or not, that is the cards rated specs acording to nVidia.
 
8800GS 384mb – 4549ppd avg (28 results)
8800GT 512mb – 4809ppd avg (59 results) £50inc MM
8800GT 265mb – 4777ppd avg (5 results) £47 inc free delivery OCUK
8800GTS 320mb - 3873 ppd avg (7 results) £40inc MM
8800GTS 640mb – 4347 ppd avg (16 results) £45inc MM
8800GTS 512mb – 5675 ppd avg (23 results) £60inc MM

all prices are aprox and based on just a boxed card (no bundled games etc)
PPD is at stock speeds - all these cards OC for more ppd
More info and the expensive cards herehttp://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=3193

AS AN EXTRA NOTE

Many people have had very good results (30% more ppd) but overclocking JUST the shaders (even under clocking the core and memory with may knock 10c off temps)
- this may crash in a gaming benchmark, but not F@H

core/shader/memory

8800GT - 600/1500/900 - 4800
8000GT - 710/1830/1000 - 5300 (core and shaders up)
8800GT - 650/2050/1000 - 5600 (core up 10% shaders up 30%)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom