8600GT in Sli

northun_munky · 5 Aug 2008 at 18:45

Was thinking of getting 2 of these and would like some advice before I take the plunge:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-075-OK&tool=3

Would be running them Sli on a Abit FP-in9 mobo with a 3.0 P4HT. Anyone done this? Any ideas how many PPD these cards produce? Also I understand that the Fp-1n9 in sli runs the PCIe slots at X8. Would this make any difference to folding performance?

Thanks in advance

theheyes · 5 Aug 2008 at 19:15

Folding doesn't take advantage of SLI, they are treated as two separate cards i.e. running 1 client on each.

I also don't think an 8x PCIe bus would bother the client.

I don't know much about running on 2 GPUs, but I know people have tried. You're best off looking on the official forums.

lopkinfop · 5 Aug 2008 at 20:09

does anyone know what the cpu load would be on a P4 or similar lower spec cpu

northun_munky · 6 Aug 2008 at 07:35

Cheers for the advice. I'll look into it on the official forums

Snapshot · 6 Aug 2008 at 17:31

I can very seriously say don't bother. I'm trying an 8600GTS and it's only giving me 1500PPD whilst also using a full core of an E6600. A 3.0GHz P4 isn't equal to one core of an E6600 so you'll be throttling the GPU even further. You'd be much better off buying one 8800 card than any two 8600s.

Biffa · 6 Aug 2008 at 19:24

Is that under XP? I noticed the cpu useage under vista is a fraction (10%) of a core compared to XP, certainly my 3850 doesn't seem to be affecting my Q6600 under vista that much (not that I can notice anyway)

Snapshot · 6 Aug 2008 at 19:59

Yes, it is XP. But I still don't think an 8600GT will be worth the effort. The 3850 is about as low as I'd want to go. I've also tried a 3650 and it gave half the PPD of the 3850 on the same project.

Mattus · 6 Aug 2008 at 20:00

I think that it may work OK without throttling. Under XP the GPU client generally uses an entire core of any CPU - I think it's something to do with the way the system polls the graphics card or something, so you may be OK.

ChrissyT88 · 6 Aug 2008 at 20:28

Would it not be better to spend the money on a single 8800GT? The this week only offer mens that it comes to less than SLI 8600s, and i would imagine both folding and gaming performance would be significantly higher.

Mattus · 6 Aug 2008 at 20:34

Yep, it certainly would. A single 8800GT would be a much better option.

Biffa · 6 Aug 2008 at 22:03

Or a 8800GS

northun_munky · 7 Aug 2008 at 08:05

Thanls for the advice guys. I managed to find a new 8600gt on a well known auction site for £20 so I'll give it a go and if it turns out to be not worth the effort I'll get a 8800gt. The system could do with an overhaul anyway!

ChrissyT88 · 7 Aug 2008 at 11:46

I must admit i have contemplated adding a single 8600 for folding - certainly at £20 its a pretty good deal. Although, since your folding for custom pc, i think that sli 8600s would be a far better option!