Asus Mars GTX295s

A

Atlas Folder

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - May 2012
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
91
Sorry for posting this here, but I don't have the post-count to use the trade forum.

I'm looking for four of the Asus Mars GTX295s and I can't find them anywhere. I spoke with Asus today and they said they're released so...

If anyone knows an individual or reseller selling them, please let me know.

Thanks guys,

Jason
[email protected]
 
Good luck. I think their a limited prduction item, like the coolermaster black label cases.
 
A bunch of them probally went straight to magazines, tech websites, etc. You would be lucky to find 1, much less 4.
 
They would make some Folding monsters (probably about 10% over stock GTX295's), but you could do even better:
Asus P6T6, P6T7.
6x (or 7x) single-slot, watercooled GTX295 Rev 2. (Ex: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=19562)

I think BFG is releasing their version as well.

I'm almost certain you'd need well over 2000W of power split between two circuits, as well as a pair of 360mm or 480mm rads, for just the video cards. The trade-off, though, is untouchable production short of a server-cluster.
 
Why not just build two 295 folding boxes instead of over paying for the Mars?
 
I know he does since he posted links in the DC section.
My point still stands.
 
Can I just ask why?
What are you trying to fold here that requires that much processing power?
 
vjcsmoke said:
Can I just ask why?
What are you trying to fold here that requires that much processing power?
Click to expand...

Umm, he's calculating protein folding? Which kinda needs more processing power than the world has right now.

BTW, Jason, what do you plan on using these for?
 
How much 'work' can these get done? In a day how much calculating on a protein fold will be done? How many 'folds' do you need to cover an entire protein?
 
vjcsmoke said:
How much 'work' can these get done? In a day how much calculating on a protein fold will be done? How many 'folds' do you need to cover an entire protein?
Click to expand...


you've been here 2.7 years and you havent even looked at any of the folding@home stuff on this site?

read http://folding.stanford.edu/ ya might learn something..

good luck atlas folder since the odds of you finding an GTX 295 MARS is going to be slim to none.. i do know atleast 6 of them went out to review sites/pc magazines.. but im sure there are even more then that.. and id say atleast half of them were pre-ordered by people..

but 4 GTX 285's will do the exact same amount of PPD as 2 GTX 295 MARS's.. but either way folding wise there isnt much of a difference between the standard GTX 295 and GTX 295 MARS.. i believe they both run the same GPU and same shaders.. the only difference i believe between them is the memory and memory bus speed which is what effects games the most but have 0 effect on folding..
 
After looking at that atlas folding monster link, my folding rig feels pretty inadequate. I never saw such a thing.
 
I really don't know why people spend money for this, it would be way better if you just donate all those cash to the foundation...

why do people buy hardware just to fold? do you get something in return? or that just me who have the question.....
 
shansoft said:
I really don't know why people spend money for this, it would be way better if you just donate all those cash to the foundation...

why do people buy hardware just to fold? do you get something in return? or that just me who have the question.....
Click to expand...
You get to feel like you made a difference. And sometimes just donating money isn't enough, because they they'd have to put more of their own resources into assembly, maintenance. real estate, power, and just generally a whole bunch of overhead that they get to distribute among the community this way. I stopped a while ago because I sold my soul when I started my business minor, but it's the same reason people volunteer at soup kitchens or Habitat for Humanity, when they could just as easily write a check and be done with it.
 
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sirmonkey1985 said:
you've been here 2.7 years and you havent even looked at any of the folding@home stuff on this site?

read http://folding.stanford.edu/ ya might learn something..
Click to expand...

Well, my ATI 4890 came with folding at home software. And I got that umm less than a week ago. However I am somewhat worried about what information gets sent out along with the folding. Can they get private info from the computer that you're using to fold? IE is it a security/privacy risk?

As for the Mars GTX 295s. Ok they might be the fastest 295s out there, but will 2 of them outrun 3 regular 295s, or 4 regular 295s? Probably not. The only benefit to having them besides slightly higher performance would be the 'exclusivity' factor. But if you're just brute muscle folding/computing, it shouldn't matter if you're using 4 vanilla 295 gtx or 2 mars 295s gtx. Am I wrong?
 
Thanks for the response [H]

I suppose I should have made my purpose clear.

I'm wanting to build a demonstration machine that packs the maximum amount of folding processing power into the smallest space and grabs folks' attention in order to elevate the awareness of Folding@Home in the GPU-heavy gaming community. The MARS boards (if I'm able to get any) would be only one part of that exercise. I realize that finding four of them is a long shot, but I have to try. :p

Windows Vista/7 can address at least eight GPUs as I use it that way all the time. The nVidia driver currently can see "only" eight and is the bottleneck at the present time.

And to those that say I should donate money to the cause instead of all this computing time .. why would you think that I don't?

Jason
 
So are you saying that for your 'demo' you can only use 8 gtx 295s at once because of Windows' limitations? Hmmm. Well, don't know what to say about that. Is there a way to make 2 separate windows computers parallel process their clock cycles?
 
vjcsmoke said:
So are you saying that for your 'demo' you can only use 8 gtx 295s at once because of Windows' limitations? Hmmm. Well, don't know what to say about that. Is there a way to make 2 separate windows computers parallel process their clock cycles?
Click to expand...
I actually stumbled across the thread at NV Forums asking the same question, and it seems their drivers don't reliably support even 8 yet. But 8 is enough for now, because the only way to go higher for now is to water-cool cards like the one I linked above. And that's only relevant for an EXTREMELY small minority, meaning Atlas and probably about 8 other people worldwide. I wouldn't expect NV to fix this anytime soon. :(
 
vjcsmoke said:
Well, my ATI 4890 came with folding at home software. And I got that umm less than a week ago. However I am somewhat worried about what information gets sent out along with the folding. Can they get private info from the computer that you're using to fold? IE is it a security/privacy risk?

As for the Mars GTX 295s. Ok they might be the fastest 295s out there, but will 2 of them outrun 3 regular 295s, or 4 regular 295s? Probably not. The only benefit to having them besides slightly higher performance would be the 'exclusivity' factor. But if you're just brute muscle folding/computing, it shouldn't matter if you're using 4 vanilla 295 gtx or 2 mars 295s gtx. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

vjcsmoke:
Here's the Folding@Home Policies including their Privacy Policy which reads:

Privacy policy
Your account on Folding@home is identified by a name that you choose. This name may be shown on the Folding@home web site, along with a summary of the work your computer has done for Folding@home. If you want to be anonymous, choose a name that doesn't reveal your identity. If you participate in Folding@home, information about your computer (such as its processor type, amount of memory, etc.) will be recorded by Folding@home and used to decide what type of work to assign to your computer. This information will also be shown on Folding@home's web site. Nothing that reveals your computer's location (e.g. its domain name or network address) will be shown. If you give an email address for a username, this address will not be shown on the Folding@home web site and will not be shared with anyone else.

--
No, you're not wrong about the amount of compute power, but as I posted above I'm shooting for density for a specific reason.

Jason
 
vjcsmoke said:
So are you saying that for your 'demo' you can only use 8 gtx 295s at once because of Windows' limitations? Hmmm. Well, don't know what to say about that. Is there a way to make 2 separate windows computers parallel process their clock cycles?
Click to expand...

No, you can only use four GTX295s (eight GPUs).

No, there is currently no way to "hook two together", but you really don't need to as my farm demonstrates. You just pile together a bunch of discrete computers with as many GPUs as they'll hold and fire 'em up.

Also there is currently no way under any OS to virtualize the GPUs of a machine with the intention of running CUDA; I've researched it. It's not about slots, one can buy computers with slots galore or PCIe expanders, but alas the BIOS/OS/Drivers cannot cope with the abundance of hardware yet.

Jason
 
shansoft said:
I really don't know why people spend money for this, it would be way better if you just donate all those cash to the foundation...

why do people buy hardware just to fold? do you get something in return? or that just me who have the question.....
Click to expand...

because we like to.. and we have an addiction that we cant get rid of.. plus all of us buying this hardware keeps ATI, nvidia, intel, and AMD in business..

donating to Panda Group wouldnt help anyways since they dont run any of the science them selves.. and for them to actually do it would take 1000's and 1000's of super computers and data centers..

but in Atlas folders case he has an actual legitimate reason for it..


as for people asking about how many cards you can run.. the limitation is not nvidia or ATI.. its the OS.. with windows vista/7 it limits the amount of cards you can run by the total amount of display ports.. the problem with the GTX 295's is that vista/7 read them as having 3 display ports each.. so you can only run 2 gtx 295's.. in windows xp you are limited by the amount of gpu's.. xp supports up to 8 total GPU's.. vista/7 support up to 8 display ports..
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
because we like to.. and we have an addiction that we cant get rid of.. plus all of us buying this hardware keeps ATI, nvidia, intel, and AMD in business..

donating to Panda Group wouldnt help anyways since they dont run any of the science them selves.. and for them to actually do it would take 1000's and 1000's of super computers and data centers..

but in Atlas folders case he has an actual legitimate reason for it..


as for people asking about how many cards you can run.. the limitation is not nvidia or ATI.. its the OS.. with windows vista/7 it limits the amount of cards you can run by the total amount of display ports.. the problem with the GTX 295's is that vista/7 read them as having 3 display ports each.. so you can only run 2 gtx 295's.. in windows xp you are limited by the amount of gpu's.. xp supports up to 8 total GPU's.. vista/7 support up to 8 display ports..
Click to expand...

Wow thats pretty sad XP allowed 8 gpu's, and vista/7 8 ports.

So if you wanna run tri-sli with 295's you are screwed with XP which isnt DX10....

MS ftl on this one
 
Atlas Folder said:
Thanks for the response [H]

I suppose I should have made my purpose clear.

I'm wanting to build a demonstration machine that packs the maximum amount of folding processing power into the smallest space and grabs folks' attention in order to elevate the awareness of Folding@Home in the GPU-heavy gaming community. The MARS boards (if I'm able to get any) would be only one part of that exercise. I realize that finding four of them is a long shot, but I have to try. :p

Windows Vista/7 can address at least eight GPUs as I use it that way all the time. The nVidia driver currently can see "only" eight and is the bottleneck at the present time.

And to those that say I should donate money to the cause instead of all this computing time .. why would you think that I don't?

Jason
Click to expand...

Hopefully some of the pricks around here won't discourage you from keeping up the good work.
 
vengence said:
Hopefully some of the pricks around here won't discourage you from keeping up the good work.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any pricks here, just people that don't understand where I'm coming from. There are certain facets of life that are difficult to grasp until you're touched by them personally.

Jason
 
Id like to get into this but it kinda goes against my turning the pc off when not in use to do my part in reducing power usage lol

wonder how much my bill would go up with the pc on running this on the cpu and both gpus 24/7 compared to a pc that is on 6 hours a night
 
Wow.
Jason, I saw your youtube deal there. Unbelievable.
How many PPD???

To get close to Canada's question.............I had three C2D boxes running F@H 24/7 before GPU folding was perfected, and SMP folding was in the beta............
Three boxes with 400W PSUs upped my electric bill about $25 a month, but I live in Central (normal) New York and the electric rates here are pretty high.

I hit 1 Million points and quit, took just over a year. I decided to donate real dollars closer to home......my Humane Society was having real problems, so my spare cash is going there now.

I understand exactly what Jason means........a number of my family have had cancers and if this program helps speed up the research, that's fabulous.
 
I F@H but it all comes out of my pocket. No borging or tax writeoffs.
That's why I suggested twice the 295s vs. the Mars.

Good luck Atlas Folder. That system would get many at least looking around to find out what Folding at Home is.
 
He's doing something he loves to do, with a lot of cool computer parts, for a great cause that he cares deeply about -- and people are asking him to just cut a check?

This is [H]ardForum. Not [W]eakForum.
 
I hope you get the parts man. I wanted one for gaming, think I will pass now since you cant find one. Your project is a little more noble then me killing some zombies and looking at tatas.
 
CanadaOwnsJoo said:
Id like to get into this but it kinda goes against my turning the pc off when not in use to do my part in reducing power usage lol

wonder how much my bill would go up with the pc on running this on the cpu and both gpus 24/7 compared to a pc that is on 6 hours a night
Click to expand...


depends on where you live.. and how expensive electricity is.. probably would add 20-25 dollars at the most to your bill..

i run 2 laptops and 3 desktops 24/7 doing BOINC projects(similar to F@H, but easy program to use) cpu's are all at full load.. and 2 8800GT's that are at full load 24/7 and it only accounts for about 100 dollars a month.. though our electricity bill is high anyways..
 
Good luck on finding one,but there was one sold on here a few months ago so keep looking.
 
Every time I watch those videos, I look at my rack, and cry

atleast you give me something to shoot for!

just curious tho, what cases are you using on the racks? Do they slide out? Wher'd ya get them
 
CanadaOwnsJoo said:
wonder how much my bill would go up with the pc on running this on the cpu and both gpus 24/7 compared to a pc that is on 6 hours a night
Click to expand...
I calculate about $23 with a power cost of $0.07/kWh.
magoo said:
I had three C2D boxes running F@H 24/7 before GPU folding was perfected, and SMP folding was in the beta............
Click to expand...
Heh, that's a little funny to read. GPU folding was and probably never will be perfected, and both it and all the SMP clients are still beta.
Atlas Folder said:
I average 441,000 PPD.
Click to expand...
You're an inspiration to us all. And I really mean that.
 
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Vaulter98c said:
Every time I watch those videos, I look at my rack, and cry

atleast you give me something to shoot for!

just curious tho, what cases are you using on the racks? Do they slide out? Wher'd ya get them
Click to expand...

Every bit counts. Everyone that contributes to F@H has right to be proud.

The shelves and racks are Middle Atlantic Products. Links can be found here on my "Atlas' Specs" page.

Jason
 
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