• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

GPU Boxens

E

EvilAlchemist

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 11, 2008
Messages
2,732
I was sitting at work trying to do a rough list on what would be needed for a pure GPU boxen.

There seems to be some debate on what CPU is required.

I know on my ATI systems, the GPU needs about 9-12% per card in Vista

So, it seems like an E2140 / E2160 or something along those lines would be powerful enough to power 2 or 3 GPU's.

They pull very little power if left at stock. Has anyone tried using a low power CPU in a GPU boxen and how much power was used?


 
I'm running 2x 88gt off my E2180. Less than 20% CPU on each core at all times. Vista 64b ultimate.

 
That is really some good numbers.
I am still trying to decide if I want to go GPU or CPU when I build my house.

Of course , a lot of things will change from now to then, so we will just have to wait and see.

Seems like an E2140 / E2160 and a motherboard with 3 x PCI-E slots would work really well.

Finding those seems to be the tricky part due to my ATI preference.

 
I am currently running 2 GPU boxen...

The first I assembled from spare parts I had laying around -
680i evga
Core2Duo @ 2.4ghz
gig of cheap ddr2
40gb hd
550watt Antec TruePower Trio (80+)
(3) PNY 8800GT 512mb cards
windows xp
3 high-cfm 120mm fans
cheap case with custom side panel, placing a 120mm exhaust fan directly above the 8800s

2nd build:
I wanted 4 PCI-E slots, looked around at boards and settled on ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe
There are more 4 pci-e slot boards for AMD systems, and they are less expensive, so I went with that
purchased a dual core AMD cpu @ 2.8ghz (total overkill, but pretty inexpensive anyhow, and allows me to use the machine for something else, if I decide not to dedicate it to folding).

(4) PNY 8800GT, 512MB - (they are single slot GPUs, and they have been ~100-110 brand new on newegg.

650watt TruePower Trio.

I have been quite pleased with this box, and on a more topic-related note, you need very little CPU power or ram to run GPU clients. I'm sure the quad-GPU machine could run on 1gb of ram and a single-core CPU, with no negative effect on PPD.

 
If I went with an AMD based CPU (Can't believe I said that) would would be equal to the E2140/E2160 series , in terms of speed and more important power consumption?

I want to minimize the CPU power usage and cost as much as I can.

I know very little about AMD CPU, but i did see this one.
AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz 45w

looks like a lower power draw CPU
 
You know Evil, I think until someone comes up with a GPU2 client that runs under a cheap OS (like Linux) the biggest chunk of money, for a dedicated GPU folding boxen (like more than say 4 or 5), is the operating system. I know there's a Wine type Linux version out there, IMO it just looks too complicated for the average folder. ( like me :D)

At my local Fry's I've seen Intel CPU's + ECS mobo's in the range of $50 bucks USD to a little over a $100 bucks USD for the E2xxx and the E7xxx series Intel dual core CPU's. As a matter of fact ATM, Fry's has a quad core Q8200 + ECS G31T-M mobo for $199.99 USD. I have read about 8800gs's, 8800gt's, 9600gso's for less than a $100 bucks and sometimes $50 bucks after MIR (at places like Newegg, Zipzoomfly, Newbiz, TigerDirect or any of the many online computer parts suppliers on the Internet) :)

I'm not knocking AMD CPU's because up until the C2D CPU (both the dual core's and the quad core's) was released and seemed to out pace anything in silicon AMD was the answer. Just like many computer people I've had several chips made by AMD ( Athlon 64 X2 4200, Athlon 64 3000+, K6, Athlon 2000+ and a couple I can't remember) and I've also had a few P2's, P3's, P4's (both Northwood and Presshot (err.. I mean Presscott) :rolleyes:

I know you're a ATI kind of person and I know absolutely nothing about ATI cards, but I read somewhere that the ATI GPU either used less power, less CPU %'s, had better graphics for gammers or had more shaders then a nVIDIA GPU or something like that and it could eventually out pace the nVIDIA GPU in F@H's larger GPU2 WU's (the author coulda' been a ATI fanboi too) :D

Crunchin' for the CURE
 
gwarren007 said:
I played with a celeron 430 (35W) and 2 gpu's in Vista and it did well.
Click to expand...
That is some good info. Was it Vista 32 or 64 bit.
Also, do you remember the total CPU Usage.

I think that a Pure GPU boxen would run better on Vista 32, but I would want Vista x64, so I could use 4 GB of Ram. I would fear that 2Gb would run out with 3 cleints + vista running.

jws2346 said:
At my local Fry's I've seen Intel CPU's + ECS mobo's in the range of $50 bucks USD to a little over a $100 bucks USD for the E2xxx and the E7xxx series Intel dual core CPU's.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wish I had a computer store near me, I have to get it all online.
The way I figure it, it is more cost effective to get a mother board that has 3 pcie-e slots for GPU2.

jws2346 said:
I know you're a ATI kind of person and I know absolutely nothing about ATI cards, but I read somewhere that the ATI GPU either used less power, less CPU %'s, had better graphics for gammers or had more shaders then a nVIDIA GPU or something like that and it could eventually out pace the nVIDIA GPU in F@H's larger GPU2 WU's (the author coulda' been a ATI fanboi too) :D
Click to expand...

ATI gpus can handle the large lambda units much better then the nVidia cards.
Nvidia can scream on the smaller units, where ati is cpu bound on those.

ATI core also don't have the optimization and new work units that really put a work load on the 48xx series yet. The lambda units do scale better, but there is a lot more room to work.

Currently : 4850's on lambda get 3200PPD
(110W is the card maxium power consumption but i don't think the currenlty it is pulling that much.)
 
2 x 9800GX2s running off a E2140 with room to spare.

I like to run strickly CPU boxen and GPU boxen.

I have always had issues with mixed.
 
I wonder about an E1200 .. wonder if that would hold up to 2 or 3 gpus?

This is the real trick.
If we can figure out what the lowest cpu needed, we can build the base of the GPU boxen extremely cheap and can upgrade the cards as needed..

Seems like it is getting harder to get an E2140/E2160/E2180 on ebay...


An E1200 is like $40 oem ..... Thoughts????
Those are pretty low power ...

we know from gwarren007 thata celeron 430 (35W) will power two gpu's
I think with the E1200, i could run all three, just have to find the correct motherboard.

It seem that all the 3 x PCI-E are nForce ...
I could try and find a 975X (PCI-E 8x8x4) ??
 
You can get away with running upto 4 nVidia GPU clients on one CPU core.
See here.
And all the reports I've seen say the CPU speed makes very little difference to the PpD, less than 5% from the slowest speed to the fastest.

My 9800GTX+'s fold at full speed in an open x4 physical PCI slot as second cards, so full x16 slots are not needed.
You take a hit with x1 slots but anything above that works.

Luck .......... :D
 
EvilAlchemist said:
That is really some good numbers.
I am still trying to decide if I want to go GPU or CPU when I build my house.

Of course , a lot of things will change from now to then, so we will just have to wait and see.

Seems like an E2140 / E2160 and a motherboard with 3 x PCI-E slots would work really well.

Finding those seems to be the tricky part due to my ATI preference.
Click to expand...


why not use an be-2350 or be-2400 on a 790FX board.. you get 4 pci-e slots.. and a processor that can be overclock to 3ghz like nothing if you wanted.. its also a 45w TDP cpu.. they are designed off the original athlon x2 cpu's just a lower voltage and clock speed.. but can run at the same speeds as an athlon x2 6000+ if you ever wanted too..

just thought id throw that idea out to ya since you said you prefered ati but kept talking about intel cpu's.. gives you an alternative idea while still using ati cards..
 
If I went the an AMD option:

MSI K9A2 Platinum AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX &
AMD Athlon X2 4050e Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 45W
or
AMD Athlon X2 4450e Brisbane 2.3GHz Socket AM2 45W
(Since they are $3 apart)

 
EvilAlchemist said:
If I went the an AMD option:

MSI K9A2 Platinum AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX &
AMD Athlon X2 4050e Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 45W
or
AMD Athlon X2 4450e Brisbane 2.3GHz Socket AM2 45W
(Since they are $3 apart)
Click to expand...

Go with the second CPU as they both pull the same power.
With that as the starting setup.
Add 1-2 Gigs of memory and hard drive.
Then any 4 matching cards all the way upto 4x 9800GX2's.
Power supply to match up with cards.
It will only pull ~50-70 watts more than cards combined.
Say 400 watts max for 8800 cards and 500 watts max for 9800 cards, 900 watts max for GX2's cards.
A nice high PpD, low power box.
Points all depend on what Stanford does with the nVidia client PpD wise.

Luck ............ :D
 
Assman seems to be getting away with a much lower PSU. He has 3, 9800GX2s running on a 600 something corsair PSU.
 
Kendrak said:
Assman seems to be getting away with a much lower PSU. He has 3, 9800GX2s running on a 600 something corsair PSU.
Click to expand...

He must be right at the limit.
I make each GX2 pulls around 200 watts for the wall.
Take away the PSU give you 200 x 0.85 = 170 Watts per card.
Now add three card together 3 x 170 = 510 Watts.
Now add 60 watts for CPU + MoBo + Ram + HDD = 570 Watts Total.
So a 600 Watt PSU will power it but your very close to 100% load.
I like to run at 50% load on the PSU hence I'd go for 1,000-1,200 Watts plus that give you enough headroom to add the fourth card.

Luck ............ :D
 
If I built it today, I would probably get 3 x ATI 4850 (110W max) per card.
So I think a solid 500 -600 Watt PSU will work very well.
(Was looking at a Crosair 550W for 3 x 4850 Setup )

Tiger, I know you have said on the FF that most cases only have 7 PCI slots.
Seems like the 4th card would have to be a single slot card to fit .. is that correct.

I could do 3 x dual slot cards + 1 single slot cards - all 4850's
But that 4th card would suck because it would not vent the heat out and being so close to the case edge might not help either, but not sure .. await tigers suggetion.

On the OS side ,Guess, it is also time I get another Technet subscription ....
If not, I could run with Vista basic on the systems, but that is still $80 a pop

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top