gpu folding

[StewieTheGreat]

hey guys,

I am looking to start up the FAH client again,well already did on the smp,currently pulling down ~13k ppd w/1090t.

I am looking to add some gpu's into the mix,I was thinking about grabbing some used gtx 460's,it seems they are pulling between 10k-14k ppd each.

I have been out of the loop for a while,what are the current bang for the buck/watt gpu's to use?

is it still the gtx 460?

I see that I can grab one off the FS section for around $80,is that a good deal or is there a better option for money?

 

[bowlinra]

Its hard to beat the GTX 460 for $80. Pre the NVIDIA 600 series launch the GTS 450 was the sweet spot for value and power consumption. You should see ~10K PPD for the GTS 450.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

That 1090T should be a little more than 13k PPD. I get ~15k+ with mine. (Not overclocked)

GPUs consume a lot more power than just CPUs, but a 460 is a descent card to fold on; I have two I fold on during the cooler months. Plus a 470 and my newly acquired 570 will get folded on when it cools off as well.

Just make sure you get the 1GB versions of the 460s if you do. They tend to do ~1k+ more PPD than the 768MB version.

 

[StewieTheGreat]

That 1090T should be a little more than 13k PPD. I get ~15k+ with mine. (Not overclocked)

GPUs consume a lot more power than just CPUs, but a 460 is a descent card to fold on; I have two I fold on during the cooler months. Plus a 470 and my newly acquired 570 will get folded on when it cools off as well.

Just make sure you get the 1GB versions of the 460s if you do. They tend to do ~1k+ more PPD than the 768MB version.

Thanks for the info,ill keep a look out for the 1GB versions and I think you get such better PPD because you are using linux.

Its still hard to imagine that using windows kills folding potential so much,I have seen as high as 25k ppd using linux with a thuban.

 

[FrEaKy]

If you run a 1090T with a 460, you should, at minimum see 20K PPD.

If you use Linux, you could rock it out to a 25K minimum.

 

[rhavern]

Bear in mind that there is currently no native GPU core for linux, so if you were to run linux, you would need to run wine in order to use the GPUs or run windows natively for the GPUs and run a linux VM for the CPU folding.

I currently run six GTX 460s, along with some others (11 in total) and have found them to be a good long-term folder, as they OC pretty well and don't create too much heat. If you OC, only concentrate on shader speed, nothing else makes much difference and creates more power draw plus heat. All my 460s are the 768M model (were cheaper and more abundant in the second-hand market at the time), have shaders at 1600 and produce ~15kPPD each. You can achieve higher OCs, but 1600 has been stable for over a year on all my 460s.

Make sure you are shifting enough air through the GPU and your case. I use MSI Afterburner (there are others) to modify the fan profile and do the OC. Note that many stock GTX 460 BIOS only allow fan speeds up to 70%. All my boxes have at least two GPUs each, some three. I don't have the sides on the cases and most have a ghetto mod side fan blowing straight into the cards as well as a pretty fast fan pulling air from the front.

If you have any questions, just ask and we'll try to help.

PS - the 450 chokes on some of the larger GPU WU due to the smaller number of shaders, whereas the 460 is the current test GPU that Pande Group uses to benchmark nvidia WUs, so is a safer bet.