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Maximizing PPD

G

gkanakis

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Messages
1,167
Couple weeks ago my buddy's computer had a meltdown. So he built a new computer.
For a case of beer, he gave me his Q6600 CPU. So I thought I would build a Folding box with this CPU.
My question is what would be the best bang for the buck in video cards. I would like to spend about $150 per video card. 4 video cards is an option but don't know what motherboard would be acceptable.

Any input would be great!

Thanks
 
The best bang for the buck would be the 8800GS ;)

 
Whats your total budget ??

Here's a list of known 3 and 4 slot boards.
You will have to sort out which ones are Intel vs AMD.

Also its hard to see if the x4 slots shown in the pictures of some MoBo's are open or closed.
An open slot will take a vidio card, a closed slot will need modding before it will take a vid card.

Luck ............ :D
 
gkanakis said:
I would like to keep it under $1,000. The only thing I don't need is a CPU and a case.
Click to expand...

Quad vid cards and under $1,000 is just doable, I think.
Try ............
MoBo:- MSI X48 Platinum, ~$260.
Vid Cards x4:- ASUS GeForce 8800 GT, ~$360 after MIR.
Ram:- 2x 2Gb DDR3, ~$170.
PSU:- 750-800 watts 4x 6pin PCIE, ~$130.
Total around $920.
Working off Egg prices.
Useing a 64 bit copy of Windoze, it should easily do over 20,000 PpD and only pull around 500 watts.

Luck ........... :D
 
Tiger knows his boxen.

That is a great setup, If you want to go a bit cheaper the GS are good to.

I'll look for ya on the top 20 ppd list ;)

 
personally I'd go with a 280gtx just1 to start that gives a nice upgrade path. I'm considering this to upgrade 3 88gtxs. Sell off my 780i and buy a mobo as stated above. A single box putting out 42k ppd is very attractive
 
Good thing I have an extra copy of Windows XP Pro 64 bit laying around.
Or would Vista in a 64 bit work better?

 
The GPU client likes Vista better, but XP will work.

 
Kendrak said:
The GPU client likes Vista better, but XP will work.

Click to expand...

I also have Vista Ultimate 64 bit, but I was using it on my gaming rig.
Then again I have had nothing but problems with it so I could go back to XP on the gaming rig and use Vista.

I should have the system up in running by the end of the month.

For now it's up to the 8800GTS, 8600GTS and my PS3 to keep me folding!
About 5,700 PPD. Does that seem right?

 
If you do that GTS overclock well you can hit 6k on it alone. I have one at 1925 Shader right now. The 8600 is going to get what 400-700PPD and the PS3 should be a solid 900.

So in all I would expect 7300-7600 PPD. Without running an SMP on the GTS system.



 
Tigerbiten said:
Quad vid cards and under $1,000 is just doable, I think.
Try ............
MoBo:- MSI X48 Platinum, ~$260.
Vid Cards x4:- ASUS GeForce 8800 GT, ~$360 after MIR.
Ram:- 2x 2Gb DDR3, ~$170.
PSU:- 750-800 watts 4x 6pin PCIE, ~$130.
Total around $920.
Working off Egg prices.
Useing a 64 bit copy of Windoze, it should easily do over 20,000 PpD and only pull around 500 watts.

Luck ........... :D
Click to expand...

For the MIR, is it one per household, based on the particular rebate you are considering? If so, did you take that in to account when you did the calculations?

202276
 
Tytalus said:
For the MIR, is it one per household, based on the particular rebate you are considering? If so, did you take that in to account when you did the calculations?

202276
Click to expand...

Nothing like making 4 separate forms, each with a different address (pick work, relatives, friends, etc...).

 
Xilikon said:
Nothing like making 4 separate forms, each with a different address (pick work, relatives, friends, etc...).

Click to expand...

Ah, so true. :) But yeah, it's something to consider for the single teenager living out of the basement. :) That adds a few minor details to be worked out, plus you need the initial cash to make the purchase prior to the Mail-In Rebates.

202276
 
Tytalus said:
For the MIR, is it one per household, based on the particular rebate you are considering? If so, did you take that in to account when you did the calculations?
Click to expand...

No.
You tend not to get MIR on this side of the pond.
So I've never needed to look into how they work.

Luck ................. :D
 
Sunin said:
If you do that GTS overclock well you can hit 6k on it alone. I have one at 1925 Shader right now. The 8600 is going to get what 400-700PPD and the PS3 should be a solid 900.

So in all I would expect 7300-7600 PPD. Without running an SMP on the GTS system.



Click to expand...

So it's safe to say I need to learn how to overclock my shaders!
My shaders are at 1395 I think right now. I'll check it out more when I get home from work.

As for the MIR thing. I read the form and you actually are allowed 2 per household. As for the up front money it no big deal for me. Since I'm a married guy in Alaska with a house and a well paying job. Plus the state of Alaska is giving everyone in my famaly, 5 total, about $3,200 next week each!


 
You might go with 9800 GX2s if you can find them for a good price. You could get similar ppd/$ and still have a couple PCIe slots open for future additions. I think you can get 5-5.5k ppd out of each GPU.

 
OK
So my setting are:

Stock
Core: 576 Mhz
Memory: 850 Mhz
Shaders: 1350 Mhz

Overclocked
Core: 600 Mhz
Memory: 898 Mhz
Shaders: 1652 Mhz

What is the best testing software to test to make sure I didn't go overboard?
I used 5 different site to see what they did and went 20+ Mhz less

Also, temp are at 129F or 54 for you c people :D

 
gkanakis said:
OK
So my setting are:

Stock
Core: 576 Mhz
Memory: 850 Mhz
Shaders: 1350 Mhz

Overclocked
Core: 600 Mhz
Memory: 898 Mhz
Shaders: 1652 Mhz

What is the best testing software to test to make sure I didn't go overboard?
I used 5 different site to see what they did and went 20+ Mhz less

Also, temp are at 129F or 54 for you c people :D

Click to expand...

Keep cranking the shaders till the client crashes, then back down and leave it.

 
Remember the clocks of the shaders move in 54 Mhz steps.
The core and the memory jump in 9 Mhz steps.
So you need to find out the highest step that folds.

See Here for the step frequencies.

I use RivaTuner to overclock my nVidia cards by jumps of a step at a time.
First the shaders, then the core and finally the memory.
I then use ATITools "Scan for artifacts" test to check the overclock.
If it too high you can see artifacts on the spinning cube, so I take it down a step.

Knowing that, its easy to find the max speed the card will work at.

Luck ........... :D
 
My friends I owe you BIG TIME!
I used the tips above and finally had these setting with no artifacts. I went down 2 steps for safety!

This is for my eVGA 8800GTS 640MB
Core: 576Mhz to 658Mhz +82Mhz
Shaders: 1350Mhz to 1729Mhz +379Mhz
Memory: 850Mhz to 1074Mhz +224Mhz

Thanks again for the help. Looks like I'll have to do the same on the 8800GT's or what ever I get!

Card still running at 129F!


 
gkanakis said:
My friends I owe you BIG TIME!
I used the tips above and finally had these setting with no artifacts. I went down 2 steps for safety!

This is for my eVGA 8800GTS 640MB
Core: 576Mhz to 658Mhz +82Mhz
Shaders: 1350Mhz to 1729Mhz +379Mhz
Memory: 850Mhz to 1074Mhz +224Mhz

Thanks again for the help. Looks like I'll have to do the same on the 8800GT's or what ever I get!

Card still running at 129F!


Click to expand...

For folding, you can leave the core and memory speeds to stock, just keep the shaders to 1729 MHz. You can even make 2 profile, 1 for gaming and 1 for folding.


 
Xilikon said:
For folding, you can leave the core and memory speeds to stock, just keep the shaders to 1729 MHz. You can even make 2 profile, 1 for gaming and 1 for folding.


Click to expand...

Actually I will bet that he can raise the shaders 100 if he drops the core and memory to stk... thus netting even more points for F@H!

 
Sunin said:
Actually I will bet that he can raise the shaders 100 if he drops the core and memory to stk... thus netting even more points for F@H!

Click to expand...

That would be nice, but I took the shaders up first, then the core and then the memory.

 
Hmm I'm guessing those are the old types like my GTXs which hit a wall at about 1720ish...

 
Sunin said:
personally I'd go with a 280gtx just1 to start that gives a nice upgrade path. I'm considering this to upgrade 3 88gtxs. Sell off my 780i and buy a mobo as stated above. A single box putting out 42k ppd is very attractive
Click to expand...

Is there a Power Supply that could run 4 280GTX's? :cool::cool:


Sunin said:
Hmm I'm guessing those are the old types like my GTXs which hit a wall at about 1720ish...
Click to expand...

Yes, card starting getting artifacts when I went above 1729Mhz

 
sell your 8800 and get a GTX 260 or 280 for your gaming machine.

My GTX 260 does 6240 PPD, by itself.


<-- haven't resumed folding since the hurricane, will get back to it this weekend.
 
OK, new computer is on its way! More folding by Friday!

But now I have another problem.....

I downloaded FahMon to see what my PPD was for my computers.
The program said about 2500 PPD on my kids computer, 4000+ and 8600GTS and
about 5600 PPD on my rig, Opteron 185 and 8800GTS. Plus there is the PS3 that runs 24/7, I've read that they are good for 900 PPD.
The total I have here is about 9000 PPD, but [H] leaderboard says different.
The [H] says I get only about 5250 PPD.
I checked all my client and they are setup for my name and team 33.

Any ideas????


 
Celerator said:
Check spelling of your folding name in the log files?

Fold on.

Click to expand...

Spell check was ok. I did notice that both computers have a different "User ID#"

Both do say "User name: Kanakis[H] (Team 33)"

Edit:
According to my log I had 7858 PPD from 8:00pm yesterday to 8:00pm today.
I went from 252,827 points to 260,685 points.
It looks like the only thing [H] is showing wrong is PPD.

Any ideas for that one?

I was just hoping to make the top 20 in PPD someday! :eek:


 
To calculate what ppd hardfolding will show:

Take the total on the last 8 days column, subtract the top number and divide by 7.

It uses the last 7 completed days to calculate your ppd. When your 2 short days on 9-17 and 9-18 leave the page it will show a more accurate ppd.

 
flogge said:
To calculate what ppd hardfolding will show:

Take the total on the last 8 days column, subtract the top number and divide by 7.

It uses the last 7 completed days to calculate your ppd. When your 2 short days on 9-17 and 9-18 leave the page it will show a more accurate ppd.

Click to expand...

Thank for the explanation. Totally makes since. I thought it was an updated daily thing.

Thanks again for the video card help. I went with the GTX 280 and plan on adding more every month.


 
Now my next question.

I plan on running Vista Ulitimate 64bit on my new box.

I know I need to run the GPU2 for the GTX280, but what CPU software should I use to maximize my Q6600?


 
gkanakis said:
Now my next question.

I plan on running Vista Ulitimate 64bit on my new box.

I know I need to run the GPU2 for the GTX280, but what CPU software should I use to maximize my Q6600?
Click to expand...

Get the client off of stanford site for the cpu and make sure you use -smp. That will be what you want to maximize the points. Now if your super hardcore you can do VMs but I don't.

 
Sunin said:
Get the client off of stanford site for the cpu and make sure you use -smp. That will be what you want to maximize the points. Now if your super hardcore you can do VMs but I don't.

Click to expand...

Is it just me, or does Sunin =/= superhardcore? I mean, at 203572893572985702385 PPD...
 
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