TPU's F@H Team

[xbonez]

So, this is what I've put together until now:

Open Box: MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherbo...
G.SKILL NS 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 1...
LOGISYS Computer PS575XBK 575W ATX12V SLI Ready ...

Motherboard and PSU both support 2 GPUs. An easy hack to make SLI work. I ahve a 320Gb HDD lying, so I'll use that.
That only leaves me to find a GPU. I have a budget of $100 for the GPU for now (I'll add another one later). Since I'm looking to extend my RAID0 array and watercool my main rig, I can't spend anymore on the GPU. Its hard to get a GTX 460 for that much.
Whats the next best card? Or, is anyone here willing to sell a GTX 460 to a folder, if used solely for folding?

 

[xbonez]

If you are only folding on one card you don't need a monitor for it

If I later extend to two GPUs, will I need atleast one monitor, then? I'm not looking to hook up a monitor to the folding rig at all since I barely have any desk space with my main rig having two monitors.
If that is the case, I won't bother getting a SLI compatible motherboard and PSU now, and instead of later SLI'ing, I'll just sell and upgrade to something powerful. Or, I'll just move the 470 from my main rig to the folding rig, and get something new for my main rig when I need to upgrade.

Long story short: Can SLI be used for folding without any monitor? If not, I probably won't cater for SLI'ing later on.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

you dont have to activate sli to fold

 

[xbonez]

you dont have to activate sli to fold

Thats good. My other question still remains ^^.

 

[KieX]

If I later extend to two GPUs, will I need atleast one monitor, then? I'm not looking to hook up a monitor to the folding rig at all since I barely have any desk space with my main rig having two monitors.
If that is the case, I won't bother getting a SLI compatible motherboard and PSU now, and instead of later SLI'ing, I'll just sell and upgrade to something powerful. Or, I'll just move the 470 from my main rig to the folding rig, and get something new for my main rig when I need to upgrade.

Long story short: Can SLI be used for folding without any monitor? If not, I probably won't cater for SLI'ing later on.

Your "main" monitor (the one windows designates with number 1) never needs a screen attached even in multi GPU setup.

For additional GPU's, although the new drivers are meant to get rid of the need for cards to be connected, I'd recommend making dummy plugs for each. Very easy and cheap to make:

http://www.overclock.net/folding-home-guides-tutorials/384733-30-second-dummy-plug.html

I am not sure if SLI works with folding with current drivers, someone else may be able to answer that one. It is best to run multiple folding GPU as non-sli. That's why you can get any board for AMD with lots of PCI-E slots and NVIDIA GPU.

you dont have to activate sli to fold

What he said

 

[TeXBill]

Yes you will need the one monitor to set it up with. If you have 2 cards in one board the second card will need whats called a dummy plug to get it to fold. more questions just ask..
O and thanks for joining our folding@home team. Welcome

 

[xbonez]

So, just to be clear:
Once I have my folding client set up, and folding, I can disconnect ALL monitors from that system and continue folding?

PS
If I can't get a 460 for $100, I'll go for a 260 (not hard to find them sub $100 on eBay). Would that be alright? I'll get another one in a few months once prices plummet and I can get them for 50ish bucks

 

[(FIH) The Don]

get the 450 instead, its a bit better than 260 and uses less power and less noise

gonna get this folding later

 

[KieX]

So, just to be clear:
Once I have my folding client set up, and folding, I can disconnect ALL monitors from that system and continue folding?

PS
If I can't get a 460 for $100, I'll go for a 260 (not hard to find them sub $100 on eBay). Would that be alright? I'll get another one in a few months once prices plummet and I can get them for 50ish bucks

On one GPU yes. That's all there is to it

For any more GPU's you need to extend the desktop to those cards, and with new NVIDA drivers once setup you should be able to run headless computer. Although if you experience problems you may need to attach those Dummy VGA plugs

 

[xbonez]

Suppose I extend my GPU budget by a little bit, I have these options:

$150: Galaxy 60XGH3HS3CUD GeForce GTX 465 (Fermi) 1GB 25...
$130: ZOTAC ZT-40404-10P SYNERGY GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi)...

Will the 465 be better?

EDIT: A quick google search revealed that the 465 is actually inferior to the 460 (who decides the numbers on these cards at nVidia!!).

 

[mstenholm]

Suppose I extend my GPU budget by a little bit, I have these options:

$150: Galaxy 60XGH3HS3CUD GeForce GTX 465 (Fermi) 1GB 25...
$130: ZOTAC ZT-40404-10P SYNERGY GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi)...

Will the 465 be better?

Yes but not by much. As is folding does not need 1 GB cards, the 768 GB does the job just as well and at lower cost. In the future (read: when the current "test" WU's will be ordinary WU's) core count is better and then the 465's will dominate the 460's.

The "test" WU's is for fermi GPU's only and you get them them by adding -advmethods in your short cut.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

take 460, less power, less noise(very much!!!) and does more ppd afaik

 

[xbonez]

Another question:
Whats the recommended PSU wattage rating for 2 x 460 in SLI?

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Another question:
Whats the recommended PSU wattage rating for 2 x 460 in SLI?

A 750w should cover it. Also, you don't want them in SLI if folding!

 

[xbonez]

A 750w should cover it. Also, you don't want them in SLI if folding!

Oh, yes..lol. I just say it out of habit. I meant 2 460s.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

a good 6-700w psu if you go with something like a enermax or seasonic a 700w should do more than fine

each card uses 160w MAX without oc, then you can add 20w to oc thats 320w in total, then 100 for cpu, and 50 for other stuff

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

a good 6-700w psu if you go with something like a enermax or seasonic a 700w should do more than fine

each card uses 160w MAX without oc, then you can add 20w to oc thats 320w in total, then 100 for cpu, and 50 for other stuff

Don't forget each card used 24 amps. So 2 x 24 = 48 amps for the GPU's minimum. Not to mention the rest of the system needs to pull, let's say 12 amps depending on configuration. I would say you need 60 amps to run the system.

 

[theonedub]

Don't forget each card used 24 amps. So 2 x 24 = 48 amps for the GPU's minimum. Not to mention the rest of the system needs to pull, let's say 12 amps depending on configuration. I would say you need 60 amps to run the system.

2 460s are not going to use 24A each, maybe together but not each. The 460s TDP is 150/160w so thats about 13A per card and even folding they are not going to hit that mark.

 

[xbonez]

Suppose I get the Phenom II x2 555BE and unlock cores and OC. How many more PPDs will the 460 generate compared to the Phenom?

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

2 460s are not going to use 24A each, maybe together but not each. The 460s TDP is 150/160w so thats about 13A per card and even folding they are not going to hit that mark.

I assume you did Ohm's law. 160w/12v=13.33A

Yeah that does sound more fair that 24A per card. I remember reading however that these indeed did pull that amount.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

got the 2x275s up and running finally

the one that bumps up and down is my main card,

will be doing 100% fold on second card all day, and 80% on the main

 

[xbonez]

Thanks for all the help guys. Will order my folding rig and hopefully have it together in a few days. This will fold 24x7, without a minute's rest.
In the meanwhile, I'm going to start folding on my main rig too from 11pm - 5pm everyday (sleep/work).

 

[mstenholm]

Suppose I get the Phenom II x2 555BE and unlock cores and OC. How many more PPDs will the 460 generate compared to the Phenom?

I can only give half the answer - a 460 @ 850 MHz core does 11.328 PPD (points per day) on the 6800 WU. This is the current WU's. This is my second card in my work rig. My primary card, a 450 yields 7009 PPD, but there is not a big hit in PPD if you actually use the GPU, only some slow response.

 

[mstenholm]

got the 2x275s up and running finally

the one that bumps up and down is my main card,

http://img.techpowerup.org/101209/fah.jpg

will be doing 100% fold on second card all day, and 80% on the main

That's great. What is the final temperatur for the two cards?. The #1 seems to be a candidate for my workshop heating problem

I do the same - run my lower card (460) 24/7 and the work one on/off to keep temperatures in check and leave me some time to other stuff.

 

[Josh154]

Hey guys! Just got my second 8800gts today and have them installed. Does anyone have any helpful links to getting it setup on two cards?