Rig Update-- Folding Qs

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warriorpoet
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Rig Update-- Folding Qs

Post by warriorpoet » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:51 am

The kids are getting my current rig minus GPU (donated to another folder). I'm upgrading to a q9550, 8Gb DDR2 and a GTX280 (same H2o cooling, more soundproofing= yay me!).

Here's the deal. I want to run 2x GPU clients: one on the 280 and another on a dedicated folding card (4x electronic PCI-e slot). What's going to get me decent PPD without killing my power bill (the GTX is roughly equal to my current 8800GTX power-wise)? Anything that either comes with or can be modified with a passive cooler in a very low-airflow situation?

Here's the current idea, y'all tell me if there's a better idea or two:

CPU: q9550 (prob at 3.2-3.4GHz)
GPU: GTX 280
Folding GPU: 9600GSO w/ S2? Gigabyte 9600GT passive?

CPU2: kids' e6600 @ 3GHz running 1x SMP

I figure that has to be worth 10k/ day at least.

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Tue Jan 20, 2009 7:31 pm

Low power quads are coming soon:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/displa ... ktops.html

If you insist there is a low power Q9950, but taking the Q8200 to 400FSB will pretty much get you there for less money. Huge caches dont seem to have much payoff while folding. The article doesn't state if the power reduction is at idle, full load, or both.

Quad PCI-E slots on Intel platforms is still rather pricey. AMD quad boards can be had for half the money. But P945 chipset finally went down to 65nm process, prior Intel chipsets where still 90nm.

Consider the GTX260, which is 55nm, not 65nm process.

Can you wait a bit?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/disp ... mours.html

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:09 pm

Nah, 280 is actually more efficient than my power-hungry 8800, and I do use it for gaming every once in a while ;)

The other use for this machine is as a recording rig, and cache does help with that, especially when processing many tracks at a time.

I'll probably have a 9600GSO for full-time folding duties.

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:48 pm

Careful with the 9600GSO, it should have 96 stream processors, and some have only 48.

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:04 pm

aristide1 wrote:Careful with the 9600GSO, it should have 96 stream processors, and some have only 48.
Yep, if I cant get one o' the good ones I'll go down to a 9600GT with a passive cooler. I might do that anyway, as the wattage seems a fair bit less.

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Post by haysdb » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:19 pm

I ordered an 'Asus EN9600GT Silent' for a new rig I'm building. I'm not a gamer so I thought this was massive overkill, but now that I've read up a bit on GPU2, I wish I'd bought a card with a 9800GTX+ GPU. The 9600GT is 100% passive so won't add any noise to my system, but I've been reading that some of the 9800GTX+ cards are relatively quiet despite being actively cooled.

Since I can't return the card (I have already cut off the UPC code and sent it in for the rebate), I'll go ahead and use it and maybe buy another card when the 40nm chips come out.

This is a naive question, but I could keep the 9600GT and add a second card, a different model, right?

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:50 pm

haysdb wrote:I ordered an 'Asus EN9600GT Silent' for a new rig I'm building. I'm not a gamer so I thought this was massive overkill, but now that I've read up a bit on GPU2, I wish I'd bought a card with a 9800GTX+ GPU. The 9600GT is 100% passive so won't add any noise to my system, but I've been reading that some of the 9800GTX+ cards are relatively quiet despite being actively cooled.

Since I can't return the card (I have already cut off the UPC code and sent it in for the rebate), I'll go ahead and use it and maybe buy another card when the 40nm chips come out.

This is a naive question, but I could keep the 9600GT and add a second card, a different model, right?
Yep, as long as they are both the same manufacturer (nVidia/ ATi).

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:11 pm

Found a cheapie open box 8800gts (g92). Should be a good solution with its 128 stream processors and an Accelero S1 passive.

bonus: it's a killer PhysX card, too ;)

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Post by aristide1 » Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:28 am

I had one of those, good folder, but a power hog.

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:43 am

aristide1 wrote:I had one of those, good folder, but a power hog.
Not if I undervolt it ;)

Mostly I'm after the number of shaders (128)/ shader clocks; the rest is going to be fairly well underclocked.

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Post by aristide1 » Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:10 pm

My G92 heated up the room, I sent it back fast.

Oh I hate AMD. They 790FX chipset can handle 4 PCI-E slots with 8 lanes each, but their newer 790GX chipset? The more efficient one? I've only seen boards with that chipset with 2 PCI-E slots.

Always one step forward, 2 steps back. And the new 45nm Pheneoms still use too much power. I want a 45nm AMD dualie, perferrably a 25watter.

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:00 pm

aristide1 wrote:My G92 heated up the room, I sent it back fast.

Oh I hate AMD. They 790FX chipset can handle 4 PCI-E slots with 8 lanes each, but their newer 790GX chipset? The more efficient one? I've only seen boards with that chipset with 2 PCI-E slots.

Always one step forward, 2 steps back. And the new 45nm Pheneoms still use too much power. I want a 45nm AMD dualie, perferrably a 25watter.
'should be cooler than my G80, in any case. The gtx280 and q9550 will be heating up the room ;)

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Post by aristide1 » Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:19 am

Xbit Labs tested a 55nm 9800GTX, it used 76 watts.

I'm still waiting.

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:11 pm

aristide1 wrote:Xbit Labs tested a 55nm 9800GTX, it used 76 watts.

I'm still waiting.
That's the 9800GTX+, no?

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Post by aristide1 » Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:55 am

Probably. What do I know?

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:23 am


warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:46 pm

Adding a passive 8800GTS as we speak...

This should be the second-to-last time for the next few months the folding machine goes down for any length of time.

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:43 pm

warriorpoet wrote:This should be the second-to-last time for the next few months the folding machine goes down for any length of time.
Haha, how many time have I said those words?

Man plans, and God laughs.

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:00 pm

I have both the GTX280 and the 8800GTS 512 folding now. Now all I need is to figure out a way to run the stinkin' SMP client with the correct config info. I'm folding anonymously right now!

edit: couldn't get the other card running without dummy plug. Will settle for 1x GPU2, 1x SMP until this weekend when I wire one up.

4k points in 12 hours, baby! :D

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