Possible to run bigadv and two GPU3 on same rig?

[BassTek]

My main rig is an i7 950 @ 3.8 GHz and a 460 GTX. The 460 is on sale again at a certain Canadian retailer so I was thinking of adding another for SLI gaming. Is it possible to run two of them in the same box and still meet bigadv deadlines? I think my TPF on the slowest bigadv unit was around 43 minutes with one GPU3 client running.

There may be room to tweak the OC to 4 GHz or higher, I haven't really messed around with it much.

 

[kirtar]

it's possible but not advised from what I can find. Typically the GPU client will eat enough performance from the -bigadv that you end up losing PPD.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

if you can get the 950 into the 4ghz range then yes its quite possible. you will lose about 10k PPD on the bigadv client but you will gain 20-22k PPD on the gpu clients. so the offset gets you about 10-12k more PPD. so it really comes down to is the power usage and heat worth the 12k PPD or is the extra science you will be doing worth the power usage and heat. your choice though.

 

[capreppy]

I am running an i7 920 @ 3.9 running 3x GTX285's (GPU2). I am able to hit Big Adv deadlines even on P2684's. GPU3 may take some cycles but you should be ok. Do suggest some sort of Priority Program. I use WinAFC to keep my GPU2 clients high enough to get most of the points but make sure that the Big Adv is still at the top.

 

[BassTek]

Thanks for the tips, I'll look into trying to get the i7 into the 4+ GHz range and using a priority program.

 

[10e]

For GPU3 I'm noticing that the big unit (6811) uses almost no CPU time according to task manager, and 6800 somewhere between 1 and 3 percent.

I recently moved my Core I7 980x which had no GPU to a different box with a GTX 470 and GTS 450 running GPU3 and the performance of BigAdv has only gone down by like 1% on the 6900 it's running. Went from 21:45 time-per-frame vs. 22:06 now.

Either way at 3.8Ghz you should be just fine for all BigAdv units, even 2684s unless you are running RAM at a really low speed.

I know my Core I7 875K at 4.008 Ghz has a GTX 480 in it, and while I was running 6800 and 6811 units the SMP client didn't see ANY slow down at all. It has RAM at 1920mhz, but it's only dual-channel which is more sensitive to GPU influence (due to bandwidth limitations) vs. a triple-channel Core i7 9x0.

Hope that helps a fellow Canuck.

 

[Aix.]

That's encouraging, 10e.

I'm considering upgrade options from my 5970, and depending on how the 6970 performs I may go the GTX 570 SLI route (gaming on 3 monitors so SLI would be a must for surround). I'm folding BigAdv on a 980X @ 3.86GHz and I was wondering what kind of performance hit I'd take if I added two 570s to the rig...I must say the idea of an additional 30K PPD is very tantalizing, especially since I will not be adding any new rigs in the near future.

Decisions, decisions...

 

[HighYield]

For GPU3 I'm noticing that the big unit (6811) uses almost no CPU time according to task manager, and 6800 somewhere between 1 and 3 percent.

Either way at 3.8Ghz you should be just fine for all BigAdv units, even 2684s unless you are running RAM at a really low speed.

I know my Core I7 875K at 4.008 Ghz has a GTX 480 in it, and while I was running 6800 and 6811 units the SMP client didn't see ANY slow down at all. It has RAM at 1920mhz, but it's only dual-channel which is more sensitive to GPU influence (due to bandwidth limitations) vs. a triple-channel Core i7 9x0.

Hope that helps a fellow Canuck.

This makes me wonder if Iam doing something wrong with my system. I'm running an I7-930 @ 3.8 GHz (21x182) with 12 gig of ram at 1095 MHz, but I took a big hit when I recently upgraded my GPU. I went from GTX260 to GTX580. HFM.net reported my bigadv ppd going from ~30k ppd to ~24k ppd on a P6900 WU. If I can up my memory speed do you think that will bring back the bigadv to the former production values. I didn't think a single GPU would have had that much impact. I was worried about OC'ing the ram/memory controller past 1066 since this puts it out of Intel spec for what the memory controller can support. I was under the impression that "high" ram speeds past 1066 even though the memory was rated for it was the reason that many folks had memory not showing up on 1366 based systems even though it was installed properly and fully functional. Do I have this wrong and I have been overly cautious?

 

[sirmonkey1985]

yep its completely your memory thats limiting your performance. if its rated for 1600mhz try to get as close to 1600 as possible you should gain 10k PPD easy.

those numbers from intel are just ratings just like they say the max temps are suppose to be 73C or something like that. doesnt me crap except for OEM companies and stock references. AMD's the same way yet run no problem at 1600 or higher. even MIBW has had his memory running above 2000mhz on his SR-2 so its definitely not an issue.

most of the people that have had issues were due to other things and not the IMC. bad motherboard, bad ram, over tightening their heatsinks. stuff like that.

 

[APOLLO]

I'm considering upgrade options from my 5970, and depending on how the 6970 performs I may go the GTX 570 SLI route (gaming on 3 monitors so SLI would be a must for surround). I'm folding BigAdv on a 980X @ 3.86GHz and I was wondering what kind of performance hit I'd take if I added two 570s to the rig...I must say the idea of an additional 30K PPD is very tantalizing, especially since I will not be adding any new rigs in the near future.

It depends on the GPU WU and how much bonus your CPU can attain. I think with most GPU3 WUs the performance hit could be substantial, possibly even detrimental overall from what hex owners have reported in the past. If the newer WUs yield less performance degradation it might be worth it from a production perspective, but also keep in mind the much increased power consumption and heat output (for most northern latitudes not currently relevant). There are pros and cons. You'll have to try it for your particular setup to determine any advantages and where they lie.

 

[Aix.]

It depends on the GPU WU and how much bonus your CPU can attain. I think with most GPU3 WUs the performance hit could be substantial, possibly even detrimental overall from what hex owners have reported in the past. If the newer WUs yield less performance degradation it might be worth it from a production perspective, but also keep in mind the much increased power consumption and heat output (for most northern latitudes not currently relevant). There are pros and cons. You'll have to try it for your particular setup to determine any advantages and where they lie.

Hmm, I had a 6900 drop for 86,541 last night. It's my gaming rig so if I'm away working a lot then it functions as a dedicated folder, but if I'm off for a bunch of days then folding will take a hit if I want to game for a few hours.

With a couple of evenings of gaming in there I'm likely to be in the 70k-75k neighborhood:

If the 570s really would net me 210k per week (ideal) I'd have to think that could only be a PPD-upgrade seeing as my BigAdv brought in roughly 233k over the past week.

I'm currently in an apartment in Toronto so I'm not worried about the power consumption or heat output. More heat would be nice, actually! Of course, all of this is moot if the 6970 turns out to be an awesome gaming card for Eyefinity...damn you, AMD...