UnitedGerbilNation's drive to the Top

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

UGN 2nd fiddle? I need a hug.

>Hugs Jeffry<

Hey man, there's always October and Frankenbot;)

[flybywire]

Gerbils on the menu.. mmm mmm good .

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

Gerbils on the menu.. mmm mmm good .

Awww @#$%#@$%. Don't make me have to switch back to UGN.

[MaxTheLimit]

Has something else changed that I don't know about? Our ol' UGN has hardly produced any points at all today.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

OK guys the GT240 came in this afternoon and it's installed in my PC. I still need to do some tweaking, but, here's the rig: Athlon X2 2.6GHZ, 2GB DDR2 800, 320GB HD, ASUS 780G mobo, onboard audio, wireless network PCI card... in Antec case with Earthwatts 380 PSU.

I was so excited I had a new toy that I forgot to measure power with the Integrated graphics. Maybe I will take it out and try again later. I have other numbers though...

With the GT240 installed at idle the rig draws 77 watts.

Running the GPU2 console it draws 103 watts.

To me that seems like a very low power draw considering we're expecting 3,000 PPD from this thing.

I should add that those numbers don't include the monitor.

[farmpuma]

Wow! That's a nice collection of efficient hardware. My 9600 GSO platform is: an AM2 X2 4000 mildly over-clocked to 2.4GHz, 1GB DDR2 667, 10GB IDE HD, ASUS M2N-E 570 SLI mobo, 56K pci modem, in an Antec 900 with a Cooler Master RP-550 which is probably 70% efficient at best. A two generation newer chipset and a generation newer video card sure make a difference. Maybe I need to knock my CPU and memory back to stock speed and save a few watts.

Was the 77 watts at idle on a nekkid desktop? And what work unit were you running at 103 watts?

I imagine the GT 240 is running the same 1350MHz shader clock, although I couldn't find it listed in the MSI specs. I doubt it's full gig of video memory will make much difference in folding production compared to the 384MBs on my 9600 GSO, but I wonder if they might have tweaked the architecture a bit while shrinking the die?

And speaking of the monitor ... I think my son's 9800 GTX+ 250+ watts did include his LG L227wtg-pf monitor, so his GPU folding and multi-tasking power usage is probably around 200 watts.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

Wow! That's a nice collection of efficient hardware. My 9600 GSO platform is: an AM2 X2 4000 mildly over-clocked to 2.4GHz, 1GB DDR2 667, 10GB IDE HD, ASUS M2N-E 570 SLI mobo, 56K pci modem, in an Antec 900 with a Cooler Master RP-550 which is probably 70% efficient at best. A two generation newer chipset and a generation newer video card sure make a difference. Maybe I need to knock my CPU and memory back to stock speed and save a few watts.

Was the 77 watts at idle on a nekkid desktop? And what work unit were you running at 103 watts?

I imagine the GT 240 is running the same 1350MHz shader clock, although I couldn't find it listed in the MSI specs. I doubt it's full gig of video memory will make much difference in folding production compared to the 384MBs on my 9600 GSO, but I wonder if they might have tweaked the architecture a bit while shrinking the die?

And speaking of the monitor ... I think my son's 9800 GTX+ 250+ watts did include his LG L227wtg-pf monitor, so his GPU folding and multi-tasking power usage is probably around 200 watts.

Thanks! I was honestly surprised to see how low the power draw was myself. I had no programs running at the 77 watts rating (well maybe firefox was open, and AVG was in the system tray, but no major CPU draw). The GT240 stock is 550MHZ GPU and 1350 on the shaders. I agree the memory probably does little to help with folding. I OC'd the shaders last night. According to EVGA precision this card is running at a very cool 46C. I realize this card isn't the most powerful in the world, but I must admit it seems to be a very nice value for $55 (after MIR).

It's drawing 105 Watts now with shaders OC'd to 1550. It's folding a 5910 WU. Considering the 40NM tech I can't help but think the shaders have a bit more headroom.

[Flying Fox]

Wow! That's a nice collection of efficient hardware. My 9600 GSO platform is: an AM2 X2 4000 mildly over-clocked to 2.4GHz, 1GB DDR2 667, 10GB IDE HD, ASUS M2N-E 570 SLI mobo, 56K pci modem, in an Antec 900 with a Cooler Master RP-550 which is probably 70% efficient at best. A two generation newer chipset and a generation newer video card sure make a difference. Maybe I need to knock my CPU and memory back to stock speed and save a few watts.

Don't forget the Nvidia 570 chipset as well, their chipsets usually run hotter than AMD's.

My 785G system seems to be drawing more, but I forgot if I got those numbers when I had a HD4550 plugged in. I will measure again once I get my Kill-A-Watt back from a friend who I lent it to.

[Flying Fox]

Gerbils on the menu.. mmm mmm good .

Awww @#$%#@$%. Don't make me have to switch back to UGN.

We have to worry about Fuzzhead first. Unless FBW is doing something to his farm, Fuzz is going to beat him to get to us. Either way at this point we don't seem to have any hope of holding any of them off.

Has something else changed that I don't know about? Our ol' UGN has hardly produced any points at all today.

Between the GPU assignment server going crazy, GJ and myself testing the A3's under our own usernames, Jigar still not returning while he's having fun hacking his 8800GT, plus who knows what, our production is definitely lacking. Now GJ is lured by the big points on his own so he's leaving us.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

eWiz.com has AMD Athlon II X3 Triple-Core Processor 425 AM3 for $70 - $11 with code GO4GOLD = $59 with free shipping. Next lowest on Google Products is $72. Thanks quizzys & skydivingcows

LINK

According to Newegg reviews people have had luck unlocking the 4th core AND the L3 cache.

I didn't know the Athlons had L3 cache to unlock, but I don't follow these things as closely as I could.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

Between the GPU assignment server going crazy, GJ and myself testing the A3's under our own usernames, Jigar still not returning while he's having fun hacking his 8800GT, plus who knows what, our production is definitely lacking. Now GJ is lured by the big points on his own so he's leaving us.

I'm not sure how big my points will be. My PPD is down from when I had the GTX295 folding 24/7. It'll be hard to match that thing's production with my current hardware.

The folding has also hurt my GTX285. It's folding just fine, but it can no longer play games reliably at its stock speed (admittedly its stock speed is a stock overclocked 702MHZ which doesn't help matters). I have requested an RMA, but since this is the third RMA I've made not sure they will want to honor it.

[flybywire]

Gerbils on the menu.. mmm mmm good .

Awww @#$%#@$%. Don't make me have to switch back to UGN.

We have to worry about Fuzzhead first. Unless FBW is doing something to his farm, Fuzz is going to beat him to get to us. Either way at this point we don't seem to have any hope of holding any of them off.

Just so you know, I'm not at my full capacity yet. You gerbils had better spin those wheels a lot faster.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

Just so you know, I'm not at my full capacity yet. You gerbils had better spin those wheels a lot faster.

Who pays your electric bill?

[flybywire]

Just so you know, I'm not at my full capacity yet. You gerbils had better spin those wheels a lot faster.

Who pays your electric bill?

I do, so that's why I haven't gone fullbore yet.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

I do, so that's why I haven't gone fullbore yet.

This is the underlying cause for UGN's reduced output. It's kind hard to put out 100,000 PPD when it costs a few hundred a month.

I also don't feel environmentally friendly... My take is that the better approach, for the environment, is to get more idle PCs folding than it is for me to purpose build folding PCs.

[flybywire]

UGN is a collective, therefore the cost is distributed among its members. Is that not the purpose of forming this collective?

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

UGN is a collective, therefore the cost is distributed among its members. Is that not the purpose of forming this collective?

That's my point! If you can rally a lot of people with idle computers to fold, that is a much more efficient use of power than custom building folding machines that otherwise have no purpose.

Having said that, I do go out of my way to make sure my existing PCs are configured hardware-wise to put out high PPD.

I mean, my wife does NOT need a Q9450 and 9800GTX+ to play Farmville.

[flybywire]

UGN is a collective, therefore the cost is distributed among its members. Is that not the purpose of forming this collective?

That's my point! If you can rally a lot of people with idle computers to fold, that is a much more efficient use of power than custom building folding machines that otherwise have no purpose.

Having said that, I do go out of my way to make sure my existing PCs are configured hardware-wise to put out high PPD.

I mean, my wife does NOT need a Q9450 and 9800GTX+ to play Farmville.

LOL Hey, harvesting those crops can get pretty intense!

I think the mean problem with UGN, or any group for that matter, is trying to maintain interest and momentum. I think that if you guys can make things more interesting for your members to keep folding then UGN would be a force to be reckoned with. I know you guys have discussed this matter before, but perhaps it's time to revisit this subject and initiate a new drive. Fuzz and I are on track to overtake UGN in a few short months and I don't think it's too late to get some more wind behind your sails

[farmpuma]

Thanks! I was honestly surprised to see how low the power draw was myself. I had no programs running at the 77 watts rating (well maybe firefox was open, and AVG was in the system tray, but no major CPU draw). The GT240 stock is 550MHZ GPU and 1350 on the shaders. I agree the memory probably does little to help with folding. I OC'd the shaders last night. According to EVGA precision this card is running at a very cool 46C. I realize this card isn't the most powerful in the world, but I must admit it seems to be a very nice value for $55 (after MIR).

It's drawing 105 Watts now with shaders OC'd to 1550. It's folding a 5910 WU. Considering the 40NM tech I can't help but think the shaders have a bit more headroom.

Again, Wow! I haven't tried to OC my GSO's shaders. According to Riva-Tuner it usually runs at a warmish 65C, but drops down to about 60C on the 5910s. It has the out the back of the case enclosed cooler with the fan manually set to 67% which results in a little over 2600 rpm. I'm currently downloading EVGA precision for an apples to apples temperature comparison.

I'm a bit surprised you are getting a single stable power reading on the 5910 work unit. They spike one of my CPU cores to 100% fairly regularly and my Kill-A-Watt reading jumps all over the place in a range from 126 watts to over 160.

** edit **
The CPU core only spikes to around 20% with newish 191.07 video driver. Also, a couple of minor grammar tweaks.

[Ragnar Dan]

My 9600GSO was able to overclock from stock 1700 to 1857 until the fan quit running at full speed. I have it running at 1735 or something and it's slower, and is running very hot (as high as 92C), but it's very reliable. If I were less lazy I'd fix the fan.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

My 9600GSO was able to overclock from stock 1700 to 1857 until the fan quit running at full speed. I have it running at 1735 or something and it's slower, and is running very hot (as high as 92C), but it's very reliable. If I were less lazy I'd fix the fan.

I'll be moving the GT240 into my own computer soon, and then I will see how far I can OC it(My GTX285 is failing on me). I just got an RMA approved so I'm sending it back to Zotac. This is the third RMA. I started out with a GTX280 AMP! edition, then got a second one, then they gave me a GTX285 AMP!... I think they've OC'd them too much. They just can't handle folding and keep their integrity. Sure it'll fold 24/7 no problem, but when I try to game it crashes after a few minutes. If I take it down to about 675MHZ it runs fine, but it should run fine at it's stock setting of 702MHZ. /rambling

Soooo, my PPD is gonna take a big hit just as I started folding on my own.

[flybywire]

I've noticed the newer gpu units 3469 and 3470, worth 450 and 445 respectively, are quite fast. My 8800GS/9600GSO cards with overclocked shaders (1700MHz) are beating my stock GTX 260 216 (1350MHz) in ppd.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

I've noticed the newer gpu units 3469 and 3470, worth 450 and 445 respectively, are quite fast. My 8800GS/9600GSO cards with overclocked shaders (1700MHz) are beating my stock GTX 260 216 (1350MHz) in ppd.

It does seem that there is diminishing returns after the shader count gets above 128. Makes me wonder how Fermi is going to handle folding...

[Ragnar Dan]

My GTX 260-216 is the slowest of my 3 cards on those WU's.

I've got a picture of it happening right now:


It does seem really absurd to watch my 9600 GSO do over 7000 PPD on those while the 260 peaks at 7120 when the machine isn't being used.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

My GTX 260-216 is the slowest of my 3 cards on those WU's.

I've got a picture of it happening right now:


It does seem really absurd to watch my 9600 GSO do over 7000 PPD on those while the 260 peaks at 7120 when the machine isn't being used.

Your IBM is getting 41PPD huh? What is that, a Cyrix?

[Ragnar Dan]

Your IBM is getting 41PPD huh? What is that, a Cyrix?

It's a 550 MHz P3, but the WU is an 84 point Amber core, P 4604. It does ~80 PPD or so on the 336 point WU's it usually gets. It only folds because I leave it running all the time in the LR waiting for me to want to look up something while watching television. And it lets me monitor the other folding machines.

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

I'm wondering what people's experiences are running the GPU2 client on various video cards with differing shader counts on the same rig.

I want to move my GT 240 into my main PC, which is currently folding with a GTX 285. Will this hamper the overall output of the two cards?

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

My GTX 260-216 is the slowest of my 3 cards on those WU's.

I've got a picture of it happening right now:


It does seem really absurd to watch my 9600 GSO do over 7000 PPD on those while the 260 peaks at 7120 when the machine isn't being used.

I've got FAHmon running on my pc with the GT240 now. I'm only getting 3600PPD. Shaders are at 1650.

[Flying Fox]

My GTX 260-216 is the slowest of my 3 cards on those WU's.

I've got a picture of it happening right now:


It does seem really absurd to watch my 9600 GSO do over 7000 PPD on those while the 260 peaks at 7120 when the machine isn't being used.

I've got FAHmon running on my pc with the GT240 now. I'm only getting 3600PPD. Shaders are at 1650.

I see 4393ppd on the 9600GSO, so 3600 does not seem too far off? Where's the 7000ppd? Anyway, may be your GT240 is chewing on a slow WU?

[Gerbil Jedidiah]

I see 4393ppd on the 9600GSO, so 3600 does not seem too far off? Where's the 7000ppd? Anyway, may be your GT240 is chewing on a slow WU?

I've been watching it for a couple of days now. It stays around 3600 to 3800 on more than one type of WU.