Folding@Home on ATI GPUs

[NickS]

Tech Report reports Folding@Home will take advantage of ATI graphics processing power in the near future. Folding@Home claims performance of 100 gigaflops per computer will be achieved by taking advantage of ATI’s graphics processing power. ATI GPU support appears to only be for R5xx series of graphics processors according to the Folding@Home high performance client FAQ. The GPU powered Folding@Home client runs considerably faster on R580, Radeon X1900, X1950 series, than R520, Radeon X1800 series, most likely due to the R580’s 48 pixel shaders.



NVIDIA GPUs are currently unsupported at the time as the Folding@Home project has been concentrating its efforts on ATI GPUs as the ATI GPUs perform significantly faster than current generation NVIDIA GPUs. Folding@Home also previously announced its Cure@PS3 project to take advantage of the PS3’s processing power. DailyTech awaits the day Folding@Home optimizes its client for Bigfoot Networks KillerNIC.

The ATI optimized Folding@Home client is expected to arrive towards the end of September. And, of course, if you needed another reason to stock up on ATI R5xx cards, ATI is still expected to release a driver for Triple Play.

Dailytech

I'm not sure it's a good idea to have both your CPU and an X1K fully loaded for 24/7 use, your PSU might explode. In all seriousness, this is showing the true potential of the ATi R5xx GPU and how it is in many ways more powerful than your CPU itself.

[FragTek]

I've been following this for quite some time, glad to see that word is getting around again that this is coming soon. I can't wait!

[Raven]

Originally Posted by name='NickS'

I'm not sure it's a good idea to have both your CPU and an X1K fully loaded for 24/7 use, your PSU might explode.

i wouldnt even if he psu could manage the load, a x1900xtx uses 20-30w in 2dmode and 120w in 3dmode and thats quite much when the bill comes :/

[NickS]

Haha, I'd do it since my PSU is up to the task and my PC isn't on 24/7

[FarFarAway]

Ye my PSU is more than man enough for this.

Certainly interesting

[NoL]

I personally don't run F@H but I think this may be interesting for people who only want to run on GPU or CPU.