GPU folding card recommendations

[hmmblah]

Have a gtx 260 starting to die....what's a good replacement folding-wise? Are AMD cards still top in GPU folding? What's the cheapest card to look at and the expected PPD?

 

[d3rrial]

Folding performance of cards should be closely related to these results (bitcoin mining (mh/s)):

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

Edit: And according to this a 5970 should do very well and a 5850 should do good pretty cheaply

Edit2: Please note that I am not the most experienced user in this matter and you should consider answers of other people a lot higher than mine

 

[hmmblah]

Mining and folding are totally different beasts. Only recently have AMD cards really stepped up in the PPD department for folding with the release of some new WUs.

 

[d3rrial]

The reason behind my argument is, that AMD cards >can< perform much better with OpenCL applications than nvidia cards

 

[hmmblah]

The reason behind my argument is, that AMD cards >can< perform much better with OpenCL applications than nvidia cards

Oh for sure, definitely no denying that. With these distributed computing projects though, results differ so much. Not only that, but the work themselves within a type of project can vary wildly as well.

I'd imagine though as more projects in F@H are favoring OpenCL that the performance (and PPD for that matter) should fall in line to other projects out there that are doing similar work.

Admittedly, I've fallen behind on the latest F@H news and trends.

 

[sheroo]

I think if I were going to go for gpu folding I'd personally be looking at the 7950 or 7970. Did you have a budget in mind?

 

[hmmblah]

I'd like to keep it around $200-$250. Maybe I can find a 7950 second-hand.

 

[AverageNinja]

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1963643&mpage=1
If you can, stretch to a 770 (maybe second hand?)
If not, the 7950 will do

 

[WYP]

in that budget i think a hd 7870 tahiti le would fit at the top of the budget or a 7870 at the lower end.

you could try the used market if you want to maximise your ppd.

i am not entirely sure how nvidia compares to amd atm for folding so i reccomend you do some research

 

[vorticalbox]

found a spread sheet that users have been posting cards and there points.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rb3KvyPVHqPNLcXWI6gMcBg&w=100&h=750

not the most upto date though

 

[stevehat1]

I have one of these 7950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026, it's doing over 100K on the 8900 wu clocked at 1180 core

 

[hmmblah]

I have one of these 7950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026, it's doing over 100K on the 8900 wu clocked at 1180 core

Ordered.

 

[stevehat1]

Nice we need the points

Use Sapphire Trixx to OC it, has un-locked voltage control, fan profile etc. All in all a nice utility

I think that Core 17 has leveled the playing field between Nvidia and AMD, it will be interesting to see how this plays out....

 

[hmmblah]

Screw it, ordered another one today. I will hopefully have them both by the end of the week.

 

[sheroo]

Wow, from everything I've read these core 17 wu are a bit temperamental when it comes to overclocks.

Pity Tom hasn't got some 7970's in his magic cupboard - I'd let it run for a couple of months and then pass it on...

Why does there seem to be so little difference in the pp of the 7950 vs 7970?

How would a 6950 get on with the core 17 wu?

 

[stevehat1]

From what I've seen this strictly a 7950-7970 game at this point for AMD cards on the current WU's, new wu's could be entirely different.......

7870 high end cards are not too bad, but the $/PPD probably goes to the 7950's ATM

 

[stevehat1]

Screw it, ordered another one today. I will hopefully have them both by the end of the week.

blah, did you get those cards up and running yet?

 

[hmmblah]

Setting up 1 this morning. The other card is stuck at the post office. For some reason it went from FedEx to them.

Edit: First one is installed, estimated PPD is about 70k, running at stock clocks. Second card arrived a few mins ago, will get that one up and running shortly as well.

 

[stevehat1]

Got them both up and running yet?

These 7950's O'C like crazy and stay relatively cool.

I just added another 7950 over the weekend, replaced an old GTX460

 

[hmmblah]

Yep, both are installed and running now. I'll let them go a few days before I clock them at all.

Edit: Do they sit at 100% usage when you fold? Both of them seem to sit at ~85% for me according to GPU observer.