Green(ish) GPU for folding?

[Genesius]

Hi all. I'm thinking of folding.

I have a low powered whs2011 home server that I can add a GPU to and fold on that, and I have another 2 low powered units on 24/7 too.

My question is, what low powered GPU's are worth folding on?
Are there any, or am I just going to have to accept that to fold I must also expect a hefty increase in my electricity bill?

 

[mihapiha]

I think I may missunderstand what you intend on accomplishing here. Any hardware you use for folding is an important contribution. And if you use low wattage stuff so be it.

But if you are looking to get a good PPD/wattage ratio then you really have to think about what you want to do. I guess as always there is the question of the budget for new equipment and the question of wattage you are prepared to spare.

to my knowledge right now a really good card for folding is the GTX 660. But that may be out of budget for you. If you are folding with the CPU(s) now, you actually use what is best in terms of PPD/watt ratio. Give me more details though, and it will be easier to answer all your questions.

 

[Josh Weston]

It may also be worth waiting a little longer, as AMD cards are about to have the opportunity to fold, and it looks like they can do it quite well. Who knows how that will tilt the tables.

 

[Genesius]

I think I may missunderstand what you intend on accomplishing here. Any hardware you use for folding is an important contribution. And if you use low wattage stuff so be it.

But if you are looking to get a good PPD/wattage ratio then you really have to think about what you want to do. I guess as always there is the question of the budget for new equipment and the question of wattage you are prepared to spare.

to my knowledge right now a really good card for folding is the GTX 660. But that may be out of budget for you. If you are folding with the CPU(s) now, you actually use what is best in terms of PPD/watt ratio. Give me more details though, and it will be easier to answer all your questions.

I have rigs up and running 24/7, so I thought I would put them to use folding. I'm not interested in being number 1 I just want to be in the game so to speak! However, all the systems I have running 24/7 are low powered Atom rigs, with green hard drives, and green PSU's. I don't want to go and spend more than £50 on a card (because I may end up getting 3 in the future, 1 for each rig) but the main consideration is how much energy they use, and how much that is going to cost me on my electricity bills.

It may also be worth waiting a little longer, as AMD cards are about to have the opportunity to fold, and it looks like they can do it quite well. Who knows how that will tilt the tables.

Really? How long do I have to wait? I know nothing about FAH so where do I even find this news?

 

[iBeInspire]

I'd be looking at a used GTX460, aren't those still very good for the money..?

 

[Pickster]

I think your best bet may be a 8800GT. They can be had for cheap and the peak power draw from one of those is way less than a 460/560 while folding. They may not give an awesome amount of PPD but on ebay they also fit your budget.

I had an MSI overclocked 8800GT with an almost single slot cooler, it ran extremely quiet while folding too. The PC had a Q6600 + 8800GT and the rig was completely silent even when folding (hard disks were mounted on foam to make them silent as they became the loudest thing in the PC).

Others may have a better power to points ratio card to suggest, but from my limitedish knowledge that's where I would start looking to fit your criteria.