9600 How to? and will do?

[robbie]

Ok, I just had to build the kids a new computer cuz there's went belly up. I ended up getting a 9600 video card for them for $80 (did I over pay?) Seems to be "ok". Will it fold and should I fold on it. If so, how do I do it?

Also, I plan on taking the HSF off and putting some Artic Silver on it. As the back of the card is pretty warm while the HSF is pretty cold to the touch.

[ThunderRd]

Originally Posted by robbie

Will it fold and should I fold on it. If so, how do I do it?

1. Yes. 3000-4000 ppd.
2. Of course.
3. Like this: Folding@home - WinGPUGuide

Post back if you have any problems and someone will help you...

[robbie]

Thanks brother!

[cw823]

Originally Posted by ThunderRd

1. Yes. 300-4000 ppd.
2. Of course.
3. Like this: Folding@home - WinGPUGuide

Post back if you have any problems and someone will help you...

I'd disagree on #1, you're not going to see 4000PPD on a 64shader card.
#2 and #3 I fully agree with though.


Edit, to offer something productive on #1, you may see up to 3700 (maybe), but it sounds like temps may be an issue which will probably prohibit your shader clock. Just be sure to use rivatuner or evga precision to set the fan to run at max (or near-max) speed.

[ThunderRd]

I do 3910 ppd per card on my dual 9600GT setup regularly.

[PorPorMe]

My 2 9600's both ran hot. The GPU client will fail if the temps get around 70c and above so be sure to follow cw's advice and have the card fan running 100%.

[ThunderRd]

Maybe my cooling solution is better than yours but I have not seen temps over 62C on either of mine. I run the fans 50%-75% variable with a cooling profile I created in Rivatuner. I have not had the need to run the fans faster than that.

The slowest WUs I have seen run 3200ppd (I forget the project number), but most others run between 3500 and 3900 ppd. Both cards synch perfectly when they are on the same project number and the ppd is exactly the same. Several months ago there was a project that yielded 4100 ppd, but I think it was defective because the P# went away and I have not seen it since.

I do not overclock either the GPU or memory clocks. The shader clock is set to 1950 or so, I'm not at home ATM so I'm not certain of the exact setting. I have found that the shader clock is the only one that has a significant effect on folding operations, so I have no need to overclock the other settings.

As for heat being a problem, I have run at least 3000 WUs on each of these cards and I would guess that approximately 25 WUs have failed. And I live in a hot climate.

[cw823]

Originally Posted by ThunderRd

Maybe my cooling solution is better than yours but I have not seen temps over 62C on either of mine. I run the fans 50%-75% variable with a cooling profile I created in Rivatuner. I have not had the need to run the fans faster than that.

The slowest WUs I have seen run 3200ppd (I forget the project number), but most others run between 3500 and 3900 ppd. Both cards synch perfectly when they are on the same project number and the ppd is exactly the same. Several months ago there was a project that yielded 4100 ppd, but I think it was defective because the P# went away and I have not seen it since.

I do not overclock either the GPU or memory clocks. The shader clock is set to 1950 or so, I'm not at home ATM so I'm not certain of the exact setting. I have found that the shader clock is the only one that has a significant effect on folding operations, so I have no need to overclock the other settings.

As for heat being a problem, I have run at least 3000 WUs on each of these cards and I would guess that approximately 25 WUs have failed. And I live in a hot climate.

Shader at 1950 explains that PPD, wondering if that is stock speed for 9600GT?

[ThunderRd]

Negatory, stock shader setting is 1625. I found that overclocking the shaders was quite easily done on these cards, I modded the BIOS to 1955 and use that setting 24/7.

[robbie]

I'm going to pull the fan off right now and apply some AS.

Ok done, now let's see how much of an overclock I can do. It was at 700mhz core and before I modded it I put it up to 709. (light I know) but now I'm thinking of around 750. What do you think?

[ThunderRd]

I don't overclock anything except the shaders. Pushing the core clock and the memory yields very little in the way of folding gains, and delivers a bunch of heat.

Your shaders are the key to folding speed. My GTs are stock at 1625. You should be able to get to 1750 comfortably and with some work, to 1850 or more. This will give you the most gain in folding speed with not much extra heat.

Here's a screenshot of my main rig running two 9600GTs at 1955 shaders:

Is the client set up already? Did it go OK?

[cw823]

I can get a little more PPD from my 9600GSO, but can't clock it that high. Considering it has 96 shaders rather than 64, that 9600GT looks like a bargain.

[robbie]

I'll post some screen shots when I get home. I cranked the core up to 724 (ish) maybe I'll clock it back down and crank up the shaders. Its not folding yet. Tonight probably.
BlackBerry8330m/4.5.0.175 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104

[cw823]

I normally clock core down to 600, sometimes that helps with temps, albeit not that much
BlackBerry8330/4.5.0.169 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105

[PorPorMe]

Looks like I made a bad choice in my 9800GT. My stock shaders are 1350 OC'd to 1512, but I am getting 5k production out of it.

[cw823]

Originally Posted by PorPorMe

Looks like I made a bad choice in my 9800GT. My stock shaders are 1350 OC'd to 1512, but I am getting 5k production out of it.

I had a couple 9800GT Ultimates from Asus, shaders would run @ 2052. should've kept them

[chrisbard]

But if that is for the kids how will they play games if the cpu or gpu is folding?
Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/3.1.10423/1724; en; U; ssr)

[robbie]

I would assume the folding switches to a background program when they start up games?

[cw823]

Originally Posted by robbie

I would assume the folding switches to a background program when they start up games?

You may find GPU intensive games unplayable, especially if the GPU client is set to priority=96 (which you have to do if you're also running a CPU f@h client). That being said, I played BF2142 a couple times without closing f@h and noticed 0 issues.

[ThunderRd]

To add to what cw823 has said, I leave the SMP client running constantly in the background whether gaming or not with no problems, but normally will shut down the GPU client when gaming. I have noticed some minor stuttering on games with it running. Your kids may not notice it, but you would if it happens.

The priority=96 argument that cw is referring to is invoked at the client start automatically if you set up the GPU client to use "slightly higher" core priority. It isn't as difficult as it sounds. You just tick the option on the Advanced page in the client control panel. You do not want to do this if you aren't running a CPU client, though.