New addition to the TRd family

[gedon]

A "Thermie", TR you know most people undervolt them to save 50-100W of power and keep them "quiet"

What do you guys pay for a kWh?

[Gizmo]

I don't know about them, but I'm paying 9.47 cents/KWh here (southwest missouri)

[dabaerman]

Originally Posted by ThunderRd

Ron ALWAYS has something up his sleeve. He's been sneaking up on me for a year now. Nothing staggering, just sneaking...he reckons it's fait accompli that he passes me by New Year. I have to rise to the occasion, I think

I thought I knew better than to waken a sleeping tiger! still looking for a chance to sneak up some more.

Ron

[dsio]

Originally Posted by gedon

A "Thermie", TR you know most people undervolt them to save 50-100W of power and keep them "quiet"

What do you guys pay for a kWh?

That's the smart thing to do. If we were smart we wouldn't be voiding warranties though.

Thunder is over in Thailand as well, where power costs peanuts.

Literally peanuts.

The elephant runs on the treadmill to turn a generator, you throw it some peanuts now and then, and hope a mouse doesn't scare it and cause a blackout.

[ThunderRd]

Originally Posted by dsio

...and hope a mouse doesn't scare it and cause a blackout.

An all-too-common occurrence here. I'd trade my price for the reliability you guys have any day.

Typical home use for a family of four here is around 50USD a month, or so. My electric bills including house and two shops is about 7-800USD, which is quite a bit of money here compared to local income rates. The bill goes up about 500USD /month in the really hot season, which is what we're in right now.

[dsio]

So when are the Pentium D 3.0's due for upgrade? =)

[ThunderRd]

They were a great deal at the time, but in the long run, economically, they were a mistake. Power-hungry and hot, although they clock without a problem right up to 3.7G at stock volts. I bought them in bulk, with quad-capable boards, knowing that they could be upgraded to quads eventually, but for an internet shop, quads aren't really necessary. When the time comes, and I can get a closeout deal on Q6600s, I might think about it, but most likely not this year. [That would be a monster folding farm, though, wouldn't it, with the bonus point scheme? Conservatively; 6000ppd x 35 clients==210,000ppd] Then I'd donate the P-Ds to the local primary school. They are still on Celerys.

BTW, a Thai schoolteacher makes about $500-$700 USD a month. An intern MD in a hospital makes $450 USD starting salary [my niece's boyfriend is one]. A top IT person working in a large company would make about the same as the teacher. His PFY would make $250. OTOH, I pay each of my 2 assistants $350 a month for taking care of my shops for me, mostly because I trust them, and that is invaluable. Given the choice, they would never work for anyone else.

Ergo, my current electric bill, at $1200 total, is dear. It is said that the average Thai income is somewhere around 6000 THB/month, which is under $200 at today's rates. So when I send you $120 to get me a waterblock for my GTX470 it's more than 2 weeks pay for an average Thai. The GTX 470 was 2 1/2 months salary for the same person. I have my own money and income from various sources, but I sometimes ruminate on the excesses. I count myself lucky to be able to afford my lifestyle, and try to share and help others when it's possible.

[dsio]

Awfully tempted by one of these things... The palit 470 is on special at my local, like 329 usd.

Trouble is id probably need to upgrade my psu, and find another home for an 8800gt

[ThunderRd]

Well it arrived this afternoon and I had time this evening to remove the pair of 9600GTs and get it into the box. I had all kinds of problems getting the machine to boot, had to dump the CMOS, pray to the BIOS gods, sacrifice a virgin etc.

Finally got the box to boot, but it won't do a warm reboot for some reason, I have to find out why. Each time I want to restart, I have to shut down, kill the power, pull the plug, and dump the caps with the start button. Then it will boot through. I'll be damned if I know why yet, I'll have to investigate more.

So I downloaded GPU3 and installed it, got the client started, and got this result:

 
Note: Please read the license agreement (Folding@home-Win32-GPU.exe -license). F
urther
use of this software requires that you have read and accepted this agreement.

[17:03:58] Gpu type=3 species=30.


--- Opening Log file [June 10 17:03:58 UTC]


# Windows GPU Console Edition #################################################
###############################################################################

                       Folding@Home Client Version 6.30r1

                          http://folding.stanford.edu

###############################################################################
###############################################################################

Launch directory: D:\Program Files\gpu3
Executable: D:\Program Files\gpu3\Folding@home-Win32-GPU.exe
Arguments: -verbosity 9

[17:03:58] - Ask before connecting: No
[17:03:58] - User name: ThunderRd (Team 45)
[17:03:58] - User ID: 1F992E945AC33820
[17:03:58] - Machine ID: 2
[17:03:58]
[17:03:58] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:03:58] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:03:58] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[17:03:58] - Autosending finished units... [June 10 17:03:58 UTC]
[17:03:58] Cleaning up work directory
[17:03:58] Trying to send all finished work units
[17:03:58] + No unsent completed units remaining.
[17:03:58] + Attempting to get work packet
[17:03:58] - Autosend completed
[17:03:58] Passkey found
[17:03:58] - Will indicate memory of 2047 MB
[17:03:58] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:03:58] - Detect CPU. Vendor: GenuineIntel, Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 1
1
[17:03:58] - Connecting to assignment server
[17:03:58] Connecting to http://assign-GPU.stanford.edu:8080/
[17:03:59] Posted data.
[17:03:59] Initial: 43AB; - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.20).
[17:03:59] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[17:03:59] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:03:59] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:03:59] Sent data
[17:03:59] Connecting to http://171.67.108.20:8080/
[17:04:00] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[17:04:00] + Could not connect to Work Server
[17:04:00] - Attempt #1  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[17:04:06] + Attempting to get work packet
[17:04:06] Passkey found
[17:04:06] - Will indicate memory of 2047 MB
[17:04:06] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:04:06] - Connecting to assignment server
[17:04:06] Connecting to http://assign-GPU.stanford.edu:8080/
[17:04:07] Posted data.
[17:04:07] Initial: 43AB; - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.20).
[17:04:07] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[17:04:08] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:04:08] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:04:08] Sent data
[17:04:08] Connecting to http://171.67.108.20:8080/
[17:04:08] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[17:04:08] + Could not connect to Work Server
[17:04:08] - Attempt #2  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[17:04:29] + Attempting to get work packet
[17:04:29] Passkey found
[17:04:29] - Will indicate memory of 2047 MB
[17:04:29] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:04:29] - Connecting to assignment server
[17:04:29] Connecting to http://assign-GPU.stanford.edu:8080/
[17:04:30] Posted data.
[17:04:30] Initial: 43AB; - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.20).
[17:04:30] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[17:04:30] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:04:30] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:04:30] Sent data
[17:04:30] Connecting to http://171.67.108.20:8080/
[17:04:31] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[17:04:31] + Could not connect to Work Server
[17:04:31] - Attempt #3  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[17:04:55] + Attempting to get work packet
[17:04:55] Passkey found
[17:04:55] - Will indicate memory of 2047 MB
[17:04:55] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:04:55] - Connecting to assignment server
[17:04:55] Connecting to http://assign-GPU.stanford.edu:8080/
[17:04:56] Posted data.
[17:04:56] Initial: 43AB; - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.20).
[17:04:56] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[17:04:56] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:04:56] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:04:56] Sent data
[17:04:56] Connecting to http://171.67.108.20:8080/
[17:04:56] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[17:04:56] + Could not connect to Work Server
[17:04:56] - Attempt #4  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[17:05:42] + Attempting to get work packet
[17:05:42] Passkey found
[17:05:42] - Will indicate memory of 2047 MB
[17:05:42] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:05:42] - Connecting to assignment server
[17:05:42] Connecting to http://assign-GPU.stanford.edu:8080/
[17:05:43] Posted data.
[17:05:43] Initial: 43AB; - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.20).
[17:05:43] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[17:05:43] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:05:43] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:05:43] Sent data
[17:05:43] Connecting to http://171.67.108.20:8080/
[17:05:44] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[17:05:44] + Could not connect to Work Server
[17:05:44] - Attempt #5  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[17:07:09] + Attempting to get work packet
[17:07:09] Passkey found
[17:07:09] - Will indicate memory of 2047 MB
[17:07:09] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:07:09] - Connecting to assignment server
[17:07:09] Connecting to http://assign-GPU.stanford.edu:8080/
[17:07:10] Posted data.
[17:07:10] Initial: 43AB; - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.20).
[17:07:10] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[17:07:10] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:07:10] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:07:10] Sent data
[17:07:10] Connecting to http://171.67.108.20:8080/
[17:07:11] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[17:07:11] + Could not connect to Work Server
[17:07:11] - Attempt #6  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[17:09:59] + Attempting to get work packet
[17:09:59] Passkey found
[17:09:59] - Will indicate memory of 2047 MB
[17:09:59] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:09:59] - Connecting to assignment server
[17:09:59] Connecting to http://assign-GPU.stanford.edu:8080/
[17:10:00] Posted data.
[17:10:00] Initial: 43AB; - Successful: assigned to (171.67.108.20).
[17:10:00] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[17:10:00] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:10:00] Gpu type=3 species=30.
[17:10:00] Sent data
[17:10:00] Connecting to http://171.67.108.20:8080/
[17:10:01] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[17:10:01] + Could not connect to Work Server
[17:10:01] - Attempt #7  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.

So it looks like there are currently no WUs available for GPU3, but I can't find anyone else complaining on the forum, so I'll see what happens overnight.

All in all a very frustrating evening. :/

[ThunderRd]

Update:

The client did pick up work during the night and completed 3 WUs. Right now I've left the house, and will check back in here later with a report and status. Didn't have time this morning to get into it.

I also have to figure out why the box won't restart, per my last post. The beep is not the same as the startup beep, it's kind of shrt, truncated. Then the boot hangs at the video BIOS. It requires a cold start to boot after that. Anyone with an idea?

[dsio]

Is it the motherboard that is beeping or is it the video card? GPUs have their own sound buzzers on them and typically sound if their external power is not connected, if there's a brown out, or if their power lines are shared off something else.

At boot your hard drives are spinning up as well, could be that your power demands on the 12V line are exceeding tolerances.

[ThunderRd]

I'll check what's beeping later. I think it's the card. I'm dead sure the power supply isn't taxed, as it's rated for tri-SLI. The 6 pin cables are specific for that purpose, and feed directly from the PS. What I will try is to switch the PS into single-rail mode and see if it makes a difference.

Keep in mind that I removed 2 9600s and added this one. The power draw is a bit more than before, but not so much as to tax a 900W PS designed for this purpose, I wouldn't think.

[dsio]

I'm just wondering what the spread is on those rails, as the tri-sli might be intended for lower power cards in tri-sli. I'd also check the cable itself, occasionally 6/8 pin PCI-E cables do that thing Molex's do and pop their pins out as they slide in, corrosion or something is also possible.

[ThunderRd]

It's the board that is beeping strangely.

The beep is kind of short, shorter than the normal post beep. As I said, if I cold boot it's OK, but if I make any change in the BIOS and have to reboot, it beeps short and there's no video. The LCD poster shows it is failing at the video BIOS. It's a problem because after making BIOS changes it fails, and the BIOS reverts to failsafe defaults. Then I have to enter the BIOS again to load the saved parameters, and the same cycle of events occurs, making changes impossible.

I checked if I was set to single-rail settings. I was. I tried the "normal" setting (2-12V rails), but no change. I also tried the card in a different slot, and tried different cables from alternate PS outputs(there are 6: 3 outputs for 6-pin and 3 for 8-pin. For example, the GTX480 requires a 6-pin and an 8-pin plug. 470s need two 6-pin plugs.)

On a good note, the card runs fine and finished 18 WUs today. After I get the board under control I'll be able to report some stats and also do some benchmarking. I will say that all preliminary video usage seems to "feel" noticably faster.

[dsio]

btw been meaning to ask, how's your Swiftech block? I'm looking at options for replacing my lousy TT OEM block atm, still leaning towards the Koolance 360 but interested in what's out there.

[ThunderRd]

The GTZ is really good, the best I've had. Gained around 4C over the GTX I had before it. Has a great and nearly foolproof mounting system, really easy to get it seated properly, and nice machining and finish. Recommended.

Re: the GTX, flashed the MB BIOS to a current version, and the problem seems to have gone away, but not before the bloody BIOS stopped saving profiles- costing me an hour of my life in most exasperating fashion.

I had forgotten to replace the CMOS batt. Dumbazz. :/

[weldzilla]

I will bring another system online this week. Just waiting for the HDD to come in. All the rest of the pieces are waiting.

[dabaerman]

Originally Posted by ThunderRd

Well, 'tween your part-time 16-core box, Ron's motley crew of gear, Gizmo's 8-core rig on the way, gedon and Cliff and...god-knows what the heck WZ has in the hole, I'd might as well get my cash back on that GTX470.

A bloody nightmare. I won't be sleeping for days because of you guys. Thanks.

and to think I passed on a quad Xenon Quad Core with 16gig of ram for $2,000.00. gees, let me sell my junk.

Ron

[dabaerman]

Originally Posted by dabaerman

and to think I passed on a quad Xenon Quad Core with 16gig of ram for $2,000.00. gees, let me sell my junk.

Ron

said quad rig is down to $1,750.00 out the door with tax. 16 CPU cores for the team.

You IN?


Ron

[dabaerman]

Originally Posted by ThunderRd

..........................
I count myself lucky to be able to afford my lifestyle, and try to share and help others when it's possible.

..................and along the way I found myself, here.


RB