Dedicated FAH Rig Not taking enough power

[iamdarkyoshi]

First post, some of you might recognize me from the LinusTechTips forums. Hi!

So I had a directcu ii HD6950 that got water damaged (corroded traces), and I managed to repair it, albeit after it became virtually worthless. I want to use it to run folding@home until it completely dies. Thread on the LTT Forums can be found by searching the site for "[Folding Rig Build Log] "Till Death Will it Fold"" (I cannot post links until I have 0 legitimate posts, apparently)

I ended up having to use windows vista to run the machine. Gross. I have a couple issues though:

1. The machine draws a little under 200W. An 80+white PSU, a 200W TDP GPU, and a 65w TDP CPU should draw roughly 300W.

2. I cannot open the advanced control panel. I can use the web control though.

3. I have it set to full, I installed the latest CCC, and after 12 hours, the CPU has completed 75% of a WU, and the GPU has done 61%. Seems rather pathetic, as my gaming PC can complete WUs in an hour or two. Although a 3930k and 390x is a fair bit faster than this system.

System specs:

250GB Seagate HDD with windows vista business 64 bit
Core2duo at 3ghz
2.5GB RAM (I know, I should have 4GB for 64 bit, I have a 4GB kit somewhere)
HD 6950 Directcu II
450W OEM Delta PSU hardmodded to drive a GPU (Any PSU is modular if you have a soldering iron!)

So this is where I am. I want more heat from the system. I want the PC to heat the garage

Any thoughts on why the system is not running at its full potential?

[iamdarkyoshi]

I just tried running prime95 and furmark at the same time, and yup, 300W from the wall.

[mmonnin]

Task manager will tell you if the CPU is running at 100% and there are multiple applications that can give you GPU utilization like GPU-Z. An ATI card will use 1-2% CPU. If both are close to 100% it would FAH is running at max.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Task manager will tell you if the CPU is running at 100% and there are multiple applications that can give you GPU utilization like GPU-Z. An ATI card will use 1-2% CPU. If both are close to 100% it would FAH is running at max.

It seem that I am folding pretty close to max. roughly 80% on the CPU and CCC reports 99-100% GPU usage. Now: How do I fix the advanced control not opening?

[toTOW]

I think that default setting will leave one CPU thread (a core in the case of your core 2 duo) free to feed the GPU.

Look in your task manager : if the GPU core (FahCore_17, 18 or 21) doesn't use a lot of CPU percent, you can change the default behaviour of the SMP core to use all your CPU core.

Also, pre-GCN architecture is not very efficient on FAH, so even it is showing 100 % GPU load, not all the SP are used. It explains why you see less power draw with FAH than with other kind of computation (or 3D).

What error do you get when trying to use the Advanced Control ?

[iamdarkyoshi]

I think that default setting will leave one CPU thread (a core in the case of your core 2 duo) free to feed the GPU.

Look in your task manager : if the GPU core (FahCore_17, 18 or 21) doesn't use a lot of CPU percent, you can change the default behaviour of the SMP core to use all your CPU core.

Also, pre-GCN architecture is not very efficient on FAH, so even it is showing 100 % GPU load, not all the SP are used. It explains why you see less power draw with FAH than with other kind of computation (or 3D).

What error do you get when trying to use the Advanced Control ?

It literally just does not open. No error, no crashes, just never shows up.

[mmonnin]

Even hidden in your taskbar notifications? By the clock?

[bollix47]

Check the requirements and make sure you have software like .net etc installed.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Check the requirements and make sure you have software like .net etc installed.

Sweet. That fixed it! Thanks everyone, the garage PC is now folding 24/7.