Does 1st-gen Intel Core support GPU folding?

[TiO2]

I have a spare GPU sitting around (an RTX 2070 Super), but unfortunately I can't fit a 2nd GPU in my main rig. I have an old 1st-gen Core i3-530 and a Dell motherboard sitting around that I could put the GPU into, and was wondering if a CPU that old (no AVX, etc.) can still support GPU folding. Thanks!

[muziqaz]

I have a spare GPU sitting around (an RTX 2070 Super), but unfortunately I can't fit a 2nd GPU in my main rig. I have an old 1st-gen Core i3-530 and a Dell motherboard sitting around that I could put the GPU into, and was wondering if a CPU that old (no AVX, etc.) can still support GPU folding. Thanks!

Never hurts to try. Install 64bit OS, and see what happens.
I am not aware of fahclient's requirement for CPU to have AVX. Just 64bit. As long as you do not try to fold on that CPU, you should be fine

[toTOW]

Yes, first generation iX is the minimum requirement for GPU folding. I'm running an i7 920 and an i7 860 without issues.

Older CPUs (Core 2 Duo / Quad) won't be able to run GPU cores. They lacks SSE 4.2 support that is required.

[calxalot]

I believe the current cpu cores are for
sse4.1, avx-256, or avx2-256

[muziqaz]

avx128?

[calxalot]

No. ARM NEON is 128, I believe.

[muziqaz]

No. ARM NEON is 128, I believe.

I thought x86 AVX was 128, AVX2 bumped it to 256

[calxalot]

I’m looking at the buildbot settings. It is what I said, albeit the cores were previously built by someone else. Probably with github actions. So they could be different.

[Albuquerquefx]

I thought x86 AVX was 128, AVX2 bumped it to 256

That was Intel SSE with the 128-bit registers; MMX was 64-bit and AVX introduced 256-bit registers. AVX is also when x86 picked up dedicated FMA instructions.

As for the original question, keep in mind you'll lose a measurable chunk of performance due to the lack of Resizable BAR on old chipsets. I have a thread posted in this same subforum (look down about five or six posts from this one) where I inadvertently stumbled into this performance issue on some of my home folding rigs. Suffice it to say, ReBAR can cost you somewhere between 5-15% of your GPU performance depending on WU.

If you've got a system board which is new enough to support PCIe 3, then it's at least possible there's a firmware modification out there on Github which could allow you to insert the ReBAR code into your (albeit, very old) motherboard. I have an ancient Z77 motherboard which now supports ReBAR thanks to a firmware module injection tool. Obviously do this at your own risk; I wasn't too worried about a decade-old board

[muziqaz]

I thought x86 AVX was 128, AVX2 bumped it to 256

That was Intel SSE with the 128-bit registers; MMX was 64-bit and AVX introduced 256-bit registers. AVX is also when x86 picked up dedicated FMA instructions.

Alternative reality strikes again

[Joe_H]

You may be confusing the existence of AVX supporting 128-bit SIMD as well as 256-bit SIMD. As initially implemented by AMD the 128-bit SIMD instructions were often faster, some unofficially called that "AVX 128".

AVX2 then made most of the vector integer instructions 256-bit, before many were just 128-bit.

[muziqaz]

You may be confusing the existence of AVX supporting 128-bit SIMD as well as 256-bit SIMD. As initially implemented by AMD the 128-bit SIMD instructions were often faster, some unofficially called that "AVX 128".

AVX2 then made most of the vector integer instructions 256-bit, before many were just 128-bit.

Yeah, I probably am misremembering it

[Albuquerquefx]

I think you can be forgiven for not remembering the minutae from an instruction set that came out like 20+ years ago

[muziqaz]

I think you can be forgiven for not remembering the minutae from an instruction set that came out like 20+ years ago

Yeah, can't believe it has been 14 years since it showed up in Sandy bridge