Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

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x_minus1
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Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2026 5:12 pm

Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by x_minus1 »

I want add back my old gpu into my pc, and just have it running folding@home constantly
Would this work? And how can I have it autorun at start?
Would I need to select which gpu to use on games I play? Can I set a main/default gpu to use? I suppose my video cables would stay on my current gpu

Definitely have the power requirments from my psu, and cooling isn't a problem out here in Canada :P
Joe_H
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Re: Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by Joe_H »

Maybe, it depends on what GPU you have for the old one. Too old and it may not be supported or might not be fast enough to run current projects.

How you set what GPU to use for your main one and for games is up to the OS and the game code.
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muziqaz
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Re: Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by muziqaz »

It is up to you to find out ;)
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appepi
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Re: Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by appepi »

https://forum.foldingathome.org/viewtopic.php?t=43104 may help if you are talking about Windows 11 (and probably W10 also) and currently supported GPUs. The key point is that both GPUs must be able to use the same driver.

I also had a more recent experience last week with an old Z800 /Quadro 5000 /Win10 combination (User Z810) that I decided to fold to see just how much it would cost me to run an old Xeon X5667 (4C 8T) CPU in Folding. The answer was "a ridiculous amount of money" so I decided to add a spare Quadro P1000 and Quadro K1200 just to help it reach "Quick Return Bonus" status before I switched it off or went bankrupt, whichever came first. Note that the Quadro 5000 is no longer supported for folding and I was running Fah 7.6.21.

With the Quadro 5000 drivers neither of the new GPUs were accepted and showed only as disabled. [The process also generated 9 "expired" WUs and thus defeated the aim completely, since you need fewer than 10% failures to get QRB]. With a driver suitable for the P1000 and K1200, they both worked OK but the Q5000 (which was the only one with a screen connected since I did not have a mini-DP/DVI lead spare) ran with a basic Microsoft Driver that didn't support full HD, but was adequate for basic operations. So experimentation is the way to go, but watch out for failures that impact you completion rate.
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x_minus1
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Re: Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by x_minus1 »

I don't know how to add my specs to my profile so I'll just list them:
amd 1800x
gigabyte x370 k7 r1
Current gpu: rx 7900 xtx
Old gpu: rx 580
Windows 11

as you can see I'm a bit of an amd fanboy :egeek: but yeah it would all have the same drivers surely
appepi
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Re: Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by appepi »

CAVEAT: I know zip about AMD other than what I just looked up, but ...

https://www.amd.com/en/support/download ... 0-xtx.html
tells me that the latest WHQL driver for your new card is Adrenalin 26.2.2 released 2026-02-28 , but you might have to go back to a slightly earlier WHQL driver, namely Adrenalin 26.1.1 released 2026-01-21 because ...
https://www.amd.com/en/support/download ... x-580.html
says that 26.1.1 is the latest WHQL driver for the RX 580.

These are W11 64 bit in both cases.

It may well be that the 26.2.2 version would be OK for the RX 580 also, and they simply haven't done the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification for the older cards.

PS: See also viewtopic.php?t=43581 re setting up each GPU as a different resource group in FaH 8.5.5.
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muziqaz
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Re: Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by muziqaz »

7900xtx and 580 will not work on the same system, since they are running on the different branch drivers.
Linux, however would be able to accommodate them
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Joe_H
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Re: Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by Joe_H »

muziqaz wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2026 2:51 pm 7900xtx and 580 will not work on the same system, since they are running on the different branch drivers.
Linux, however would be able to accommodate them
Will the Polaris based RX 580 still have full driver support for OpenCL under Linux? Or am I remembering the wrong chip series as being at the cutoff for Linux support from AMD.
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muziqaz
Posts: 2536
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 6:22 pm
Hardware configuration: 9950x, 9950x3d, 7950x3d, 5950x, 5800x3d
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Re: Can I add my old gpu into my motherboard with my new gpu for folding?

Post by muziqaz »

Joe_H wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2026 4:25 pm
muziqaz wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2026 2:51 pm 7900xtx and 580 will not work on the same system, since they are running on the different branch drivers.
Linux, however would be able to accommodate them
Will the Polaris based RX 580 still have full driver support for OpenCL under Linux? Or am I remembering the wrong chip series as being at the cutoff for Linux support from AMD.
Opencl - yes. It folds fine. Just HIP might be a problem
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