Is GPU2 really that much faster than CPU? [Yes]

[Meatball]

I dug up an old Shuttle Box I had laying around with a P4/2.4 Ghz, 1 GB RAM and an old Geforce 3 card. Might as well get some use out of it. Just wondering if GPU2 is really that much faster? Since the Shuttle only has an AGP slot, I could probably pick up a ATI 26xx or 36xx card for $80+ on Newegg. Just wondering if it's worth it. I'd hate to spend the money if it's not a lot faster since I'll never use the machine for anything else.

Thanks!

[7im]

Max PPD on the CPU benchmark is 110 PPD, 220 with Bonus WUs. The GPU is 1500 PPD. You decide.

[paydirt]

Hey Meatball,

Yeah, I have an older computer with AGP and ran a x1950pro in it. That was worth it while it lasted. I'm considering adding a 3xxx AGP card to it. You may want to wait until the ATI GPU2 client is less CPU intensive so you can get full use out of the card. If they could make it much less CPU intense, then I will get an 3850 AGP that is currently around $150. 320 stream processors vs 120 for the 2xxx series.

[VijayPande]

It's worth noting that the GPU2 client can often need a fast CPU to feed a very fast GPU. You could see if someone on the forum has a similar set up to what you're thinking of putting together to see what the PPD would be before you buy. I would not suggest putting a very high end GPU into an old system as the CPU may become a bottleneck.

[ExtraFloppy]

I had good luck with the gpu client. Using a two year old computer with an 2.4ghz dual core, I added a pair of $130 8800GT's, the results where a steady yeild of 10,000 ppd and 22-25 wu/day. I was concerned about the cpu keeping up, but overclocking the cpu up to 3.0ghz resulted in marginal gains, so I returned to stock.

I also have a 3850 AGP card with a four year old single core 2.0ghz cpu with a yeild of arround 1,700 ppd.

I'm pretty sure for arround $1,300 one could put together a single box folding machine capable of 20,000+ ppd based on 4x8800gt cards; to equal that in cpu folders would take rather large pile of older pc's.

[Kazuo Ishiguro]

I'm pretty sure for arround $1,300 one could put together a single box folding machine capable of 20,000+ ppd based on 4x8800gt cards; to equal that in cpu folders would take rather large pile of older pc's.

I've been wondering about this. These cards do seem to be some of the better ones in terms of points/$, since their power consumption and price are both fairly low. I've heard of people using the slower 4x PCI slots to connect them, but I wonder whether this is going to cause a bottleneck at some point? Also, with that many cards in one box you'd need a very big PSU and a lot of cooling...

[bowman]

It's worth noting that the GPU2 client can often need a fast CPU to feed a very fast GPU. You could see if someone on the forum has a similar set up to what you're thinking of putting together to see what the PPD would be before you buy. I would not suggest putting a very high end GPU into an old system as the CPU may become a bottleneck.

I'm using a 90nm AMD Athlon which definitely is not on par with any Core 2s, and I get the same PPD.

It looks like the GPU client is more CPU cycle hungry in XP than in Vista. In Vista I'd think you can easily get away with a Core-based (_not_ NetBurst) Celeron.

[alancabler]

Hello Meatball,
Published CPU/GPU scores in this forum and at the GPU score database, indicate that your P4 should be able to drive a 2600 Pro and might run an HD 3650/2600Xt at/near max GPU.
The AGP 3850s need a much faster CPU to reach max utilization (there's hardly an AGP- based CPU fast enough).

How much faster would your rig be?
If the 320- shader 3850/3870 series cards are running over 100 GFLOPS FAH production, a 120- shader card should be at least 1/3 as effective, which is a lot faster than any P4.

Published scores indicate that the 2600 PROs can make 800 ppd.
The 2600 XTs and HD 3650s are even faster, while the 3650s use the least power.
Your P4 2.4 can't keep a 3850 fed right now, but might "someday" if future code tweaks decrease CPU load ala the nVidia client, if that much of an improvement is possible.

[quickbrownfox1]

Nvidia folding is far less cpu intensive than ATI folding, so A 8800GT will definitely fed by that P4 you have. Im running a 8800 GT on a dual core 2.4 AMD and its at 95-100% utilization.

[ExtraFloppy]

Update:

Yesterday I recieved two more 8800gt's from newegg. I added one and after about an hour of driver switches I was able to get a steady 12 hours running 15,000+ ppd/36+ wu per day on a E6600 (dual core, core 2) with three 8800's. I'll be working on adding the fourth this weekend.

I was at 100% cpu with two cards, and am now at 100% with three cards - however the folding per card has not decreased, keeping right at 4800-5300 per 8800gt (depending on wu type). Cards are running at stock core and mem, with shaders oc'd to 1750.

Temps are high, 65-75c but no issues so far. I use aluminum server cases, so airflow is pretty good and card depth isn't an issue.

Power is fed via a Power & PC 750w supply, I figured on 130w per gpu - so I should be good for up to 5 cards (if space allowed) plus the cpu and 4 drive raid array.

[sneakers55]

I dug up an old Shuttle Box I had laying around with a P4/2.4 Ghz, 1 GB RAM and an old Geforce 3 card. Might as well get some use out of it. Just wondering if GPU2 is really that much faster? Since the Shuttle only has an AGP slot, I could probably pick up a ATI 26xx or 36xx card for $80+ on Newegg. Just wondering if it's worth it.

Shuttle computers usually have a power supply on the small side. You may not be able to run a power-hungry video card.

[alancabler]

Nvidia folding is far less cpu intensive than ATI folding, so A 8800GT will definitely fed by that P4 you have. Im running a 8800 GT on a dual core 2.4 AMD and its at 95-100% utilization.

AFAIK, nvidia doesn't make a FAH-capable AGP card.

[Meatball]

Yeah, you're right. Fastest AGP capable Nvidia card is in the 7 series. That's why I was looking at the Radeon 3000 series, but considering the CPU is a bit older, it's looking like I'll max out on the CPU side, so it's probably not worth spending the $ on the 3850.