Folding Forum

EOL was announced over a year ago. While its life could end tomorrow, it's unlikely it will end any time soon with that kind of track record. What's it hurt to fold now and upgrade later at your convenience?

How hard would it be to set it up, considering the card's age?

I am not very tech savvy.

My plan is to use this old computer and its old GPU . . . as soon as I get more ram. I would run a simple 64-bit Linux OS and distributed computing is all this computer would do.

Even without adding RAM, you should be able to run a CPU slot with whatever type of CPU you have available. You can run Linux or Windows; your choice. At this point in time, there are plenty of assignments from projects that will run on GPUs that were introduced beginning in 2010, specically nVidia's 400 series (Fermi) and later GPUs and ATI/AMD GPUs of a similar generation. Many GPUs which were introduced in 2005-2009 can also fold, but some cannot.

So, which "core" projects would I be able to select with my 1 GB GTS-250 card? I confirmed it is g92.

Core_15 is Windows only, and simple to install. The fah installer does all the work except for the one extra setting change you will need to get core_15 work units. And the install guide, with pictures, can show you how to do that last step.

Would Core 15 be the only core my card could do?

GTS250 wrote:Would Core 15 be the only core my card could do?

Yes. The newer GPU cores require features it does not support and the older cores are no longer in use.

There were 2 core types available until just a few months ago, but as Joe said, now there is only one type. An core_15 folds really well on my older GPU.

GTS250 wrote:How hard would it be to set it up, considering the card's age?

I am not very tech savvy.

My plan is to use this old computer and its old GPU . . . as soon as I get more ram. I would run a simple 64-bit Linux OS and distributed computing is all this computer would do.

Getting core_15 GPU work for Linux is pretty tricky. You'd have to install Wine and some custom wrapper libraries, then run the Windows GPU console client v6.41 under Wine (with -forcegpu nvidia_fermi).
I used to fold core_15 work on a 9400GT (CC 1.0, 512MB VRAM) and Linux Mint. Worked just fine as far as I could tell, so most likely it would work on a GTS250 too. However, setting it up isn't something I'd call trivial. Anyway, there are instructions posted in this forum if you want to give it a shot. You'll probably have to adapt them a bit for newer Linux distros, though.

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=23958

From the download page, Client v6.41 already been removed? Or I do not see it?

artoar_11 wrote:From the download page, Client v6.41 already been removed? Or I do not see it?

With the release of the V7 client several years ago (as noted by the 2011 year in the URL) the older clients were no longer promoted and were archived to their own separate page. The v6 client has been on the road to EOL for a while, like every previous client version. No official announcement a out that, but when that happens eventually, no one should be surprised by that. Past actions have usually been a good indicator of how future actions will unfold. Caveat Folder.

7im wrote: With the release of the V7 client several years ago (as noted by the 2011 year in the URL) the older clients were no longer promoted and were archived to their own separate page. The v6 client has been on the road to EOL for a while, like every previous client version. No official announcement a out that, but when that happens eventually, no one should be surprised by that. Past actions have usually been a good indicator of how future actions will unfold. Caveat Folder.

Yes, the reasons for archiving v6.XX I understand. Correctly. To new members on FF should do recommended for Core_15 this:

(by bruce » 04 Feb 2015, 00:20) viewtopic.php?f=24&t=14714&start=210#p273584

artoar_11 wrote:snip

... To new members on FF should do recommended for Core_15 this:

(by bruce » 04 Feb 2015, 00:20) viewtopic.php?f=24&t=14714&start=210#p273584

I agree. This link was offered to the OP on the previous page of this topic.

FWIW, I've used the v7 method of getting nothing but core15 work (for a low end Fermi GPU) for ~3 weeks now. Has worked as expected in Win7. Won't work in Linux, though. There is no Linux version of core15. Considering its EOL status, there won't be one, ever. So the only option there is to run the old v6 client (and Windows core15) under Wine. Therefore v6 GPU client isn't entirely unnecessary yet, but it's getting there. It's not just FAH, even NVidia has dropped pre-Fermi support in their newer driver releases. Less-than-subtle clue from NVidia to go for a low end Maxwell GPU, whether you need it or not.

To be honest, replacing the GTS250 with a 750Ti or a 960 wouldn't be a bad choice, particularly since the core18 performance issues are apparently fixed in new drivers. You'd crunch (a lot) faster with smaller wattage.