Folding Forum

Hello,
I'm new on this forum so Hi all!

I want to talk about new green edition of Nvidia graphic card.
On the Nvidia site they talk about a 9600GT that consume only 59W. Recently I bought a 9800GT Green edition but I know Gainward and perhaps other else have a GTS 250 green edition too.
Why green edition? So I think that using GPU consume energy...also time it's to considere climat change etc...Now more and more green product are available and there is a possibility to make a good score with a lower energy consumption...

Don't forget that climat factors can influe on health...and there no dichotomy between health and environnement...

it's just my opinion...

In my experience, the so-called "green" edition is mostly a marketing ploy. If you overclock your hardware, you'll get more work done and you'll consume more power. If you underclock your hardware, you'll get less work done and you'll use less power. Both choices are avilable to all of us, whether you adjust your own clock settings or you let someone else do it for you.

Some GPUs are marketed as an "overclocked edition" but nobody's going to buy something that is called an underclocked edition, but they'll probably buy the same hardware if it's called "green" You have to choose how much you are willing to contribute to Folding and part of that decision is how much power you are willing to spend.

You may find this discussion helpful: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=9290

Thank for your answer,

in fact "green edition" are underclocked but also have low-voltage conception. It's the possibility to make it run, for me, on a 300W unit.
My consideration it's to find a good challenge between performance and power (thank for the link).

It's not uncommon for notebook computers to have "green" CPUs which are underclocked/undervolted versions of desktop CPUs which are rebranded with a different part number. They end up having extended battery life and fewer problems with heat but lower performance than the desktop version. The same is probably true for GPUs.

First clue to the "greenness" of a card is whether it requires a separate power connector. If so, it will consume >75 Watts under load.

If you really want a "green" card, look for one without an extra plug. The ATI 4670 is a good example of power/performance balance.

nVidia is attaching a 'Green' name to the 55nm cards. The GTS250 is pretty similar to the 9800GT yet uses less power.

Leoslocks wrote:nVidia is attaching a 'Green' name to the 55nm cards. The GTS250 is pretty similar to the 9800GT yet uses less power.

No its a rebadged 9800gtx+

If so, it draws about 125 Watts under load; hardly "green"...

OTOH, if it's for gaming, it's better than some others...

For some users "Green Edition" models could be the better choice, if they want to restrict the power consumption for the future (or existing PSUs).

I prefer models with achievement potential: you can switch (underclock/undervolt) to a "Summer Edition" with great efficiency or to a "Winter Edition" (overclocked/-volted) to enlarge your contributions. If cooling aspects are important criteria. But you pay a high price for the (reached) average PPD regarding the lifespan of those cards. That should be kept in mind.

Hardware that operates in full capacity (to date) may not be (very) useful for future developments from the Pande group. Otherwise (current) high end cards will never reach the same efficiency like mid range hardware. I appreciate the "Green IT" trend because some people should return back to more rationality, best performance is a matter of highest ressource wasting. Modern chip technology with integrated power savings beat any cripple hardware based on obsolete chip design.

However models like GTS 250 (=G92) shouldn´t be a bad choice, today, but those ratings may change tomorrow. Remember the situation one year ago.

No development section running DC can ignore the market situation (which hardware is available), so, if "Green" hardware shows the highest distribution, they will produce software for that hardware. In fact "Green" cards are a niche product IMO with a very small chance to get out of. New model arrive at the market end of year & next year, the show must go on.

The development in FAH has been outlined with the news How does FAH code development and sysadmin get done? (June 17, 2009).

X1900AIW wrote:No development section running DC can ignore the market situation (which hardware is available), so, if "Green" hardware shows the highest distribution, they will produce software for that hardware. In fact "Green" cards are a niche product IMO with a very small chance to get out of. New model arrive at the market end of year & next year, the show must go on.

The development in FAH has been outlined with the news How does FAH code development and sysadmin get done? (June 17, 2009).

From my perspective, that part of your post doesn't make much sense.

FAH does not produce software that works only on "green" hardware or on "non-green" hardware, but rather software for whatever hardware that they expect donors to have a lot of. The fact that GPUs can be used to process the analysis through the CUDA or CAL interface is the only consideration. The "green" or the "non-green" label is applied by the hardware marketing people but that doesn't change whether you can use it to fold or not.

Similarly, if you buy a green power supply to replace your inefficient / old power supply it does not have anything to do with being able to use the FAH software any more than if the power was generated by PV solar on your roof. You have to weigh the costs (purchase cost, electricity costs, carbon footprint, heat produced, etc.) and benefits and make a decision that you feel is reasonable, but FAH isn't really involved in those choices.

The question of over- vs. under- clocking/volting has already been mentioned several times -- and that is important -- but a big part of the power consumed is also driven by the chip technology. Every time the manufacturer goes through a die-shrink process, the power dissipation goes down for a given rate of processing. When making the choices for a new piece of hardware, you should always seriously consider the one with the later die technology (if you have a choice) and see what folks are saying about the possibility of an upcoming die-shrink.

I've got two "green" 9800GT's they don't need any extra power connectors, just pull power from the pcie slot. They are underclocked by default.

So I overclocked them to past (non-green) stock speeds and they work fine

Not so green anymore tho

"Green" for folding purposes comes down to Points Per Day / Watt. Some of the "green" cards may lower power use of the card by a few percent, but if they drop performance by more than they drop power use, they are actually less efficient.

I suppose that depends on your point of view...

IF you run computers for Folding only, I would submit that there are 2 plausible positions:
1) PPD/Watt is most important.
2) It's not "green" at all, because you are wasting overhead to use "spare" CPU cycles.

OTOH, if you Fold as an adjunct to other computer use, minimizing the excess power consumed should be the primary "green" consideration. Use what you need/want for performance for the computers' primary purposes, and add minimal extra consumption for Folding.

OTOOH, if you are a serious gamer, then "green" goes out the window anyhow, because I cannot find ANY environmental justification for consuming all that energy for gaming in the first place...

Minimising computer use precludes Folding though so I don't get your point? Folding may use spare cycles but the spare cycles would have used less power. This is self-evident, isn't it?

The search for efficient (ppd/watt) is an interesting one but really only relevant for those sad souls (I'm one) who run more computers and more powerful computers than we could possibly need because we're stats junkies.

No, not self-evident.

Adding F@H to a currently in-use computer adds CPU (and/or GPU) load. Adding dedicated F@H computers adds system load, which is CPU + MoBo + HD + GFX + ...

Hey! I could probably survive with a single Celeron (like my Dad's Dell) instead of the array of computers my wife & I depend on. I understand the "need" for raw computing power. I don't advocate minimalism, but only reason.