Performance issue on Core2Quad+260GTX

[Calendyr]

Hello everyone,

I just installed the GForce 260 GTX I purchased off Ebay to replace my Radeon HD4850 that wasn't supported by F@H.

Prior to the installation my Core2Quad (Q6600) was producing in between 10,000 and 13,000 Points per day using CPU folding only.

With my GForce activelly folding, estimates dropped from 10,000 to 8,600 PPD.

I have done the following to improve things (without success):

- Installed latest NVidia drivers
- Manually reduced to 2 cores the CPU folding (to allow other 2 cores to feed the GPU)
- Put the CPU folding back in automatic mode (-1 setting)

I am not sure what to do to improve performance. The GPU of the 260 GTX should be a lot faster than 2 cores of the Core2Quad right?

Any help welcome.

Daniel

[iceman1992]

Assuming you are using v7, I believe it doesn't show a PPD estimate for GPUs.
At least that's what happens with mine.
So you won't see an increased overall PPD.

[bruce]

Hi Calendyr Your most recent GPU WU was P11293 R18 C378 G17 which earned 1835 points of credit in 0.26 days which works out to 7058 PPD. Your most recent SMP WU was
P8014 R7 C732 G38 which earned 812.82 points in 0.07 days for 11612 PPD. Assuming those rates were processing concurrently and that they apply on a continuous basis, you're earning 18669 PPD.

The NVidia GPU uses very little CPU so you shouldn't need to devote two CPUs to it. For most people, a Core2Quad should be run at SMP:4 whether you also run the GTX 260 at the same time or not.

There are two GTX 260 models. Did you get the one with 216 stream processors or 192?

[Calendyr]

Hello Bruce,

I am not sure if you are looking at the right account or not. I use a seperate username for each machine I have so I can track individual machine's performance. On the other hand I use the same passkey for all my computers... so I don't know how that will show up on the charts.

The machine I am talking about is under username Calendyr-Quadbox. You were most likelly looking at the stats for my main computer (listed under Calendyr).

I work tonight so I will have a chance to look at how the system did last night and today when I get there.

I did notice that with the new graphics card, the system is almost unuable when F@H is running. I had to put it on pause just to surf the web. On my other computers I don't even notice it's running unless I decide to play a game. Even there I have played game like Mass Effect 3 with F@H running in the background and it took me a while to realise I forgot to put it on pause. For games like Civilization V I don't even bother pausing it because the slowdown is just not noticable.

Well, will post again later tonight when I have looked at numbers for that computer.

[DoctorsSon]

I have a GTX 260 C216 with a Phenom II.
My ppd for SMP drops near the same amount when using the 260.
My 260 gets about 8k ppd in case you need a reference.
Also lag is bad when running the 260, but it is a folding comp so it doesn't matter.

[Calendyr]

Just got to work. The estimated PPD is now showing 16 !!!

Something is definatelly wrong with this.

[bruce]

Hi Calendyr-QuadBox
Your most recent GPU WU (P5770 R4 C253 G3543) earned 353 points of credit in 0.06 days for 5883 PPD.
Your most recent SMP WU (P7004 R1 C85 G26) earned 2271.6 points of credit in 0.58 days for 3917 PPD.

Under the same assumptions mentioned above, that gives you a total PPD of 9800.

[Calendyr]

So it's actually less productive than simply having my CPU fold without a GPU. I find that strange, people keep saying GPUs are much more powerful than CPUs for folding. I guess that is not the case with the 260 GTX. I'll give it a day before putting my 4850 back in the machine and re-selling the 260 GTX.

[DoctorsSon]

I get more total points running the 260 than I do by SMP alone.
I drop about 1.5k ppd from the cpu but get 8k from the 260 so basically I'm gaining about 6.5k ppd.
With a GTX 560 I don't see a drop in SMP ppd.