Folding Forum

Quick question first- I've got an older, spare PC I haven't sold yet that I set up to fold in the meantime. I just got an R7 265 back from RMA, and I have a GT 440. The GT440 in particular doesn't get amazing PPD or anything, but I thought I might throw both of them in the PC just to fold. Will Folding work with an Nvidia and an AMD card at the same time? I had tried this previously on a different system, and had issues with it, but I've since had problems with one of the same GPUs, so wasn't sure if that could've been what caused it. Can post specs if necessary.

Now the longer questions, I've been folding for a couple months on my main PC. I had to send in my 980ti for RMA, so I've been using an R9 290 I hadn't sold yet in my main system since then. I can't get it to fold at all, it keeps saying that "OpenCL.dll is missing". I did some googling, and reinstalled F@H. Sounded like it could be drivers, but my gf's PC folds with an R9 290 also, and the same drivers, so I don't know exactly what the issue is (hers does seem to crash from folding sometimes, but only overnight). I've tried downclocking the GPU in case that was the issue but had no luck. Basically, if we leave it folding overnight, when we check on it in the morning, the PC is still running, but will not respond to input or give any display output.

So, to re-state everything:
1- Can I use Nvidia and AMD cards in the same PC for folding? (R7 265+GT 440, 980ti+290 possibly when I get my 980ti back)
2- Any advice for fixing the OpenCL.dll problem with the Tri-X 290?
3- How to fix the overnight crashing with folding on Vapor-X 290?


Computer Specs (my main PC, the one on which I can't get the 290 to fold):
-i7 5930k, 6 cores (+HT), @3.5ghz, 16gb DDR4, R9 290 Sapphire Tri-X OC 4gb (previously had a 980ti running, never had any problems with that one)
-Crimson 16.4.1
Network Connection: DSL, windows firewall
Operating System: Windows 10, up-to-date
Overclocked?: No OC while folding
Stable?: Stable
Software: 7.4.4
WU details: Not sure what to put here

Computer Specs 2 (gf's PC, the one which crashes sometimes if Folding left overnight)
-FX-8350, 8 cores, @4.0ghz, 16gb DDR3, R9 290 Sapphire Vapor-X 4gb
-Crimson 16.4.1
Network Connection: DSL, windows firewall
Operating System: Windows 10, up-to-date
Overclocked?: No OC while folding
Stable?: Stable
Software: 7.4.4
WU details: Not sure what to put here

Thanks, guys!

Welcome to the folding forum.

To answer your first question, yes cards from AMD-ATI and nVidia can be used in the same PC for folding. However the client does not always get the cards correctly assigned to GPU folding slots, and sometimes the indexes need to be manually adjusted so the right folding core is running on the correct GPU. To maximize your chances of the client getting it right, the folding client should be uninstalled and then reinstalled after installing both cards and drivers for them. There are a few guides on the forum on adjusting the client settings if the installation does get the cards improperly assigned.

Fixing the OpenCL dll problem usually takes reinstalling the drivers. That would need to include OpenCL support which is sometimes not included with some driver downloads.

To add to what Joe_H has said, Microsoft likes to install their own version of drivers from NVidia and ATI/AMD. They often strip out things like OpenCL.

Stanford recommends that you replace Microsoft's versions with the latest released version directly from the manufacturers' websites. That also means that you may need to tweak the settings for Windows Update so it doesn't overwrite the ones you installed when MS decides to distribute the next driver version.

Great, thanks, I'll see if reinstalling the drivers helps. Does anyone have any ideas about the overnight crashing, or a way to get more info about it? Because the computer is locked up and I can't see anything when we come back, I wasn't sure how to get info about the crash.

You will need to look in the system logs, which may or may not help. My first guess about overnight crashes would be Microsoft unattended updates -- make sure automatic driver updates are turned off. (FAH software does not like it if a GPU driver update occurs while a GPU is folding.)

Right.
1) Check the even log.
2) Temporarily turn off Windows Update and see if it stops crashing.
3) install a program that keeps a record of system and GPU temperatures and look at the last reports before the crash.

Great, thanks for the help guys. Reinstalling the drivers helped with my PC, I'll do some more work on the other two and let y'all know how it goes. Appreciate it!