Mixed GPU Folding

[CasheKicker]

Ok so I have seen a number of posts with members having difficulty folding with multiple mixed GPUs. Have there been any success stories? If so how did you do it?

For example I am wanting to fold with a GTX285 and an 8800GTS 512 on my X38-DQ6.

Rig 2 has an 8800gts in it but only has a single PCI-e slot, I have since picked up a second 8800 twin and have an empty slot ion Rig 2 I could use if I can get them to cooperate.

Other option is to find a SLI 939 slot board to marry up the 8800s in and later get a secong 285. In the meantime with budget restraints I would like to get the empty slot to work with what I have.

So success stories please!!!

[zlojack]

Mine failed miserably

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by zlojack

Mine failed miserably

LOL, I do believe he asked for sucess stories.

Well Cashe, Barring no other solutions, I'll be putting my Test RIg up for sale now that I've got a new folding Project Started. Hit me up on the PM if you'd like :)


ST

[Alwaysrun]

I'm sure there is a way. zlojack and I both tried folding with the same 9800gt and geforce 200 series cards to no avail. I think the primary problem is having 2 different drivers on the same OS. I'm no expert on dual OS or running a virtual OS in the background..or if this can be done whatsoever. But I figure if you could maybe you could have one driver on each OS running at the same time.

Sorry Cashe I've looked around alot and didn't find one post anywhere with success stories. I pulled my hair out for two days trying to get it to work.

[chrisk]

The main issues arise it seems if you mix two cards that have different amounts of shaders. I know your GTX 285 has 240 shaders, and I believe the 8800GTS has 128 shaders. This will result in low performance on the GTX 285 if in the same rig. LCB001 put me on to this and it seems that while you won't get errors, it results in poor performance.

However, if you mix two different cards with the same shader counts (ie. GTX 280, and a 285, both with 240 shaders but at different speeds) then you will be more successful.

Look at the two rigs in my sig. Both have multiple GPUs folding. My main rig has both cards folding at approx 9000PPD each (depending on WU of course), and in my folding box my GTX+ gets ~5000 PPD, and the GSO gets ~2500 PPD on the newer WUs (1680 point ones), which I believe is lower than they should be.

[LCB001]

Running a 8800GTS with your 285 won't work, at least I haven't seen it done yet. Running two 8800GTS's together will work fine since they have the same shader count, same as my GTX+'s work fine together...

[chrisk]

LCB: is it the shader count or the series? I have a 9800GTX+ and a 9600GSO folding in the same rig, but they are both the 9000 series (which we know are re-badged 8000 series chips).

[LCB001]

Originally Posted by chriskwarren

LCB: is it the shader count or the series? I have a 9800GTX+ and a 9600GSO folding in the same rig, but they are both the 9000 series (which we know are re-badged 8000 series chips).

These are two different problems. 1) The 2xx series don't seem to mix with any previous gen cards. 2) The Shader Bug, a mix of cards with different shader counts will cause the faster card to slow down, unless the one shader # is a multiple of the other.

Hope this makes sense...

[chrisk]

Perfect! Thanks!

[zlojack]

Originally Posted by LCB001

These are two different problems. The 2xx series don't seem to mix with any previous gen cards. 2) The Shader Bug, a mix of cards with different shader counts will cause the faster card to slow down, unless the one shader # is a multiple of the other.

Hope this makes sense...

It sort of does.

A multiple in what sense? Like a ratio?