200k & GPU Folding

[golfingtigger]

First, I just reached 200k. I am proud of me. I've come such a long way :D

As for GPU folding, here's my history on trying to get this thing running:


Owned an Nvidia 6800GT that I loved, but wanted to do some GPU folding (and Crossfire occassionally).
Acquire the video cards in my sig.
Try valiantly to get the two cards folding (crossfire disabled)


Card 1 Folds for a few frames and fails, then submits this to Stanford
Card 2 doesn't get past the starting gate (application fails and closes)


I try older Radeon drivers to see if this helps...big mistake
I begin getting a "Zero Display" error message when I perform the installation
Subsequently, Half-Life 2 (every flavor: Normal, Episode I, Lost Coast) doesn't run - "memory couldn't be referenced" errors every time
I pour over hundreds of web pages over a period of a week to identify the fix, which even ATI themselves don't know the cause (http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=25557)

I get a countermeasure in place and my computer is now operating flawlessly

So now I am back to square one. Am I the only person having to jump through these kind of hoops to get this thing running, or am I just missing something here?

[Lord_Anubis]

gpu folding can be a major pain in the butt, that's why gave it up on my 1900Xt & 1950Pro. If you really wanna do it I would try the 6.10b drivers, because I know they work (even on the 1950), & make sure you are using the correct DirectX 9.0c version (4.09.0000.0904 worked for me). I used ATI Tray Tools to read temps & for overclocking, I would just run stock speeds untill you get everything going correctly. Good luck.

[pscout]

Congrats on the 200k!! :beer: :beer:

I too banged my head against a brick wall trying to get 2 (and even 3 :eek:) gpus to fold on a p5w64. I got them to work but adding a second gpu didn't get good production ... at best ~ 50-60% more production. When smp came along i eventually dumped all my gpu instances. My tests were mostly with 930D's and i also tried it on my p5wd2 -E and -P.

all mine were x1900 variants (aiw, xt, xtx) except for 1 1950 pro.

For the 1950 pro i needed to use the 6.10 driver.

I mostly used atitool to oc them, but i tried every other tool that i could find as well.

I do recall someone at fc reporting pretty good times with 2 xtx's (one was crossfire, but disabled) on your mobo with a 6600. I think there may also have been one with 1950's also on a conroe but don't recall which mobo.
I also think they were ati's cards.

But in general, adding a second gpu only got ~50% more than a single with the very few exceptions as mentioned above where the perf hit of adding a second gpu was only ~5-10%.

I am going on memory here ... i stopped reading the gpu forum at FC months ago.

You must be even more frustrated than i was :cry: ... i was at least able to get them to fold together.

[ChasR]

Almost sounds like a flag issue. Are you running one with machine ID 1 and the -gpu 0 flag and the other with the Machine ID 2 and the -gpu 1 flag. Heck, I have no idea what I'm talking about, going from the memory of having read something about the flags a long time ago. Memory isn't what it used to be.

[golfingtigger]

Almost sounds like a flag issue. Are you running one with machine ID 1 and the -gpu 0 flag and the other with the Machine ID 2 and the -gpu 1 flag.

Yes I am. In fact, even when I swapped the machine ID and flags, things still turned out the same way on the same GPU's.

But in general, adding a second gpu only got ~50% more than a single with the very few exceptions as mentioned above where the perf hit of adding a second gpu was only ~5-10%.

This is probably the information that has me convinced to just wait until July when I can get that Q6600 after the price drop. I don't have a need to have it otherwise, but for ~$266, I can't pass it up. Plus, I assume that it folds well. I'm gonna do a little research and see what memory configuration works best for it, though (4 x 1GB, 4 x 512MB :shrug: ).

Any additional advice from anyone else is welcome to me on either setup (GPU or SMP folding).

[harlam357]

Grats on the milestone gt! :clap: Well deserved! :thup:

Have you tried looking at the stability of your system memory? When I was having trouble running my x1900xt a quick swap of memory cured the problem. I don't think those sticks were bad, rather just not config'd correctly.

Has your rig been tested prime stable?

[golfingtigger]

I gotta admit that I have not test either the memory or the long-term reliability of my system. To be honest, the only reason that I haven't run memtest is because I have to boot into it and my floppy drive is broken (that's code for I was being lazy).

I'll give those a churn later this week and see what floats to the top.

Good suggestions.

BTW, I'm gonna remove that PQI memory from my sig as it isn't in my rig anymore.

To all: I would like to say thanks for the memories on Page 4. It is time for me to move on to page 3. I hear its a pretty elite group of shakers and movers. Maybe I can sneak in as a towel boy.

[Adak]

Congrats on the 200,000 points GT, and folding your way to page 3, as well! :beer:

See ya soon.

[pscout]

No towel boys required or allowed on this team ... we are all equals :)

Congratz on the new page :)

:beer: :beer:

[NedClocker]

It is time for me to move on to page 3. I hear its a pretty elite group of shakers and movers.
Well, it's been my home for a VERY long time!

Congratulations on the 200k! WTF! :clap:

[golfingtigger]

I feel honored to have made it this far.

Thanks go out to pscout, NedClocker, TollHouseFrank, Wedo, ChasR, Zim01, Nikhsub, harlam357, WarriorII, sno.lcn, and countless others. Although I may not speak to all of you directly, there are many of your posts that keep motivating me to tweak my systems to reach peak potential!

You guys get me excited to move to quad this summer :drool:

[Lord_Anubis]

golfingtigger welcome to page 3 :beer:

[ChasR]

GT,
You don't have to run memtest from a floppy. Memtest86+ v. 1.70 is available as an iso image. Burn that to a CD and it'll boot into memtest.

[golfingtigger]

GT,
You don't have to run memtest from a floppy. Memtest86+ v. 1.70 is available as an iso image. Burn that to a CD and it'll boot into memtest.

See how lazy I am? I didn't even bother getting the most recent version that allows this.

Thanks for the support on my page move, guys. I know it's gonna be a slow road from here on. Luckily, it should be great company on page 3, though!