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Need Some Advice

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SniperXX

Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2002
Location
Folding in Diamond Bar
I currently have a GTX285 and another in the mail due to an ordering mistake on my part.

The dilemma is that theres a user on another forum who offered a trade. Basically my 2 GTX285s +$40 for 3x 9800GX2s.

I know the 3x 9800GX2s will need a crap load of power, as of now my folding rig has 2 problems.
1) Its running a HX620 psu
2) I am running a P6N Diamond as the mobo which from what I read can only run 2x 9800GX2s.

The case is a Antec 300 which I think should handle the heat with the airflow.. I hope.

What to do? I also go to LAN Parties every month or so but I think we are over crysis wars finally. I end up playing TF2 and older games like Battlefield more than anything.

So don't just say PPD is increased, go for it, because I understand that. The potential problems add a twist to my plan. So if I did take the trade it would probably be a month til I can get card 2 and 3 up. Same for the GTX 285 if I kept it, but that would only be due to me ordering a VGA power supply or bigger CM PSU (the $55 refurb or 2, lol).
 
I run four Folding rigs with 9800GX2s: two machines, each with 1 X GX2, two machines, each with 2 X 9800GX2.

Heat. Yes, with two hot GPUs in close proximity, those cards do get very hot and belch out a lot of hot exhaust into the case. The big challenge is not cooling the cards themselves, but expelling the hot exhaust. With a multi-GX2 platform, the heat challenge becomes even more difficult. Your Antec 300 has an exhaust on the side, appearing to be ideally positioned for the GX2's exhaust port. That's a BIG plus for you. It is critical to remove the hot exhaust as quickly as possible, otherwise the metal (yes, metal) card casings just become hotter and hotter. Also, you don't want the heated air recirculating through the cards and the CPU heatsink.

PSU. Your HX-620 will run a GX2 full load and an overclocked CPU without breaking a sweat. (one of my Q6600 + single GX2 rigs is folding full time with an HX 620) Two GX2s would stress it quite hard. I would not recommend anything less than a high quality 750 Watt PSU for a two-GX2 rig that also has a multi-core CPU. I recommend even more a good quality 850 Watt PSUs for that for dual-GX2 Folders. I ran a 750 Watt Corsair for a couple weeks with one of my dual-GX2 rigs. It powered it without perfectly, but the 750's fan would spin up to high RPMs. The sound was annoying.

Just for reference, one of my rigs, which is running a Q6600 overclocked to 3.6 folding and two GX2s with four cores folding, is pulling between 630 and 700 Watts, depending on the work units.

Gaming. I'm not a gamer but I do know that a 285 will outperform a 9800GX2. And, the reviews I've read do not show much of an improvement running both GX2 cores in SLI mode, except for large monitors with all options maxed. Do though, get more opinions on gaming.
 
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in all honesty Id say keep the 285s, 3 gx2s will give you more folding power, but under current conditions you would need to upgrade your case and your PSU to run em (the hx620 should run both 285s, Id try it at least)
and also for gaming two 285s will outperform two gx2s, at high resolutions a single 285 will outperform a gx2, at low resolutions its a close fight
http://www.hwbot.org/hardware.compare.do?type=gpu&id=1304_1&id=1304_2&id=1444_2&id=1444_1

D

p.s. cm psu ? no, no, no
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Both made some valid points. The needed upgrades along with the new cards is a big negative for me right now.. Then the fact is a nice ppd boost running all 3 cards.

I think tomorrow when its slow at work or on my lunch I will have to tally up costs for either setup. That is unless my boss doesn't start up R6:Vegas 2 again, haha.

ZL1, can you elaborate on that psu? I currently only buy corsair but I heard people saying go with the cm750 on some folding threads on other sites.. Maybe they only say it due to its $55 for a refurb?
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Both made some valid points. The needed upgrades along with the new cards is a big negative for me right now.. Then the fact is a nice ppd boost running all 3 cards.

I think tomorrow when its slow at work or on my lunch I will have to tally up costs for either setup. That is unless my boss doesn't start up R6:Vegas 2 again, haha.

ZL1, can you elaborate on that psu? I currently only buy corsair but I heard people saying go with the cm750 on some folding threads on other sites.. Maybe they only say it due to its $55 for a refurb?

mainly because in my experience they arent all that reliable and when we're talking $50 price diff on the psu vs $600 worth of vcards, Id say not worth the risk, I do like their cases so its not a brandname thing or anything like that
corsair psus are pretty much it right now, price/perf/quality ratio is just right

in your particular case, if I were to go with 3x gx2s, Id get a 650tx (currently $100, $90 on good days) or a 750tx or another hx620 and bridge em, you'd need a bigger case, but honestly youd need a bigger case either way to run 3x gx2s

Dan
 
I've had problems with Corsair TX series with F@H - 550, 750, and 850. All pulled the load flawlessy, but all of them rather buzzy at loads higher than 75% of rated power. I am absolutely satisfied with my CM RS-850s and Seasonic M12D 850. The HX620 is also flawless and whisper quiet with a two GPUs.
in your particular case, if I were to go with 3x gx2s, Id get a 650tx
I would not do that unless your CPU is not overclocked and not Folding.
 
I've had problems with Corsair TX series with F@H - 550, 750, and 850. All pulled the load flawlessy, but all of them rather buzzy at loads higher than 75% of rated power. I am absolutely satisfied with my CM RS-850s and Seasonic M12D 850. The HX620 is also flawless and whisper quiet with a two GPUs.

that be tru, I have a 550vx and it does spin up quite a bit during load, however I dont hear it over the vcard anyway :) and thats just one 9800

seasonics are great, no question, Ive got a s12+ 550 in my other rig and I love it, but price/perf point is not as nice as corsair right now

dunno, maybe the higher-higher end cm, do you know who makes the higher end ones ?

I would not do that unless your CPU is not overclocked and not Folding.

as second PSU ? one hx620 for one gx2 & system and one tx650 for the other two gx2s
 
Just my experience with running a 3 x 9800 GX2 system.

I've got an Antec 1200 case, and with a fan on the window port, it wasn't enough to keep it cool. I had to actually leave off the side panel to be able to run them. Even then, I was getting occasional spikes up to 105°C on one GPU.

My OCZ 1000 Watt PSU wasn't enough to run all 3 cards (6 GPUs) folding. I could boot up, and idle no problem. I could even fold on 2 of the 3 cards, but bringing up one or both of the GPUs on the 3rd card would shut down my computer. I got a supplimental power supply to be able to run it.

3 GX2s and a montior with 2 of the GX2s actually folding would pull about 800 watts according to my UPS.

You would get about 30K PPD pulling all 768 point WUs with 3 x GX2s. Same work units should pull about 17K ppd with 2 x 285s (based off of your PM'd numbers).

I would get a 1200 watt PSU if I was going to try to run a single PSU 3 x GX2 system.

It may be just my OCZ unit wasn't up to the job, but somethign to think about.

Hope that helps. :beer:
 
I'd stick with the 285s... you get better "future proofing" with the later technology and if you add a third, you're really close to the same production you would have gotten with 3 x GX2.
 
Just my experience with running a 3 x 9800 GX2 system.

I've got an Antec 1200 case, and with a fan on the window port, it wasn't enough to keep it cool. I had to actually leave off the side panel to be able to run them. Even then, I was getting occasional spikes up to 105°C on one GPU.

My OCZ 1000 Watt PSU wasn't enough to run all 3 cards (6 GPUs) folding. I could boot up, and idle no problem. I could even fold on 2 of the 3 cards, but bringing up one or both of the GPUs on the 3rd card would shut down my computer. I got a supplimental power supply to be able to run it.

3 GX2s and a montior with 2 of the GX2s actually folding would pull about 800 watts according to my UPS.

You would get about 30K PPD pulling all 768 point WUs with 3 x GX2s. Same work units should pull about 17K ppd with 2 x 285s (based off of your PM'd numbers).

I would get a 1200 watt PSU if I was going to try to run a single PSU 3 x GX2 system.

It may be just my OCZ unit wasn't up to the job, but somethign to think about.

Hope that helps. :beer:

Just so everyone knows this is what I PM'd Torin. "Currently my 285 is doing 8,507ppd on P5778 (768pointer)." So basically a GX2 would pull about 10k on that project? So something like 1.5k ppd which could be supplemented with another 8800GT in another rig, lol.

I'd stick with the 285s... you get better "future proofing" with the later technology and if you add a third, you're really close to the same production you would have gotten with 3 x GX2.

Future proofing would be a good idea since it benefits folding and gaming which is nice. I could also run 4x GTX285s with my mobo, which cant be said about the 9800GX2s..


As of right now I am still leaning on keeping the gtx285s. I'll probably end up running numbers at work. I may still scoop one up for $200 if someone buys my netbook, lol.

Also, does anyone know how many watts a 285 pulls folding and same for the 9800GX2? Reviews online seem to all say different stuff, kinda confusing.:bang head
 
I need to run the numbers again on my 2x285 rig... it used to house 2x9800GT Ultimates(basically 2x8800GTS) and I haven't checked the power draw again since then.

That's a 750i rig with a Q6600 @ 333x9... it used to pull a little over 400W with both GPUs and 2xVM SMP running. I'm expecting to see it pull in the upper 500s range... closer to 600W than not.
 
Just so everyone knows this is what I PM'd Torin. "Currently my 285 is doing 8,507ppd on P5778 (768pointer)." So basically a GX2 would pull about 10k on that project? So something like 1.5k ppd which could be supplemented with another 8800GT in another rig, lol.



Future proofing would be a good idea since it benefits folding and gaming which is nice. I could also run 4x GTX285s with my mobo, which cant be said about the 9800GX2s..


As of right now I am still leaning on keeping the gtx285s. I'll probably end up running numbers at work. I may still scoop one up for $200 if someone buys my netbook, lol.

Also, does anyone know how many watts a 285 pulls folding and same for the 9800GX2? Reviews online seem to all say different stuff, kinda confusing.:bang head


On the 590x WUs my system with Q6600 & (2) 9800GX2s only pulled around 600w peak.

Your issue is heat, and power, as others have said. I'd stick with the 285s as well.
 
SniperXX, why can't the P6N Diamond run more than two GX2's? I was considering installing 4x GX2's on one of my P6N mobo's as a future upgrade. The mobo is not in a case, so I don't have to worry as much about the heat issue.

Could the P6N handle 2 GX2's and 2 8800GTS's? Maybe I could do that as a future upgrade.
 
SniperXX, why can't the P6N Diamond run more than two GX2's? I was considering installing 4x GX2's on one of my P6N mobo's as a future upgrade. The mobo is not in a case, so I don't have to worry as much about the heat issue.

Could the P6N handle 2 GX2's and 2 8800GTS's? Maybe I could do that as a future upgrade.

I thought I read somewhere with issues, but I can't figure out if it was rumor or not. So take it with a grain of salt since I dont see why it wouldnt work. Ntteo ran 3 in a p6n so Im kinda confused. :confused: Thats why this part isnt as big of an issue.
 
I thought I read somewhere with issues, but I can't figure out if it was rumor or not. So take it with a grain of salt since I dont see why it wouldnt work. Ntteo ran 3 in a p6n so Im kinda confused. :confused: Thats why this part isnt as big of an issue.

Well, the only issue I'm aware of on the P6N is that on the 4th PCI-E slot, you can only run a single slot card because most cases only have 7 slots on the back.

Case mod will usually fix it.
 
I thought I read somewhere with issues, but I can't figure out if it was rumor or not. So take it with a grain of salt since I dont see why it wouldnt work. Ntteo ran 3 in a p6n so Im kinda confused. :confused: Thats why this part isnt as big of an issue.

I couldn't figure it out, with any combination of PSUs. Hell I couldn't even get (2) 9800GX2s and any other card to run together on the P6N, maybe a BIOS revision would fix it, I don't know. But at some point you quit jerking around with testing and just throw it together in a way that you know it works! :beer:
 
Well, the only issue I'm aware of on the P6N is that on the 4th PCI-E slot, you can only run a single slot card because most cases only have 7 slots on the back.

Case mod will usually fix it.

Ok good to know, caseless guys would be fine anyways.

I couldn't figure it out, with any combination of PSUs. Hell I couldn't even get (2) 9800GX2s and any other card to run together on the P6N, maybe a BIOS revision would fix it, I don't know. But at some point you quit jerking around with testing and just throw it together in a way that you know it works! :beer:

Well I had 2x 8800GT/s running flawlessly. Right now they are in BTX dells folding away due to that being all that fits, lol.
 
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