GPU OCing and Folding

[t1nm4n]

Would I need to OC the Vram on my 290x's to see any increase in folding PPD, or since it doesn't utilize much memory that would be a waste, and just stick with bumping core clock up?

The other question, am I wrong in thinking that if I got a stable Folding OC on these cards that OC might not be good for gaming, I am trying to get as decent OC with as little increase to voltage as I can. Right now I have a -10v and +20clock on the factory OC'd stock 1.250v and 1050clock. According to GPU-z max VDDC is only getting as high as 1.219v so would it be safe to assume I might be able to go a bit higher on the clock without having to increase the voltage? I am guessing this is now entering the realm of "ask it in the right forum but I'm askin anyways, lol.

 

[JrClocker]

For my NVIDIA cards, I can get a stable gaming overclock that will crash the drivers while folding...in other words, folding is harder on the card than gaming (especially with FahCore 0x21).

 

[t1nm4n]

Really, That would explain why over the past 5 hours I've been doing nothing other getting bad sectors on WUs with what I thought was a stable OC. I do know gaming is using more power, but that might also be the memory suckin down the juice.

I think I might have to give up on keeping up with you Clocker, I'll wave in a couple of years when you pass me though.

 

[JrClocker]

I think I might have to give up on keeping up with you Clocker, I'll wave in a couple of years when you pass me though.

I just finished drawing up plans for a 800K+ ppd machine to dedicate to my mother.

I have sponsors lined up...just waiting for them to bring in the $$. Will close the gap quicker!

 

[t1nm4n]

On top of the 650k+ your already doing? That's like cheating

I fold for a lot of reasons, none of which help out right now, but mainly I figure the more I can fold the faster we might come to understand and be able to either prevent or actually cure these diseases. I do have to admit, you are gonna make me build another machine aren't you. While I don't wish to take away from you your loss, I can't imagine the los of my parents (not yet, they are still young in my eyes) I feel for you.

Back on topic, I should of known this already, but it appears if you OC a gpu you can't have the [email protected] client open or any unfinished WUs waiting, it seems to mess up the calculations. I did get a +5 OC to complete 2 WUs on a 290X and on this new 390X I got yesterday a +20 OC, the 390X run so much warmer than the 290X and is a lot louder, might be it's location in this case I have it in also, but dang it reminds me how much I like the water-cooler rig I have right next to me. I think it would have to be a substantial OC to make any decent improvements towards folding, so I think I'll down-clock the 390X and leave the 290X stock just for temperature reasons primarily. the 390X seems to run 12c higher at only a difference at its stock 1070Mhz clock (again might be placement but will see after the down-clock).

Now that I have a beginners grasp on OC'ing GPUs I might OC the water-cooled rig GPU to see how it's temps are affected if much at all, they seem to run at a constant 46c (although keeping my window open last night and the room getting into the low 50s kept them at 42c) no matter what WU core they are crunching.

 

[JrClocker]

On top of the 650k+ your already doing? That's like cheating

821,336 yesterday...but that's splitting hairs!

While I don't wish to take away from you your loss, I can't imagine the los of my parents (not yet, they are still young in my eyes) I feel for you.

Thank you. My father passed in 2010, and my mother passed in September of 2015. This is why I fold.


My overclock on my 980 Ti Hybrid can go 1500+ MHz for gaming...but this craps out when I try to fold at this level. I currently have it stable and folding at 1429 MHz.

I can't get a stable folding overclock on the new GTX 960 mini I just bought...so it's running at stock 1329 MHz.


If I start the EVGA Precision X overclock tool while actively folding, I usually get a crash of the NVIDIA drivers...GPU clock gets stuck at 400 MHz, and I have to reboot!


And Core 0x21...these really hammer on my 980 Ti Hybrid...hit maximum power draw, and gets the temp up to 60 C! That's toasty for this card...

 

[t1nm4n]

I'm glad I put in that other card, might be able to stay around where you are for PPD currently, but if you get the new machine up and running, I'll just kick back and watch you leave me in the dust (until I get the funds to build a truly epic folder [pipe dreams]), lol.

How is that 960mini doing btw?

Don't seem to be able to down-clock the 390, might have to play with it from a restart before I begin to fold on any WUs, that's part of the run with computers, trying to manipulate them in a manor that suits the manipulator, although I think the hardware has more control over me than visa-versa, at times it seems that way.

 

[JrClocker]

The 960 mini dies between 140 and 160 K ppd. Fans stay quiet!

Speaking of fans...I just opened my case to put in new fans...and then the MB wouldn't post. Swapped in spare memory I had...posted.

Have to troubleshoot why my memory that is 3 months old didn't post...

 

[t1nm4n]

Best guess was you bumped it enough to cause a bad seat, reseat and check, but sucks anytime you do something on your PC and it's doesn't go as planned. Building that folding/media box when I put the first gpu in I used the wrong DVI port and was getting nothing from my monitor, took me awhile checking rechecking to realize I kept putting it in the wrong DVI port, once the software was installed it would work from either of the DVI ports, but until it gets drivers it only works from the top on.

Still no joy on getting a down-clock to stick on any card, it was easy enough to OC them, but doesn't seem to want to under-clock at all. Might swap slot they are in and see if that helps with temps some, they have plenty of fresh air comin in, but that 390X wants to run 10-15c higher than a 290X, I just don't want it to be a bad TIM job and have to pull it apart do it right, will see.

That's a nice bump in PPD for such a small inexpensive card, I keep hearing about how good NVidias fold, it almost makes we want to sell my AMD stuff to offset going NVidia/Intel.

 

[JrClocker]

I looks like the memory has gone bad.

I spent some time swapping modules around, and still can't get the system to post. Using my older slower memory now.

Sent a tech ticket into GEIL...no response yet...not sure how long it's going to take to RMA the memory.

I've been NVIDIA for a long, long time...EVGA in particular.

 

[t1nm4n]

That blows the memory went, and I thought GEIL was like the primo-niche market memory, guess anything can go bad after awhile.

I guess I've always been an AMD fan back from the Duron days, I couldn't afford Intel back then, and Duron wasn't so far off bac then it didn't make sense to buy the name, and I followed the rule of thumb from then, Intel/NVidia AMD/ATI for best compatability. then went almost 10 years without building a computer, I never even looked at Intel when I build the one in my sig, and since that was a multy-step build I had parts left over to build another AMD rig for folding file-sharing what-not.

But back on topic, I did a lil OC on the water-cooled cards of just +20 on the factory clocked 1050 for the 290x's they would fold nicely, but started to get some small artifacting after about 5hours of Civilization (the new one), dropped them back to 1050. After a day of head-ache got the air cooled cards folding successfully at around 1000Mhz each, but that case is a bit small and the MB has the cards to close together for enough air so the (normally) top cards is getting much hotter than the bottom card, still within reason, but I'm not at home for a few weeks so I'd rather not be running it in the mid 70's without monitoring it, I got it finished on it's last WU and only the 390X is folding in that case, temps were in the high 50's for it with the other one going, might drop it to the mid 50's which is just fine by me.

 

[don256us]

Thanks guys for all you do.

I stopped OC'ing my cards as the heat was taking a huge toll on the cards themselves. I also quick folding on the CPU's. I do have factory OC'd cards and I keep them the way the factory sent them. While I might get better short term results if I did OC, I feel that I get better long term results without having to buy gear all of the time.

 

[sporktar]

I've never focused on OCing Vram for folding purposes. I don't have any real proof that this is true, but I've been told it makes no real difference.

 

[caddi daddi]

vram clocking pays about zero to a big minus if you make it unstable so just stick to the core clocking.
for folding I do clock the cards, at default voltage, I find the max clock then back it off 10 and adjust the fan to suit.
as far as I can see, using the right operating system for the card, the best driver and then the slot settings count for most of the ppd for a good start.