I have been looking to increase my ppd for a while now, but as always money gets in the way I am currently folding on a NVidia 9800GTX+ on an ASUS P5K Premium mobo. Could I therefore simply add a second 9800GTX+ to double my ppd? Other things to note, as I am currently using Vista will I need a second monitor connected (which I can lay my hands on easy enough). Also will my 460W PSU be enough to support the extra 9800GTX+, I dont think I have any more spare PCI power connectors so will have to use convertors at the very least. The reast of my setup is fairly simple with an optical drive and one Hitachi SATAII Drive, although my E2140 cpu is overclocked to 3Ghz which will obviously put more strain on the PSU. Thanks for any advice
You will need a second copy of the folding program and a second folder for the data. There are step by step instructions on page 116 of the magazine, Custom PC July 2009. There are also instructions on the Stanford forum here http://forum.xcpus.com/xtreme-folding-home/12627-guide-running-client-multiple-nv-gpus.html
Not definite on this, but you're going to be pulling close to 300W from the two cards alone, if you've got a power hungry CPU as well then you'll be pushing your power supply close to the limit if not over. personally I would want a little more headroom but maybe someone else could offer firmer advice. Edit: just saw you've got an E2140, if your PSU is a good model you will probably be fine
Thanks for the reply It was reading isuue 70's feature on folding that got me thinking that I should really be trying to do more. I am just a bit concered that I buy a second card and it doesnt work, wasting my money.
Thanks Deadpunkdave, thats what I was afraid of. Am I right to think that if I just give it a go the worst that can happen is my machine will become unstable and stutdown? At which point I can invest in a bigger PSU, or am I likely to cause some actual damage to my hardware?
I'm no expert but the basic answer is it depends on your PSU. In 99.9% of cases, an underpowered PSU just causes instability. Letting that instability continue for any considerable period of time will damage your hardware as in it will reduce its lifetime but you've got to be pretty unlucky for something to actually go boom.
Cool, thats good enough for me. I understand that I can mix graphics cards, as I cant find any 9800gtx+ for sale other than on fleabay, I seem to remember reading in cpc somewhere that a NVidia 250 (I think it was) is virtually the same card. Would this run alongside my 9800 without any issues???? Thanks again for your input
No probs. The main factor in card compatibility (apart from red vs. green ) is the number of stream processors on each card. Both cards have 128 cores so you may well be able to mix those but I have no direct experience. (I am using 9800GTs and 8800GTs simultaneously, but they are near identical)
Excellent! Thanks again for your help. I just need to get the finacial clearance from the wife andI'll be sorted....cant see any problems there I think she also has plenty of Stream Processors
This may be a problem. With two GTX+ cards and an overclocked CPU I reckon you may be reaching the limit of the PSU. Usually this will lead to nothing worse than an unstable machine, but there is the possibility of a sudden failure, which may take out other componants. The latest CPC (issue 71 which calls itself 'August') has a special labs test on a range of PSUs and advice on how to tell if you need a new one.
You aren't looking in the right place. Google, shopping, GTX+ brings up lots for sale, starting under £100. I've always got best results running two cards that are the same, even pairs of cards that 'ought to be the same' don't always behave so.
