discussion Help me pick a folding GPU

[Goalieman077]

I have a $300 budget as I've said so I hope to get a bit more ppd. Like I also said I would go to 490 for 295 cause of the ppd. So right now I am looking at the 295, gx2, 260 and 275. I have had very mixed feelings over the gx2 and tge 295 since many people have complaints or think they are good. I like the gx2 jst the heat really since this will be in my bedroom so I can't have fan on 100. Which is why I like the 295. I could see it being cooler and more ppd. Though I could be wrong. Also I've seen no gx2s with warranty for sale but I could find a 295 with one

also I can't see atis becoming folding kings after gpu3 nvidia cards are stil much more optimised. And if I spend 400 on a 295 it's not like it would lose all of it's resale value plus itsngreat at folding

 

[Soultribunal]

I have a $300 budget as I've said so I hope to get a bit more ppd. Like I also said I would go to 490 for 295 cause of the ppd. So right now I am looking at the 295, gx2, 260 and 275. I have had very mixed feelings over the gx2 and tge 295 since many people have complaints or think they are good. I like the gx2 jst the heat really since this will be in my bedroom so I can't have fan on 100. Which is why I like the 295. I could see it being cooler and more ppd. Though I could be wrong. Also I've seen no gx2s with warranty for sale but I could find a 295 with one

Using either a GX2 or GTX295 is going to throw a massive amount of heat out. All of these dual SOlutions will do that. So either you will have to deal with the Fan or WC the Cards which gets quite expensive indeed.
Both are Dual Slot cards, but personally speaking for Price Vs PPD, the GX2 is a good call.

That or like I said, get some GTS250's and poof you're laughing.

ST

 

[3.0charlie]

If you do buy a 295 and wish to keep for long while Folding, you better have that fan at 100%... and the heat dump is very similar between the card and the GX2.

 

[Dead Things]

Now I don't understand this...

Basically, you look at the expected points per day of a card. You divide that amount by the total acquisition cost, and that will give you PPD/$. For example, 3.0charlie's GX2 is $200 shipped, no taxes. So the total acquisition cost is $200. Depending on the project, it will earn between 10,000 and 12,000 PPD roughly. Let's split the difference and say it averages 11,000 PPD. So that gives you 55 PPD/$.

Let's compare that with a GTX295. The going price is about $500, and that's what kruzn4evr is asking for his, plus shipping - let's estimate $15. No taxes obviously, so total acquisition cost is $515. Depending on the project, the GTX 295 will averages between 14,000 and 16,000 PPD roughly. Let's split the difference and say it averages 15,000 PPD. So that gives you 29 PPD/$.

So, for a strictly folding card, it's no contest.

The same simple math can be used to calculate PPD/W numbers. While there are a lot of different ways of measuring power consumption, I tend to use TDP simply because the inter-card comparability of TDP is better than total system draw or idle-load deltas. A good resource for finding TDP for a variety of cards is here: Graphics Cards Thermal Design Power (TDP) Database | The Geeks Of 3D - 3D Tech News.

Anyway, my point is that while the GTX 295 is currently the highest PPD card, it reaches that level inefficiently both in terms of acquisition and running costs. If you've got money to burn and don't care how much anything costs, then yeah - get a farm full of GTX 295's just like AtlasFolder has. If you do, however, care about value for money, then you should pay close attention to PPD/$ and PPD/W numbers.

 

[Goalieman077]

Yes but his 295 also comes with wb. I am able to get for 400 but I see what you mean. I've seen people overclock the 295 but I will look into finding sone gx2s

 

[_dangtx_]

dual core cards are good if you have a limited number of slots. they do cost more as well.

 

[Goalieman077]

Yea that is why I like the 295 but if it can only get 15k ppd and would be hard the get 20k ppd overclocking then I will go with a 9800 gx2 or a 260 216

 

[_dangtx_]

15kppd? well...a properly tweaked gt will get you 5+kppd. shaders all the way up. good cooling too.maybe a bios vmod. 60 bucks a pop. multiply by 3 if you have available slots. my evga's were pulling 6.2k ppd. shaders past 1700. got screenies to prove it. so you dont need to invest a lot if you know what you are doing. just dont snatch the next am3 4 pci-e slot board before i do lol...

 

[crazyhorsejohnny]

The GTX295 is a horrible folding card from both a PPD/$ and PPD/W perspective. I would never in a million years buy a GTX295 just for folding.

At any given time, there are just four cards that are of interest to folders - or perhaps I ought to say "...should be of interest..." - and currently they are:

High-end PPD/$ = 9800GX2
Low-end PPD/$ = 8800GS/9600GSO (G92)

Hi-end PPD/W = GTX260
Low-end PPD/W = GT240

...and depending on how pricing of the GT240 pans out post-release, it may knock the 8800GS/9600GSO out of the PPD/$ spot.

So what does this mean? In the simplest terms, it means that if you're not buying one of those cards, you're literally throwing money away either on the card itself or on your hydro bill. Since I am not much of a fan of throwing money away, I try to make sure I hit one of those four sweet spots when buying cards for folding.

Any changes ?

 

[Soultribunal]

Looking for a card Crazy? I've got a GX2 comming soon lol

I'd say the chart should still stand with the GX2 being an optimal cost effective solution for 10K. However, that being said I can honestly say if you go on the cheap the GT240 is very decent for what it does.

So I'd even put that in the place of the 8800GS/9600GSO because lets face it. 100 for a brand new card with warranty. Gets you about 4 - 4.5k depending on WU and pulls an almighty 51W. Good numbers in my books.

ST