WCG GPU Crunching: Performance/Value

xvi · Feb 14, 2013

What/Why?
I've spent some time trying to research GPU crunching performance and had made myself a chart to help visualize this. I pulled the only somewhat trustworthy performance numbers I could find and tossed a few simple functions on it to breakdown things like raw performance and value. The results are the following.

Raw Performance
First is a raw "more is better" chart based on the inverse of of the average time to complete a WU in seconds. Given that some of the names provided are nondescript, I've made assumptions based on the given performance. For example, two "Radeon HD 7900 Series" cards with obvious steps in performance are assumed to be the HD 7970 and the HD 7950. This will be verified/updated when user-submitted results come in.

Price per Performance (Value)
If something's not good value, it just rubs me the wrong way. This chart takes GPU performance and divides that by the street value as determined by retail price for latest-generation GPUs or eBay price for older GPUs. This chart answers the question "How many points can I get for X amount of dollars?"
As stated above, given that some of the names provided are nondescript, I've made assumptions based on the given performance.
(The chart will be put back in order in the next update.)

Help improve the charts!
If you'd like to contribute, I'd appreciate submissions. You can find GPU your GPU Work Unit completion time here as long as you know the result name that correlates with your GPU. You're looking for elapsed time in hours.
Please fill out the following:

Code:

WCG Username: <If different than forum>
CPU Model/Speed:
GPU 0 Model:
GPU 0 Time per WU:
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 0 Work Unit Completion Time:
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: <optional>
Add additional GPUs as needed

To Do List:

Update prices for all cards
Come up with better pricing strategy for old cards (Worthmonkey not accurate, eBay fluctuates)
Add performance per watt charts (just declared TDP?)
Research/Create CPU charts
Fix price/performance graph
Make charts prettier

Changelog:

2/13/13: Initial release! WYSIWYG!

xvi · Feb 14, 2013

xvi · Feb 14, 2013

[Ion] · Feb 14, 2013

I appreciate the work that you've put into this, but I must say I'm a bit surprised/suspicious of some of the results. You have the HD7950 doing 1.85x the output of the GTX470, but I can state from personal experience that's not true. My GTX470s are each slower than a HD7770, and my system with two GTX470s does just under half what my single-HD7950 setup did.

This is a really cool idea! :respect:

Norton · Feb 14, 2013

Pretty cool setup! :toast:

FYI- the Radeon (unknown) is likely the 7850/70's iirc my 7870's show up as unknown and they should fall into that place on the chart- they both do around 70k ppd each

xvi · Feb 14, 2013

This started as a "I want a new video card. What should I buy?" sort of thing and just took off a little more than I expected.

[Ion] said:
I appreciate the work that you've put into this, but I must say I'm a bit surprised/suspicious of some of the results. You have the HD7950 doing 1.85x the output of the GTX470, but I can state from personal experience that's not true. My GTX470s are each slower than a HD7770, and my system with two GTX470s does just under half what my single-HD7950 setup did.

This is a really cool idea!

All performance numbers were pulled from a post from a self-proclaimed WCG tech on the WCG forums completing unknown work units on an unknown client with an unknown config. I'm using those numbers because I can't find anything else as complete. The only GPU I know is correct is a yet-to-be-added-to-the-chart HD 5770 which comes out to roughly the same performance as the "Radeon 5700 Series (Juniper)". Based on that, I assumed all the other results were roughly accurate. I figure they should be a decent placeholder until I get some more verifiable results.

While I will admit to preferring AMD over nVidia, I wouldn't intentionally skew results either way. I'll happily take donations of cards for independent (and indefinite) testing though. :laugh:

Norton said:
Pretty cool setup!
FYI- the Radeon (unknown) is likely the 7850/70's iirc my 7870's show up as unknown and they should fall into that place on the chart- they both do around 70k ppd each

That's enough proof for me. I'll add it. :toast:

Keep in mind that "XVI's Magical Performance Units" aren't currently based on points whatsoever (although they might be in the future).

[Ion] · Feb 14, 2013

Oh, I'm certainly not accusing you of biasing the results. I'm just curious where the numbers came from and how they were calculated, that's all :toast:

xvi · Feb 14, 2013

[Ion] said:
Oh, I'm certainly not accusing you of biasing the results. I'm just curious where the numbers came from and how they were calculated, that's all

Like I say, just the first thing I managed to grab. I'm not sure how consistent the results will be across different work units and especially across different WCG projects, so I think I'll have to convert to a PPD-based scoring. I just haven't quite figured out an easy way to find the PPD of just the GPU.

Norton · Feb 14, 2013

xvi said:
Like I say, just the first thing I managed to grab. I'm not sure how consistent the results will be across different work units and especially across different WCG projects, so I think I'll have to convert to a PPD-based scoring. I just haven't quite figured out an easy way to find the PPD of just the GPU.

I don't know about the other generations or NVidia but the Radeon 7xxx series seems to scale pretty close to linear based on # of stream processors... gpu speed, memory size, cpu type/speed have a lesser impact.

Helpful for your project? Dunno :eek:

mstenholm · Feb 15, 2013

You input template does not take into consideration that a GPU can do 1, 2, 3...16 WU at the time. Personally I prefer number of WU in a day taken over a few days to even out weekend fluctuations in amount of PVs. The original data was compiled before the WU got double in size and people in general found out that they could run more then one at the time.

My data:

7970 @ 1045 MHz 1900/day (12 WU)
7950 @ 1100 MHz 1600/day (10 WU)
7770 @ 1100 MHz 730/day (5 WU)

Nordic · Feb 15, 2013

This is interesting. You might want to do a performance/watt graph also. Edit: Ah that is in the to do list. Maybe you should use wizz's reviews to find watts used. Maybe just use reference.

WCG Username: <jjames888>
CPU Model/Speed: 2500k 4.4ghz
GPU 0 Model: 7970 (16 WU's)
GPU 0 Time per WU: ?
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <1200/1600>
GPU 0 Work Unit Completion Time: .2 hours (720 seconds, or 12 minutes) I do range from .16 - .22 hours elapsed time (about 10-13 minutes)
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: X0930110551170200907070826

Peter1986C · Feb 15, 2013

WCG Username: Chevalr1c
CPU Model/Speed: Core 2 Duo E8400
GPU 0 Model: Radeon HD 6670 DDR3 (Turks XT)
GPU 0 Time per WU: 0.04 - 0.05 hours (I assumed that the "CPU time" values have to be used here)
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 0 Work Unit Completion Time: 0.18 - 0.24 hours (I used "elapsed time" here)
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: I looked a a batch of 3 pages on the "Results status" page and noted minima and maxima.

brandonwh64 · Feb 15, 2013

what is AMD Radeon HD (Unknown)? Since it was third on the list for higher PPD output is what made me curious.

ChristTheGreat · Feb 15, 2013

so HD6950 does a better job than the GTX 680 xD

Norton · Feb 15, 2013

brandonwh64 said:
what is AMD Radeon HD (Unknown)? Since it was third on the list for higher PPD output is what made me curious.

At the time the original list was made it was the Radeon 7850/7870 (the older BOINC Manager couldn't pick up the specs on the card). The 7.0.40 and up revisions seem to pick up the specs my 7870 just fine now.

JNUKZ · Feb 15, 2013

Looks like any HD7xxx are a beast even my 7770 is better than GTX 680.

xvi · Feb 15, 2013

mstenholm said:
You input template does not take into consideration that a GPU can do 1, 2, 3...16 WU at the time. Personally I prefer number of WU in a day taken over a few days to even out weekend fluctuations in amount of PVs. The original data was compiled before the WU got double in size and people in general found out that they could run more then one at the time.

My data:

7970 @ 1045 MHz 1900/day (12 WU)
7950 @ 1100 MHz 1600/day (10 WU)
7770 @ 1100 MHz 730/day (5 WU)

The only card I've managed to test is a HD 5770 and it seemed to match the original data somewhat closely. The (admittedly old, but statistically sound) data I've used is more of a placeholder until I can get some more recent results. Again, I think a system based on PPD would be better, but it's harder to implement with WCG than it is with Folding@Home.

You're right about the multiple WUs thing though. Unfortunately for this comparison, yes, multiple running multiple WUs at once can get more performance out of a card, but it makes a royal mess of things when trying to compare cards. Again, working off of PPD would help even this out, but it would still create some dirty data until a good number of results came in and everything can average out. Unless I can reliably calculate the increase in performance divided by the number of WUs running at once, results running multiple WUs might have to wait. I suppose the big question is whether or not Card X benefits more from that than Card Y, in which case single WU results should be thrown out completely and multi-WU results should be used.

I guess I'm forced to buy a new video card so I can test this out. Oh the drudgery. :laugh:

james888 said:
This is interesting. You might want to do a performance/watt graph also. Edit: Ah that is in the to do list. Maybe you should use wizz's reviews to find watts used. Maybe just use reference.

Yep! Already in the to-do list. I'd very much prefer actual power consumption rather than what it says on the box. Wizzard does a pretty good job of calculating consumption as does Anandtech. Sadly, the power draw will be under full gaming and not actual crunching, but it should be a very good indicator regardless. All of this is in the works though.

WCG Username: <jjames888>
CPU Model/Speed: 2500k 4.4ghz
GPU 0 Model: 7970 (16 WU's)
GPU 0 Time per WU: ?
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <1200/1600>
GPU 0 Work Unit Completion Time: 720 seconds (12 minutes)
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: X0930110551170200907070826

Chevalr1c said:
WCG Username: Chevalr1c
CPU Model/Speed: Core 2 Duo E8400
GPU 0 Model: Radeon HD 6670 DDR3 (Turks XT)
GPU 0 Time per WU: 0.04 - 0.05 hours (I assumed that the "CPU time" values have to be used here)
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 0 Work Unit Completion Time: 0.18 - 0.24 hours (I used "elapsed time" here)
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: I looked a a batch of 3 pages on the "Results status" page and noted minima and maxima.

Dangit, you're right. "GPU 0 Time per WU" and "GPU 0 Work Unit Completion Time" are supposed to be the same thing. I was obviously asleep while writing that up.

In my testing, "Elapsed time" was what correlated with the results I've scavenged, but "CPU time" would probably be more accurate while running multiple units. I assume by "CPU time" they mean "GPU time". If not, my scavenged results will not (easily) compare with new results.

Norton said:
About 20 seconds longer than single wu's (appr. 01:45 vs 01:25 to 99.415%)

This still true, Norton? 1WU at 85 sec vs 3WU at 105 sec (/3 = 35 sec per WU?). That's a 243% increase. o.0

mstenholm · Feb 15, 2013

At one point I did some timing of different numbers of WUs on the same rig:

7770 - 3 each took 6:55, 4 took 8:31 each
7950 - 4 each took 4:34, 6 took 6:25 each and I ended up with 10 since it produced the highest points wise

I think that you should stay with your original data set and just normalize them with 7970 being 100 % and then add that you can run multiple WU. We can input the most used number : i.e 7970 is 12 but the range is 10-16. The optimal number will differ from rig to rig so a little trial and error is required. Best of luck with whatever solution you chose.

AnnCore · Mar 3, 2013

So you got me curious too, and I recorded a few results...

This is with 4 WUs: 2 CPU WUs and 2 GPU WUs (each GPU: 1CPU + 1 ATI GPU)

Note: No screensaver.

WCG Username: AnnCore
CPU Model/Speed: QX9770
GPU 0 Model: ATI Radeon HD 5850
GPU 0 Time per WU: 8:36
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: <optional>

GPU 1 Model: ATI Radeon HD 5850
GPU 1 Time per WU: 8:45
GPU 1 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 1 GPU Result Name: <optional>

And then this is with 4 WUs: 2 CPU WUs and 2 GPU WUs (each GPU: 1CPU + 1 ATI GPU)

Note: With screensaver.

WCG Username: AnnCore
CPU Model/Speed: QX9770
GPU 0 Model: ATI Radeon HD 5850
GPU 0 Time per WU: 9:17
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: <optional>

GPU 1 Model: ATI Radeon HD 5850
GPU 1 Time per WU: 9:22
GPU 1 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 1 GPU Result Name: <optional>

Last I tried only GPU WUs (1.0 CPU + 0.5 ATI GPU)

This is with 4 WUs: 2 CPU WUs and 2 GPU WUs (each GPU: 1CPU + 1 ATI GPU)

Note: No screensaver.

WCG Username: AnnCore
CPU Model/Speed: QX9770
GPU 0 Model: ATI Radeon HD 5850
GPU 0 Time per WU: 14:25
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: <optional>

GPU 1 Model: ATI Radeon HD 5850
GPU 1 Time per WU: 13:57
GPU 1 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 1 GPU Result Name: <optional>

For all times per WU I took the average of 5 consecutive results.

I haven't tried 4 WUs with screensaver on.

Bottom line, 4 WUs in about 14:11 > 4 WUs in about 17:20 (2 x 2 WUs in about 8:40).

Edit:

4 GPU WUs with screensaver (1 CPU + 1 ATI GPU)

4 WUs every 14:05. (the average of 20 consecutive results)

Not sure what happens with the screensaver on with only 2 GPU WUs...

My son's rig:

WCG Username: AnnCore
CPU Model/Speed: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
GPU 0 Model: ATI Radeon HD 5850
GPU 0 Time per WU: 8:02 (the average of 10 results)
GPU 0 Clock Speed: <If overclocked>
GPU 0 GPU Result Name: <optional>

topry · Mar 11, 2013

Thanks for doing this, I've been researching the same info. Following are my stats:

CPU Model/Speed: i7 960/3.2
GPU 0 Model: GTX 660 'SuperClocked' model
GPU 0 Time per WU: 11-14 (1CPU + 1GPU)

GPU 1 Model: GTX 550Ti
GPU 1 Time per WU: 16-18 (1CPU + 1GPU)

Running 2WU at .5 + .5 gives a much broader range, with an average of 30% increase for each card.

Attempts to run 3WU with latest nVidia drivers resulted in driver crash within 15 minutes.

System Name	Rainbow
Processor	Intel Core i7 8700k
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC
Cooling	Corsair H115i, 2x Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
Memory	G. Skill TridentZ RGB 4x8GB (F4-3600C16Q-32GTZR)
Video Card(s)	ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity
Storage	2x Samsung 950 Pro 256GB \| 2xHGST Deskstar 4TB 7.2K
Display(s)	Samsung C27HG70
Case	Xigmatek Aquila
Power Supply	Seasonic 760W SS-760XP
Mouse	Razer Deathadder 2013
Keyboard	Corsair Vengeance K95
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	4 trillion points in GmailMark, over 144 FPS 2K Facebook Scrolling (Extreme Quality preset)

System Name	Rainbow
Processor	Intel Core i7 8700k
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC
Cooling	Corsair H115i, 2x Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
Memory	G. Skill TridentZ RGB 4x8GB (F4-3600C16Q-32GTZR)
Video Card(s)	ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity
Storage	2x Samsung 950 Pro 256GB \| 2xHGST Deskstar 4TB 7.2K
Display(s)	Samsung C27HG70
Case	Xigmatek Aquila
Power Supply	Seasonic 760W SS-760XP
Mouse	Razer Deathadder 2013
Keyboard	Corsair Vengeance K95
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	4 trillion points in GmailMark, over 144 FPS 2K Facebook Scrolling (Extreme Quality preset)

System Name	Rainbow
Processor	Intel Core i7 8700k
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z390M GAMING EDGE AC
Cooling	Corsair H115i, 2x Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
Memory	G. Skill TridentZ RGB 4x8GB (F4-3600C16Q-32GTZR)
Video Card(s)	ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity
Storage	2x Samsung 950 Pro 256GB \| 2xHGST Deskstar 4TB 7.2K
Display(s)	Samsung C27HG70
Case	Xigmatek Aquila
Power Supply	Seasonic 760W SS-760XP
Mouse	Razer Deathadder 2013
Keyboard	Corsair Vengeance K95
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	4 trillion points in GmailMark, over 144 FPS 2K Facebook Scrolling (Extreme Quality preset)

System Name	Niedersachsen / Ribe / Minsk
Processor	i3 3240 / i7-3520M / 4x Opteron 6376 @ 2.86GHz
Motherboard	BIOSTAR H61M / HP Q77 / Supermicro H8QG7
Cooling	Stock / Stock / 4x 1U G34
Memory	1x8GB / 2x4GB / 4x4GB
Video Card(s)	GTX260 / Intel HD 4000 / nVidia GT310
Storage	80GB Intel SSD / 256GB Intel SSD / 2x 60GB SSD (RAID1)
Display(s)	Dell 3007 + HP 2245w / 12.1" 1366x768 / None
Case	Antec NSK3480 / HP / Supermicro 1U
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Enermax 500W / HP 130W / Supermicro Gold 1400W
Keyboard	IBM Model M
Software	Windows 7 (Niedersachsen/Ribe) / Linux Mint 17.2 (Minsk)

System Name	Main PC- Gamer- Main Cruncher/Folder and too many crunching/folding rigs
Processor	Ryzen 5900X- Ryzen 5950X- Ryzen 3950X and etc...
Motherboard	Asrock X570 Extreme4- MSI X570S Tomahawk MAX WiFi- MSI B450M Bazooka Max and etc...
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S (dual fan)- EK 360 AIO with push/pull fans- Corsair H115i RGB Pro XT and etc...
Memory	2x16GB GSkill FlareX 3200/c14- 4x8GB Corsair Vengeance 3600/c16- 2x16GB Team 3600/c18 and etc..
Video Card(s)	MSI Gaming RX 6800- Asus RTX 3070 TUF OC- MSI Ventus GTX 1660Ti and etc...
Storage	Main PC (1TB WD SN850- 2TB PNY CS 3040- 2TB Seagate Firecuda) and etc...
Display(s)	Main PC (2x24" Dell UltraSharp U2414H)
Case	Phanteks P600s- Seasonic Q704- Fractal Meshify C and etc...
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Z625 THX 2.1 speakers
Power Supply	EVGA 750 G3- SeaSonic DGC 750- EVGA P2 850 and etc...
Mouse	G300s
Keyboard	Corsair K65
VR HMD	N/A
Software	Windows 10 Pro or Ubuntu
Benchmark Scores	Why sit on the Bench when you can get in the game and Crunch!!!

WCG GPU Crunching: Performance/Value

xvi

xvi

xvi

[Ion]

WCG Team Assistant

Norton

Moderator - Returning from the Darkness

xvi

[Ion]

WCG Team Assistant

xvi

Norton

Moderator - Returning from the Darkness

mstenholm

Nordic

Peter1986C

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!

ChristTheGreat

Norton

Moderator - Returning from the Darkness

JNUKZ

New Member

xvi

mstenholm

AnnCore

Staff

topry

New Member

System Name	The work PC /2700x/5950x
Processor	3900X stock/ 2700x stock/ 5950x 4200 MHz fixed @ 1,056-1,08V
Motherboard	Gigabyte AORUS Master X570/2xMSI X470 M7 AC
Cooling	Custom WC XSPC RX480, Laing DDC, XSPC Laing DDC Top V3 and EK Velocity/NH15/NH-U12S SE
Memory	32 GB Viper 3600/14 /16 GB Trident Z F4-4000C18D-16GTZSW 3600 /32 GB G Skill Flare CL14 3400
Video Card(s)	2070 Super X MSI/GTX 970 MSI/ GTX 970 MSI
Storage	1 TB SSD+500 GB NVMe / 500 GB SSD/ 2 TB 990 Pro
Display(s)	Dell UltraSharp U2518D/2408WFP
Case	Corsair 800D / Lian test bench/NZXT 500
Power Supply	AX 850 Titanium/AX 860i/AX 760
Software	Dual boot/Win 10 / Linux / Win 10+Linux

Processor	7800x3d
Motherboard	Gigabyte B650 Auros Elite AX
Cooling	Custom Water
Memory	GSKILL 2x16gb 6000mhz Cas 30 with custom timings
Video Card(s)	MSI RX 6750 XT MECH 2X 12G OC
Storage	Adata SX8200 1tb with Windows, Samsung 990 Pro 2tb with games
Display(s)	HP Omen 27q QHD 165hz
Case	ThermalTake P3
Power Supply	SuperFlower Leadex Titanium
Software	Windows 11 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores	CB23: 1811 / 19424 CB24: 1136 / 7687

System Name	ap201 \| Odroid N2+ \| NUC
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 \| Amlogic S922X \| Intel Core i5-7260
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M DS3H \|Odroid N2+ \| NUC Board 7
Cooling	Inter-Tech Argus SU-200, 3x Arctic P12 case fans \| stock heatsink + fan \| stock HSF
Memory	Gskill Aegis DDR4 32GB \| 4 GB DDR4 \| 16 GB DDR4
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 (8GB) \| Arm Mali G52 \| Iris Plus 640
Storage	SK Hynix 240GB, Sam. 840 + 850 EVO (2x (250 GB)\| Samsung 850 Evo 500GB \| WD Green 240 GB
Display(s)	AOC G2260VWQ6 \| LG 24MT57D \|
Case	Asus Prime 201 \| Stock case (black version) \| Stock case
Audio Device(s)	integrated
Power Supply	BeQuiet! Pure Power 11 400W \| 12v barrel jack \| 19V laptop brick (Asus)
Mouse	Logitech G500 \|Steelseries Rival 300 \| no-name ergo mouse
Keyboard	Qpad MK-50 (Cherry MX brown)\| Blaze Keyboard
Software	Windows 10, EndeavourOS \| Gentoo Linux \| EndeavourOS

System Name	CTG Computer
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Motherboard	Asrock B650M PRO RS WIFI
Cooling	Thermalright PA120 SE
Memory	2x 16gb G.SKILL F5-6000J3038F16GX2-FX5
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte RX6800XT Gaming OC
Storage	WD Black SN850X 2TB
Display(s)	MAG274QRF-QD \| Asus vg248qe
Case	SAMA IM01
Audio Device(s)	Creative SoundBlasterx G6
Power Supply	Corsair SF750
Mouse	Logitech G pro Wireless
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB MK2
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64

System Name	NUK Little Machine
Processor	Pentium G850 > I5 3570k
Motherboard	AsRock Z77 PRO3
Cooling	Intel Stock > TR True Spirit 140
Memory	8Gb Kingston 1600MHz
Video Card(s)	MSI HD7770
Storage	WD blue 500gb
Display(s)	Asus VW222U/Samsung BX2235
Case	CoolerMaster K350
Audio Device(s)	OnBoard
Power Supply	Corsair CX430 V2
Software	Windows 7 64Bits

Processor	AMD FX-8350 "Vishera"
Motherboard	Asus M5A99X EVO
Cooling	Noctua NH-D14
Memory	G.Skill DDR3 2133MHz 16GB
Video Card(s)	CrossfireX Asus 5850
Storage	Crucial C300 128GB
Display(s)	Samsung SA950
Case	Coolermaster Storm Sniper
Power Supply	Corsair AX850
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit