# Best value Folding card



## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

Hi 

What would be considered the best value Folding card.
Budget to lower-midrange


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## JrRacinFan (Oct 31, 2009)

9600gso 384mb.


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## hat (Oct 31, 2009)

Yep. Get the 384mb 9600GSO. There's 3 different versions of the 9600GSO though, the best one has 96 shaders, 384MB (or 768MB) memory, and has a 192-bit memory bus. There's none on newegg, your best bet is asking around here to see if anyone has one they want to sell (I know newtekie1 was trying to sell a pair at one point, dunno if he ever got them sold or not)


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

Thanks 

Would either of these make a worthwhile contribution?


512MB XFX 9800 GT, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1400MHz GDDR3, GPU 550MHz, 112 Cores, 2xDL DVI-I/ HDTV

or:

512MB Asus GTS 250, 2200MHz GDDR3, GPU 738 MHz, Shader 1836 MHz, 128 Cores.

or pay a lil more for

896MB XFX GTX 260 Standard 55nm, 2000MHz GDDR3, GPU 576 MHz, Shader 1242 MHz, 216 Cores

?


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## [I.R.A]_FBi (Oct 31, 2009)

the 250 is the same thing as the 9800gt .. well almost ...


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 31, 2009)

The 9800GT does around 5000PPD. The GTX 260 should be better, around 8000PPD if I recall.


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## JrRacinFan (Oct 31, 2009)

How much for the 9800GT?

Just letting you know, you can grab up a 8800GTS 512MB off ebay. They are going for roughly $75-90 nowadays. They clear about 6k ppd.


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

I listed the first two as they are on sale at similar prices.

9800 GT £80.
GTS 250 £92.
GTS 260 £130


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 31, 2009)

JrRacinFan said:


> How much for the 9800GT?
> 
> Just letting you know, you can grab up a 8800GTS 512MB off ebay. They are going for roughly $75-90 nowadays. They clear about 6k ppd.



While a great suggestion, I feel that the 9800 GT EE (energy efficient) would have better performance per watt than the 8800GT (all 65nm). It doesn't need external PCIe power, and it is 55nm so it runs cooler, on top of the lower vcore of the EE version.


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## bogmali (Oct 31, 2009)

vaiopup said:


> I listed the first two as they are on sale at similar prices.
> 
> 9800 GT £80.
> *GTS 250 £92*.
> GTS 260 £130



Based on performance and power consumption, I highlighted my recommendation I have 4 of those in one of my farms A little loud than usual though (only when you increase the fan speed).


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

Duly noted 

Gonna have to study up some.
I am old school cpu kinda cruncher though I did Fold on a 1900xt til she croaked on me


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

The Asus 250 is on offer this weekend for £76.

Will hold off for a few more opinions then consider a purchase 

Comes with WoW game----yeah as if I'd waste a gpu on gaming


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## JrRacinFan (Oct 31, 2009)

vaiopup said:


> The Asus 250 is on offer this weekend for £76.



Go for it! That's actually pretty good.


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

I may well do......runs off to decide what rig to put it in.
Need a PCI express socket yes?


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## JrRacinFan (Oct 31, 2009)

vaiopup said:


> I may well do......runs off to decide what rig to put it in.
> Need a PCI express socket yes?



Definite yes it will require one.


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

Actually I am planning a Q6600 build in an Asus P5K-VM matx board.
Can use the card in that to override onboard gpu


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## BUCK NASTY (Oct 31, 2009)

The GTS250 is the best deal and it's 55nm for slightly better efficiency. I have GTS250's that average 6700-7000 ppd with a solid overclock. Dependent on the cooler design, you may have to run the fan speed @ 70%+.


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

Here it is


Any more feedback before I spend any money?


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## oily_17 (Oct 31, 2009)

vaiopup said:


> Here it is
> 
> 
> Any more feedback before I spend any money?



Thats a good price...if only their shipping costs weren't so much..~£20 to post to Northern Ireland


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

I get free shipping 

Or at least I used to.....soon find out


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## oily_17 (Oct 31, 2009)

vaiopup said:


> I get free shipping
> 
> Or at least I used to.....soon find out





Yeah they are a good site for parts, it's just the shipping that kills it for me.


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

Can't be any worse than Overgangsters though


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## oily_17 (Oct 31, 2009)

True...lol, they shaft you on all prices though


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

Yep.......

"Welcome to Overgangsters~we will not be beaten on price.......Higher than anyone else, guaranteed!!!"


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## MilkyWay (Oct 31, 2009)

actually thinking about it energy efficiency actually matters a lot to a cruncher/folder
as the pc will be most likely on 24/7


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

It is, Kieran.

Something I have considered in purchases the last 2 years.


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## BUCK NASTY (Oct 31, 2009)

The ASUS Glaciator heat sink is decent, but no fan control although it is almost silent. It should do a good job of supporting your overclock.


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

I may just run at stock.

General query.

Does gpu crunching still hog a whole cpu core like folding used to or is it now "self sufficient" so to speak?

Also, is there any reason why I could not run a gpu crunching rig via an old single core....eg Sempy 3100+.

Would the cpu hold things back?
Would one be able to crunch on the cpu too?

I ask because I have some older hardware that I could knock together for a gpu crunching rig.
I would like to recycle as much old hardware as I can. 

Edit: Checked old boards and they have pci express


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

GPU crunching is the only possible upgrade path with the old hardware so if it'll work it seems a good plan.

Uh oh....possible issue?

On the specs for that Asus card it says "PCI-E 2.0(x16)"

Is PCI-E2 compatible with PCI-E (which is 1 I assume).

If not should I go for THIS ONE instead?

Sigh, cpu's are so much simpler


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## thebluebumblebee (Oct 31, 2009)

Folding on Nvidia cards puts almost no load on the CPU.  I'm running an Athlon 64 4000+ S939 (WCG @90%) with 2 Asus 9600GSO's (Folding).  I have only had random EUE's on GPU 0 (happened twice in the last 3 weeks)
Asus is a 4 letter word.  That is, they're big enough to do things their way, take it or leave it.  The 9600GSO's that I have have no user controlled fan control, so I vary my overclock (600 core) on the shaders to keep the temps where I'm comfortable, which is below 66 degrees. (I don't know why 66, so there)
FYI: As for your choice, a recent review by W1zzard showed the difference in wattage between the GTS250 and the 55nm 260/216 at load was about 20 watts!  I find that hard to believe, but his testing method is the hard to question.  They only way this makes sense to me is that the 250 is G92 to the max and the 260 is minimal G200. One of these other guys will have to tell you the PPD difference.


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## thebluebumblebee (Oct 31, 2009)

PCI-e 2.0 is backwards compatibile


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## vaiopup (Oct 31, 2009)

Thank you everyone.

512MB Asus GTS 250 ordered


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## mstenholm (Nov 18, 2009)

Mailwoman came this morning with my new Gigabyte GTX 260 Super OC. Since I had not gotten around to buy some resistors it had to just replace the 9800 GTX+. The PPD went up from 5500 to 7400 on the 1888 WU I was/am running. I will not call it a budget card (OP question), but it is only 20 % more expensive then an ordinary 250 from ASUS/GIGA where I live. 

Ups, starting to run warm - 77 C. I´m used to 60-65 C. Might have to fiddle a bit with the fan settings.


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