TPU's F@H Team

[johnnyfiive]

So, I have my PS3, my main rig PII 920 @ 3.5Ghz w/ GTX260, and a machine at work C2D 2.2GHz cheapo ATi card running Ubuntu (figured that would give best performance). Is there a way to force all four cores on my 920 to be used to a certain percentage?

 

[zlojack]

Hello all. Fits invited me here to see if you guys could help me out with an issue I'm having.

I'm trying to set up folding with a G92 card on the same rig as GT200 cards. Specifically, a 9800 GT from EVGA with a pair of GTX 285s.

I'm running the 182.08 drivers on Vista 64. I've had both 285s folding along with no problems whatsover pulling 7500-9000 ppd depending on the WU. I wanted to add the 9800 to use for PhysX when gaming but mainly as another folding card, but after installing and setting it up, I get the following message:

Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE

I have searched around and found that many people are having trouble getting these two generations of cards to work together for folding on the same rig.

I should add, I've added the -advmethods switch as well as -gpu 3 (as this is the third GPU) and have followed all the exact same steps for setting it up as I did when I set up my second 285, which went off without a hitch.

If anyone has any tips or if anyone has gotten them to work, I'd love some help!

Thanks!

 

[Fitseries3]

welcome zlojack!

glad to have you here on TPU.

have you tried any older drivers?

have you disabled physx? i've heard that a few people have gotten it to work in situations like this with 2 different cards folding in the same machine. i dont know first hand though.

im sure someone with more experience will be here shortly.

 

[zlojack]

Thanks for the welcome, Fits!

I tried with PhysX disabled. I tried with the 182.06 drivers, but not any older ones than that.

I must admit that after I read so much about it NOT working, I sort of just tested it to confirm that theory and then gave up

 

[bogmali]

I'm about to put a 9800GT on my 680i that already has 2X8800GS and see what happens.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

Try setting the first 285 as GPU0 the 2nd 285 ans GPU1 the 9800GT as GPU2


EDIT: could i put 2 9800GTs in my rig with a 790GX chipset?

 

[Fitseries3]

hmm....

i just thought of something.

how are your cards in the board?

you have 285 | 9800 | 285 ?

or

285 | 285 | 9800

?

idk if that would make any difference but i think its like this...

gpu0 | gpu2 | gpu1

not 100% sure on that though.

maybe its a different card though.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

EDIT: could i put 2 9800GTs in my rig with a 790GX chipset?

Absolutely, your not running Sli. Each PCI-E slot will run independent of each other.

 

[zlojack]

Try setting the first 285 as GPU0 the 2nd 285 ans GPU1 the 9800GT as GPU2


EDIT: could i put 2 9800GTs in my rig with a 790GX chipset?

Setting them where?

That's how they were set up the first time.

 

[Fitseries3]

use hwmonitor to view each cards temps and see which card is not folding. that will eliminate any speculation that im getting at.

 

[zlojack]

Ah I see. Well, it's seems pretty clear that the card that's getting the errors is the 9800 GT, since the other two folded just fine both before and after installing the third card, as well as during the third card being installed.

Precision showsed the 285s at folding temps while the 9800 was running about 20 degrees cooler, so that would be a good indication, right?

 

[Fitseries3]

yeah. hmm....

try moving the cards around on the board.

you should still be able to run SLI even if the cards are right next to each other.

i know my 295s hate allowing anything else to fold in the same machine. maybe its a common problem with the gtx cards and drivers being lacking in cuda support. i have no idea though.

 

[zlojack]

yeah. hmm....

try moving the cards around on the board.

you should still be able to run SLI even if the cards are right next to each other.

i know my 295s hate allowing anything else to fold in the same machine. maybe its a common problem with the gtx cards and drivers being lacking in cuda support. i have no idea though.

My understanding is it has something to do with the shaders being different. (there isn't much info out there on folding with this combo of cards)

 

[Fitseries3]

i only have gotten the "unstable_machine" error... SO FAR... with my 55nm GTX cards. my 65nm cards all fold fine.

my guess is that the 295 and 295 arent 100% taking a liking to cuda as of yet.

like i said... just my speculation.

im still searching for an answer for you.

 

[zlojack]

Yeah...on OCN a couple of guys have had issues with similar setups. One guy had a 295 that wouldn't play nice with a 9800 GX2 and another had issues with a 295 and 8800 GTS.

 

[johnspack]

Well, guess I'll move my little 8800gs to my server so it can fold again, have to use a 7600 as my 2nd card in my main rig, but should be okay. I miss my 280, probably 2 months before I see it again....

 

[dadi_oh]

My understanding is it has something to do with the shaders being different. (there isn't much info out there on folding with this combo of cards)

I tried mixing an 8800GS (96 shaders) with an 8800GT (112 shaders) on my server and had issues with the cards having a different number of shaders. I could fold either card individually without issue but if I tried folding both at the same time then the PPD dropped to less than half on both cards. Not "unstable machine" errors but defintiely the FAH application does not like different numbers of shaders. There is quite a bit of discussion along these lines in various folding forums.

 

[stanhemi]

I lost 1 rig this morning,my 4850 went down and i think it time to rma this card again (it the third time)

gpu load stay at 0%, vpu recovery every single minute,lost signal,temp never exceed 56c?

i buy a sapphire 4850 i had to rma the card twice in a month,so i change for palit and still rma the card twice in 3 month.4850 it over for me.

 

[El Fiendo]

Well my 8800GTX is pooched in my spare rig, she runs but throws artifacts. Its why I replaced her in the first place, though it wasn't quite so bad. I can't even load up the nVidia drivers, just the generic ones so I can't fold on her. However if all goes well tonight, I'll have purchased a GTX260 Core 192 for $135 (USD) locally. Here's hoping it works well and all that.

 

[Fitseries3]

man... i been getting back to back 1680pt WUs for over a week now. the gtx seems to crank them out pretty fast too.

 

[Solaris17]

you better listen to him he looks pissed.

 

[kyle2020]

man... i been getting back to back 1680pt WUs for over a week now. the gtx seems to crank them out pretty fast too.

how long does a 1680 pointer take you to complete? takes me just over 5 hours.

 

[Fitseries3]

around 4 i think. im not sure. i dont pay attention.

 

[kyle2020]

very nice.

Just finished my second 1680 pointer, good temps too:

*edit*

My next work unit loaded up, and its ANOTHER 1680 point one - thats 3 in a row!

 

[p_o_s_pc]

I have been getting ~90% 1680pt WUs with a 420pt every once in awhile but thats all im getting. My little 9800GT is putting out 4.7k-6kppd depending on clocks how much the rig is used and WU. i hope i can get another one. I say the 9800GTs are great bang for the buck cards now that the 9600GSO suck (the new ones)