Using your computer while folding

[Dysthymia]

I have a reference GTX 660 Ti overclocked to about 1163 MHz boost on a system with a 4770k @ 4.1 GHz, and another system with a 4690 (non-k) and a GTX 750 Ti with the boost clock hitting 1345 MHz. Both PCs have the latest version of GeForce Experience, and the latest beta driver. Both PCs run Windows 8.1 and version 7.4.4 of the Folding@Home client.

 

On the 660 Ti while folding on the CPU & GPU, flash video is iffy. If I pause a video, Alt-Tab and come back, the video is jumpy and unwatchable. Sometimes this is the case from the start, without doing anything else. Games are always unplayable, around 10 to 20 FPS. Even playing GZDoom with the Brutal DOOM mod... I can't tolerate the stuttering and will change it to Light or pause it until I'm done gaming.

 

On the 750 Ti while folding on the CPU & GPU, I feel like maybe I see a dropped frame on YouTube a couple times a minute but I never had to back off the folding. The weird thing is that I can game while folding and it's pretty much as smooth as when I'm not folding. Both with Guild Wars 2 maxed at 1920x1200 and Skyrim with 50ish mods (no ENB) at 1680x1050. 

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience with the Kepler and Maxwell Nvidia GPUs? What's it like on the AMD side? I'm hoping to upgrade the 660 Ti once the newest higher end cards have been released on both sides later this year and this type of scenario will definitely factor in. I can give more details on the setups if needed. 

[FloRolf]

1. Don't use beta drivers

2. don't OC your GPU when folding

shouldnt have any problems then.

[Extingquish]

I had this problem, just pause folding when gaming and watching flash videos (if the above doesn't work)

[Dysthymia]

1. Don't use beta drivers

2. don't OC your GPU when folding

shouldnt have any problems then.

 

I wasn't trying to frame this as a complaint about the Kepler GPU. I know you can't prioritize work on it like you can on a CPU and I had come to expect that you can't do much else while folding on the GPU. I can tell you that the behavior is the same on Kepler for me whether I use beta drivers or not.

 

I know it's not recommended to OC the GPU and fold with it. There's only ever been the occasional failure on the 660 Ti where it's clocked itself down to 915 MHz and I need to reboot. It's never caused a problem with a work unit and it stays under 80 C. The 750 Ti is actually clocking itself up without the use of a tool like MSI Afterburner or EVGA PrecisionX. 

 

I had this problem, just pause folding when gaming and watching flash videos (if the above doesn't work)

 

I had always assumed that's what I should do if I want to game, I just was really surprised to see this from the Maxwell card and wanted to see if anyone else had experienced the same thing. 

[Wano97]

1. Don't use beta drivers

2. don't OC your GPU when folding

shouldnt have any problems then.

Why not OC your GPU?

[tobben]

Why not OC your GPU?

because it can potentially cause problems/instabilities on intricate wu's, you also shouldn't be playing games while you are folding.. pause it, as for your iffy flash player, it has always been iffy for me, especially if i leave it alone for too long, folding or not.

 

not to say folding can't escalate those problems, as whaler said it probably depends abit on the wu aswell, usually my pc is pretty responsive when folding, but it can get pretty kinda bad at times..

[Commander Llama]

You could also just fold light while you're using your computer for medium intensive tasks.

[Whaler_99]

For me various things work ok, others, not so much. Google can be a bad one of you have hardware rendering enabled, I think it is. Also, it can even be dependent on the WU your card is working on. Some projects can stress the card more then others...

[goldfries]

1. I fold on machines that I am not actively using. 

2. If I need to use those machines, then I'll just pause the folding. Once it's done, resume folding.