tomtomhaxor

That work unit JUST started. They don't normalize the ETA and PPD until at least 1% is done. I assure you, there is nothing wrong with your work unit.

With the new Cores and the release of new GPUs, there is a lot of information floating around from various sources. Not, if any, is official unfortunately. So, in this thread I am going to post some info I have found to be pretty trustworthy as well as results I know from my own tests.
 
I invite other users to post their findings. NOTE!! Do not simply post PPD results and the like. This thread is for posting config examples that you know to work based on your testing. Yes, testing, meaning you have multiple systems, GPUs, whatever, to back up your claims. Or you have read, post links if possible, trusted sources.
 
This will hopefully allow you, the average user, who might be considering some GPU upgrades, to get some information that may pertain to your environment. Also, NOTE, all this info is very subjective to the testers environment and settings. Mileage will always vary. Most of this directly effects multi GPU configs. 
 
General Information
Unfortunately most of the info you see on the Stanford site is out of date. Much of the information is from 2013 when the new website was launched and has not been updated much. So, when reading things there, take it with a grain of salt. There have been a lot of upgrades and changes over the past two years.
 
Supported GPUs
There is a file, called the GPU White-list, that contains a listing of all supported GPUs. This does NOT mean that because your GPU is in there, it is supported. This list is updated with new cards but never has old cards removed.
 
As per the Folding Forum, the somewhat official information source, here are the currently supported cards:
 
Officially Supported GPUs
AMD -> HD 5000 Series or higher
Nvidia -> GTX 400 Series (Fermi) or higher
 
That was from 2013. I think the minimum's supported have now gone up, but I am not positive. 
 
Also the equivalent Quadro, FireGL and such cards are also supported.
 
The dedicated GPU compute cards, NVidia Tesla, Intel Phy and others, are not supported.
 
PCIe Slots
You can use PCIe x1 size through x16 sized slots for folding with GPUs. There are various types of expanders that allow your x16 card to plug into a x1, for instance, slot. Also, v1 through v3 of the PCI Express specifications is also supported. Now, here is where is gets complicated. Different Cores and Projects need differing amounts of bandwidth. 
 
In my testing, and some others, about two years ago, we found no PPD decrease when using x1 slots versus x16 slots (PCIe v2). Back then though Core17 was just coming out and there was no Core18. This has changed somewhat. If you get Core15 and some Core17 assignments, this still won't make a difference. But, on Core18 it can. Some have seen up to a 20% drop on PDD when going from x16 to x4 slots. At this point though, v2 or v3 slots don't seem to make much of an impact. So, where does this leave you?
 
If planning to make a multi GPU folding system, try and get/use as many x16 slots as possible. You can use x4 and x1 with the use of expanders, but depending on the work you get assigned, you might notice some PPD decline now on those cards.
 
CPU Impact
This is primarily a NVidia issue, mostly attributed to NVidia drivers. So, the rule of thumb when folding with a NVidia GPU and CPU folding, is to leave one core free per GPU to maximize your GPU Folding performance. In the case of AMD, it is simply recommended to leave a single core free for one or more cards as the impact isn't as great.
 
So, what is going on? Well, it turns out when Folding on NVidia there seems to be a lot of polling. If you watch the CPU, yes, you can see it pegged pretty high, but if you look at something like the heat output, it actually isn't generating much. The CPU isn't actually working that hard, just being consumed with polling queries. Apparently not having the core free can greatly increase processing time, which in turn affects the QRB bonus. But, the CPU isn't actually doing a whole heck of a lot. The GPU is still doing all the work, just there seems to be this polling mechanism for some reason. 
 
SLI and Crossfire
If you have two cards with either of these enabled, no fear. There is minimal impact on Folding from having these technologies set.
 

 
Hopefully some of you find this useful and as mentioned, feel free to add your findings. 
 
Just remember, I will remove posts not on topic and specifically containing config info.
 

 
Update October 2015
 
Drivers
As many have seen, sometimes updating to the latest version, especially when folding, is not always the best thing. One of the more current versions for NVidia is simply crushing folding. If you are on a version and everything is running tip top, pay close attention to what those new updated version are doing. 98% of the time, you don't need them as they have zero performance gain for most things. What they are doing is adding specific support for games, fixes, etc. If you don't play those games, then you don't need the update.
Just pay attention before updating drivers and be prepared to roll back if things don't go something and wait for the next round.
 
Minimum Support Cards
Officially Supported GPUs
AMD -> HD 5000 Series or higher
Nvidia -> GTX 400 Series (Fermi) or higher
 
Looks like they has been tweaked a bit, nothing official, but looks like these are now the minimum needed to get most WU's completed:
AMD -> 6000 series or higher
NVidia -> GTX 620 or higher

videoqualityisbad.mp4 
 
will stick with youtube until it gets better 

Here you go
 
http://imgur.com/ONOOJAR
 
Hopefully you guys will like it 
 
 
 
 
Here some refrence on how they looked http://imgur.com/MfhWRco

Folding is never worth the electricity  It is part of what we donate in running the app.

Best specs around.

So today I will be looking at a new addition to my cooling gear farm, a PrimoChill CTR (Compression Tube Reservoir) Phase II. Specifically I got the 240mm, D5 enabled one. Some extra customization included clear acrylic base and top and green tube. J
 
If you haven’t seen the into video then I highly recommend watching it, as it explains a LOT about these new reservoirs and all the options available. These are really customizable to your needs and tastes.
 

 
Packaging
 
Well, let me start off by saying my heart dropped when the main box got delivered. It was beat to hell. In fact there were large holes in it with packing tape keeping the packing peanuts in. Only recently I had received an XSPC Photon res that was cracked in shipping. Figured here we go again.
 
Upon opening it I was pleasantly surprised. Inside was the packed res as from PrimoChill and things started looking up.
 

 
Once I removed the top, you can see the extra o-ring you need for D5 model pumps and some nice thick foam. Pulling that out you can see it is fitted around the tube with another on the other end, keeping the res well secured. Great job on packaging.
 

 
Overall, quite a few parts with this.
 

 
There are all the plugs you need, three metal style plugs that are pretty common that you can use and an option acrylic one with the center setup to mount a led in it. Sweet. J They also include o-rings for all the plugs.
 

 
Also included is a mounting template to make it easier to figure out where you need to drill the holes in your case, if you need to. Some standoffs if you want to use them, to help bring the res “forward” in the case, which can make hooking it all up and filling a lot easier. Nice touch.
 
Instructions, included, kind of…
 

 
The optional items I also got were 3 diamond knurled rings, green of course. And two more acrylic plugs with LED inserts.
 

 

 
Initial Impressions
 
Pulling it out, I have to say it is pretty light. I guess with all acrylic you get that. My Aqualis res is a lot heavier, obviously as it is glass and Delrin, and even the Photon 240 res is noticeably heavier.
 
First looks, this looks really nice. I got the clear caps so I can add LED’s into them to hopefully really light up the whole res unit. Overall a solid feeling piece of gear.
 

 
Taking it apart is a breeze. Just like in the video, everything simply unscrews and it is very easy to put back together. With the compression style, it is really hard to mess up the o-rings. On the Aqualis, this was one of the main pain points, when screwing the base and end together, keeping that o-ring in the bottom positioned properly was one of the most frustrating things I have ever had to do. However with the PrimoChill unit, I am having fun simply unscrewing and screwing back up, no messed up o-rings. J
Add to this the custom colored compression rings you can get, and it is even better.
 

 
Two complaints, first is that there is none of the normal mounting brackets for tube res with can work with a lot of cases. But they do have their own unique mounting solution. Secondly was the instructions, or lack of. The one piece of paper has a part about the extra o-ring that must be used with the pump, good point. The other side has a basic layout of the res which is kind of hard to decipher and a link to the manual, online. Ok, so saving some paper and more costs by not including it… plus and minus there.
 
The one good point about this res, is it is very simple and straight forward. If you watch the whole video, well, you pretty know everything you need to know.
 
Some Background on my choice...
 
Having dealt with some bay res before, I was less than impressed; they are a pain to hook up and to fill. I have an Aqualis res which is a top quality unit, but very high end and gets expensive. I was looking for a happy medium on a tube res and stumbled across this one and after watching the video knew I had to have one. Especially with the optional bases and tops available, colors, LED options and the fact that the compression style made it so easy to work with.
 
Some Extra Pics
 
Pump mount on the base...
 

 
The always good, Vortex killer...
 

 

 
So, now just need to get the installed. In my next post I will talk about mounting, filling, flow, LED effects and that kind of thing.
 

 
Update - Installation process and final thoughts

I just came here to point and laugh at you.. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPem7REkvMQ

dip in gasoline. light on fire. start over  :mellow:

420/10 would blaze it again. IGN

that's a 10 

nope i use the @linusforsell chrome app

just want to show off my folding rig. made it from stuff around the house  

#gettofolding@home 
http://fah-web2.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=userpage&teamnum=223518&username=tomtomhaxor

just want to show off my folding rig. made it from stuff around the house  

#gettofolding@home 
http://fah-web2.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=userpage&teamnum=223518&username=tomtomhaxor

there is some shady stuff going on here...
share this video so that no one gets to be a victim of phising!
 
(sorry for capital title)

:wacko: no pls 

:wacko: no pls 

beat me to it 

:wacko: no pls 

I prefer this.

:wacko: no pls 

Voila

Slick, what are you doing?

Welcome to the fold