Mithras Pan

Actually... it's a complicated story but your version is slightly incorrect. https://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/ The first PS3s ran Linux and Sony even used it as a soft-sell and one of the early accessories was a 'PC Kit' with a keyboard and mouse... I want to say that there was also an included HDD and that for a while was the only way to get a larger than stock HDD... When the PS3 was announced it was Linux and backwards-compatibility with PS1 and PS2 games that got my attention. I was off doing life at the time so never actually owned a 3... but my want disappeared as soon as they pulled support. All that said- I respect the attempt on Sony's part to make a console with a toe in the PC world as opposed to PCs that play games and I expect that there is likely a good reason for why made them pull support... I wouldn't be surprised if there was a legal threat somewhere that put them at risk of having a problem by not maintaining an official PS3 distro. (Fun Fact: there was a US Air Force research initiative that built a cluster out of nearly 2,000 PS3s... https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/3/20984028/playstation-supercomputer-ps3-umass-dartmouth-astrophysics-25th-anniversary )

Right, but in my OP I stated that it's normal life is as a (rarely used) casual gaming PC (I've been trying to get more comfortable on console)... so in my use 'practical benefit' is pretty much limited to the chance that a multi-gpu game strikes my fancy (slim... most of my gaming is indie or near-indie). Fair, but if the main intent ends up only being as a temporary 2nd folding GPU... a little (substantial) performance loss can be tolerated... with the idea being once some initial data gets loaded to the GPU there might not be a whole lot of GPU-inbound transfer happening. Umm... unless I'm misunderstanding the purpose of these... I mean... they're made for coin mining so I don't know if they'd work for folding... also hadn't looked close enough to notice that little pci-e card at the other end... but if they work then placement would be easier with a USB cable than the flat ribbon of a traditional extender... Regardless. Work ended early today and just a couple miles from my local MicroCenter who was apparently still open despite the stay-at-home order my area is under and picked up a Thermaltake 200mm extender... so now my RX480 is 26% of the way through it's first WU while propped vertically on a Voltron Funko Pop box.

a) Right, but (aside from some fringe case like folding or mining what would be the use without having them in crossfire? Truth be told- learning that GPUs don't scale introduced some confusion to the concept for me (again- finge cases like games made to take advantage of multiple gpus being excluded). b) right, I just don't want to be overlooking the practicality of something I didn't know existed (ie: are usb-to-pcie bridges even a thing for the purpose of folding, or is an extension the limit of the options?) Yeah... I noticed that I didn't quote but didn't feel like figuring out how to retroactively edit a quote in. Unless there is a motivating performance reason to make it a permanent addition- then yes. The motivating factor is to ~double my WU processing (assuming I can get WUs to populate both cards I was actually referring to the throttling that would happen by being paired with the 480 (ie: the 580 would downclock to match the 480 if put into crossfire). As far as thermals... the AIO is helping keep the temps down. The 580 fans are actually... well... right now they aren't doing anything because I don't have a GPU WU

meh... I don't really feel there's a market worth dealing with the hassle of selling them. I don't use eBay, avoid facebook. Really... I think the solo 580 serves me fine with the RM'd 480 as a backup (keeping in mind- same family of cards, one already had to be RMA'd, pretty sure both are out of warranty) also: If I started doing upgrades... I wouldn't start with the graphics... New processor and motherboard... it's a lowly FX-8370.

Long version- PC built mostly for casual gaming. Decent setup when I built it a couple years ago... ASUS RoG 970pro Gaming/Aura originally with a RoG RX480. Bought a 580, RMA'd the 480, 480 has sat in the box since it came back from RMA. I figure now might not be a terrible time to get some use out of it but this is where I'm stuck... 1) It's my perception that if I add the 480 it will throttle the 580 to act like a 480 but that there won't be any real performance gain unless I'm playing games programmed for multi-GPU systems (not really the case for me... Medieval Engineers, 7 Days to Die, Ark... mostly indie/early access from small developers). That being said- introduces the idea of adding the 480 to be a temporary thing. 2) I'm not sure the 970 will slot both the 480 and 580 with both being 2.5 slot cards.. ( I think? Both are RoG cards if someone wanted to fact check.) Which... again supports the idea of it being a temporary thing. Possibly with a GPU extension cable. Maybe a 3d printed bracket. Specific questions- a) is it even worth it to pursue? I'd likely have to amazon whatever needed parts... pretty sure my MicroCenter is closed? b) are there options that I'm overlooking? Some kind of decently priced coin-mining kit? USB-to-PCIe bridge? c) am I underestimating the benefit of running both cards full-time that might make me reconsider a more permanent install? I already have an AIO for my processor... I might not hate an excuse to look into a couple RoG RX waterblocks for a dual-GPU loop... (Is that even a thing? AIO for the processor, conventional liquid-cooling for the GPU's?) Appreciate your thoughts, comments and suggestions.

I'm running the same case and it's a shame to hear that they stopped making it.

You just trust that your processing contribution is being used for the greater good. My experience with distributed computing goes back to the early days of SETI@home, with brief revisit/initial introduction to F@H years ago and I immediately booted my desktop to install when I saw the LTT video about there being COVID WUs to process. I don't understand the science of it, but I trust in the theory of the technology. They have simulations to run and if they say that I have the processing ability to help them... just sitting there... normally collecting dust, occasionally getting getting booted for a couple hours of a random game? Sure... I'll help. Trust in the science. Trust that you can contribute something that will help someone smart in a different way than you.

waiting for a cpu for several hours, pulled a gpu a couple hours ago after a pause\resume

00 Ready cpu:7 (FX-8370) (No WUs available) 01 Running RX-580 (Project 11744) Estimated PPD: 437735