Set up a system with mix card, GTS250+GTX295

Message boards : Graphics cards (GPUs) : Set up a system with mix card, GTS250+GTX295

Author	Message
frigens Send message Joined: 24 Feb 09 Posts: 14 Credit: 107,808,533 RAC: 0 Level Scientific publications	Message 10577 - Posted: 15 Jun 2009 \| 7:22:34 UTC
	It seems like GTX295 is running very poorly with my W7 system so I've decided to put the GTX295 crad into my crunching ridge which currently has GTS250 card installed. I wonder if someone can help me with the best config for this scenario? Should I keep my GTS250 on the primary PCI-E slot and install GTX295 on the secondary slot? Which OS is the best option? I'm thinking about XP, driver is probably better but should I use X64 or X86? Also this rig has only 700W PSU (Tagan BZ700 12V@56A=672W). Will this be capable of running both graphic card? This rig has [email protected], Asus Maximus Extreme motherboard, G.Skill DDR3 PC-12800 CL7-7-7-18 and 4x WD Raptor 74GB on RAID10. Those seems to draw quite a bit of power from the PSU. Do I need to upgrade the PSU?
	ID: 10577 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

ExtraTerrestrial Apes Volunteer moderator Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 17 Aug 08 Posts: 2705 Credit: 1,311,122,549 RAC: 0 Level Scientific publications	Message 10584 - Posted: 15 Jun 2009 \| 20:08:10 UTC - in response to Message 10577.
	Why is it running poorly under Win7? I can't see anything wrong with this host. MrS ____________ Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
	ID: 10584 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

skgiven Volunteer moderator Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 23 Apr 09 Posts: 3968 Credit: 1,995,359,260 RAC: 0 Level Scientific publications	Message 10608 - Posted: 16 Jun 2009 \| 17:29:41 UTC - in response to Message 10577.
	I dont think you are doing too bad! You do have several errors, but most failed within a few seconds, so they should not have interfeered with overall performance. Generally I find that starting and stopping the computer seems to terminate some GPU tasks. So I try to let them complete (using suspend for the other tasks) before shutting down (every few days). Also, removing/replacing/swapping the cards can delete tasks. Perhaps you are using the system a lot, and that keeps stopping the GPU's from doing work? Is your screen saver on? Are you defragging? Is background file Indexing running, or do you have some scans going on? GL
	ID: 10608 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

skgiven Volunteer moderator Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 23 Apr 09 Posts: 3968 Credit: 1,995,359,260 RAC: 0 Level Scientific publications	Message 10609 - Posted: 16 Jun 2009 \| 17:51:48 UTC - in response to Message 10577.
	If you are not sure about the Power requirements of your system the best thing to do is measure them directly! Get a "Plug-In Power and Energy Monitor". Plug your PSU power cable into this and it will tell you exactly what you are using at any time. You can use it to test various rig configurations and match the cards according to your components. I find that my modest single card systems dont go anywhere near the Max rated PSU Wattage. About 260W for one system (and PSU supports 500W)! Another trick if you want to keep your power hungry cards in one system is to use Vista to underclock the CPU (which as you know does not crunch as much as a Good GPU). Within, Control Panel, Power Options, you can use the existing Ballanced, Power Saver and Performance setting or modify them by clicking Change Plan Setting. I have my Ballanced setting so my Phenom II 940 runs at 1.144V (1800MHz). When I choose Power Saver (for quiet) the Voltage drops to 0.992 and the core runs at 800MHz. Ballanced saves me 70W! Power Saver saves a further 30W. That’s a 100W headroom, if you need it!
	ID: 10609 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

frigens Send message Joined: 24 Feb 09 Posts: 14 Credit: 107,808,533 RAC: 0 Level Scientific publications	Message 10610 - Posted: 16 Jun 2009 \| 18:24:05 UTC - in response to Message 10584.
	Why is it running poorly under Win7? I can't see anything wrong with this host. MrS I dont think you are doing too bad! You do have several errors, but most failed within a few seconds, so they should not have interfeered with overall performance. Generally I find that starting and stopping the computer seems to terminate some GPU tasks. So I try to let them complete (using suspend for the other tasks) before shutting down (every few days). Also, removing/replacing/swapping the cards can delete tasks. Perhaps you are using the system a lot, and that keeps stopping the GPU's from doing work? Is your screen saver on? Are you defragging? Is background file Indexing running, or do you have some scans going on? GL Under W7, I've tried several BOINC/Driver combination just to get both GPUs to work but not avail. If I disable SLI (PhysX is on) then all the WUs will crash with no reason. It seems to run OK when SLI is on but when I use my computer for playing game etc... those game ares not SLI friendly and usually require me to disable SLI and obviously BOINC. Like GL said, when I restart the task, it not uncommon for the WU to fail. I founded that WinXP seems to have lower problem incident compare to W7 or Vista. WinXP is the only OS that I was able to get both GPUs on my GTX295 to work simultaneously although not anymore. :-(
	ID: 10610 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

skgiven Volunteer moderator Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 23 Apr 09 Posts: 3968 Credit: 1,995,359,260 RAC: 0 Level Scientific publications	Message 10612 - Posted: 16 Jun 2009 \| 19:03:49 UTC - in response to Message 10610. Last modified: 16 Jun 2009 \| 19:05:22 UTC
	Perhaps when you change the configuration from Sli to non-sli, you are losing all the work units that were in the cache, so you obviously thought that when you changed to non-sli it was a disaster! However if you leave it in non-sli mode then Boinc should download new work units and run them, given the chance. Removing a card or reconfiguring it, in my experience, typically results in the loss of ALL Work Units :( So the thing to do might be to select "no more tasks", let the existing WU's complete, and then change to Non-Sli. Non-sli is the normal mode to run these GPU_GRID WU's on.
	ID: 10612 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

frigens Send message Joined: 24 Feb 09 Posts: 14 Credit: 107,808,533 RAC: 0 Level Scientific publications	Message 10613 - Posted: 16 Jun 2009 \| 20:34:06 UTC - in response to Message 10612.
	Perhaps when you change the configuration from Sli to non-sli, you are losing all the work units that were in the cache, so you obviously thought that when you changed to non-sli it was a disaster! However if you leave it in non-sli mode then Boinc should download new work units and run them, given the chance. Removing a card or reconfiguring it, in my experience, typically results in the loss of ALL Work Units :( So the thing to do might be to select "no more tasks", let the existing WU's complete, and then change to Non-Sli. Non-sli is the normal mode to run these GPU_GRID WU's on. Let's give it a try, hopefully it works!!
	ID: 10613 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

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Message boards : Graphics cards (GPUs) : Set up a system with mix card, GTS250+GTX295

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