GPU Folding...

[sbohdan]

It might come as news to some, so I let you all know, that you can fold with your GPU's as well, if you have x1600, x1800, and x1900 class ATI cards.
the download page has more info: Download Folding@Home
note there is also a client with multi GPU support.

anyone up for donating his unused GPU cycles? it only uses unused GPU cycles, so no problems playing your games (same as CPU clients)

c'mon people - support a good cause and join our HL team (team 50578)

[polobunny]

I swear, it's not really useful. It folds fast but stresses your video card ALOT. I folded for a few days and saw little improvement. You have to know it stresses your CPU too, you need to allow at least 50% of your CPU to poll the VGA driver for updates.

[Tyreal]

It's a great client but as Polo said it stresses your videocard alot. Also, in it's current BETA state, you cannot play any games with it on. You have to turn it off first.

[sbohdan]

c'mon guys: there are no moving parts in a video card, so as long as your temps are ok the card just does what it was designed to with games as well. if the temps are too high, then any 3D game will put a stress on the card also but in that case you need to improve the cooling. the only enemy of these electronics is heat, so yes: make sure you have the proper cooling, not just when you fold but also when you play. if temps are good, than folding will have no effect on your VGA card's life...

[polobunny]

OH yeah, forget playing games, it even lags your Windows display when it's on. =|

Edit: And what you said is not exactly right. Video cards are not made to run at 100% 24/7. There's no moving parts on a CPU either.
Besides, temps do have effect on your video card life, as they do have effect on your CPU life.
My X1900XT folding at 3D speeds goes to 60C quickly, with the fan at 100%. Have you ever heard a X1900XT fan? Maybe not, but I assure you this sound is not lovely.

Edit 2: Oh and really, it's not worth it. MY system barely made more points with my VGA folding than with my 2 cores.

[sbohdan]

Originally Posted by polobunny

OH yeah, forget playing games, it even lags your Windows display when it's on. =|

Edit: And what you said is not exactly right. Video cards are not made to run at 100% 24/7. There's no moving parts on a CPU either.
Besides, temps do have effect on your video card life, as they do have effect on your CPU life.
My X1900XT folding at 3D speeds goes to 60C quickly, with the fan at 100%. Have you ever heard a X1900XT fan? Maybe not, but I assure you this sound is not lovely.

I just said, that AS LONG AS YOUR TEMPS ARE OK, there is nothing to worry about. same goes for the CPU. I have my CPU going 100% and 24/7 for the last 2 years (folding :) ) and no problems there, just like millions of other folders, so please be constructive here, instead of scareing people off with BS...
read my mod under my sig: I OC'd the crap out of that 6800LE and had lower temps (because of the cooling I implemented), then what I had originally at low default speeds, with no overvolting. I used that card (and abused it like not many others, with loop banchmarking and running it allways fully OC'd and I sold it with my rig to it's new happy owner after 1.5 years and it's as good as new. temps, temps, temps: that's the only factor (except overvolting too much), that can and will, kill your hardware. so keep your temps down and keep folding up :)
and yes - if your card is running 60C, than don't be shy to ask what you should do about that... that's why we here.

[DeanOlicious]

Alright I'm gonna play dumb here, but what is folding? I've heard the term used to describe stuff like SETI and the Genome Projects use of multiple computers across the net to pick up spare calculations, what exactly does it mean the way your doing it? Is it setting up a spare computer with your main rig to pick up other calculations?

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by DeanOlicious

Alright I'm gonna play dumb here, but what is folding? I've heard the term used to describe stuff like SETI and the Genome Projects use of multiple computers across the net to pick up spare calculations, what exactly does it mean the way your doing it? Is it setting up a spare computer with your main rig to pick up other calculations?

Originally Posted by Wiki

Protein folding is the process by which a protein assumes its characteristic functional shape or tertiary structure, also known as the native state

Protein folding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically, you calculate stuff to see how it would turn out. :P By calculating this, you can see how certain diseases affect an organism and thus help find a cure.

[DeanOlicious]

Ahh, thanks polo, I thought it was some sort of new use for the term when he was talking about the GPU. Neat stuff though, I didn't know they were doing the Protein project.

[fps justin]

I don't think i'd run my GPU on 24/7 under 100% load.