Second Gen. of F@H client for ATI's DX10.(1) GPU's

[Nedjo]

http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/622

Stanford University, with assistance from AMD, have released a version of the Folding@Home client application for discrete R6-family ATI GPUs, from R600 all the way to RV670.

The Pande Group, headed by Stanford's Vijay Pande, have worked hard to release an open beta test of the client, which they call FAH GPU2. FAH GPU2 can run the same codes as the PS3 client now, therefore performing the same computation on the same biomolecules that Cell can, increasing the amount of science that can be accelerated using the GPU. Indeed, FAH GPU2 is actually more capable than the PS3 client in that respect (although the extra simulation is likely to be made available to the PS3 client soon).

One of the major reasons for that is the switch to the CAL backend for Brook, which allows for a different class of computation using the GPU, compared to DirectX. The use of CAL also lets the driver play less of a part in performance and regression-related issues.

Windows-only at the moment (including Vista and 64-bit for both it and XP), the client and FAQ can be accessed at the Folding Forum. Find a link below. Thanks to Mike Houston of the AMD GPG for the tip, and the comments thread on the B3D forums is the existing client preview thread.

http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2020

Things are getting better and better for HD2xxx and HD3xxx Radeon owners!

[grimREEFER]

imo, this tips the scale in the dead heap between the 3870 and 9600gt

[Kayin]

My QuadFire rig just became a foldbeast.

[Frank M]

Will be interesting to see the results jump...

[Cooper]

F@H site down

[FischOderAal]

do you get more points when you use a GPU-client?

I'm currently using the SMP-Client and own an X1950 Pro (I know, this card aint DX10).

[leomax]

What,Still no development about nvidia client?

[K404]

AFAIK, the nV support (or lack of) is because of nVidia, not Stanford...

This news DOES make it tempting to buy an ATI card for a change....

[grimREEFER]

did they mention anything about support for the 4800 series

[Morais]

thats pretty good!

[p2501]

There's a thread in the folding forums about this already:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=183974

As it seems the WUs for the new client are really small (presumably for testing purposes). You just get 900-1000PPD atm.

[ToTTenTranz]

did they mention anything about support for the 4800 series

Why would they release support for unannounced GPUs?

[G.Foyle]

did they mention anything about support for the 4800 series

Seeing as 4000 series will most probably support the same software interface, there should be no problem to make it work on them.

[strange|ife]

i should have waited when i bought the 1950 a few months ago..bah. I only bought it for F@H, and it has been idle for a month now, that rig has been down due to xp loosing license(installed sp3)..been to lazy to format. Good to see HD cards now being supported though.

the 1950 spit out about 300wu a day..not much, 600 a day on HD card's would be ideal

[zanzabar]

What,Still no development about nvidia client?

NV dosnt have a stream processor in their cards so they have been holding back the gpu since it cant be used for steam processing like physics or hard coded 3d rendering, it has to go through a driver to be interpreted then run as a 16 stream and acts like a barrel processor instead of having 320 independent streams to do processing like a cell

thats also quatro and GL only, but ati lets FOH unlock it in the cards for this

[Joe O]

From the FAQ's

Dedicating 100% of a CPU core to a GPU client is strongly recommended. You will need one CPU core per GPU core to keep the GPU client adequately fed with data.

Folding performance on high-end GPUs is directly related to the performance of the CPU feeding the new client. Increasing the GPU core speed may not improve folding performance without sufficient CPU speed to support those higher GPU speeds. The reverse scenario may also be true. A very fast CPU helps to get the best GPU performance with this new client.

[Helmore]

There goes NVIDIA's claim of GPU>CPU

[wickedld9]

There's a thread in the folding forums about this already:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=183974

As it seems the WUs for the new client are really small (presumably for testing purposes). You just get 900-1000PPD atm.

Please see some of the posts below, it depends on how fast your CPU is. A C2D at 4GHz is good enough to push 2000ppd with a stock clocked 3870.

[p2501]

Please see some of the posts below, it depends on how fast your CPU is. A C2D at 4GHz is good enough to push 2000ppd with a stock clocked 3870.

That may very well be, I just took one number stated in the thread so no harm done there. I linked it so hopefully everyone reads it for themselves.

[Sr7]

There goes NVIDIA's claim of GPU>CPU

Ya because we all know how many PC's that are sold every year are used for folding or other tasks which require the CPU be pinned at 100%