Possible To Fold with GTX Titan and GTX Titan Black (No SLI)

[Jimboc]

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are doing well today. I have a quick question that I would like to seek your expertise for.

I currently have an Nvidia GTX Titan installed in my desktop PC. Since this GPU is no longer available, if I was to install a GTX Titan Black (in addition to the existing GTX Titan), could I use both for folding?

I previously had 2x GTX 580 (in SLI) for folding but switched to using only 1 Titan instead (when the old 580s failed). I realize that I will not be able to enable SLI since the 2 GPUs do not have the same architecture (different number of cores) and also have different clock speeds. This will not be a problem if I can continue to use both for folding.

I am currently obtaining 150k PPD with my existing GTX Titan but would like to reach 300K PPD.

Any advice that you may be able to provide would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time. My apologies if this question was posted in the wrong section of the forum.

For your reference my PCs specifications are as follows:

Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Pro Rev 3.0 (Intel P67 Chipset)
Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Video Card: 1x 6GB EVGA Geforce GTX Titan (836 MHz Base, 876 MHz Boost)
Power Supply: Corsair HX1000 Modular Power Supply
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit (with August 2014 updates)

[Napoleon]

As long as you make sure that the GPUs are powered from different rails ( see http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?na ... ry&reid=89 ), I don't foresee any problems folding with both of them. Folding doesn't need/use SLI, the GPUs fold independently.

You'll also want to check the PCIE configuration in order to avoid using the slowest PCIE slot: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8P67_ ... fications/

[Jimboc]

Hi Napoleon,

Many thanks for your very fast response.

You raise very valid points. My power supply is pictured in the following article:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?na ... ry&reid=89

Specifically in the following image you can see the PCI-E power connectors. 2 are connected to rail 12V1 and the remaining 2 to rail 12V2. I will ensure that each GPU uses the correct pair of connectors when fitting the extra GPU.


Image is Copyright © 2012 - JonnyGURU.com

Please find below an image from my motherboard manual. As you can see, the PCI-E slot that I will be using will run at 8x when the second GPU is installed. This is what my previous GPUs ran at when in SLI. While these slots will be the slowest, it’s the best the board has to offer.



Thanks for your advice, it is much appreciated. My issue/question is resolved. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

[Napoleon]

Thanks, I did.

Some further suggestions; see if you can use the 2600K CPU's iGPU for display (browsing, mail, videos etc). That way the two Titans can fold pretty much uninterrupted and you'll get a lag-free display for daily grind. And/or go crazy and try installing a 3rd GPU to #7. Don't bother with a high-end GPU there, the PCIE2 x4 (or effectively x1) would bottleneck it to some extent. Much more importantly, your dual-rail PSU couldn't handle a 3rd Titan or anything close to it.

However, some (Maxwell) 750Ti could be a nice 3rd GPU. It's low wattage, yet pretty darn good performer for that wattage. I recently installed one to a brand new 'puter I built for a friend, and was most pleasantly surprised by its performance for a "budget" GPU - I did a burn-in for it with some old "scorcher" core15 WUs. Maxwell architecture may still have some (driver) snags, but judging by my admittedly limited experience with the 750Ti, Maxwells looks very neat.

[Jimboc]

Hi Napoleon,

Once again these are very useful recommendations. However while my CPU does have an integrated GPU (the HD Graphics 2000), there are no options in the BIOS to enable this GPU. In addition there are no connectors at the rear of the motherboard to connect a display to.



This is not really an issue for me since when using the computer I do not experience any lag with the display (so long as I do not attempt to play a high resolution game) Blu Rays and DVDs play fine (with hardware acceleration enabled).

The recommendation of using the remaining PCI Express x16 slot will not work in my situation since I have my sound card (Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional) installed in that slot. You are correct a GTX 750 Ti would be an ideal choice for a 3rd GPU since it is quite fast (approx. 1.3 TeraFLOPS (see the graph under the heading of "COST OF COMPUTATION") with a moderate power consumption (60 W). If I had the slot spare I would install this GPU however I do not wish to give up my Creative Sound card which is amazing in the games that I play (I don't wish to use the integrated Realtek 7.1 audio) . Overall this should not make much difference since a GTX Titan and a GTX Titan Black will provide a lot of folding power.

Thanks again for your suggestions and your advice.

[bruce]

The HD Graphics 2000 device is an Intel integrated GPU which would not be supported for folding, even if it were available to you. In all cases that I've ever seen, an iGPU is disabled when another GPU is plugged into an expansion slot so it wouldn't be available even if a suitable connector was provided on the rear panel. ... so there's at least three reasons to ignore it.

I'm not surprised that you experience no lag. Your two Titans are fast enough for any lag would be unnoticeable except maybe if your video demands are high, such as during gaming or watching movies at really high-resolution.

Consider your current configuration ideal for what you want to use it for.

[Zagen30]

In all cases that I've ever seen, an iGPU is disabled when another GPU is plugged into an expansion slot so it wouldn't be available even if a suitable connector was provided on the rear panel. ... so there's at least three reasons to ignore it.

I run my monitor off of the iGPU while my 780s fold. I had to change a BIOS setting, but that was it.

[7im]

I've see both options. Newer iGPUs tend to support using it and a discreet card. Older ones tend to disable themselves. My previous D*ll PC iGPU disabled itself, my current D*ll allows both. Also depends on the motherboard BIOS and connection options. So never a hard/fast rule either way. Check your own specs... MB and CPU.

[Jimboc]

The HD Graphics 2000 device is an Intel integrated GPU which would not be supported for folding, even if it were available to you. In all cases that I've ever seen, an iGPU is disabled when another GPU is plugged into an expansion slot so it wouldn't be available even if a suitable connector was provided on the rear panel. ... so there's at least three reasons to ignore it.

I'm not surprised that you experience no lag. Your two Titans are fast enough for any lag would be unnoticeable except maybe if your video demands are high, such as during gaming or watching movies at really high-resolution.

Consider your current configuration ideal for what you want to use it for.

Hi bruce,

My apologies for causing any misunderstanding. I am not attempting to use the iGPU (HD Graphics 2000) for folding. I was investigating it as a 3rd display while the 2 Titans carry out the folding as per Napoleon’s suggestion. I agree with you that the Titans are more than fast enough and I thank you for explaining why I do not experience lag (I was not aware of the true reason why).

I've see both options. Newer iGPUs tend to support using it and a discreet card. Older ones tend to disable themselves. My previous D*ll PC iGPU disabled itself, my current D*ll allows both. Also depends on the motherboard BIOS and connection options. So never a hard/fast rule either way. Check your own specs... MB and CPU.

@7im: Agreed, these options appear to differ per MB and CPU. Thanks again guys, much appreciated.

[jrweiss]

The HD Graphics 2000 device is an Intel integrated GPU which would not be supported for folding, even if it were available to you. In all cases that I've ever seen, an iGPU is disabled when another GPU is plugged into an expansion slot so it wouldn't be available even if a suitable connector was provided on the rear panel. ... so there's at least three reasons to ignore it.

I find it interesting that the OP's MoBo supports the CPU with integrated graphics, but does not have a video output for it.

My 2 MSI MoBos (and most/all current MoBos, AFAIK) have video ports on the backplane for the integrated graphics. They also support Virtu, which allows the use of both integrated and discrete (add-in) GPUs simultaneously. BIOS selections enable/disable the integrated and discrete GPUs, as well as allowing a choice of Virtu-I (monitor running off integrated GPU), Virtu-D (monitor running off discrete GPU), or Virtu disabled. I have found that Virtu-D seems to help the PPD count of my GPU WUs. I have yet to try Virtu-I mode, since I would prefer to use the discrete GPU fo normal monitor functions as well.

Has anyone here tried Virtu-I while Folding GPU WUs?