Help selecting the right GPU

[bigtruck747]

Hello!!

I am really hoping to get help selecting the best GPU for the rig I have now to get the most folding out of it as possible. My MOBO will support two GPU's, and I thinking of filling both slots. These are the specs of my current equipment.

ASUS P67 TUF series MOBO
Intel i5 2500K cpu
8GB Corsair Vengence Ram (2 x 4)
750 Watt Corsair Gold Power Supply
Rosewill Blackhawk case (there's like 7-8 fans running on the thing)
Kingston Hyper X 3K 120GB SSD running the OS

Also I wanted to ask about switching OS's ... I think I've read a person can increase their PPD by going to a Linux OS vs Windows???

All advice is appreciated!!! Have a good day!

[Nathan_P]

Do you have a budget?

[bigtruck747]

Do you have a budget?

I'm hoping to get input on both mid range ($200 +/- per GPU) units, for something I can put into effect in the near future.

And high end ($600 +/- per GPU) units, for something I can look to upgrade to. The only problem possibly being with a higher end GPU is I'm guessing, it will take more power, and if I'm running two of them I might need to look at a larger Power Supply???

Thank you!

[bruce]

Linux is often several percent faster than Windows but it also requires a person to be significantly more educated in geek-ness (Is that a word?) so you might find it pretty challenging. On the other hand MacOS generally needs less geek-ness than Windows -- though your hardware doesn't fit that OS.

Plan on buying the best GPU you can afford (provided your power supply supports it) and then plan on buying the second GPU later -- whenever your budget allows. Very likely that will be after the first GPU is no longer top-of-the-line. The "best" choice changes a lot more frequently than computers do.

Both NVidia and AMD make good hardware, but NVidia updates their driver support for the features needed by FAH more frequently than AMD so the latter tends to fall behind. That's if you plan on using the GPU only for FAH. The perspective changes a bit if you plan to use the GPU for games or CAD or whatever.

The Pande Group has designed FAH based on the assumption that you'll run it on a system you already have that serves some other purpose, so they don't really make recommendations. There are a lot of people who don't fit that assumption, however.

[bigtruck747]

Thank you Bruce!

[Nathan_P]

Well currently in the mid range I would look at the GTX 960, at the top end the GTX 970 is the most cost effective way to fold, the 980 is faster but you pay lots of $$$ for little gain. IF you want to go slightly lower to start with the 750Ti is the most economical way to fold.

You don't say which model your Corsair 750w is, but if is a TX/HX/AX or RM you should be fine for connecting a pair of 970 GPU's to it, if you go 980 I would consider upgrading but check the hardware review sites 1st - the new 9xx GPU's are very power efficient.

[wilding2004]

I run a pair of 970's and an i5 from a 8 year old Enermax Infiniti 720w. Been running 2 gpu slots and a cpu slot 24/7 with no problems. So I would hope/assume your PSU would be fine.

[7im]

Yes, buy the fastest GPU you can afford, and worry about the upgrades of the PSU and 2nd GPU for later. The performance pendulum swings back and forth between AMD and Nvidia as being the leader. Same for Windows and Linux. Linux CPU slot is a little faster, GPU support in Linux is difficult. It's a wash for me.

My choice today, go with Windows and get an Nvidia 750 Ti or 960 or 980. Tomorrow the answer might be different.

[Samuel]

Linux isn't all that difficult, unless you're running "Linux From Scratch" or a server distro. If you run a distro like Ubuntu Desktop, you won't really have to deal with any of the geek stuff (unless you want to, in which case: It's Linux, you can do whatever the hell you like!)
If you decide to run Ubuntu and Nvidia, you'll probably want to get the proprietary driver (System settings > Additional drivers), download and install the folding@home .deb files, and add a GPU slot in fah.

[ChristianVirtual]

I'm all for Linux and have three systems with it. But with the recent Ubuntu versions 14.04 and 14.10 I had only trouble with a proper installation of drivers. Was not fun and eventually I switched to CentOS 7. Sure, you need the driver NVidia side. One fellow donor here in the forum (Jesse_V) wrote up a nice guidance how to install properly viewtopic.php?nomobile=1&f=80&t=27040

As for hardware: if you can go with a 970. It's an awesome card (I use two). Else 960 and 750Ti. (Don't have those).
And if Linux fails you still can install windows. Which is also better if you are in overclocking.