I don't want to spend more than $150-$200 on a graphics card, so is there a comparison chart anywhere which shows me how I can get the most bang for my buck crunching SETI?

I am not a gamer.

Nick

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Hi Nicholas

If you are after nVidia cards, why don't you start here:

http://www.nvidia.com/content/HelpMeChoose/fx2/HelpMeChoose.asp?lang=en-us

I would probably look at the 650 Ti based on processing power, but check the boards of any issues as this is a brand new card.

NewEgg have plenty of these right in your price target.

Arvid

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Arvid Almstrom

Thanks Arvid. I'll look into that one.

Nick

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As far as "bang for the buck" goes, ATI cards seem to have more bang for simila bucks to an Nvidia card.
Just one example:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=658&card2=647

I don't want to spend more than $150-$200 on a graphics card, so is there a comparison chart anywhere which shows me how I can get the most bang for my buck crunching SETI?

I am not a gamer.

Nick

I'm not going to even try to answer what's "best" because that's a matter of competing priorities.

In order of how much they will crunch in the $200 area:

If you look around very hard, you can find a GTX 570 for "right around" $200-220.

If $200 is the absolute maximum you will go, you can find GTX 560Tis right about $200, but you might have to accept a manufacturer you are unsure-of for that money.

If you want to get away with maybe $170 or so, you can get a GTX 560 (no Ti), but you'll have to find someone trying to get rid of their stock.

Any of those three will do about as much crunching as you are going to do for that amount of money without digging pretty hard.

If you go below the 460 / 560 / 660 cards (edit: beware "SE" versions and the like), you will take a BIG performance hit. The difference between a 550Ti and a 560 is not small.

No two computers are exactly alike, YMMV, "things" like clock speed matter.

I've been running a computer with two 560s in it (one factory overclocked) that has almost identical RAC to another computer with two reference 560Tis in it, and the kicker is that the 560 machine has fewer Phenom II cores running in it.

(I put a third 560 in it Thursday afternoon, so if you can't find that computer, don't think I'm lying to you - Stay away from the PNY 560. It's hot and the fan is loud. I got it for $160. I wish I had spent another $40 on the factory overclocked EVGA 560 (which I own one of))

My priority is "RAC per dollar spent on the card, now." So I just bought two "B-Stock" GTX 470s. (Boooo, booooo, yuck...400-Series...booo, bad show...)

I paid $119 for each of them and expect something in excess of 20k "RAC" out of each of them. (computer ID 6697100 is a SuperClocked 460 on an old P4 and it does more than 20,000 RAC, so I'm guessing a 470 should outperform it by a small margin).

So, for $240 for the pair, I should have 43,000 to 50,000 "RAC." (I just got them today, so I'm not sure of their RAC; but they are power-hungry and exhaust air that feels like it's coming out of a hair-dryer.)

Since a single GTX 670 is $400 (ish) and does 34,000 RAC (ish), I'm happy with the prospects of doing more than that for 60% of the price.

Having said that, I hasten to add that my 670s are my favorite cards, they just aren't my favorite price.

You didn't say how much power supply you have, and you've got to watch that or a $200 card can become a $300 expense after you buy a new power supply.

Yes, the 600-Series has advantages. No, I'm not suggesting you buy a 400-Series card.

I'm just trying to give you information about options you may or may not have considered or want to consider. I won't even try to tell you what's best for you or for your circumstances, whatever they might be.

The nvida kepler architecture (Series 650,660, etc..) is not as good as the fermi architecture (Series 550,560,570,580)


I see my 550ti +/- 130€ can have aproximately the same RAC of an 650ti 179€ (24000/day)

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For you range 150/200$. I believe an 560ti would be the best choice. About twice as much an 550ti.

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The best card for that price range is a GTX 560 Ti.

I've been creeping on ebay trying to pick one up for under $150 for one of my machines that doesn't have a GPU card.

I wish to ask, is the ATI HD7770 better at seti than the nvidia 650 TI?

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I wish to ask, is the ATI HD7770 better at seti than the nvidia 650 TI?

No.

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http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

I like these pages for general comparison.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_graphics_processing_units

Or if you want a simple graphical comparison:
http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-650/performance

Just simply comparing the heights of the bars will give you a rough idea of how well the different boards perform.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Or if you want a simple graphical comparison:
http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-650/performance

Just simply comparing the heights of the bars will give you a rough idea of how well the different boards perform.

That is nice chart. I guess GTX 650 Ti would be really good choice.

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my next card is the 7950 amd

:)

my next card is the 7950 amd

:)

Good choice.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

Thanks so much to all who responded. I went with the GTX 650 Ti with 2048MB.

How many instances of Seti should I be able to run on that?

Nick

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Thanks so much to all who responded. I went with the GTX 650 Ti with 2048MB.

How many instances of Seti should I be able to run on that?

You could run 6, but 3 would most likely give the best throughput.

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Grant
Darwin NT

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=69136&sort_style=6&start=0

Use this the test in this post and you'll know

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: October 2012

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me@rescam.org