As I was hunting for a "low cost" (see other $50 thread) GPU I ran across what the overview described as the first "TeraFlop" calculating video card that AMD had ever released. For $34.99. What could I say?

There is a TeraFlop catch. It apparently may only do that in Single Precision. A review was claiming it has a 200 Gigaflop double precision chip. This article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_FireStream seems to imply that I have a later generation version of the technology. Apparently it is a 150 watt card and wants a 500 watt power supply with 33 amps (someplace). No connector.

I poked around trying to get a feel for what level of drivers support it has but I am still not sure. But I did order it.

Yes, this is "ancient" technology. But it sounds like the latest driver(s) may now support OpenCL. So I am hopeful. After all, a hobbyist can dream of TeraFlop level calculations even if he can't afford them :)

For $34.99 yes you can rain on my parade ;) After all, I think there is a "real good chance" that Seti does everything in double precision...

Thanks,
Tom

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A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association).

 
Dream on

Radeon X1000 Series is 3 generations older than what may (just may) work for SETI@home (Radeon HD 4000 Series)
And even Radeon HD 4000 is old (for driver support)

Edit:
But if you get (the post is not clear for me) some model equivalent to Radeon HD 4850 it may work (I think with 'legacy' drivers)

 

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

For $34.99 yes you can rain on my parade ;) After all, I think there is a "real good chance" that Seti does everything in double precision...

Other than it being to old for here SETI is single precision.

You really should ask here 1st if you're not sure before you buy. ;-)

Cheers.

Did anyone look at the link? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_FireStream#AMD_stream_processing_lineup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_graphics_processing_units#FireStream_Series
It' a RV770. Same as a HD 4850. Last I checked a 4850 worked with SETI.

It's old, slow, and sucks around 120 watts, but it should work. I think it will beat any 'new' $35 card out there. I would have bought a used 6850 off eBay for $50...oh wait...I did...twice.
:-)

Did anyone look at the link? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_FireStream#AMD_stream_processing_lineup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_graphics_processing_units#FireStream_Series
It' a RV770. Same as a HD 4850. Last I checked a 4850 worked with SETI.

It's old, slow, and sucks around 120 watts, but it should work. I think it will beat any 'new' $35 card out there. I would have bought a used 6850 off eBay for $50...oh wait...I did...twice.
:-)

So you are the one that outbid me on those cards! Wait no I was looking at more 6870's. :P

It is basically the same card as my HD4870. Those generation cards only had beta level OpenCL 1.0 support. My HD4870 would run work, but my HD5750, at 1008 GFLOP, would run the SETI@home apps much better & for only 86w vs the 150w of the HD4870. The last version of the Catalyst drivers that support these generations of cards is 12.4.
I was thinking of replacing the HD5750 in my HTPC with a HD7770 for the lower power consumption and the bump in performance 1280 GFLOP @ 80w. I may might just replace the HD6870 in my gaming machine with something more efficient and rotate the HD6870 down to the HTPC. However the current generation of cards don't look very exciting to me for the money.

I think the HD7770 might be the best bang for the buck ATI card under 90w still. Having said that I think NVIDIA cards are currently more efficient for MB & ATI more efficient for AP.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
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Hmmm. It seems it takes a specialized Workstation driver that only supports AMD APP SDK version 2.5. That should work, but, it would be better with SDK 2.6 for the current AstroPulse Apps. I would run only AstroPulses on that card. I've seen people use SDK 2.5 without any problems. Might be a problem trying to use a regular AMD Desktop card at the same time though. I love my 6850s, they are only a couple minutes slower than my 6870 while running cooler and using less power. The only problem is trying to keep them fed with APs when you have more than one installed.