Best combo of cards, in perf and maybe power consumption.

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Al Crowdfunding Project Donor*Special Project $75 donorSpecial Project $250 donor
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Message 1852413 - Posted: 3 Mar 2017, 0:49:07 UTC

I just brought a computer that I had built earlier to the shop, to get it going for use around here, as well as crunching in its spare time. Not exactly sure about the CPU, other than I believe it is a i7 on a P8Z77 motherboard. When I set it up 5-6 months ago, I had filled it with two GTX670 FTW 2 gig cards (02G-P4-2678-P1) , a GTX950SC (02G-P4-2951-KR) and a GTX950 FTW (02G-P4-2958-KR). Since then I have acquired a few more cards, and brought some with to try and hotrod it a little, to get the best performance out of the mix that I have, which includes the orig above ones, along with two others listed below. I have 4 slots in the system to fill, which would give the best performance, and if some are close to others in that respect, then best perf per watt might come into consideration.

The other cards under consideration are a GTX980Ti (06G-P4-4996-KR) - Duh, yes, this will be the mainstay of the cards in this system. Also available is a GTX1050Ti (04G-P4-6253-KR). I would think that the 980 is far and away the best performer, but after that things get a little less clear. My assumption would be that all the current gen 9 and 10 series cards perform better than the 6 series, and the 6 series are the mid level ones, and that the current series (other than the 980 of course) are bottom level performers in their respective classes. I just can't imagine that something 2-3 gens back would keep up with newer ones, even bottom end newer ones. Am I missing something? I _know_ that the power consumption and perf/watt would be much better keeping the 670's out, so would there be any reason, if considering performance alone, to put them into this system? Sorry if I am being Captain Obvious here, but I just wanted to confirm that I am not missing something. Thanks guys!

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Message 1852418 - Posted: 3 Mar 2017, 1:02:25 UTC - in response to Message 1852413.  

When all else fails .... consult Shaggies tables.
Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

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Message 1852424 - Posted: 3 Mar 2017, 1:08:54 UTC

Yes the 9xx series is much better than the older 6xx series, but the 10xx series is so much better than the 9xx series.

Also mixing different classes of GPU's isn't a very good idea in my books as you'll have to tune your app to suit the lowest performing 1 which will hobble your higher performing cards (the other way around will likely cause big problems for the lower end GPU's).

Getting 4 of the same GTX 10xx GPU's would be your best bet IMHO in the power/performance stakes, even if they're little 1060's (yes I do like my 3GB 1060's thank you).

Cheers.
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Message 1852429 - Posted: 3 Mar 2017, 1:15:29 UTC

Well, the 1050Ti won't come close to the 980 in performance, so that one will def go in as card #2. Now about the lower end 9 series, you're saying that they will drag the perf of the other ones down so much that it doesn't make sense to even put them into the system? Sounds like the 6 series are out of contention.

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Message 1852441 - Posted: 3 Mar 2017, 1:37:43 UTC

Why not stick the 1050Ti in with those 950's as they'll be closer together in performance and the 1050Ti wouldn't suffer that much being with them, but I wouldn't mix those 3 with any of the others as the gap is far too big.

Cheers.
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Message 1852811 - Posted: 4 Mar 2017, 12:34:23 UTC - in response to Message 1852429.  

Well, the 1050Ti won't come close to the 980 in performance, so that one will def go in as card #2. Now about the lower end 9 series, you're saying that they will drag the perf of the other ones down so much that it doesn't make sense to even put them into the system? Sounds like the 6 series are out of contention.

The optimized linux app that Petri and Tbar compile can actually keep the 1050Ti competitive with the 980/Ti.

https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=2454697680
https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=2454558055
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Message 1852820 - Posted: 4 Mar 2017, 13:39:17 UTC

The 6xx series are a long way behind the 9xx and 10xx series. The tuning required for one series is very different to that required for the 6xx will seriously compromise the performance of that of the higher series (and I am assuming the xx is the same for each series - it gets worse if xx is more than one step apart).
I would stick the 670 in one motherboard, and the 9xx into another one, with the 10xx into a third. This will allow you to have all three families optimised to achieve their individual best performance rather than having some very significant compromise configuration. If you have only two available motherboards you would be wise to ditch the 670s as they will be nowhere near the performance of a well setup pair of 980, never mind a pair of 1080.
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Message 1853091 - Posted: 5 Mar 2017, 1:34:02 UTC - in response to Message 1852413.  
Last modified: 5 Mar 2017, 1:46:38 UTC


2 x GTX670 FTW 2 gig cards (02G-P4-2678-P1)
GTX950SC (02G-P4-2951-KR)
GTX950 FTW (02G-P4-2958-KR)


GTX980Ti (06G-P4-4996-KR)
GTX1050Ti (04G-P4-6253-KR)

I would think that the 980 is far and away the best performer, but after that things get a little less clear. My assumption would be that all the current gen 9 and 10 series cards perform better than the 6 series, and the 6 series are the mid level ones, and that the current series (other than the 980 of course) are bottom level performers in their respective classes. I just can't imagine that something 2-3 gens back would keep up with newer ones, even bottom end newer ones. Am I missing something? I _know_ that the power consumption and perf/watt would be much better keeping the 670's out, so would there be any reason, if considering performance alone, to put them into this system? Sorry if I am being Captain Obvious here, but I just wanted to confirm that I am not missing something. Thanks guys!


. . I have an ASUS Dual 950 in this rig and I had 2 x ASUS 950 Strix in another rig (now running 2 x 1060s instead), and a 1050ti inb the third rig.

. . I think you will find the 1050ti will exceed the 670s in productivity, with the 950s being a good match to the 1050ti, even if slighty lower in output and the power consumption will be far better, with the 1050ti giving the best bang/watt.

. . But Wiggo makes a good point about the difference between these cards and the 980 in performance. As I see it the question is how much output would you lose from the 980 by setting everything to fit the other three GPUs. In my opinion it would not be monumental and the 980's output would still exceed the 670's for more than a fair trade in consumed electricity.

. . I am running both the 950 and 1050ti with moderately aggressive settings and I think the 980 will still provide a very good output at those settings as well

. . Bottom line ;

. . GTX980, GTX1050ti and 2 x GTX950s would give a better output for no more or lower power consumption than -
. . GTX670, GTX1050ti and 2 x GTX950s.

. . But then there is the fun of experimentation ...

Stephen

:)
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Message 1853144 - Posted: 5 Mar 2017, 8:12:53 UTC

A far simpler set to tune - put the 1050s in one rig and the 9xx in the other, and drop the 670 completely. The 670 is two generations (at least) below the 10xx family and the tuning required for the two families is so very different.
Bring all your 950 family into one rig, and the 980 & 10xx into another. Again this will give you a chance to tune the two sets of GPUs properly.
So:
670 bin, using it with any of the others will kill the performance of that rig (unless you want a good room heater)

rig 1 = GTX950(ti) x 4
rig 2 = GTX980, gtx1050ti x2
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Message 1854244 - Posted: 10 Mar 2017, 3:17:26 UTC

Well, ended up going with a 1070 to compliment my 980Ti, so hopefully they will be humming along well together. All I've done so far is just install the latest video driver, I still get that complaining about version 7 in the event log when it starts up. So, I'll need to install the latest apps, but if I remember hearing correctly, the beta app is going to be released to production in the near future, so I might just hold off for a little bit to see how it stabilizes before upgrading that and Lunatics, as well as putting in more demanding command line parameters. Thanks for the discussion and thoughts, it was good to hear them, but a little disappointing to hear that the 670's are pretty much best used as space heaters now.. :-/

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Message 1854277 - Posted: 10 Mar 2017, 6:07:47 UTC

v.7 of what????? The event log will tell you!
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Message 1854515 - Posted: 10 Mar 2017, 22:43:46 UTC - in response to Message 1854277.  

3/8/2017 7:58:31 PM | SETI@home | Message from server: Unknown app name setiathome_v7 in app_info.xml

FlashFlyer

This is the one that I just set up, and need to get optimized one of these days...

Oh, and it's a Processor: 8 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz [Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9],
so a 4 core i7 (8 w/HT), shouldn't have an issue keeping up, I would hope, but currently shows as running .5 GPU per task.

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Message 1854516 - Posted: 10 Mar 2017, 22:51:26 UTC

Al, you are using an outdated Lunatic installer version and that's why you are getting that notice. ;-)

Cheers.
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Message 1854908 - Posted: 12 Mar 2017, 0:32:13 UTC - in response to Message 1854516.  

Yup, that's why I mentioned I needed to install the latest apps, I knew this guy was a bit behind the times. Any idea when the beta installer is going top be released as the release version?

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Message 1854911 - Posted: 12 Mar 2017, 0:36:29 UTC - in response to Message 1854908.  

Any idea when the beta installer is going top be released as the release version?

Nope.
Grant
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Message boards : Number crunching : Best combo of cards, in perf and maybe power consumption.


 
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