Kougar
10-03-2006, 02:20 AM
If you are willing to run very early beta software, you can now download (http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html) the GUI, basic client, or "fancy graphics GUI" and fold on any ATI x1900 class GPU.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
GPU and OS support
Will X1800 cards will be supported in the new client as well? What about any other ATI models (i.e. X1600 cards/RV530)?
At first, we will launch with support for X1900 cards only. X1800 cards do not provide the performance needed. These cards are actually quite different -- they have different processors (R520, R530 vs. the R580 ). The R580 makes a huge difference in performance -- its 48 pixel shaders are key, as we use pixel shaders for our computations. However, we are working to get reasonable performance from the X1800 cards (1/2 to 1/3 of the X1900) and we will likely support them soon (hopefully 1 month after the initial beta test roll out).
[I]What about video cards with other (non-ATI) chipsets?
The R580 (in the X1900XT, etc.) performs particularly well for molecular dynamics, due to its 48 pixel shaders. Currently, other cards (such as those from nVidia and other ATI cards) do not perform well enough for our calculations as they have fewer pixel shaders. Also, nVidia cards in general have some technical limitations beyond the number of pixel shaders which makes them perform poorly in our calculations.
Is the GPU client for Windows XP only, or has it been tested on other OS’s like Linux, Mac, and Vista?
We will launch with Windows XP (32 bit only) support only due to driver and compiler support issues. In time, we hope to support Linux as well. Macintosh OSX support is much further out, as the compilers and drivers we need are not supported in OSX, and thus we cannot port our code until that has been resolved.
Are there any plans to enable the client to take advantage of dual-GPU systems like CrossFire, or even 3-slot systems that can support three GPUs?
We will not support this at launch, but we are aggressively working to support multi-GPU systems.
Updated: http://folding.stanford.edu/FAQ-ATI.html (http://folding.stanford.edu/FAQ-ATI.html) The info on nVidia cards sounds exactly like the reason behind the lack of HDR+AA for most games... hopefully nVidia has fixed this when they fixed the HDR+AA issue with G80.
There is also a explanation of how Stanford plans to allocate points for GPU folding within the FAQ page itself.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
GPU and OS support
Will X1800 cards will be supported in the new client as well? What about any other ATI models (i.e. X1600 cards/RV530)?
At first, we will launch with support for X1900 cards only. X1800 cards do not provide the performance needed. These cards are actually quite different -- they have different processors (R520, R530 vs. the R580 ). The R580 makes a huge difference in performance -- its 48 pixel shaders are key, as we use pixel shaders for our computations. However, we are working to get reasonable performance from the X1800 cards (1/2 to 1/3 of the X1900) and we will likely support them soon (hopefully 1 month after the initial beta test roll out).
[I]What about video cards with other (non-ATI) chipsets?
The R580 (in the X1900XT, etc.) performs particularly well for molecular dynamics, due to its 48 pixel shaders. Currently, other cards (such as those from nVidia and other ATI cards) do not perform well enough for our calculations as they have fewer pixel shaders. Also, nVidia cards in general have some technical limitations beyond the number of pixel shaders which makes them perform poorly in our calculations.
Is the GPU client for Windows XP only, or has it been tested on other OS’s like Linux, Mac, and Vista?
We will launch with Windows XP (32 bit only) support only due to driver and compiler support issues. In time, we hope to support Linux as well. Macintosh OSX support is much further out, as the compilers and drivers we need are not supported in OSX, and thus we cannot port our code until that has been resolved.
Are there any plans to enable the client to take advantage of dual-GPU systems like CrossFire, or even 3-slot systems that can support three GPUs?
We will not support this at launch, but we are aggressively working to support multi-GPU systems.
Updated: http://folding.stanford.edu/FAQ-ATI.html (http://folding.stanford.edu/FAQ-ATI.html) The info on nVidia cards sounds exactly like the reason behind the lack of HDR+AA for most games... hopefully nVidia has fixed this when they fixed the HDR+AA issue with G80.
There is also a explanation of how Stanford plans to allocate points for GPU folding within the FAQ page itself.