looking for a "Green" CUDA card...buy now, or wait ??

Bikeman (Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein)
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LOL! Yeah it's a shame I

LOL!

Yeah it's a shame I can't make use of the heat of my hosts in summer time.

CU
Bikeman

TJ
TJ
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That’s way I like

That’s way I like wintertime; crunching and fiddling with computers, and getting the room warm for free. In summer I have the cool it at times and this off course cost some money.

Greetings from
TJ

DigitalDingus
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RE: Hi all! I'm looking

Quote:

Hi all!

I'm looking for a CUDA card that has a low power consumption, for many reasons:

* electricity bill :-)
* "thermal control" : the room where most of my BOINC PCs are located gets pretty hot in summer ...
* I'd like to use it in a PC that has only a 350 W PSU

So...I understand there's the GeForce 9600 and 9800 "Green" or "Eco" line of products. Around 75 W of power consumption, right??

Then again, some time later this year NVIDIA will release new cards based on a a new manufacturing process, and (as rumors have it), with much more powerful double precision capabilities....

Sigh...the eternal question: buy now or wait ???

Any experiences with green CUDA cards?

CU
Bikeman

I just bought an XFX 9600 GSO 768MB Fatal1ty for around $67 on Newegg. I figured what the hek. I suppose a person could always wait for the latest card to be released, but then you'll be paying a premium. After all, the card I just bought was twice as much last year at this time. Maybe more.

Always buy the older cards.

I'll update on my SETI WU crunching numbers...pending everything going well and BOINC not having any hickups.

But I will tell you something. You REALLY should be investing in a higher power PSU first. At least a 600W. I currently have a 1000W PSU, and I can throw anything at it. But look for sales this weekend. I'd get a video card like I did and invest more in a solid PSU. Because it all goes back to how much power your PSU can give your PC system.

Bikeman (Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein)
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I'm not convinced, why should

I'm not convinced, why should I get a new PSU? The whole point of buying a "green" CUDA card was to not draw excessive power:

I just put a meter on the box, the whole system draws

ca 85 W when idle
ca 170 W under full load (two S5R5 tasks for the CPU and GPUgrid task for the GPU)

This is even better than I had expected.

Note that my CPU is a dual-core AMD 4850e with a TDP of only 45 W, so it's kind of "green" as well.

CU
Bikeman

paul milton
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RE: I'm not convinced, why

Message 92635 in response to message 92634

Quote:

I'm not convinced, why should I get a new PSU? The whole point of buying a "green" CUDA card was to not draw excessive power:

I just put a meter on the box, the whole system draws

ca 85 W when idle
ca 170 W under full load (two S5R5 tasks for the CPU and GPUgrid task for the GPU)

This is even better than I had expected.

Note that my CPU is a dual-core AMD 4850e with a TPU of only 45 W, so it's kind of "green" as well.

CU
Bikeman

according to my ups (cyber power) my system uses a total of 125watts under full load with the monitor on. my cpu is a intel dual core E5200 monitor is 19" i too figured it would draw a LOT more power than it does.

seeing without seeing is something the blind learn to do, and seeing beyond vision can be a gift.

Bikeman (Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein)
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One more data point: With

One more data point:

With CPU under full load and GPU idle, my system draws ca 125 W

So... GPU load will account for an additional 45 W, CPU load for an extra 40 W...roughly...

CU
Bikeman

Mike Hewson
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In my understanding, while a

In my understanding, while a PSU may have some maximum drawable power : that is not freely distributable amongst all the rails/cables. There will still be a maximum per cable, indeed I thought that was why the newer graphics cards ( not integrated on the mobo ) had to obtain multiple routes for their energised electrons. I think my son's draws from the PCI-Ex slot it's sitting in, plus two cables ( each 6 pin in a 3 x 2 grid ) from the PSU.

As we hadn't checked the PSU specs/requirements prior to purchase of a graphics card recently, we wound up also with a new 800W PSU as a result ( up from the previous 450W ). The PSU manufacturers often have their specs online, just use P = V x I to get the power per cable/rail ....

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) And thus the total limiting power drawable from a PSU assumes that each particular cable is flowing to the maximum allowable for it. Essentially the box in toto is in a serial circuit loop to/from your household powerpoint, but the PSU splits that into parallel streams corresponding to the cables. So it's the components within the PSU at the divergence/convergence of those cable flows that is in especial want of cooling & care - tranny's and SCR's typically.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

DanNeely
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the 6 pin PCIe cables are

the 6 pin PCIe cables are limited to 75W, the 8pin to 150 (thicker wires), molex (fan, older disk drives) cables to 25W on the 12v line, and IIRC 10W on the 5v (2 amps per wire pair).

Mike Hewson
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RE: the 6 pin PCIe cables

Message 92639 in response to message 92638

Quote:
the 6 pin PCIe cables are limited to 75W


So my lad's spiffy new card can draw : 2 x 75 + ( whatever from the slot ) ... well it's certainly not in the green category. Mind you the 'green' label is such a marketing oxymoron thesedays eg. anyone for 'clean coal' ?? :-)

[Aside]
I should mention that it's best to mount any powerboards with the sockets facing horizontally or even down. An upward facing power socket, particularly if just lying on or close to the floor, will collect lint within. This is typically paper particles, especially in offices. A mate of mine is a fire investigator/assessor and tells me this is an increasing cause of fires.
[/Aside]

Cheers, Mike.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

DanNeely
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RE: RE: the 6 pin PCIe

Message 92640 in response to message 92639

Quote:
Quote:
the 6 pin PCIe cables are limited to 75W

So my lad's spiffy new card can draw : 2 x 75 + ( whatever from the slot ) ... well it's certainly not in the green category. Mind you the 'green' label is such a marketing oxymoron thesedays eg. anyone for 'clean coal' ?? :-)

75W in a PCIe 1.0 slot, 150W in a 2.0 slot. That said, since all current cards are designed for back compatability if they need >75W they'll have an external power plug, and even a number of cards below the 75W threshhold do the same to hedge against crappy mobos or excessive over clocking.

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