Hi all, just a few questions before I grab two more cards.

1. If I have more than one card in a system, would I need dummy plugs to trick the software to think there's two monitors? Or does BOINC automatically detect that there's two cards?

2. I'm looking for two cards, what's the best price/performance ratio?

3. Higher core/shader more important than memory when overclocking?

4. Is there a chart somewhere that ranks all the cards by performance?


Thanks all.

I was thinking of grabbing two of the 9600 GSO (96 shader) since I don't have the PSU to run two of the 200 series. It would be either two 9800GT or two 9600GSO.

How does dual 9800GT / 9600GSO compare to the 260GTX Core 216 I have right now?

I was thinking of grabbing two of the 9600 GSO (96 shader) since I don't have the PSU to run two of the 200 series. It would be either two 9800GT or two 9600GSO.

How does dual 9800GT / 9600GSO compare to the 260GTX Core 216 I have right now?

...... if you have multiple cards, SLi must be disabled & under Vista you will need to 'fool' the OS into thinking you have a monitor attached to both cards .... with the desktop extended onto both.

I was thinking of grabbing two of the 9600 GSO (96 shader) since I don't have the PSU to run two of the 200 series.

I was thinking of grabbing two of the 9600 GSO (96 shader) since I don't have the PSU to run two of the 200 series.

If you've already got a 65nm GTX 260 Core 216 on your power supply, you might be able to run a single 55nm GTX 295. For a bit more than twice the cost, it has a bit more than twice the performance of a GTX 260, but uses less than twice the power as a 65nm GTX 260.

The only disadvantage I've noticed is the relatively loud fan of the GTX 295 at full speed compared to the fan speed of a 65nm GTX 260 that's set to maintain the same temperature. That said, with good case cooling the fan doesn't need to run so fast and loud anyway.

When Paul added a GTX 280 his system drew 160W more at the wall. In our forum some people reported an increase of ~100W for a GTX 260 running GPU-Grid. So.. overloading / killing your PSU is not a good idea, but generally GPUs draw less power than most people think after looking at their specs.

MrS

All I have is a Corsair VX550W, so either way, I don't have anymore PEI-E cables. It only has two. :(

..... Manufacturers want to sell PSUs - I have a 295 and a 260 running on a 700w PSu, 2x280 + 260 on a 900w PSU .....a PC Power & Cooling 610 will run a pair of 280s.

P.

..... Manufacturers want to sell PSUs - I have a 295 and a 260 running on a 700w PSu, 2x280 + 260 on a 900w PSU .....a PC Power & Cooling 610 will run a pair of 280s.

P.

GTX 295 = $500.. I'm not really interested. I'd rather get a 260 55nm 216 for $200 to pair with my current 260.

1 - You will need a load on all video cards if you are running Vista. You do not if you are running XP. I do not think you need it for linux either but am not sure.

I would bet your VX550 would run a pair of 55nm gtx260/216's along with a q6600.

FWIW, some results from a kill-a-watt

a. b-step q6600 with 9600gso - 3 CPU tasks, 1 GPU task - 190W at the wall using an Antec ea380 80+ rated supply means 150 DC watts or less than 1/2 load. The only other things in that system are one hard drive, one optical drive and one case fan.

b. x2-4200 and a pair of 8800gt's - 2 GPU tasks, no CPU tasks - 203W at the wall using an Antec ea380 80+ rated supply = 160 DC watts or less than 1/2 load.

41 amps of +12v from that single rail VX550 should run a pair of 55nm gtx260's and a q6600 with ease unless you load your system up with lots of extra components. The only hassle is all the hard drive -> pci-e power adapters. One made a mess of my cabling in my dual GPU box.

I have a larger supply to put in the q6600 machine when I get a gtx260 for it even though I probably don't need it.