Looking to upgrade GPU

[skywalker tsbt]

Howdy all,

First off, I hit the 100,000,000 mark!! Slow but steady!!

Now for the question.

My GT610 failed. I'm looking to upgrade but wanted to get the most bang for my buck, crunching wise.

Thoughts anyone?

Also, with Scole and Alez cranking up some huge numbers are you using the mini boards? Do they have GPU's to exploit?

[scole of TSBT]

Congratulations on being the latest 100 millionaire! :salute:

The mini boards have GPUs but no BOINC app suppport for them. They are still relatively cheap all-in-one 4 core CPU crunchers that use very little power. ARM systems only produce huge numbers of you have Rockminer ASICs connected to it crunching Bitcoin Utopia

As for GPUs, here is a spreadsheet I've used to compare hardware...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7Q1OY ... sp=sharing

It's all about what you're willing to spend. The workhorse AMD is the HD 7970/R9 280X. They're currently selling for $100-$175 on Ebay. The GTX 780 is a comparable Nvidia GPU which is selling for $250-325. Nvidias run higher and prices are all over the place. The 900 series Nvidias use less power, which can be significant over time. If you have room for multiple GPUs, you get more GFLOPS/$ with a couple slower GPUs vs. one faster GPU. A pair of 660 Tis might cost $200 and should perform as well or better than one 780. Lots of other factors with GPU performance such as number of PCIe lanes, slot speed, etc.

If you have target budget, toss it out there and we'll offer some options to fit.

[Alez]

For an upgraded GPU I presume you mean using the same board as you have then it all depends on the PSU. As a straight upgrade for the GT610 with no PSU upgrade etc. you will struggle to get much better than the GTX 750TI. I have one and for 55watts, no separate power required they are awesome performers.

[scole of TSBT]

I updated the spreadsheet with the GTX 610 stats. I have to agree with Alez that unless you're willing to upgrade your PSU (or you have a couple hundred watts to spare), the GTX 750 Ti might be a good fit. The 610 uses 29 watts, the 750 ti no more than 60 but over 8x the SP GLOPS. That or look at the Quadro GPUs, though I don't have much experience using them.

[skywalker tsbt]

No problem with PSU's or adapters for GPU's. I can dish out what is required.

I did notice that PCI-E ver.3.0 is out. I have a 2.0 slot. Are the cards backwards compatible? (I can look that up)

Money is always an issue. I could stop crunching for a few months to offset electricity but that is just not going to happen. My OCD would overrule.

So if I could grab a decent card for $100-150ish, I'd be happy. (I'm a long time eBay'r so grabbing stuff off there is easy)

I should look up my warranty of the card. Its not that old. hmmmmm.

[scole of TSBT]

You can easily buy a 660 Ti, a 770 is in that range too. If you're patient, you might snag a better one. Compare the GPU stats and search Ebay. Pay attention to the power draw though. Not all PSUs are the same either. Higher end PSUs like Corsair have a single 12v rail so it's a little easier to keep the power draw within limits. Some have more than 1 which means you have to make sure you have the watts you need on the connectors you want to use. What PSU you do you have?

[Alez]

GPU cards are backwards compatible on motherboard slots. The quadro cards are ridiculously expensive for what you get. They are firmly aimed at the business market.
Most 750TI's don't need an external pcie power input from the PSU. They are the best cards you can currently get powered only by the motherboard slot.
I have 4 x 660ti's. They need a 6 pin pcie power input from the psu and are very good cards but only if you can get them second hand as the newer nVidia's are more power efficient.

If you want to move away from team green, nearly every AMD card has better double performance than nVidia and are generally cheaper for comparable single performance. If you are using linux, stick with nVidia.
If you have the money and a big enough PSU then a second hand 7970 is still the best bang for buck crunching wise you can get.

[scole of TSBT]

Some of the 750 Tis do have a 6 pin PCIe power connector and draw as much as 85 watts. Guess it depends on how they are clocked by the manufacturer. I would like to have a couple myself. Keep your eyes peeled for a cheap GTX 960 on Ebay. I bet one could be bought for $150. Only pulls 120 watts. Will likely require 2 6 pin PCIe power connectors though.

[scole of TSBT]

Not sure where you are on this but I tried to put a GTX 960 in one of my older LGA1366 mobo systems, which only has PCIe 2.0 slots, and it didn't like it. It only half worked. Windows loaded and ran the generic video driver, but I couldn't get the NVidia software install/drivers to see it. Too afraid to flash the BIOS. A GTX 750 Ti does work just fine in it though. And be aware, some 750 Ti's do require a 6 pin PCIe power plug.