Min CPU for a 5870 using F@H

[bmadd89]

I'm about to upgrade a computer that currently has 2 5870's in crossfire. I work at a school that is getting rid of a bunch of Pentium D 930's in an Asus P5LD2 Deluxe mobo with 1GB ram and a 80GB HDD. I need a case and PSU

Now while I won’t be doing any smp clients as it is not worth it on a Pentium D but will it bottleneck a single 5870? I don't think i should risk putting the 2 5870's on the same board.

Being as it is also going to be an inefficient processor i also thought about underclocking and undervolting it to some degree to help with the power/heat issue of the Pentium D. Will that limit the performance of the 5870?

So, worst case scenario can i run a single 5870 off a Pentium D without bottlenecking it?
Best case can i underclock/volt it so to reduce heat/power?

Any other thoughts are welcome also. Thanks

 

[ZipSpeed]

You should be fine with that CPU. I have a X2 3800+ @ 2 GHz that feeds both my GTX 460s with no issues.

 

[sangyup81]

The great thing about distributed computing is how well is separates computing components. Gaming on a 2 card SLI or Crossfire setup won't get you 2x the performance of one of those cards but with distributed computing you get the full power out of any card in your system

 

[nanaki333]

you'll be fine. there's people bitcoin mining with 5830s with only a sempron.

 

[Slider76]

My 5870 doesn't seem to consistent. It often results in errors for wu's. You might have to try under clocking it a little if it starts breaking the wu's. I'm using a q6700.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

You can run both with no problems. Actually, you can run both off a single-core Sempron, and that's slower than the Pentium D.

For the heat, you should try undervolting at stock frequency.

 

[sangyup81]

F@H support isn't the greatest for AMD cards. Ever consider BOINC?

 

[Shmee]

are they ever going to fix that? Was just wondering if the F@H client ever did get better for the amd cards, now that I have 2x6950 instead of a gtx260.

 

[sangyup81]

are they ever going to fix that? Was just wondering if the F@H client ever did get better for the amd cards, now that I have 2x6950 instead of a gtx260.

As of right now, GPU3 is only available for Nvidia cards. There's a lot of promise for improved performance when GPU3 becomes available for AMD cards but I'll believe it when I see the PPDs!

 

[theAnimal]

As of right now, GPU3 is only available for Nvidia cards.

No, it is also available for AMD.

 

[Shmee]

ya, i think I had to dowload the beta version 7. Installed easily enough. But how can I monitor PPD with the new client? FAHmon seemed not to read it cuz the log files are differently named.