MultiGPU folding question

[Denithor]

ASUS P5E64 WS EVOLUTION

I'm pondering an interesting idea here. I have four 8800GS/9600GSO cards and wondered if I could use all four of them on this one motherboard. I found detailed instructions on how to set up a multiGPU folding box and extrapolated to this concept.

1) I currently have four different boxes folding with one GPU in each so I assume I'd see some reduction in power consumption here, correct?

2) How large of a PSU should I look for to power this kind of setup? These GPUs aren't exactly power hogs but there will be four of them...so I will need a PSU with four six-pin plugs at the least (or some adapters, I suppose). Any specific recommendations here?

3) I have two chips I could potentially use to run this setup, an e8400 and an e6400. Would all four cards have enough CPU to push them with these processors or would results be better with a quad?

 

[Markfw]

You can get a much less expensive motherboard that does 4 cards. I have 2 boxes with 2 cards each. I saw one on newegg for $172. As for PSU ? I think a good 700 would do, lets see what others think.

 

[Denithor]

Well, I just figured that the power savings would offset the higher intial hardware cost. And I didn't see any other 4xPCIe motherboards...can you recommend a different one? I suppose I could go with 2xP5Q Pro systems but that's still more stuff/space than I wanted.

How about a unit like this Corsair 750TX ($88 AR + coupon code)? Looks like it would be solid, has 4x6-pin plugs, etc.

EDIT: Also, any comments on e8400 versus quad-core for this kind of setup?

 

[Viper GTS]

700 would easily be enough. 500-550 would be enough, though I would go bigger just to keep fan speed down.

Yes you will see power reduction dropping to one machine. Probably quite a bit. For reference I had a machine running an overclocked quad w + 3x overclocked 8800 GTS 512's. Under full load I was drawing a little over 500W from the wall.

As long as you run Vista either of those CPUs should be fine. GPU client CPU usage in Vista is extremely low. XP is another story, & for a multi-GPU box you really do not want to use XP.

Viper GTS

 

[Viper GTS]

MSI P6N Diamond is the board used by one of the biggest folding farms. It's an older board though so they're not available everywhere.

ZipZoomFly has them:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...7646&prodlist=celebros

$200 after rebate.

Viper GTS

 

[Denithor]

Thanks for the quick answers there, guys.

Any issues with running 2 of the cards at x4 speeds? I doubt it, but thought I'd ask.

Update: Found this ASUS P5E64-WS Pro on eBay for $200 shipped...makes it $140 shipped after MS cashback. Now I just gotta find some DDR3 and maybe that Corsair 750TX and I'm set. Should be much quieter, cooler, and less power consumption than my current 4 folding boxes (of course, one is my main rig which won't be going down, but anyway).

Thanks for the help guys! I'll keep you posted on how this thing works out for me.