Legit Reviews

we don't really have anything here that goes into dual GPU Folding, and there isnt anything anywhere that has to do with dual GPU on windows 7, so here it is:

1. Download and Run the Installer from the Stanford high performance Clients page, Install to the usual location

2. Create 2 shortcuts to the GPU client .exe onto your desktop(for easy access, shortcuts can be placed anywhere)


3. Go into your Application Data folder and copy/paste the 'Folding@Home-gpu' folder and rename it to something you can distinguish, this folder holds your config/worklog and other misc. files, and is where the actual application will run from

XP----------C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\
Vista/7----C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\


4. Go to the desktop(or where you made the shortcuts) and click on one of the shortcut's properties(GPU0 lets say first), and enter the following: target is where the .exe is, and it starts in the folders created in appdata, whatever you ended up calling them

xp---------Target: "C:\Program Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\[email protected]" -gpu 0
------------Start in: C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Folding@Home-gpu0
Vista/7---Target: "C:\Program Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\[email protected]" -gpu 0
------------Start in: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Folding@Home-gpu0

reminder for x64 users, the program files folder for the target will have " (x86)" at the end of it, making it
Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\[email protected]" -gpu 0



5. Go to the desktop(or where you made the shortcuts) and click the other shortcut's properties(for GPU1 this time) and do the same:

xp---------Target: "C:\Program Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\[email protected]" -gpu 1
------------Start in: C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Folding@Home-gpu1
Vista/7---Target: "C:\Program Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\[email protected]" -gpu 1
------------Start in: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Folding@Home-gpu1

and again for 64bit targets: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\[email protected]" -gpu 1



6. Disable SLI(if enabled) in the nvidia control panel settings; and Extend Desktop to another monitor(an imaginary one likely) you have to disable SLI FIRST
XP---------Control Panel-> Display-> settings-> Display: select secondary-> Check "Extend my Windows Desktop onto this monitor" -> apply-> Ok
Vista------Control Panel-> Display-> Change Display Settings-> Detect-> "Available Display Output..."-> "Try to connect anyway on: VGA"-> Apply-> "Extend these displays"-> Apply-> Keep Changes-> change resolution of extra "output"











7. Start each client for the first time from the shortcuts you made earlier, and fill out the configuration, following those steps here

8. Disable any and ALL power saving options(if you're folding on Dual GPUs you're the kind of user that doesnt need them anyway) because if your computer goes to sleep, it'll hard lock and you'd have to reboot to be able to do anything
xp----------Control Panel-> Power Options-> Settings for Scheme-> Set everything to "Never"
Vista/7----Control Panel-> Hardware and Sound-> Power Options-> High Performance-> Change Plan Settings-> Change Advanced Power Settings


Now for the elusive dummy plug
alright, all you need for the dummy plug is scissors, a DVI-VGA adapter(included in a majority of GPU bundles) and a local radio shack that has a pack of five(5) 68 Ohm Resistors for 99 cents. what the resistors do is fake the plug out into thinking that a monitor is attached. the ones i purchased were 1/2 watt, 5% tolerance



first step is to open the resistor pack, and cut out three(3) resistors



once removed, bend one end of the resistor around and cut to a rough length(doesn't need to be that specific, i don't cut the end that got curled and the following seems to be a good length)(bottom one is cut, top resistor is not)


once cut to length, you will place a resistor in pins 1-6, 2-7, 3-8 as shown below for reference to which pins


you just want to alternate the ends so that the resistor band is touching a wire and so that no two wires can touch(remember, resistors are not like diodes, there is no real right way to placed as far as pos/neg terminals)


slip the plug in the secondary(/thirdary?) card's dvi-out and extend as a monitor as shown above and you're off to races

and Happy Folding


sources:
[H]ard Forum Multi GPU guide
LR GPU Installation Thread
My hunting around control panel in 7

I think I found a bug in the nvidia drivers on Windows 7 when enabling the 2nd display/extending it for folding. I can replicate it easily so it must be a bug. When in the control panel and you enable the 2nd display, for some reason it makes the 2nd display the primary screen and will NOT let you switch back even after pressing APPLY. I found out if you disable the primary screen..then re-enable it, it will correct the issue.

this IS how it should be


But if I hit apply as it is in the above pic this happens and will NOT return back(this shot was taken from screen #2)



BUT.....if you disable the #1 screen, then re-enable it, it will return to normal with both screens enabled. Just thought I'd post this in case anyone other than me ran into this

So you don't actually need 2 monitors or a dumby plug?

it depends on if you have an SLI connector, if you have different cards you need a dummy plug/monitor

....you can mix and match cards? And not use an sli connector?

Wifuzzy wrote:....you can mix and match cards? And not use an sli connector?

what do you think physx cards are? haha

i was using a GTS 250 with GT 240 secondary for quite a while. if you have dummy plugs you can use nearly any combination of cards for folding post 8800 series

And I was gonna stay in bed all day, Good thing I didn't...I learned something today.

Edit: and for bonus points...think you could do it with 3 cards..?

Can't believe this isn't a sticky, I have rectified that

Wifuzzy wrote:And I was gonna stay in bed all day, Good thing I didn't...I learned something today.

Edit: and for bonus points...think you could do it with 3 cards..?

you can ALWAYS learn something, i know i do.

i dont see why not if you make another dummy plug, i havnt personally done it as i like there to be room between cards but if i had an LGA 775 CPU to fool with(future plans for the DELL, need a case...and a CPU and DDR3 ) i'd try it out

or...if you have a monitor with multiple inputs(hdmi,dvi, vga) and the cables for each, you can hook up each gpu to the monitor that way, and it will see "3" screens. that's how I do it with mine. cept i only have 2 inputs ..just another way to do it

I might as well heep asking questions. I have a Gigabyte P35-ds3p...it is a crossfire board...Think I could put 2 Nvidia cards if 1 has a dumby plug? It might work..there is no sli connector...maybe?

yeah it'll work just fine with a dummy plug, i only have one sli board, past three are Crossfire only(one board with 3 PCIe slots, two with two) and i've always had two nvidia cards in folding

dicecca112 wrote:Can't believe this isn't a sticky, I have rectified that

after it didnt get stickied after being here for a few weeks i stopped updating it and just bookmarked it for personal use (because i've used this thread every time i've reinstalled an OS) as i figured it was going to the thread graveyard

guess i'll update for 64bit users which is likely most of them because the program folder is differnt

Make it complete with a link for buying/making a dumby plug.

Wifuzzy wrote:Make it complete with a link for buying/making a dumby plug.

done deal.