Legit Reviews

Since my 8800GTX went south and I'm using the Palit 9600GT I won here at LegitReviews(Thank You Palit & LR) I have been trying to tweak my 2 main folders to get every point possible and have run into some problems!
I am using the Palit in one system and an eVGA 9600GSO in the other. The GSO seems to be chugging along just fine putting out 1 WU every 3hrs. I believe the GSO system is using 178.xx series of drivers, I wont update them until I figure out whats going on with the other system first.

The Palit 9600GT was doing 1 WU every 4hrs which seemed a bit slow to me. So I updated drivers(180.48) and it speeded up considerably to less than 3hrs for a WU But, I have been experiencing some instability problems. I then found the 180.84 Beta drivers and installed them and the performance increased a bit more but it will only complete maybe 1 FULL WU in 4 or 5!
I get an error...
[17:20:33] Completed 57%
[17:20:33] mdrun_gpu returned
[17:20:33] NANs detected on GPU
[17:20:33]
[17:20:33] Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE
[17:20:37] CoreStatus = 7A (122)
[17:20:37] Sending work to server
[17:20:37] Project: 5754 (Run 7, Clone 133, Gen 13)
[17:20:37] - Error: Could not get length of results file work/wuresults_09.dat
[17:20:37] - Error: Could not read unit 09 file. Removing from queue.
[17:20:37] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[17:20:37] + Attempting to get work packet
[17:20:37] - Connecting to assignment server
[17:20:37] - Successful: assigned to (171.64.65.106).
[17:20:37] + News From Folding@Home: GPU folding beta
[17:20:38] Loaded queue successfully.
[17:20:42] + Closed connections
[17:20:47]

After this it retrieves a new WU and goes back to work. Sometimes it errors with less than 10% other times it gets to 50-70%

ATM I have backed the shader clock back to factory to see if that doesnt make a difference but, I'm not confident it will make any difference but to slow it down.

Anyone else using these drivers or having similar problems?

I've taken a 3K PPD hit and I think thats way too much from going to the 9600GT from the 8800GTX.
I expected to lose 1K maybe 1.5K but not 3K!

Fellow folder needs help!

I had the same problem for a while and ended up underclocking the core on the video card (with evga precision) and was able to complete units. Eventually I was able to turn it back to stock and it didn't crash WU's anymore.

I guess, in short, I'm saying... it happens. Try underclocking the core and maybe the shaders and see if that helps.

DaIceMan wrote:I had the same problem for a while and ended up underclocking the core on the video card (with evga precision) and was able to complete units. Eventually I was able to turn it back to stock and it didn't crash WU's anymore.

I guess, in short, I'm saying... it happens. Try underclocking the core and maybe the shaders and see if that helps.

Like I said I have backed the shader clock to factory using evga's precision and at the moment it has gone 80% and still folding so I'll let that go for a while and see what happens.

What you say leads me to believe it's more a problem with the WU's not my computer!

I just checked and out of the previous 7 WU's only 2 completed 100%

I've been using every 180.XX drivers that came out, and are currently on the 180.84. I have experienced no problems whatsoever, except for a slowdown when folding the 511 point WUs. Just to let you know, the 511 point WUs work your GPU harder, take 1.5X longer to finish, and generate less PPD. Assuming you were getting lots of 511 point WUs, that could be the reason why you got only 1 out of 4 WU in.

The 180.XX drivers are great for me. Ever since the 180.60 and after drivers, I can run GPU and SMP on my rig in sig. Compared to the 178.24, the 180.84 drivers take a couple seconds more to finish a percent, resulting in a PPD drop. However, as you may know, it doesn't need the CPU to feed the GPU anymore.

i would really recommend using using the CUDA 180.60 drivers, goes pretty slick

I got one complaint with these new drivers, and it's that when I'm doing GPU folding, and I try to watch something on Media Play Classic (RMVB or MKV files), I get a BSOD. The BSOD says something about the nv4_dsp. I don't remember exactly what it says, but I get lots of BSOD when GPU folding and watching things. Anyone else got this?

Have you checked your temps? Cpu and Gpu? If you see no major issues, I just might change drivers. I tried the 180. series and all I got were problems.

vbironchef wrote:Have you checked your temps? Cpu and Gpu? If you see no major issues, I just might change drivers. I tried the 180. series and all I got were problems.

Same thing happens for all drivers, except for 177.92. But those were the only drivers that let me run 3 MSN conversations + Firefox, etc. with NO lag. I still get a bit of lag with the 180.84 drivers, and it gets worse when folding those 511 point WUs. So in the end, the problem arises when I try to watch something in Media Player Classic (RMVB and MKV) and folding a 511 point WU at the same time. If I'm lucky, I won't get a BSOD.

My CPu temps are below 50C load right now, and GPU tops out at 63C max when folding 511 point WUs.

I'm running the 180.84 drivers at the moment, I have dropped the shader clock back to factory spec and the last 3 WU's have been 100% complete.
Temps... CPU- 36C GPU- 54C
I have Noticed with the 180.84's when I open EVGA's Precision everything lags big time!
I do believe I will try the 180.60's to see if I can recover some performance!
A 511 Point WU is taking 00:03:20 per 1%, Slow IMHO!

Didn't even get a chance to install 180.60's, I opened VLC and BSOD'd Twice!
Sooo, 180.60's are now loaded running F@H GPU opened VLC and BSOD'd again!
What drivers are you using vbironchef?

Looks like I'm going back to 178.13

I am using 11.7813 drivers and I'm not going to change for awhile. If it's not broke, don't fix it. I had nothing but problems with the newer drivers so I just going to wait and see before I leap again. A 511 Point WU is taking 1min 10 sec. per %

vbironchef wrote:I am using 11.7813 drivers
A 511 Point WU is taking 1min 10 sec. per %

You mean 178.13?
What card do you have???
1% is taking my Palit 9600GT Sonic(Thanks Palit & LR) 3 min 3 sec.

Sorry about that, I mean that one. Just not used to all the jargon. I have a XFXGTX280 and a XFXGTX280XXX card. The XXX is doing the 1min 10 sec. The stock card does it in 1 min. 19 sec. or so.

181.00 drivers are out. Any differences?

geokilla wrote:181.00 drivers are out. Any differences?

Why dont you be the guinea pig, try them and let us know how it works out for you!?!

I'll give them a shot in a bit... have some errands to run this morning first. I have enough machines running around here that I can change the drivers and not lose a whole day of folding.

DaIceMan wrote:I'll give them a shot in a bit... have some errands to run this morning first. I have enough machines running around here that I can change the drivers and not lose a whole day of folding.

If/When you do try the 181 drivers, try running a video intensive program such as VLC to see what happens(Please)
I liked the 180.xx series drivers because they pretty much did not use the CPU but whenever I tried to run any video intense program it would crash! Hopefully the 181.xx series have fixed this!?!

camaroguy1998 wrote:

DaIceMan wrote:I'll give them a shot in a bit... have some errands to run this morning first. I have enough machines running around here that I can change the drivers and not lose a whole day of folding.

If/When you do try the 181 drivers, try running a video intensive program such as VLC to see what happens(Please)
I liked the 180.xx series drivers because they pretty much did not use the CPU but whenever I tried to run any video intense program it would crash! Hopefully the 181.xx series have fixed this!?!

I got the same problem on Media Player Classic. Using WMP fixed this.

I'll try the 181 tonight, if my friend's don't kick me off.

well, I finally broke free to try the new 181.00 drivers for XP 32bit on my 8800GTX. It didn't make any noticable difference in Folding times (1 sec difference from my other 8800GTX) and it certainly made no difference in VLC, etc. It took forever to switch from window to full screen and the computer locked up when trying to go back to windowed mode to the point I had to hard power down and reboot.

With the stress GPU2 puts on the card, I don't think a "fix" will be as easy as new drivers. I've just gotten use to quitting F@H when watching videos/movies or using Excel.

DaIceMan wrote:well, I finally broke free to try the new 181.00 drivers for XP 32bit on my 8800GTX. It didn't make any noticable difference in Folding times (1 sec difference from my other 8800GTX) and it certainly made no difference in VLC, etc. It took forever to switch from window to full screen and the computer locked up when trying to go back to windowed mode to the point I had to hard power down and reboot.

With the stress GPU2 puts on the card, I don't think a "fix" will be as easy as new drivers. I've just gotten use to quitting F@H when watching videos/movies or using Excel.

Oh well, I was hoping!
Looks like 178.13's will have to do!

Thanks DaIceMan for the info!