GPU folding and second PCI-E card

[Mize]

I realize this is probably in a FAQ on the folding site, but too much travel with kids in taekwondo and baseball means I've become overly lame about reading FAQs :) sorry.

If I buy a new PCI-E gfx card (8800-series) can I fold on my x1800-xt in slot 2? Are there issues with two sets of video drivers?

Thanks.

[mhouston]

The vendor's drivers don't play nice with each other. I'm not sure if this is an issue with Windows or with the vendors. (Questions like this will likely get answered faster in the Folding@Home forums...)

[Rys]

The vendor's drivers don't play nice with each other. I'm not sure if this is an issue with Windows or with the vendors. (Questions like this will likely get answered faster in the Folding@Home forums...)
I used to run a similar config (7800 GTX + X1800), and it's not that Windows has the issue as such, since D3D supports multiple devices at the base level, but both IHV's drivers assume some stuff about additional devices belonging to them, in terms of their tools and how the driver does some control stuff and what have you.

Additionally, NVIDIA's driver won't even load if one of their GPUs isn't the primary device. And even if you load NVIDIA first and ATI second, getting a valid handle to a D3D device on the ATI GPU is a lottery, depending on how you ask for the device setup.

And this is on XP of course, since Vista will only load one graphics driver, and thus can't possibly support more than one vendor :!:

So it's simply not a configuration you'd ever care to worry about using for anything serious, and I'd hazard a guess that Folding just won't run properly. Which is a shame, really, because for graphics development it'd be a huge boon if things just worked in that respect.

As an aside, how soon until the R600 client is available? :smile:

[mhouston]

We'll announce support for R600 when the code is fully vetted. But, we are currently working to bring up support for more WUs and get CPU load down a little on XP. Check the FAH forums for updates.

[Mize]

This is a real bummer.

The R600 won't be viable for Linux any time soon (if ever and I dual boot) and lacks the IQ of the 8800. Using an AMD card for folding and a nV for display would be ideal.

Guess my folding will be PS3-only for a while longer.

[Davros]

what ati (+ nvidia) need to do is release a driver that makes the pc see the card as a physics card not a gfx card