Hey everyone. Like most of you I've caught the folding bug, and have been wanting to increase me folding output. I have an XFX 9800 GX2 BE, but only one monitor available to me at the moment. What I would like to know, is if it's possible to utilize both GPUs with SLI disabled, and without having to plug a monitor into the second DVI port. I know that it WAS impossible when I looked into it a little over a month ago, but I'm wondering if anyone has found a work-around. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as it should double my output if it works. Thanks in advance. -MrFu709
There is a slight work around involving using a second monitor only once to get windows to detect it in the display settings than unplugging it. Vista will continue to think there is a monitor attached and you can run FaH on both GPU's. You would have to borrow a monitor from someone and giving it back until you need to reboot. This is pretty tedious, but it's the only work around that I know of. Also, People are getting rid of those older CRT's very cheaply now, if anything you can pick up one of those from someone and only use it when you need it. Hope this helps.
Ok, so I borrowed a room-mates monitor this morning, disabled SLI, and got two clients running my GPUs. It was working REALLY well, getting roughly 5500 PPD on each card. I had decided that since I got it working, I would just not use my computer all day and let it run for atleast 24 hours in my new set up. I disconnect the second monitor and give it back to my friend. Well, a few hours later I go to check my status, and I learn that after the first WU finished on the second GPU, it never started back up again. It was working fine even after I took away the second monitor, and many people have said you only need to do it once a day to initialize the second client. The log says something about the machine becoming unstable, and just kept trying to start again over and over. Why did it do this?
Are you running F@H on the GX2 whilst its overclocked? And are temperatures ok under the load its under, as FAH is quite sensitive to core speeds and temperatures (just be aware). Obviously check your drivers are up-to-date too.
The GX2 is overclocked by the manufacturer (XFX) and the temperatures have been staying between 75 and 80c at full load (Cooler, actually, than a long DX10 gaming session). I make sure to leave all fans at 100% when folding for any length of time. It appears that Vista for some reason decided to stop extending the desktop to the second card after the first WU finished. I just can't figure out a way to stop it from doing that. Everything works fine for the fist WU after connecting the second monitor. Someone really needs to find a work-around to the whole needing a second monitor thing...There's gotta be a way... Does anyone know how to stop Vista from disconnecting the second monitor after a certain amount of time? I'd hate to have to borrow my room-mate's monitor every time I want to start a new WU on the second card...
I'd use rivatuner and increase the fan speed as far as you can handle the fan noise, it will reduce temps quite a lot. I run mine 100% all times and max core temp is 63 or so.
I do indeed use Rivatuner and have set my own temperature thresholds manually. My card is overclocked quite a bit, and I believe my temperatures are fine. I usually max out around 74 with one GPU folding, and only hit 80 yesterday when both my GPUs were folding. Considering the ambient temperature where I live has been 35c+, I don't think my cores have been running unreasonably hot. Thanks for the help though, and still looking for some ideas.... It's REALLY killing me that I'm only utilizing one of my two GPUs...
would it not be possible to connect both graphic cards to one monitor? primary to the dvi and 2nd to the 2nd dvi if u have it or analogue vga ?
