ATI GPU 0: ATI Radeon HD5800 series (Cypress) (CAL version 1.4.427, 1024MB, 2320 GFLOPS peak)
ATI GPU 1: ATI Radeon HD5800 series (Cypress) (CAL version 1.4.427, 1024MB, 2320 GFLOPS peak)

Not bad, if only I had some work units to test.

/sigh

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Hmmm ....... the GFLOPS count is pretty much halfway between a 5850 @ 2088 GFLOPS and a 5870 @ 2720 GFLOPS. Good use of a single PCIe slot and (in the UK) makes good financial sense, but it'll be interesting to see how the card crunches.

Hmmm ....... the GFLOPS count is pretty much halfway between a 5850 @ 2088 GFLOPS and a 5870 @ 2720 GFLOPS. Good use of a single PCIe slot and (in the UK) makes good financial sense, but it'll be interesting to see how the card crunches.

Which makes perfect sense really, since it's got all the 5870 texture units, but the 5850s clock speeds.

I'm more interested in which brand it is and what (if any) utility software they included, given that the card is clocked to run in a 300w envelope but is sufficiently cooled to run 400w power. Lots of review sites showing clock and voltage tweaks (unlocked from factory). The main "gotcha" is that you can push power draw beyond the PCIe specs, meaning you could theoretically do damage if the motherboard and PSU aren't up to the task.

AnandTech has a pretty good article about it, and what to look for, if you're brave enough to push this card to it's designed limits. Here's the page talking about it: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679&p=4

I will say that the AnandTech article is a bit confusing. They spend every page from 4 to the end of the article saying how disappointed they were with overclocking, but every single test (except for 1 that's CPU bound and thus pointless) showed a noticeable performance gain when the card was overclocked.

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Another thing about reviews is that while they're overclocking they're not then running the cards at that speed 24/7 for weeks at a time.
Unlike us.

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Cheers,

PeterV

.

That's true, but I've not had any problems and I've been running my overclocked 4870 with the fan locked at 50% duty cycle for months straight. Killed the PSU, but the video card lives on heh.

The 5970 is supposed to be using hand picked GPUs, and higher quality everything else, on top of a cooling system designed for 25% greater heat than the card will produce at stock clocks. I'd think if my OEM spec 4870 can run overclocked for a year without a hitch, a 5970 should be able to do better than that.

I'd think the more likely failure point would be similar to what I experienced, which is the PSU not being able to handle the load for extended periods. On the plus side it was one of those junky included-with-the-case PSUs and it ran for like 17 months with my overclocked quad core, tons of fans, 3 hard drives including a Raptor 10k, and 4870 overclocked 24/7 at 100% load across the board. I replaced it with an active PFC PSU rated for the power I need at a constant temp, with quite a bit of short-term burst overhead (rated for 535 constant and 610 for up to 60 seconds) and significantly better efficiency.

As for powering a 5970 overclocked, I'd think a good active PFC 1k watt would probably be able to handle it long term without hurting itself. But, like that article mentioned, you'd want to make sure the rails are setup properly, i.e. both PCIe connections aren't on a single rail, or it's not one of those PSUs that runs like 6 12v rails for you to burn up.

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Another thing about reviews is that while they're overclocking they're not then running the cards at that speed 24/7 for weeks at a time.
Unlike us.

Exactly, I have NO intention of overclocking it. Anyway it is Sapphire Brand DUAL GPU with 2GB GDDR5 RAM. I will be picking up its partner tomorrow as well.

9280 GFLOPS in one box, 48 tasks should keep it quiet for, ummm, about 3 minutes.
Travis, my friend, you really are going to have to address the GPU/WU balance sooner rather than later, else I am going to hammer your server. You know what its like here, as soon as I report every things OK, every one else, will want one, or two, as well.

PS: Got a bunch of GTX 295's going cheap if anyones interested. Now they are last months tech! Literally lol.

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As for powering a 5970 overclocked, I'd think a good active PFC 1k watt would probably be able to handle it long term without hurting itself. But, like that article mentioned, you'd want to make sure the rails are setup properly, i.e. both PCIe connections aren't on a single rail, or it's not one of those PSUs that runs like 6 12v rails for you to burn up.

I am running a 12000 Watt Silverstone so, no problems on that side I should think.

Ooops. Checking the box, I see It is only a 750 watt CRS. I think I will put the 4850 x2 back and put the 2 x 5970's in the Silverstone box and have 2 x GTX 295's and one GTX 260 spare!

More work and less power bill, its all good. Too bad for Seti that only likes my Nvidia cards. Mind you, when Milkyway or Collatz are back up its too bad for Seti anyway.

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I'm planning on getting a bigger case but I'm not sure of the power requirements if I mix my current 4870x2 with a 5970. the PSU is an ANTEC 850 watts.

If you believe this calcuator:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Then I'd need 860 watts to run 4870x2 and a 5970!

The minimum power requirement for the 5970 is 650 watts so you should be able to JUST do it. Personally I would upgrade to a 1000 watt PSU if you intend to run 24/7 like I do.

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Yeah, just keep in mind that the harder you push the PSU the shorter its life will be (because of temperatures is my guess), and the lower your efficiency will be as well. Most of them hit their peak efficiency around 80% load I think. The good review sites like [H]ardOCP will spell all this out in great detail if you can find a review of your PSU.

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Typical, just as I was going to crunch some Zzzzzzz.

Finally, I get some WU's to test.
00:08:12 100% Collatz device 0
00:08:06 100% Collatz device 1

Next two WU's
00:08:35 100% Collatz device 0
00:08:17 100% Collatz device 1

Last WU
00:07:48 100% Collatz device 1

As a comparison, on a GTX295 CUDA
00:11:00 31.8000% Collatz device 3
EDIT: 00:34:29 100%

Dammn, site down again.. . . No wait here's another five!
00:08:19 100% Collatz device 0
00:08:11 100% Collatz device 1

Next two WU's
00:08:25 100% Collatz device 0
00:08:20 100% Collatz device 1

Last WU
00:08:02 100% Collatz device 1

NB: device 0 has the monitor attached.

OK then, works for me. I will go to computer store and get another one, and pay for this one as well!

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A real cruncher never sleeps.. ;-))

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A real cruncher never sleeps.. ;-))

Good, because I did not get any. Have another 5970 now, so will bring BlackBeastOne off line and refit.

Hopefully tomorrow I can wax lyrical about MW WU's and the 5970. It would be interesting to see a comparison with a 5870 if anyone wants to do it.

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A real cruncher never sleeps.. ;-))

Good, because I did not get any. Have another 5970 now, so will bring BlackBeastOne off line and refit.

Hopefully tomorrow I can wax lyrical about MW WU's and the 5970. It would be interesting to see a comparison with a 5870 if anyone wants to do it.

If you send me a 5870 I will be happy to do it. hehe

Nahh.. there is probably a lot of guys in here who happily will try to beat you. ;-)

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Not hard to beat me, just overclock a bit ;-).

Well I got another 5970 today and found out they are NZD 1199.00 each. Will talk to the boss about a discount tomorrow, as I don't see why I should pay that outrageous price, even if I did take 40% of the entire store allocation.

Got all four GPU's up and running, but getting warning signs as the CPU holding at 77 degrees, so shutdown again. Will drop BlackBeastOne off to be water cooled tomorrow when I pick BlackBeastThree up.

Sparkey coming around to install a ceiling fan to remove some of the excess heat.

My builder has had A great idea to spin my home office 180 degrees and drill a hole through the wall so I can put the crunch boxes in the garage, so I better start my, ahem, 8 year cleanup, to get ready.

I have already found a 5¼ " Floppy drive and a parallel cable lol.

Anyone need a copy of DOS V2? hahaha.

I really hope Dr Travis' appreciates the trouble I am going to here to hammer his new HD's when they come up.

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A real cruncher never sleeps.. ;-))

Good, because I did not get any. Have another 5970 now, so will bring BlackBeastOne off line and refit.

Hopefully tomorrow I can wax lyrical about MW WU's and the 5970. It would be interesting to see a comparison with a 5870 if anyone wants to do it.

If you send me a 5870 I will be happy to do it. hehe

Nahh.. there is probably a lot of guys in here who happily will try to beat you. ;-)

I'm not sure the likes of me who have already invested in lesser cards with a "definitely no more" mental note to themselves after the last one, would think about beating these newer cards. For me it's enough to get as far as I can with the technology I have right now, and then just watch as the guys and gals with the newer 5*** series zoom by and stress every GPU BOINC project to pieces ;)

It's OK David Glogau, I'm just jelous :p

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Well, good luck keeping the Beast fed; I have 3x 5870s in an i7 and it is difficult to keep it doing MW consistently given the small cache size .... works well on Collatz though (apart from the past few days).

Not hard to beat me, just overclock a bit ;-).

Well I got another 5970 today and found out they are NZD 1199.00 each. Will talk to the boss about a discount tomorrow, as I don't see why I should pay that outrageous price, even if I did take 40% of the entire store allocation.

Got all four GPU's up and running, but getting warning signs as the CPU holding at 77 degrees, so shutdown again. Will drop BlackBeastOne off to be water cooled tomorrow when I pick BlackBeastThree up.

Sparkey coming around to install a ceiling fan to remove some of the excess heat.

My builder has had A great idea to spin my home office 180 degrees and drill a hole through the wall so I can put the crunch boxes in the garage, so I better start my, ahem, 8 year cleanup, to get ready.

I have already found a 5¼ " Floppy drive and a parallel cable lol.

Anyone need a copy of DOS V2? hahaha.

I really hope Dr Travis' appreciates the trouble I am going to here to hammer his new HD's when they come up.

Wow! Only NZ$1,199.00. I'll take one and pay for it in A$ plus the shipping. Still be cheaper than in Oz.

Wow! Only NZ$1,199.00. I'll take one and pay for it in A$ plus the shipping. Still be cheaper than in Oz.

Not sure hot to take this. If you are serious PM me and I will put one aside tomorrow for you.

NB: It will only come with a one year return to base (Auckland) warranty though.

Cheers
David

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OK Mr Giant

I checked the shipping for you. It is NZD47.65 1 - 3 days delivery.

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