Zotac GT 430 PCI slot GPU info

Specifically, i'm talking about this card here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500221

***Please note this is a PCI card, not a PCIe card. It is the fastest PCI card available***

I highly recommend this card for anyone who has an open PCI slot - especially in the older Pentium 4 systems where that's probably the only options there are, and anyone with any system where you're out of PCIe slots or are too near your power supply's wattage limit to risk another PCIe GPU. This card does not have any additional plugs. 100% of the power is drawn from the motherboard's PCI slot (25W, give or take), and because it has such a low power requirement, there's a 99% chance you won't even have to consider upgrading your power supply to run it.

The card only takes up 1 slot, and has no cooling fans to add additional noise to your system. I was a bit skeptical about how well the heatsink would perform, especially when overclocked and right next to an ATI 5870. Was also concerned about how much it might increase the temp of the 5870 with a heat source near it, but i found there's nothing to worry about. With an ambient temp of 75F (~24C), the overclocked GT 430 raised the 5870 @ 900MHz by 1C (74C to 75C). Increasing the fan from 40% to 41% brought it back to down to 74C.

Stock Specs:
Core Clock: 700MHz
Shader Clock: 1400MHz
Memory Clock: 1200MHz

My Overclocked Specs:
Core Clock: 839MHz
Shader Clock: 1678MHz
Memory clock: 1320MHz
GPU temp @ 75F ambient: 65C
Credits/day @ DistRtGen: ~87,580 http://boinc.freerainbowtables.com/d...state=3&appid=

87.5k credits/day from a PCI slot using 25W? Damn right. Over 3x the performance of the 9500GT PCI cards and cost $25 less than the 9500GT i had. Unbeatable.

Also, if you're a gamer, this card is perfect for dedicated PhysX

EDIT: one more thing, the length of the card is more than short enough that it won't block the air intake on most GPUs.

John

Awesome stuff! This is the type of thing that people like me don't even know about and have been wondering about how to stuff lots of cards in all the slots. I know that I will be buying a few of these for my old slow rigs that I have no intention of upgrading other than sticking one or more of these in.

Thanks!

So, it's roughly the same as a 9800GT? I'm getting about the same times when I leave a core open for the GPU.

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Originally Posted by trigggl

So, it's roughly the same as a 9800GT? I'm getting about the same times when I leave a core open for the GPU.

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Correct, except the 9800GT was PCIe, 2 slots wide (in most cases) and used more than 2x the power.

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Originally Posted by John P. Myers

Correct, except the 9800GT was PCIe, 2 slots wide (in most cases) and used more than 2x the power.

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I missed the "PCI" part.

My 9800 does happen to be a single wide, but it does require the extra power connector.

That is actually pretty spectacular for a regular PCI slot.

Any idea how that would compare to a gtx 260-216. If it's better I may get one for my brother and co-opt is machine for boinc. :)

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Originally Posted by spingadus

Any idea how that would compare to a gtx 260-216. If it's better I may get one for my brother and co-opt is machine for boinc. :)

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The 260-216 would be about 2.5x faster, uses ~4x more power, and is 2 slots wide, but this is not the point lol

The 260 is a PCIe card, not a PCI. The GT 430 i'm talking about here is a PCI card. In fact, the fastest PCI card in existence (at least between Nvidia and AMD - i don't really pay attention to other GPU manufacturers). This is about getting the most out of your unused/poorly used PCI slots. It is about adding 1 or more GT 430s to systems that have no PCIe slots, or PCIe slots that are already used, but still with open PCI slots :p



This message has been brought to you by the often overlooked, but extremely important letter "e"

i have a gtx-260-216, can i run 2 of these in my open pci slots alongside of the gtx-260?

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Originally Posted by bmwr606

i have a gtx-260-216, can i run 2 of these in my open pci slots alongside of the gtx-260?

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Yes :) Using 2 of them, even at stock speeds, you'll gain an extra ~142k credits/day crunching DistRtGen

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Originally Posted by John P. Myers

This message has been brought to you by the often overlooked, but extremely important letter "e"

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=)) :bz

Oh man, I think I may have to get one.

Edit: or two.

Same card is $55 after MIR (Limit 2, but I'm sure we all know at least 1 other person to fill our rebates for us as well) @ compusa - http://www.compusa.com/applications/...?EdpNo=1416091

And may I say awesome on the outputs... VGA, DVI, and HDMI??

Between the 2 of us, we might just get 4 if they're in stock in either Hoffman, or Aurora.

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Originally Posted by Crazybob's Son

Same card is $55 after MIR (Limit 2, but I'm sure we all know at least 1 other person to fill our rebates for us as well) @ compusa - http://www.compusa.com/applications/...?EdpNo=1416091

And may I say awesome on the outputs... VGA, DVI, and HDMI??

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Wow nice find on the price! And yes, i love the outputs on this thing. No need for adapters :)

Just bought one to start! Can't wait to let it rip tonight.

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Originally Posted by John P. Myers

Wow nice find on the price! And yes, i love the outputs on this thing. No need for adapters :)

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Great use of pci slots. If you have trouble getting one, adapters are available to convert pcie to pci. I use one with my gt 430 and it does crunch. As far as I'm concerned, ANY credits coming out of a pci slot is a bonus.

JASON IS ON HIS WAY NOW TO PICK UP 4 :)

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Originally Posted by Crazybob

JASON IS ON HIS WAY NOW TO PICK UP 4 :)

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Oh man, that is nice! Kind of wishing I hadn't given away my old P4 rig now...it had FOUR PCI slots...oh well. :o

Good lord... How long ago did I first post about this? A year? More?

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Originally Posted by zombie67

Good lord... How long ago did I first post about this? A year? More?

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Not quite that long. I recall you, me and Mumps talking about it that long ago, but it's only actually been available for a couple/few months. And since i benchmarked it and overclocked it so ppl could actually see what it could do, no one will be shopping blindly :)

EDIT: http://www.setiusa.us/showthread.php...ll=1#post24257 there it is, the day it was finally released. ok...so it was back in october...i apologize for being a little slow getting around to it :s

Yeah, my first post was from June 2011, so 9 months ago. I am just surprised that it took so long to get to market, that's all.

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Originally Posted by zombie67

Good lord... How long ago did I first post about this? A year? More?

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I think that items like this should be placed in emails or somehow made more accessible for new members and less well informed members to find and act on.

Being a greenhorn myself, I often get confused or have ideas and wonder where to find the specific information and when I look it gets me even more confused at times sifting through the chafe to find the good stuff.

I don't read old posts and searching for info about stuff like this in the forum is painful at best. Things get lost in there.

Any good information that allows a member to easily increase the output is great news and welcome at that.

I am glad John P. Myers threw this out there again. Thanks! To all of you gurus who share with us non gurus.

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Originally Posted by kaptainkarl1

I think that items like this should be placed in emails or somehow made more accessible for new members and less well informed members to find and act on.

Being a greenhorn myself, I often get confused or have ideas and wonder where to find the specific information and when I look it gets me even more confused at times sifting through the chafe to find the good stuff.

I don't read old posts and searching for info about stuff like this in the forum is painful at best. Things get lost in there.

Any good information that allows a member to easily increase the output is great news and welcome at that.

I am glad John P. Myers threw this out there again. Thanks! To all of you gurus who share with us non gurus.

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Your wish is my command. Sort of....

You are correct. We need to start grabbing stuff like this and adding it all to a single area. This we will have to work on but for the moment I have promoted this thread to an article.

@kaptainkarl1: You can call me JPM like everyone else. It's much easier to type :)

A special note/reminder for those adding this (or any other) GPU to their systems:

If you are getting one and it will be the only GPU in your system, you can skip this.
If you are getting one and adding it to a system that already has 1 AMD/ATI GPU, but no other Nvidia GPUs, you can skip this

If you are getting more than 1 of these, or are adding 1 or more of these to a system that already has 1 or more Nvidia GPUs, please take note:)

By default, BOINC will not use every GPU in your system. It leaves one untouched, thinking maybe you need it for something else i guess. I dunno. I don't get it personally and it seems a bit silly :p This is something BOINC does and is not the fault of your GPU manufacturer, not a driver issue and nothing to do with a bug in your OS.

Fortunately, preventing it from happening is really really simple.

** Go to C:\ProgramData\BOINC\

look for a file named cc_config.xml

If it is there, simply add <use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus> in between the <options> tags, save and you're done.

If it is not there (often it isn't unless you've made this file before), then open Notepad or any crappy text editor and copy/paste the following:

Code:

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<cc_config>
        <options>
                <use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
        </options>
</cc_config>

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Then simply save it as C:\ProgramData\BOINC\cc_config.xml

You're done! :)

**Normally, the C:\ProgramData directory (i think they call them "folders" these days? bleh) is hidden. You may have to type it in manually to go there. To make all files unhidden: (in Win 7)
open Folder Options
click the View tab
put a bullet in the circle next to Show Hidden Files, Folders and Drives
click Apply/OK and you're done :)

EDIT: After creating cc_config.xml, you must either restart BOINC for it to take effect, or in BOINC, click Advanced >> Read config file (call me superstitious, but restarting feels safer)

This situation happens *only* when there are two different GPUs with *significantly* different crunching power. BOINC uses the fastest GPU for calculating work requests x the number of GPUs. So for example, assume you have a 9500 GT and a GTX 580. BOINC would automatically calculate work fetch based on the 580, times two cards. That could end up downloading so much work that it cannot return it all in time, depending on the size of your cache and the deadlines of the project. Because the 9500 is not really a 580. So by default, if BOINC detects a large enough difference between the two (or however many) GPUs, it will ignore one of them. I forget which, the faster or slower. Anyway, if you want, you can over ride this behavior with the method you describe. But understand that you are taking a risk of over-downloading tasks, and being late. So be sure to keep an eye on your queue, and keep it small until you have a good handle on the right cache size to keep without issues.

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Originally Posted by zombie67

This situation happens *only* when there are two different GPUs with *significantly* different crunching power. BOINC uses the fastest GPU for calculating work requests x the number of GPUs. So for example, assume you have a 9500 GT and a GTX 580. BOINC would automatically calculate work fetch based on the 580, times two cards. That could end up downloading so much work that it cannot return it all in time, depending on the size of your cache and the deadlines of the project. Because the 9500 is not really a 580. So by default, if BOINC detects a large enough difference between the two (or however many) GPUs, it will ignore one of them. I forget which, the faster or slower. Anyway, if you want, you can over ride this behavior with the method you describe. But understand that you are taking a risk of over-downloading tasks, and being late. So be sure to keep an eye on your queue, and keep it small until you have a good handle on the right cache size to keep without issues.

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That is absolutely true. Thank you for pointing that out. There are 2 ways to prevent it:

1) click Tools >> Computing Preferences >> Network Usage and change Additional Work Buffer to some value less than 0.50 (i personally keep mine at 0.25). The higher the GPU count, the lower this number may need to be. Also during some competitions where buffering is permitted, you may need to keep an eye on things.

2) F$ made a thread on how to use another cc_config option which prevents certain GPUs from running certain projects so BOINC will not download the tasks for it as it will the others. This excluded GPU can then be set to run a different project, though you will have to exclude this different project from the other GPUs. See here: http://www.setiusa.us/showthread.php...ll=1#post24981


EDIT: The reason i keep my Additional Work Buffer that low has nothing to do with worrying about getting too many tasks to turn in on time. It's just a personal preference to keep my task list as uncluttered as possible. Back when i first started crunching, i used to like to see hundreds of work units in the queue. Now, not so much. It doesn't really matter either way (except someone, somewhere probably won't be happy waiting 10 days for validation), just don't be late :)

Assume info. Thanks you all for posting this thread, for having it posted to the front and for how to get it to work well. I am a little overspent at the moment, put I I have ear marked the thread and will fill empty slots later on.

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Originally Posted by EmSti

Assume info. Thanks you all for posting this thread, for having it posted to the front and for how to get it to work well. I am a little overspent at the moment, put I I have ear marked the thread and will fill empty slots later on.

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Aye agree thanks for all the info but the project i have atm is trying to see if i can use the x1 PCIE slot like someone else was doing on the hydra project, sorry can't recall off hand which team member but it really sounded cool to think i could fit a few extra decent cards on those x1 slots that are just collecting dust. So I purchased a few x1 extention cables and will let ya know how it goes not sure if the x1 will be enough bandwidth but since its for older cards im hoping it will work.

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Originally Posted by coronicus

Aye agree thanks for all the info but the project i have atm is trying to see if i can use the x1 PCIE slot like someone else was doing on the hydra project, sorry can't recall off hand which team member but it really sounded cool to think i could fit a few extra decent cards on those x1 slots that are just collecting dust. So I purchased a few x1 extention cables and will let ya know how it goes not sure if the x1 will be enough bandwidth but since its for older cards im hoping it will work.

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He who uses pcie x1 slots is Al...that's me! Crunching requires very little bandwidth. I've run a 6950 and a 560ti without a problem.

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Originally Posted by Al McAdams

He who uses pcie x1 slots is Al...that's me! Crunching requires very little bandwidth. I've run a 6950 and a 560ti without a problem.

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BTW, some MB's disable the x1 slot when the x16's are full. Gigabyte boards in particular.

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Originally Posted by John P. Myers

That is absolutely true. Thank you for pointing that out. There are 2 ways to prevent it:

1) click Tools >> Computing Preferences >> Network Usage and change Additional Work Buffer to some value less than 0.50 (i personally keep mine at 0.25). The higher the GPU count, the lower this number may need to be. Also during some competitions where buffering is permitted, you may need to keep an eye on things.

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As of BOINC 7.x the way those settings works has changed. I believe it is now min cache and max cache and it won't connect as often. Does that sound correct zombie67? I know you have been using 7.x for quite a while.

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Originally Posted by Al McAdams

He who uses pcie x1 slots is Al...that's me! Crunching requires very little bandwidth. I've run a 6950 and a 560ti without a problem.

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I too have run a GTX 460 from a PCIe x1 slot with a cable. Works perfectly.

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Originally Posted by Al McAdams

BTW, some MB's disable the x1 slot when the x16's are full. Gigabyte boards in particular.

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Not true. All motherboard manufacturers disable it equally. The reason has nothing to do with the motherboard itself, but the CPU/chipset. If AMD/Intel only make a CPU/chipset that can handle 32 lanes, then these 32 lanes have to spread out across all (up to) 7 PCIe slots, so you have no choice but to run some of the x16s at x8 and some of the x8s at x0 when too many cards are present.

Also remember that as of socket 775 (Core 2), your internet connection also uses a PCIe lane, as do some of the SATA 1/2/3/eSATA connections, firewire and some of the USB plugs. There's no one to blame for the PCIe bandwidth reduction but Intel and AMD. Motherboard makers simply have no choice.

On very few of the high-high-end motherboards (usually $350+) you may find a Lucid Hydra chip which adds a few additional PCIe lanes, but you're gonna pay through the nose for it.
The Big Bang Marshal from MSI has one. When all 8 PCIe x16 slots are filled, the bandwidth is this:
Slot Speed
1 ----8x
2 ----1x
3 ----8x
4 ----1x
5 ----8x
6 ----1x
7 ----8x
8 ----1x

If it wasn't for the Lucid Hydra, all of the x1's would be x0, which is how it is on nearly every motherboard, regardless of brand. Even though this motherboard is now obselete, MSI has yet to produce one that is more expensive, or even equal to the price of the Big Bang Marshal. Even the Big Bang XpowerII X79 board is cheaper. Nvidia's NV200 chip also adds additional lanes, but again, it'll never be found on cheaper motherboards. Every motherboard, regardless of how high-end it may be, loses at least 4 PCIe lanes to the functions mentioned above.

JPM, Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't trying to knock Gigabyte in particular, I have 2 and I find them very easy to setup and very well made. Thought it was by choice that they disabled the x1, guess I was wrong. That said, I guess you really need to check the specs before planning to use the x1 slots because you may find it disabled.

We got this put into my dad's atom which only has a PCI-e x1 slot and PCI slots. He previously had a PCI video card in there, but it went out. We got it installed, installed the drivers and then the issues started.

We can get the video to post to the PCI card, but then after it posts the video signal switches over to the onboard video, which would be fine if boinc recognized the PCI card but it does not. Looked for a spot in the bios to disable the onboard video but no luck. Any ideas?

I think one of the GPU gurus are going to have to help on this but, first off, I'd use the onboard video for the monitor.
Then, you have to tell BOINC to use the new PCI card through a special config. Xml thing --it automatically disables a lower card when there are more than one - so the pcie card is probably getting priority here. F$ and JPM and the guys can run circles around me when it comes to this stuff, but if you can go into the device manager in Windows and see that the 430 is installed and present, then it's just a matter if tricking out that config file in BOINC to make it work.

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Originally Posted by coronicus

Aye agree thanks for all the info but the project i have atm is trying to see if i can use the x1 PCIE slot like someone else was doing on the hydra project, sorry can't recall off hand which team member but it really sounded cool to think i could fit a few extra decent cards on those x1 slots that are just collecting dust. So I purchased a few x1 extention cables and will let ya know how it goes not sure if the x1 will be enough bandwidth but since its for older cards im hoping it will work.

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That would be JPM. I'll look for the post.

Edit: Dammit, I couldn't find it. It must be on the old forum..... No access to those archives....... $^#(*%^#($&%$@(%)#&$^%(#^@#


2nd Edit: How-to - Modding PCIe x1 slot for a x16 card.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp...&topicid=26706

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249291-30-card

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfq2uTCGZts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_9eUbBU1cY

Persnally I'd use a Dremel tool with an Emery cut-off wheel. Easier cleanup and more control of the width of the cut.

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Originally Posted by Crazybob's Son

We got this put into my dad's atom which only has a PCI-e x1 slot and PCI slots. He previously had a PCI video card in there, but it went out. We got it installed, installed the drivers and then the issues started.

We can get the video to post to the PCI card, but then after it posts the video signal switches over to the onboard video, which would be fine if boinc recognized the PCI card but it does not. Looked for a spot in the bios to disable the onboard video but no luck. Any ideas?

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I've had something similar happen before. Was a driver issue. Are there any other GPUs in the computer in any type of slot? If so, are they are all Nvidia or is at least 1 AMD? And if so, what OS you using?

Or wait...maybe it was a BIOS issue...man i can't remember lol
Is it a Dell by chance? :p

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Originally Posted by F$

Edit: Dammit, I couldn't find it. It must be on the old forum..... No access to those archives....... $^#(*%^#($&%$@#&$^%(#^@#

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Yeah, there must be a a few dozen terabytes of really good info over on the old boards ;(
I remember posting something about bandwidth comparisons and x16 in an x1 and even remember that converter i found to turn a PCI into a PCIe x16 (of course it only had PCI bandwidth)
I remember i got PCIe X1 cables and modded the cables to fit on a PCIe x16 GPU. Modding the slot wasn't an option on that board because a heatsink was in the way. And modding PCIe X1 cables is cheaper than buying a PCIe x1 to PCIe x16 cable.

And i agree. Use a Dremel. Very easy to precisely control, which is extra important when modding the slot on your mobo. And ummm... 8-> :-??

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Originally Posted by John P. Myers

Are there any other GPUs in the computer in any type of slot? If so, are they are all Nvidia or is at least 1 AMD? And if so, what OS you using?

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Just the onboard video and it is an intel gpu chipset. The onboard video card is not used for crunching. This machine previously had a PCI (not PCI-e) installed and it worked just fine until the card crapped out and my dad had to switch back to using onboard video to at least crunch on the cpu. We were not able to see any settings in the bios to disable onboard video. We did see one that stated something along the lines of what to use for initial video signal which we put to PCI. That is where the video signal starts and then after posting it goes blank. If you put the VGA plug to the onboard video then windows has started no problem.

When you go into the control panel and then device manager, look at Display devices. You should see 2 - the onboard Intel one, and the new 430. If you do see both, why not try right clicking on the Intel one and "disable" it. Then reboot. Windows should then only load the driver for the new 430 and not both. There is definitely a conflict going on somewhere when it loads both.

Also, can you give me the model # of the motherboard? I'll find the manual and have a look at the BIOS stuff just in case I see something that sticks out to my memory...

Disabling the onboard in the device manager did the trick. Was a little newvous at first, when it didn't post to either adapter. The n I noticed machine was accessing network, so tried the new card again and there it was. Thanks DP! Thought I was going to be SOL on this one.:)