E6400 graphics question

yea I hear what you're saying, I remember the ATI issues with them dropping linux support for their cards altogether awhile back.

I used to compile my own kernels, but admittedly have gotten lazy as of late. I really should build my own again and strip out all the junk I don't need.

 

Just in case someone wants to buy the Nvidia option on the E6400 because of CUDA support:

http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=9660

I loaded up all the new stuff on my Latitude E6400 and I have the GPU2 Core Folding....and the performance is.....VERY disappointing.

I have been folding at almost 1500 points a day with SMP.

I can't tell if the SMP is down from the GPU core, or just from the natural variation of the different cores. I am getting about 1000 PPD from my SMP and about 300 PPD from the GPU. Hardly worth doing.

My 8800GS in the desktop PC nearby is knocking down a consistent 3700 PPD.

 

Yea well, that is because your Geforce 8800GS on your desktop has 96 stream processors, then the Quadro NVS 160M (Geforce 9300M) has only 4. Not to mention that the 8800GS is clocked much higher, consumes more power (well, it's more powerful), and is for DESKTOP, where you have plenty of air flow, plenty of room for a huge heatsink.


You don't buy a laptop low-end GPU for folding. I know the Latitude E series has an excellent cooling system for a 14inch laptop, where I was able to overclock my Quadro to insane speeds (see signature for guide and results), but it's still no folding or gaming system.

In this laptop, the Quadro NVS is designed for light gaming. Meaning medium-low settings on the latest games, or light CAD/CUDA work (small-medium size projects for the hardware).
It's for people who has a desktop system at home, and want some GPU power on the go, all by enjoying a very long battery life, powerful overall system, and solid system. If you want real GPU power on the go, then go get a gaming GPU which offers a far superior GPU all by keeping it's dedicated memory, but also much bulkier and bigger in size (requires not only more components, but also bigger heatsink)

CUDA on this GPU is not great as it's a low power GPU, but it's better than the CPU, based on my system configuration and test. And anything that helps, well helps.
Also, Nvidia (soon ATI, but I really don't think Intel, as they dont' support it), we will have this (and more details) http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/08/25/nvidia-releases-windows-7-direct-compute-dr/1, which I think it's preatty cool. At least we get to use our GPU power a little more, then the 5-6 consumer level software that supports CUDA or OpenGL programming like Photoshop, After Effect, and Premier to name a few.