Folding@Home rocks, but nVidia won't run? Don't want to buy ATI if possible...

I admit, I originally used to buy ATI cards LONG ago (ATI vga wonders) but got tired of how slow they were to release drivers after problems were discovered. Since those days, I’ve been happily and proudly running nVidia GPUs on my machines for oh so many years now. On my last upgrade, I put 7800’s in my two main computers and moved the older 6800 ultras into a couple of other systems on my network. I upgrade them about every 9-12 months to keep current with technology advances for 3D gaming and rendering. In fact, I am preparing to do another upgrade on those machines in the next couple months and would love to buy a couple 8800’s or better so I could move the 7800’s to the slower machines.

I recently joined Folding@Home because my network of computers is sitting idle the majority of the time and FaH is a really good idea in general. I like donating the CPU power to a good cause. It makes me feel good. I’m able to do 4 work units in less than a day with my machines but I’d really like to increase that number significantly by using GPUs instead of CPUs. Unfortunately, I was distressed to find out the 8800 series can’t be utilized to increase my output. I would have to buy an ATI card. UGH! I am stubborn and hate changing brands on anything once I’ve found something I like, but for the first time in a VERY long time, I am seriously considering ATI as an upgrade. I never thought I would have to say that.

Please do what you can to help the folks at stanford in getting the folding code running well on your 8800’s (and beyond). I don’t WANT to switch companies. I really don’t. Help me stay with nVidia for my own peace of mind.

On June 17 2008 the Beta version of the nVidia Folding@Home client has been made available to the public. No more need to buy ATI (if there ever was any need).