Long time no see everybody. So my last post was over a year ago here, as real life got (and still is) pretty hectic, but i still have been lurking some. Anyways, i need some help, like the title says, on upgrading my folding rig. Though i have not been active on the forums recently, i still have been folding away continuously, albeit a bit slowly. This past month though, my 2 gtx 260s in my folding rig stopped getting WUs. I thought it might have just been the servers having issues, but it has now been over a month without a WU, so i am assuming the 200 series Nvidia cards aren't really supported anymore. (Am i wrong on that point)?
 
This will be one of the few months in over 5 years of my folding that i will have a big fat 0 in the points and WUs. I definitly want to continue to fold though, so that is where the main point of this thread comes from. I have been doing a lot of research to help me figure out what cards i should get to upgrade the folding rig, but i have gotten to the point where my head is about to explode with information, and i just need to ask some other people for opinions. From my research i gathered that AMD is much improved/supported for FAH than in the older days, and should be considered. From what i can also tell, Nvidia is still going strong as well.
 
I have narrowed down my search a bit, though i am open to any and all suggestions and information. I have a few requirements in my search as well. I would like to keep the price under or around $200 total, but would possibly be willing to stretch to $300 if there is a good improvement. It needs to be one or two cards. The power supply in the rig is a 610w PC P&C. It has run the two gtx 260s flawlessly for years, but i don't know about current cards power consumptions, so i assume i should keep this in mind. Also, the mobo is an EVGA 750i SLI FTW; the mobo doesn't support crossfire, so would i have any issues using AMD cards purely for folding? 
 
My research has led me to these options around these pricepoints, used:
gtx 750 ti - $100
gtx 660 - $130
gtx 660 ti - $160
r9 270 / r9 270x / 7870 ghx - $90 to $120
r9 280 / 7950 - $140
r9 280x / 7970 - $170
 
Are these all good valid options at the price points mentioned? Or has my research not been that great? Any other options i should look at? Are there any important things i should know about FAH in the future (like will AMD>Nvidia or vice versa)? I would love it if i could pick up a gpu or two that could last me another long chunk of time like my trusty gtx 260s have.
 
What choice would you guys pick? Bear with me please since i haven't been following tech and folding news too closely since i've been away, so most of the relevant knowledge i have is from the past few days of research.
 
Thanks, rabid 

I do not have any experience with the R9 cards, but I do know the GTX 750TI uses very little power and has a decent output. I got one of my friends I work with to start folding and he is using two of the 750TIs. You can check his PPD at Jeff_Arredondo. He folds for EVGA.
 
Check tigerdirect http://www.tigerdirect.co...8899411&CatId=7387
rs

Strange, I thought 200-series cards still folded core 15 projects. You'd be best posting in the Folding@home forums asking as it is unusual they would drop cards from the project.
 
A 750Ti is light on power draw but can hit between 50-100PPD depending on core and project.

sajinor
Because of the limiting factor of the power supply, I would go with the 750ti. It is better than the 660 and 660ti, while being both cheaper and lower power consumption. And it should be somewhat future proof, as it would be reasonable they optimize for the new architecture. 
 
Without the PSU limitation, I would recommend the 7970/r9 280x. They currently push 110-120k points per day. However, I don't believe a 610W will manage two of them. They require a lot on the 12v rail. A pair of 7950 would be right on the edge, in my experience.

sajinor is dead on. The 750 TI is using the maxwell (sp?) architecture and that is far more efficient than my two GTX 780s. The projects in the future are going to be tailored for the maxwell over the kepler. Google the comparison and you will see what I am talking about.
Anyone with a better opinion feel free to chime in............
 
rs
 
 ps my folding friends are picking up core 15s and it kills the PPD and really heats up the PC, but running two 780 ACX on advanced i am getting nothing but core 17s. Of course as sure as i post this, I will get a run of 15s.

So i had it down to the 7950 or 750 ti like you guys said, and i found a deal on two 7950s that i couldn't pass up! They are in the mail and on the way. I can't wait to get these bad boys folding. 
 
Related to this, what AMD driver is the best for folding on a 7950? I have no idea, as i've always been on Nvidia.
 
 
P.S. On the power supply issue (with 610w pushing it for two 7950s), i actually have an 850w Corsair laying around that i use for my benching rig, but i can swap that with my 610w PC P&C in the folding rig, so i shouldn't have any issues with two 7950s.

Got the cards finally setup (had some issues, but that's a story for another day). Using the most current driver, 14.4 i think it was. Pulling between 75-95k ppd per card.  Does that seem about right? Any tips or tricks to optimize my production?

GTX750Ti might be using little power but is finicky in folding. Reports are that in ideal conditions they do ~70k PPD but they fall on Core15 WUs quite often and there is no QRB on those. Best choice right now : 7950/7970 or above. I get 150k PPD out of my 280X that I got for 140 CAD.