Howdy all. I am back after almost a year absence. I had just gotten all my folding stuff all set up reaching near 1 million points a month (not huge, but I was happy with it) and then I got a job over here in Korea. I couldn't go so long without folding, so I a bought a box and started folding again. I am relatively limited on hardware choices over here (compared to those who have access to Newegg, Amazon, etc). I ended up with a i5 3470 and a GTX 650 for the first box. Now for some numbers and questions:
 
i5 3470 is pulling 8-10k ppd, depending on the work units, which seems as expected. However, the GTX 650 is pulling only 6,200 ppd on 807x work units, which is highly disappointing. This is only 1k more than my GT 630M on my laptop. There aren't many reported numbers for the 650 and folding, but I made the mistaken assumption that it would be better or as good as the GTX 550s. Is this a normal expectation for a 650, or is there a setting I need to make different for Kepler? I use FAH Control v7 on Windows 8. I do have adv methods on on both slots. Certainly going to replace it if that is the best it can offer.
 
I am glad to be back and will be adding more hardware and trying to take place in some of the upcoming contests.

Thank you for the response. I didn't mean to say I don't have access to electronics here in Korea, but the selection is very different and the prices are very different than what the US has to offer. I have made my share of trips to Yongsan, but find G-Market more convenient and with better prices. EVGA is nearly impossible to find (I have found them, but not at a price worth paying). I am not a fan of Windows 8 either, but it came with. I still wouldn't recommend it for anyone.
 
The 660ti was my true interest for a card, but after the 650, the prices move up quickly. The cheapest 660ti available is just over $350 based on the exchange rate. If it wasn't for customs fees, I could get an EVGA 660ti shipped direct from Amazon for cheaper. I was disappointed on the points more so because I compared it with the 550 line of cards, and saw people reporting in excess of 10k ppd. But this was back when I was folding last year, and perhaps the work units have changed that much, and this is what is expected.
 
Power use isn't much of an issue until my supervisor gets curious about the raising power bill. The employer takes care of it currently. And I wish I were on a base. Everyone wants a military buddy for the APO addresses. While I am sure things aren't as efficient, there are a couple cheap used options I have ran across. 
 
i7-870, ECS H55M, 2GB DDR3 1333 memory and GTS 250 512MB for $320. I know the GTS 250 won't be much, but would the i7 be able to put out decent points, even if its a first generation?
 
i5-2500, Emtek H61MH, 4GB DDR3 1333 memory and GTX 460 SE 768MB for $375. All computers in this country seem to be on micro atx boards and rarely have overclocking options. The GTX 460 was what I had in my first folding box back in the US, albeit the second edition 1GB one. Seems the better of the 2 options, but all of these are around the same price as just putting a 660ti into the existing box. I am not against having 2 boxes running if I am getting decent results. Any thoughts from anyone? Hope I am not being a bother to people with these perhaps newb questions.
 

I will trade you Hite beer and sushi for an EVGA gpu  Thanks for the help. It will help me in my search for other cards. I will keep this one going while looking for other options. Just having bad point efficiency isn't going to stop me from folding altogether.