How powerful of a computer/GPU do you have to have to be a folder? My setup is rather archaic by today's blazing standards (AMD 4400+ 64bit X2 processor, 4 GB Ram, GeForce 7800GT 256 MB), but it is idle quite often, and if it can be somewhat productive I'd be more than willing to use it for that.
The "weakest" system I have is a 2.33 GHz Athlon XP+ with an ATI HD3870 card in the AGP slot. When I ran the box as a CPU client, I saw maybe 7 or 8 pph. When I installed the ATI card with the GPU2 client, that jumped to about 70 - 75 pph. The card was a little over $120 (it was supposed to be $100 with a NewEgg $20 rebate, but their rebate firm declared bankruptcy so I never saw the $20).
If you have an AGP slot, that's about the best you can do, I think. A Power Search at NewEgg for AGP and an nVidia GPU capable of Folding turns up zip. There are a number of ATI 3650, 3850, and 4670 cards for AGP, however.
If you've got a PCI-e card, now you're talking: $75 (after rebate) will get you a 9800 GT card from PNY. I have a 9800 GTX+ card that is on a 2.8 GHz P4 box that is Folding at 252 pph right now.
According to the guides, my GPU isn't compatible since it's a 7 series. Oh well..
Might that entice you to spend a little money?
