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Run SETI@home on your NVIDIA GPU

Most computers are equipped with a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) which handles their graphical output, including the 3-D animated graphics used in computer games. The computing power of GPUs has increased rapidly, and they are now often much faster than the computer's main processor, or CPU.

NVIDIA (a leading GPU manufacturer) has developed a system called CUDA that uses GPUs for scientific computing. With NVIDIA's assistance, we've developed a version of SETI@home that runs on NVIDIA GPUs using CUDA. This version runs from 5X to 10X faster than the CPU-only version. We urge SETI@home participants to use it if possible.

Just follow these instructions:

1) Check whether your computer has a CUDA-capable GPU

The CUDA version of SETI@home works on most newer NVIDIA GPUs. To find out if your GPU is compatible:

• Identify the model name of your GPU. On Windows, click on My Computer / Properties / Hardware / Device Manager, and open Display Adapters. This will show the model name.
• Check NVIDIA's list of CUDA-enabled products. If your GPU is listed here and has at least 256MB of RAM, it's compatible.

2) Download the latest NVIDIA driver

CUDA requires the latest driver to work. Download it from NVIDIA and install it (a reboot will be required). Note: you only need the driver, not the Toolkit or the SDK. Get the CUDA 2.0 version.

3) Install the latest BOINC software

You'll need version 6.4.5 or later of the BOINC software. Download it from here and install it.

You're done! Now start up BOINC, and before long you'll be finishing jobs in no time, and racking up big credit numbers.

Also:

• You can use your GPU to help biomedical research as well as SETI: GPUgrid.net, also has a CUDA application (and more projects are on the way).
• If you attach your computer to other BOINC-based projects, BOINC will keep your CPU busy as well.

 
©2024 University of California
 
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.