2x CUDA cards, only one is being used?

Questions and Answers : GPU applications : 2x CUDA cards, only one is being used?
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KodeKatt
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Message 1022326 - Posted: 3 Aug 2010, 23:39:55 UTC

I have a 465GTX and 9800GT, but only one of the cards is kind of working.

The 465GTX is primary, and it's failing all tasks, the 9800GT isn't doing any work.

I didn't see another post on this in the first 2 pages of threads, so hopefully I'm not doing a repost of a common issue.
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Message 1022334 - Posted: 3 Aug 2010, 23:55:36 UTC - in response to Message 1022326.  

I see you're using BOINC 6.10.18
To be able to use the Fermi cards correctly you need to upgrade your BOINC. 6.10.58 is the latest available (do not go for the development versions).

Do I see this correctly, that you aborted all your CUDA tasks?
The Fermi GPU needs a different application than your CUDA GPU does. It should work with the 6.10 application (called cuda_fermi), not the 6.09 version. It's possible that your second GPU got this work in, but that it ran on the Fermi instead.

That's a problem, as the Fermi GPUs cannot do old-style CUDA work. Nvidia changed how they do the work and as such older applications will crash on these GPUs. Mind, the newer Fermi CUDA applications will work on older hardware!

Now then, what to do? Upgrade to the latest BOINC first. Then I would disable the Fermi for the duration of the work you still have in cache. it won't run on your Fermi, not without spewing out all errors.

For more info on running Seti on Fermi cards, see the Number Crunching forum.
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Message 1022338 - Posted: 4 Aug 2010, 0:17:41 UTC - in response to Message 1022334.  
Last modified: 4 Aug 2010, 0:27:20 UTC

I see you're using BOINC 6.10.18
To be able to use the Fermi cards correctly you need to upgrade your BOINC.

Do I see this correctly, that you aborted all your CUDA tasks?


Doing the upgrade, and when I changed my OS, I had lost a lot of tasks, and before that I had dumped a bunch in the past because I was flooding with GPU tasks and no processor tasks with error message that I had max allowed tasks, so I was dumping GPU ones to see if I could get some processor ones.
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Message 1022343 - Posted: 4 Aug 2010, 0:26:58 UTC - in response to Message 1022338.  

Upgraded.. but GPU is still failing all jobs, and second GPU isn't even being touched still.
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Message 1022348 - Posted: 4 Aug 2010, 0:35:03 UTC - in response to Message 1022343.  

Yes, cos it's running on the Fermi (GTX 465).

To disable that card without taking it out of the machine, do the following:
Make a file called cc_config.xml in your BOINC Data directory (where client_state.xml lives). If you already have such a file, add into it. The file doesn't come with BOINC, so if it isn't there yet, you will have to make it (with Notepad!).

Add into it the following lines:
<cc_config>
<log_flags>
</log_flags>
<options>
<ignore_cuda_dev>0</ignore_cuda_dev>
</options>
</cc_config>


We try to ignore the correct CUDA device. This depends on how you put them in your machine. Usually the top PCIe slot is device 0, the next is device 1, then 2, 3 etc. If your Fermi is the first card in, it's device 0 (zero). If it's the second one in, it's device 1. In that case you have to change the line above to <ignore_cuda_dev>1</ignore_cuda_dev>

Save the file as All Files and ANSI format. This makes sure you don't get the .txt extension, but check that anyway.

Then exit and restart BOINC to get it to use the cc_config.xml file. Merely reading the config file won't work, as the detection of the GPUs happens only at BOINC start-up.
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Message 1022364 - Posted: 4 Aug 2010, 1:44:39 UTC - in response to Message 1022348.  

Ohhh, okay, I guess I missunderstood that my 465 won't work for BOINC (yet).

Thank you, I'll apply those xml settings and report results.
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Message 1022371 - Posted: 4 Aug 2010, 2:17:55 UTC - in response to Message 1022364.  
Last modified: 4 Aug 2010, 2:18:22 UTC

Ohhh, okay, I guess I missunderstood that my 465 won't work for BOINC (yet).

Well, it should work at Seti without any problems, but the problem you have is that all your CUDA work is for the v6.09 CUDA application only. This one cannot work on the 465. You need work for, and the v6.10 application for that.

Now the forum I pointed you at earlier does have a thread on how to get Seti working with a Fermi card, but in the interest of stopping your system turning out only errors and the possibility of losing ALL work when going tinkering, I opted for temporarily disabling your Fermi card instead. It's easier.

Then come Friday, when we can upload and eventually get work again from Seti, we may try to get your Fermi working and its own application etc. etc.
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Message 1022407 - Posted: 4 Aug 2010, 6:47:09 UTC - in response to Message 1022364.  
Last modified: 4 Aug 2010, 6:51:31 UTC

Seems to have fixed it.
Just would be nice to put both cards to use.
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Message 1022505 - Posted: 4 Aug 2010, 15:34:40 UTC - in response to Message 1022407.  

Come back Friday or Saturday, at least after the initial rush to get all work uploaded and when work downloads are possible again and coming in. Then we'll try to fix your machine. :)
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Message 1023202 - Posted: 6 Aug 2010, 20:21:29 UTC

As for your second card not being utilized, this might be the same problem I had with my 285 GTX + 9500GT setup, and there was an easy fix for that, [see here].

Maybe that's all, that is required to get both your GPUs crunching?
3dfx Voodoo5 6000 AGP HiNT Rev.A 3700 prototype, dead HiNT bridge

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Message 1023206 - Posted: 6 Aug 2010, 20:58:37 UTC - in response to Message 1023202.  
Last modified: 6 Aug 2010, 20:58:49 UTC

No, in your case your other GPU wasn't detected. His was, but it wasn't used. Big difference.

@KodeKatt, in the mean time I've had a chat with someone else who has somewhat of a similar setup. He confirmed that the Fermi application will work on the older GPUs. So we should probably try to get your Fermi to work.

But the problem there is twofold:
1. Your OS is somewhat finicky.
2. You drivers aren't up to the job.

Now the thing about your OS is that it isn't included in any of the driver releases by Nvidia, so you will have to try with the Vista/Windows 7 drivers they have available. But in all, you will have to upgrade your drivers to the latest available, if we want to have any chance of using the GTX465. The latest drivers being the 258.96 driver set, with CUDA 3.1 support.

Can you check if you can update?
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Message 1044732 - Posted: 29 Oct 2010, 13:51:08 UTC

Well, I've done a bit of modding with my system.. so here's new specs:
OS: Windows Server 2003 x64 R2 Enterprise
CPU: i7 960 @ 3.75GHz
RAM: 6GB DDR3
GPU1: nVidia PNY 470 GTX 1280MB
GPU2: nVidia PNY 9800 GT 1024MB*
No, they're not SLI if anyone even thinks to ask that.

Currently, there's a nVidia 6800 XT in this place, but that's intended to be swapped.
It's a bit of a pain to swap parts out on this.
So I'm asking before I go through effort and downtime.

Question still remains.. can this be done? Can I have both cards working on tasks?
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Message 1044754 - Posted: 29 Oct 2010, 15:38:46 UTC - in response to Message 1044732.  

OS: Windows Server 2003 x64 R2 Enterprise

If you can find drivers for that OS, then possibly yeah. I just checked at Nvidia.. I don't see drivers for this OS, so you'd probably have to run with Vista or XP drivers.

And then wait with the rest of us for the next month or so, for Seti to get its new servers and install them, test run them etc. before turning them on inside the project. ;-)
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Message 1044851 - Posted: 29 Oct 2010, 21:07:47 UTC - in response to Message 1044754.  

Server 2003 = XP; I have the drivers
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Questions and Answers : GPU applications : 2x CUDA cards, only one is being used?


 
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