I have been using this rig to crunch for a number of years now, using my trusty MSI NX8800GT card in my Dell Dimension 8400 (with an upgraded PCP&C PS made for the dell units), and with spring coming, I thought it would be a good idea to blow out the dust bunnies. While moving stuff around for my new build, I came across a BFG GTX 275 that I had bought last year a bit before they went bankrupt, new in the box. I thought, hmm, this would certainly be a step up from the 8800 in terms of crunching, so after cleaning, I swapped them out.

After rebooting, that's were the strange stuff started to happen. I checked device mgr (running XP 32, SP2) it said NX8800 before and Geforce GTX 275 now, and the driver info both before and now says Provider Nvidia, Date 1/11/2010, and version 6.14.11.9621. After rebooting with the new card, the display came up at 60 hz refresh (running a 20" mitsu monitor) when it had been set to 140 hz before, and the resolution was 800x600, when it used to be 1024x768. Also, the color depth was set to 8, I changed it to 32 bit, and when doing the drop down again, now only get 16 or 32, which is normal.

That's the background, basically going from a MSI 8800 to a BFG 275, using the same driver, and changing nothing else. Now for the weird part. I started BOINC, and got thess messages:


2/23/2011 12:30:37 AM Starting BOINC client version 6.10.18 for windows_intelx86
2/23/2011 12:30:37 AM log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
2/23/2011 12:30:37 AM Libraries: libcurl/7.19.4 OpenSSL/0.9.8l zlib/1.2.3
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM Data directory: C:\Program Files\BOINC\Data
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM Running under account User
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM Processor: 2 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz [x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4]
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM Processor: 1.00 MB cache
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM Processor features: fpu tsc sse sse2 mmx
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM OS: Microsoft Windows XP: Professional x86 Edition, Service Pack 2, (05.01.2600.00)
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM Memory: 3.00 GB physical, 3.59 GB virtual
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM Disk: 275.88 GB total, 173.62 GB free
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM Local time is UTC -6 hours
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM No usable GPUs found
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Missing coprocessor for task 11ap10ac.30863.2117.10.10.210_0
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Missing coprocessor for task 11ap10ac.30863.2117.10.10.207_0
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Missing coprocessor for task 11ap10ac.30863.2117.10.10.205_0
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Missing coprocessor for task 11ap10ac.30863.2117.10.10.203_0
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Missing coprocessor for task 11ap10ac.30863.2117.10.10.200_0
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Missing coprocessor for task 11ap10ac.30863.2117.10.10.183_1
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Missing coprocessor for task 10oc10ab.25812.308152.6.10.67_3
2/23/2011 12:30:38 AM SETI@home Missing coprocessor for task...

plus about 100 more of them, ending with:

2/23/2011 12:30:39 AM Not using a proxy
2/23/2011 12:30:42 AM SETI@home URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 4737460; resource share 100
2/23/2011 12:30:43 AM SETI@home General prefs: from SETI@home (last modified 26-May-2007 00:12:51)
2/23/2011 12:30:43 AM SETI@home Computer location: home
2/23/2011 12:30:43 AM SETI@home General prefs: no separate prefs for home; using your defaults
2/23/2011 12:30:43 AM Reading preferences override file
2/23/2011 12:30:43 AM Preferences limit memory usage when active to 1535.04MB
2/23/2011 12:30:43 AM Preferences limit memory usage when idle to 2916.59MB
2/23/2011 12:30:50 AM Preferences limit disk usage to 100.00GB
2/23/2011 12:31:00 AM SETI@home Restarting task ap_21se10ac_B6_P1_00241_20110217_14579.wu_1 using astropulse_v505 version 505
2/23/2011 12:31:00 AM SETI@home Restarting task ap_27au10af_B2_P0_00152_20110217_18979.wu_1 using astropulse_v505 version 505

Nothing other than the video card has been changed, basically the engine behind the scenes, but the software has all stayed the same. I am using the enhanced client, is there something hard coded during the install to make it card specific? If so, how do I make it aware that there is new hardware to work on, and that it is ready to start doing GPU work? Let me know if you have any questions I can answer to provide more clairity to the situation. Thanks!

---

Well

For some reason the Cuda part of the driver and/or PhysX isn't enabled, the quickest way to fix this is to only download the newest driver from nvidias homepage and install it and you should be set to go again.
Why this has occured i don't know but this it what it seems like.
Start with that and report back if it solved your issue or not.
You could use the archived driver 197.3x to install over to maintain the highest RAC possible.

//Vyper

---

_________________________________________________________________________
Addicted to SETI crunching!
Founder of GPU Users Group

Its likely that XP dropped the nVIDIA drivers you were using when you changed cards so you'll have to reinstall the drivers again.

Cheers.

---

Well, this is embarrassing, I completely forgot that I had moved the Nvidia dir from my C: to F: drive, in prep for wiping the driver if needed. I didn't realize that after the install of the driver, it referenced back to the orig location instead of copying the needed files to the system folder. Anywho, now it's working:

2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Starting BOINC client version 6.10.18 for windows_intelx86
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Libraries: libcurl/7.19.4 OpenSSL/0.9.8l zlib/1.2.3
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Data directory: C:\Program Files\BOINC\Data
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Running under account User
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Processor: 2 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz [x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4]
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Processor: 1.00 MB cache
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Processor features: fpu tsc sse sse2 mmx
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM OS: Microsoft Windows XP: Professional x86 Edition, Service Pack 2, (05.01.2600.00)
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Memory: 3.00 GB physical, 3.59 GB virtual
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Disk: 275.88 GB total, 173.11 GB free
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM Local time is UTC -6 hours
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 275 (driver version 19621, CUDA version 3000, compute capability 1.3, 896MB, 691 GFLOPS peak)
2/23/2011 6:28:33 AM SETI@home Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform
2/23/2011 6:28:34 AM Not using a proxy
2/23/2011 6:28:35 AM SETI@home URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 4737460; resource share 100
2/23/2011 6:28:35 AM SETI@home General prefs: from SETI@home (last modified 26-May-2007 00:12:51)
2/23/2011 6:28:35 AM SETI@home Computer location: home
2/23/2011 6:28:35 AM SETI@home General prefs: no separate prefs for home; using your defaults
2/23/2011 6:28:35 AM Reading preferences override file
2/23/2011 6:28:35 AM Preferences limit memory usage when active to 1535.04MB
2/23/2011 6:28:35 AM Preferences limit memory usage when idle to 2916.59MB
2/23/2011 6:28:40 AM Preferences limit disk usage to 100.00GB
2/23/2011 6:28:42 AM SETI@home Restarting task ap_21se10ac_B6_P1_00241_20110217_14579.wu_1 using astropulse_v505 version 505
2/23/2011 6:28:43 AM SETI@home Restarting task ap_27au10af_B2_P0_00152_20110217_18979.wu_1 using astropulse_v505 version 505
2/23/2011 6:28:50 AM SETI@home Restarting task 25jl10aa.8770.2274.14.10.165_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 608
2/23/2011 6:30:30 AM SETI@home Computation for task 25jl10aa.8770.2274.14.10.165_1 finished
2/23/2011 6:30:30 AM SETI@home Starting 25jl10aa.8770.2274.14.10.161_0
2/23/2011 6:30:31 AM SETI@home Starting task 25jl10aa.8770.2274.14.10.161_0 using setiathome_enhanced version 608
2/23/2011 6:30:33 AM SETI@home Started upload of 25jl10aa.8770.2274.14.10.165_1_0
2/23/2011 6:30:38 AM SETI@home Finished upload of 25jl10aa.8770.2274.14.10.165_1_0
2/23/2011 6:31:43 AM Suspending computation - user request
2/23/2011 6:42:59 AM SETI@home update requested by user
2/23/2011 6:43:05 AM SETI@home Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
2/23/2011 6:43:05 AM SETI@home Reporting 29 completed tasks, not requesting new tasks
2/23/2011 6:43:10 AM SETI@home Scheduler request completed

Thanks guys, I'm back and crunching. I wish I had taken note of the GFLOPS of the old card, the new one is 691, I have to think that it's quite a bit higher than the old. Oh well, it has to be an improvement. Thanks again!

---

With 691 GFLOPS i would set <flops> to 235,000,000,000

I set 240e9 with my GTX295 and 701 GFLOPS.

Helli

---

A loooong time ago: First Credits after SETI@home Restart

While moving stuff around for my new build, I came across a BFG GTX 275 that I had bought last year a bit before they went bankrupt, new in the box.

I always wonder, how that happens. If I had a new card, specially if it would be that much faster than the old one, I probably could not sleep till this thing is build in and running.

---

When I installed my new GTS-450 it did the same thing. My Win-7 found new hardware and installed it's own drivers for it instead of the NVidia drivers. It didn't even have a selection for the 1600x900 resolution for my monitor. Once I reinstalled the latest NV drivers everything went back to normal. Luckily I got the new card just before we came back from the last outrage and I didn't have any work left to mess up.

---

PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Luckily I got the new card just before we came back from the last outrage and I didn't have any work left to mess up.

Well played typo. :)

---

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think."

"I never get into an argument that I cannot win."

Luckily I got the new card just before we came back from the last outrage and I didn't have any work left to mess up.

Well played typo. :)

Probably not a typo...
It's been a running tongue in cheek joke around here to refer to the outage as an outrage for some time now. LOL.

---

"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Luckily I got the new card just before we came back from the last outrage and I didn't have any work left to mess up.

Well played typo. :)

Probably not a typo...
It's been a running tongue in cheek joke around here to refer to the outage as an outrage for some time now. LOL.

That's what I meant...shoulda put "typo".

---

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think."

"I never get into an argument that I cannot win."

...
I wish I had taken note of the GFLOPS of the old card, the new one is 691, I have to think that it's quite a bit higher than the old. Oh well, it has to be an improvement.
...

Based on the NX8800GT there's "Average processing rate 118.5" in the application details for SETI@home Enhanced (anonymous platform, nvidia GPU). That's a better measure than the nVidia marketeers' GFLOPS estimate which BOINC reports. It should move up as you get validations for tasks done with the GTX 275, taking about 70 validations to make half the move. 300 validations will get it within 5% of wherever it's going.

                                                                 Joe

With 691 GFLOPS i would set <flops> to 235,000,000,000

I set 240e9 with my GTX295 and 701 GFLOPS.

Helli

So I just edit my client_state.xml, searching for any flops statement, and then entering the number above in place of what is currently there? I noticed while looking thru it, that there was 4-5 places where flops was listed. Do I change them all, or just under one of the headings?

---

With 691 GFLOPS i would set <flops> to 235,000,000,000

I set 240e9 with my GTX295 and 701 GFLOPS.

Helli

So I just edit my client_state.xml, searching for any flops statement, and then entering the number above in place of what is currently there? I noticed while looking thru it, that there was 4-5 places where flops was listed. Do I change them all, or just under one of the headings?

No, the change would be in app_info.xml, where you could put a <flops> value for each application. But the changes would affect any work you already have been sent, if the estimated run times are approximately right it would make them wrong. It would effectively be a change from your ~1.3 GFLOPS Whetstone benchmark to 235 GFLOPS if you used Helli's advice, and would scale estimates and the limit down by a factor of about 180.

                                                                 Joe

Ok, it looks like I have 2 of them, this one is dated 4/30/08 and is in the C:\Program Files\BOINC\projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu dir:

<app_info>
<app>
<name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>AK_v8_win_SSE3.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>517</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8_win_SSE3.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>527</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8_win_SSE3.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>528</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8_win_SSE3.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
</app_info>

and this one is dated 5/4/10 and is in the C:\Program Files\BOINC\Data\projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu dir:


<app_info>
<app>
<name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>AK_v8b_win_SSE3_INTEL.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>603</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8b_win_SSE3_INTEL.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>astropulse_v505</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>ap_5.05r339_SSE.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>505</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>ap_5.05r339_SSE.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>MB_6.08_CUDA_V12_VLARKill_FPLim2048.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<file_info>
<name>cudart.dll</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<file_info>
<name>cufft.dll</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<file_info>
<name>libfftw3f-3-1-1a_upx.dll</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>608</version_num>
<plan_class>cuda</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>0.040000</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.040000</max_ncpus>
<coproc>
<type>CUDA</type>
<count>1</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>MB_6.08_CUDA_V12_VLARKill_FPLim2048.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>cudart.dll</file_name>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>cufft.dll</file_name>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>libfftw3f-3-1-1a_upx.dll</file_name>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>608</version_num>
<plan_class>cuda23</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>0.040000</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.040000</max_ncpus>
<coproc>
<type>CUDA</type>
<count>1</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>MB_6.08_CUDA_V12_VLARKill_FPLim2048.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>cudart.dll</file_name>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>cufft.dll</file_name>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>libfftw3f-3-1-1a_upx.dll</file_name>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
</app_info>


I would presume since it is newer and bigger, this is the one I would be working with? Where would I put that statement in the file? Any special format I need to use to make it work properly? Oh, and when I previewed this post, it lost all of its indent formatting. Not sure why, or how to prevent it, but at least all the data is here. Thanks!

---

Before you set these <flops> Values in app_info.xml make sure you
have set <duration_correction_factor> in the client_state.xml to 1.0

On my Pentium 4 3.06 Ghz i have set 6e9 as FLOPS. Looking like:

    <app_version>
        <app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
        <version_num>603</version_num>
        <flops>6000000000</flops>
        <file_ref>
           <file_name>AK_v8b_win_SSE2.exe</file_name>
            <main_program/>
        </file_ref>
    </app_version>

With the GTX295 the Part of the app_info.xml looks like:

<app_version>
 <app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
 <version_num>609</version_num>
 <flops>240000000000</flops>
 <platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
 <avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus>
 <max_ncpus>0.04</max_ncpus>
 <plan_class>cuda23</plan_class>
 <file_ref>
 <file_name>setiathome_6.09_windows_intelx86__cuda23.exe</file_name>
 <main_program/>
 </file_ref>

Helli

---

A loooong time ago: First Credits after SETI@home Restart

First things first, I would download the current installer from Lunatics and run it on your machine. The CUDA app is outdated.
http://lunatics.kwsn.net/index.php?module=Downloads;sa=dlview;id=246

---

First things first, I would download the current installer from Lunatics and run it on your machine. The CUDA app is outdated.
http://lunatics.kwsn.net/index.php?module=Downloads;sa=dlview;id=246

The Astropulse app is also outdated,

Claggy

Do I have to do some sort of uninstall, or just run the install over the top of the old version?

---

Just run the install.

                                                                   Joe

Well, I just ran the install over the old one, and this is how it started. Did it update both programs, or do I have to do a seperate one for the AP? Also, do I really need to update my vid driver to 197.1 to get the cuda 3.0, and if so, will it make a diff in perf? I've heard the 196 version was the fastest, but then again this was about a year or so ago when they were having driver issues.

2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Starting BOINC client version 6.10.18 for windows_intelx86
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Libraries: libcurl/7.19.4 OpenSSL/0.9.8l zlib/1.2.3
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Data directory: C:\Program Files\BOINC\Data
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Running under account User
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Processor: 2 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz [x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4]
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Processor: 1.00 MB cache
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Processor features: fpu tsc sse sse2 mmx
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM OS: Microsoft Windows XP: Professional x86 Edition, Service Pack 2, (05.01.2600.00)
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Memory: 3.00 GB physical, 3.59 GB virtual
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Disk: 275.88 GB total, 173.09 GB free
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Local time is UTC -6 hours
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 275 (driver version 19621, CUDA version 3000, compute capability 1.3, 896MB, 691 GFLOPS peak)
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM SETI@home Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Not using a proxy
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM SETI@home URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 4737460; resource share 100
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM SETI@home General prefs: from SETI@home (last modified 26-May-2007 00:12:51)
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM SETI@home Computer location: home
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM SETI@home General prefs: no separate prefs for home; using your defaults
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Reading preferences override file
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Preferences limit memory usage when active to 1535.04MB
2/24/2011 7:33:47 PM Preferences limit memory usage when idle to 2916.59MB
2/24/2011 7:33:48 PM Preferences limit disk usage to 100.00GB
2/24/2011 7:33:49 PM SETI@home Restarting task ap_23dc09ab_B5_P0_00243_20110220_00988.wu_1 using astropulse_v505 version 505
2/24/2011 7:33:49 PM SETI@home Restarting task ap_23dc09ab_B4_P1_00391_20110220_23583.wu_0 using astropulse_v505 version 505
2/24/2011 7:33:49 PM SETI@home Restarting task 13au10ad.20386.9237.16.10.107_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 608


Here is the resulting app_info.xml file

<app_info>
<app>
<name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>AK_v8_win_SSE3.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>517</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8_win_SSE3.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>527</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8_win_SSE3.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>528</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8_win_SSE3.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
</app_info>



Now it's time to try updating the flops statement and seeing how that goes, but I have a question Heli. Yours has this section in it:

<flops>240000000000</flops>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.04</max_ncpus>
<plan_class>cuda23</plan_class>

Do I need those statements in mine as well? Thanks for your help, it's appreciated.

---