2 cuda questions?

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Lee Gresham
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Message 1257381 - Posted: 8 Jul 2012, 4:53:51 UTC

Is there any diagnostic utility that can verify proper cuda card operation and maybe provide benchmarks?

The second question is about app_info.xml. Is there anything to be gained by modifying the strings: <avg_ncpus>0.040000</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.040000</max_ncpus>

Curiosity doesn't always kill the kat!

Thanks

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Message 1257424 - Posted: 8 Jul 2012, 7:02:21 UTC - in response to Message 1257381.  
Last modified: 8 Jul 2012, 7:04:40 UTC

Is there any diagnostic utility that can verify proper cuda card operation and maybe provide benchmarks?

The second question is about app_info.xml. Is there anything to be gained by modifying the strings: <avg_ncpus>0.040000</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.040000</max_ncpus>

Curiosity doesn't always kill the kat!

Thanks


There is a program called Memtestg80 which is. Memory tester, unfortunately it doesn't do proper benchmarks.

As for the <avg_ncpus> and <max_ncpus> they are for BOINC to work out how much CPU to allow when scheduling tasks to run. It doesn't limit them in any way, they can use more or less CPU. In this case we are saying the app uses an average of 4% CPU and a maximum of 4%.
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Lee Gresham
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Message 1257880 - Posted: 9 Jul 2012, 4:05:31 UTC - in response to Message 1257424.  

Is there any diagnostic utility that can verify proper cuda card operation and maybe provide benchmarks?

The second question is about app_info.xml. Is there anything to be gained by modifying the strings: <avg_ncpus>0.040000</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.040000</max_ncpus>

Curiosity doesn't always kill the kat!

Thanks


There is a program called Memtestg80 which is. Memory tester, unfortunately it doesn't do proper benchmarks.

As for the <avg_ncpus> and <max_ncpus> they are for BOINC to work out how much CPU to allow when scheduling tasks to run. It doesn't limit them in any way, they can use more or less CPU. In this case we are saying the app uses an average of 4% CPU and a maximum of 4%.


I downloaded Memtestg80 and will run it tomorrow.

Thanks A lot!

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Lee Gresham
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Message 1259829 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 13:16:11 UTC - in response to Message 1257424.  

Is there any diagnostic utility that can verify proper cuda card operation and maybe provide benchmarks?

The second question is about app_info.xml. Is there anything to be gained by modifying the strings: <avg_ncpus>0.040000</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.040000</max_ncpus>


Thanks


There is a program called Memtestg80 which is. Memory tester, unfortunately it doesn't do proper benchmarks.

As for the <avg_ncpus> and <max_ncpus> they are for BOINC to work out how much CPU to allow when scheduling tasks to run. It doesn't limit them in any way, they can use more or less CPU. In this case we are saying the app uses an average of 4% CPU and a maximum of 4%.



I ran memtestg80 and memtestcl along with GPU-Z on an EVGA GTX 560 I suspected of having a problem. Watching each utility run I see a dramatic slow down in shader clock speed and a large decrease in GPU load after a couple of hundred iterations. The shader clock drops from 1701 MHZ to around 101 MHZ and GPU load drops from ~99% to about 30%. At the end of each utility the log says no errors found. Should I suspect a problem with the card or drivers or a problem elsewhere?
The Windows version is XP x64 and card driver version is 301.42 and he optimized client is Lunatics_Win64_v0.40. Another computer running same windows and driver versions and same Lunatics version on an overclocked Asus GTX 560 Ti experiences no slowdown. Processors on both computers are P4 3.8GHZ HT and motherboards are Intel D725 and D775 respectively. Performance in the last month on the malfunctioning computer has gone from an RAC of 18K+ down to 13K and falling.


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Message 1259936 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 18:51:34 UTC - in response to Message 1259829.  

I just installed an EVGA GTX 560, the SuperClocked (850MHz) version so I'm keeping an eye on this thread.
My GTS 450 and Phenom 9650 have been holding around the 13000 RAC mark so something seems not right. .
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Message 1259970 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 20:18:40 UTC - in response to Message 1259936.  

This one ran fine for about a year and began to slow down about a month ago. The time on some work units is great, 2 to 15 minutes but others take nearly 2 hours.
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Message 1259977 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 20:34:32 UTC - in response to Message 1259970.  

This one ran fine for about a year and began to slow down about a month ago. The time on some work units is great, 2 to 15 minutes but others take nearly 2 hours.

It looks like several, if not all, of the tasks that are running hours are coming up inconclusive as well.
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Message 1259990 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 20:56:15 UTC

Have a go with this http://www.evga.com/precision/
I use it to see what my cards are up to and tweak them a bit.
Getting over 15k on a single GTX 560 without any overclocking.


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Message 1260001 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 21:22:02 UTC

Re: EVGA Precision below (or above)

Oh, I forgot to mention. It's free, but you have to register to download it.

It seems to work fine on any Fermi card.

You can use Tthrottle from eFMer if you want to stop you GPUs from cooking.
Team that up with Boinc Tasks from same place to manage a bunch of PCs as one.
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Message 1260009 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 21:46:42 UTC - in response to Message 1259990.  

Have a go with this http://www.evga.com/precision/
I use it to see what my cards are up to and tweak them a bit.
Getting over 15k on a single GTX 560 without any overclocking.



Hate to say this, but I have a single GTX-560 doing over 22k by itself and my GTX-460 is running 16k.

I use MSI Afterburner to monitor my cards.
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

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Message 1260014 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 21:57:00 UTC - in response to Message 1259977.  

This one ran fine for about a year and began to slow down about a month ago. The time on some work units is great, 2 to 15 minutes but others take nearly 2 hours.

It looks like several, if not all, of the tasks that are running hours are coming up inconclusive as well.


I had a similar issue with a 560TI. It was working OK for several months and then just started to fail. Ive found that raising the voltages stopped the downclocks but anyway it was throwing a lot of invalids.

Ive tested them with each testing tool Ive found, Ive changed PSU, Ive changed the slots, Ive cleaned the fans, and while everything said it was working ok, still, around a 30% of WUs become inconclusive and then invalid. I had even downclocked it to see if that solved the issue but no luck...

And suddenly Ive realized that I did not tested it downclocking only the memory... 20 mhz less than the stock value fixed all my problems (and it works even with the cores overclocked). Im using MSI afterburner for that, it's free, it works for GPUs from any vendor (mines are Zotac) and you dont need to register to get it...

Im not sure that this is going to fix your GPU, but it may help to diagnose it...


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Message 1260018 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 22:04:08 UTC

I am suffering from interference on some of my PCs especially the single 560 one. It's called my GF using it for Facebook Games and snoozing Boinc all the time Grrr
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Message 1260032 - Posted: 13 Jul 2012, 22:46:25 UTC - in response to Message 1260009.  

Have a go with this http://www.evga.com/precision/
I use it to see what my cards are up to and tweak them a bit.
Getting over 15k on a single GTX 560 without any overclocking.



Hate to say this, but I have a single GTX-560 doing over 22k by itself and my GTX-460 is running 16k.

I use MSI Afterburner to monitor my cards.
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm




I hope mine are just in the "ascent" phase of RAC and will get thereabouts in the end. I can't help re-building and making PCs up from the old bits I have. They are always catching up. Not to mention the GF pressing snooze all day !
Will have to save up for some 600 series when I get a new job.



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Message 1260100 - Posted: 14 Jul 2012, 1:51:00 UTC

You could try SIV by RED RAY
I use it for gpu overclocking and it benches cpu great but I don't think that gpu benchtest has been implimented yet.

http://rh-software.com/

The command line as admin is siv32x -GPUCTL or siv64x -GPUCTL
It will also control fan speed
Best of all SIV will autoretry BOINC connections and set GPU tasks to above normal priority


Give it a try
RED RAY is also a member of Seti and is a really good chap.
He will help you

Michael Miles
The Assimilators
Phenom 2 1100T @ 4.0
Zotac 460GTX at 850 core 1700 shader 1900 mem



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Message 1260117 - Posted: 14 Jul 2012, 3:08:16 UTC - in response to Message 1259829.  




I ran memtestg80 and memtestcl along with GPU-Z on an EVGA GTX 560 I suspected of having a problem. Watching each utility run I see a dramatic slow down in shader clock speed and a large decrease in GPU load after a couple of hundred iterations. The shader clock drops from 1701 MHZ to around 101 MHZ and GPU load drops from ~99% to about 30%. At the end of each utility the log says no errors found. Should I suspect a problem with the card or drivers or a problem elsewhere?




You didn't say anything about heat. They will downclock if they get too hot.

I suspect your problem is the driver.

You might want to upgrade to the 304.79 driver. There is a NVIDIA driver that's known to have a bug that downclocks some overclocked cards, you can read about it on NVIDIA's website, but I'm almost certain that I'm remembering correctly and you are using that one.

Beyond that, I just flashed the BIOS on a Gigabyte 560Ti OC 900MHz model after it trashed several thousand WUs (every few seconds) with -9 errors while it was downclocked and running cold. You might want to look for a BIOS update.

After the BIOS flash the "default" voltage is reset up by 1/3v *and* the card is running cooler at full factory overclock than it was at NVIDIA reference clocks, which I don't understand at all, but it is what it is. (apparently in my card's case this has something to do with two manufacturers of RAM, but there was no thorough explanation on Gigabyte's website)
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Message 1262402 - Posted: 20 Jul 2012, 4:55:28 UTC - in response to Message 1260014.  

This one ran fine for about a year and began to slow down about a month ago. The time on some work units is great, 2 to 15 minutes but others take nearly 2 hours.

It looks like several, if not all, of the tasks that are running hours are coming up inconclusive as well.


I had a similar issue with a 560TI. It was working OK for several months and then just started to fail. Ive found that raising the voltages stopped the downclocks but anyway it was throwing a lot of invalids.

Ive tested them with each testing tool Ive found, Ive changed PSU, Ive changed the slots, Ive cleaned the fans, and while everything said it was working ok, still, around a 30% of WUs become inconclusive and then invalid. I had even downclocked it to see if that solved the issue but no luck...

And suddenly Ive realized that I did not tested it downclocking only the memory... 20 mhz less than the stock value fixed all my problems (and it works even with the cores overclocked). Im using MSI afterburner for that, it's free, it works for GPUs from any vendor (mines are Zotac) and you dont need to register to get it...

Im not sure that this is going to fix your GPU, but it may help to diagnose it...




I've caught 2 cards down clocking in the last few days. The EVGA GTX560 was apparently doing it as well. It was replaced with a new old stock GTX 470 and it down clocks too and I am using MSI Afterburner to lower the GPU and Memory clocks and tweak up the fan. The second machine card is an Asus GTX 560Ti. Same problems. The driver for both is 301.42. I have tried the EVGA Precision also and it is pretty much the same software with a different skin. It will allow me to adjust voltage. I am locked out of that function in Afterburner.
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Message 1262404 - Posted: 20 Jul 2012, 4:59:31 UTC - in response to Message 1260117.  

[/quote]

You didn't say anything about heat. They will downclock if they get too hot.

I suspect your problem is the driver.

You might want to upgrade to the 304.79 driver. There is a NVIDIA driver that's known to have a bug that downclocks some overclocked cards, you can read about it on NVIDIA's website, but I'm almost certain that I'm remembering correctly and you are using that one.

Beyond that, I just flashed the BIOS on a Gigabyte 560Ti OC 900MHz model after it trashed several thousand WUs (every few seconds) with -9 errors while it was downclocked and running cold. You might want to look for a BIOS update.

After the BIOS flash the "default" voltage is reset up by 1/3v *and* the card is running cooler at full factory overclock than it was at NVIDIA reference clocks, which I don't understand at all, but it is what it is. (apparently in my card's case this has something to do with two manufacturers of RAM, but there was no thorough explanation on Gigabyte's website)
[/quote]


Do the Bios updates come from nVidia or the card vendor? I'll try the updates.
mine are 301.42

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Message 1262416 - Posted: 20 Jul 2012, 5:50:47 UTC - in response to Message 1262402.  

I've caught 2 cards down clocking in the last few days. The EVGA GTX560 was apparently doing it as well. It was replaced with a new old stock GTX 470 and it down clocks too and I am using MSI Afterburner to lower the GPU and Memory clocks and tweak up the fan. The second machine card is an Asus GTX 560Ti. Same problems. The driver for both is 301.42. I have tried the EVGA Precision also and it is pretty much the same software with a different skin. It will allow me to adjust voltage. I am locked out of that function in Afterburner.


In the host in which 2 different GPUs are downclocking it could be an issue with the PSU getting old... I doubt about it being the drivers as im using that same drivers on several different GPUs and im not having any downclocking... (but, YMMV).

On the 560ti what is the voltage of the cores? mines were downclocking until Ive raised the voltage to 1.062... (by the way, Afterburner has an option to unlock the voltage settings, by default they are locked to avoid "mistakes")
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Message 1262431 - Posted: 20 Jul 2012, 6:54:46 UTC - in response to Message 1262416.  
Last modified: 20 Jul 2012, 6:56:01 UTC



In the host in which 2 different GPUs are downclocking it could be an issue with the PSU getting old... I doubt about it being the drivers as im using that same drivers on several different GPUs and im not having any downclocking... (but, YMMV).



Quoted from:

http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/45970

"Key Fixes

Fixes an intermittent vsync stuttering issue with GeForce GTX 600-series GPUs.
Fixes an issue where some manufacturer’s factory overclocked cards default to and run at lower clocks."


Since they didn't say what manufacturer, and since I can't tell what cards we're talking about from what I can see --- even if I knew what manufacturers they are talking-about, I don't know that this is a problem.

Since there is a habitual downclocking problem, there is at least some reason to believe that the driver could be the problem on these specific cards.

And it is so easy to update the driver to see if the problem goes away, that I'd update the driver. It's also easy to do a clean install of the old driver if you don't like the new driver or it doesn't fix the problem.

I'd check the driver before I spent too much time hunting pink elephants. All that noise could be a pink elephant, but I'd check for the easiest explanations, first.
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Message 1262446 - Posted: 20 Jul 2012, 7:54:00 UTC

I installed the 304.79 (beta)drivers and so far all looks stable. I guess I'll know in the morning! The cards are in 2 different machines. Both are Win XP x64 sp2 and both motherboards are Intel. The only difference is one is a D725 and the other is a D775. The processors in both are Intel P4 LGA775 3.8GHZ HT. The D725 has the PNY GTX470 and 4GB of ram and the D775 has a factory overclocked Asus GTX560Ti and 8GB ram.
GTX560Ti speeds are: GPU 900, Shaders 1800 and memory 1050
GTX470 speeds are: GPU 608, Shaders 1215 and memory 837
The number of shader cores are 384 and 448 respectively
The EVGA GTX560 is sitting on a shelf for now
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