Little GPU help please
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SomeGuy
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Message 1267650 - Posted: 4 Aug 2012, 19:44:58 UTC

Hello everybody,

I have decided to start using BOINC again and SETI@HOME. Used it many years ago but thought I should get crunching again.

One question that I am sure has been asked many of times. How do I get BOINC/Seti@Home to use my GPU? And how many work units could it crunch at one time? I have an ASUS 6950 DirectCU II 2GB which has been flashed with 6970 bios.

I have noticed this but I am not sure how to add it.

Any help would be appreciated,

Thank you.

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Message 1267655 - Posted: 4 Aug 2012, 19:53:39 UTC - in response to Message 1267650.
Last modified: 4 Aug 2012, 19:57:02 UTC

Hello everybody,

I have decided to start using BOINC again and SETI@HOME. Used it many years ago but thought I should get crunching again.

One question that I am sure has been asked many of times. How do I get BOINC/Seti@Home to use my GPU? And how many work units could it crunch at one time? I have an ASUS 6950 DirectCU II 2GB which has been flashed with 6970 bios.

I have noticed this but I am not sure how to add it.

Any help would be appreciated,

Thank you.


Since there are no "stock" apps for ATI GPU's, you'd have to download and install the Lunatics suite of apps, and select their ATI GPU app. Since those apps are not supported by the project, it'd be up to you to watch for updates to stay current.

Being an Nvidia user myself, I couldn't tell you about any other considerations in the use of ATI cards, but perhaps someone else will chime in. IIRC, there are several combinations of things that won't work well with Seti.
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Message 1267660 - Posted: 4 Aug 2012, 19:58:16 UTC - in response to Message 1267655.

Thanks for your reply, having a look at the Lunatics optimised apps website now.
I wish I spent the extra cash and went towards Intel/Nvidia, maybe in the future. Mainly built this PC for gaming.

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Message 1267661 - Posted: 4 Aug 2012, 19:58:28 UTC

Seti@home beta is a separate project from Seti@home. Beta tests apps for future use at S@H.

To start running beta add the project using http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/beta/ as the project address. There is no guarantee of work from beta either.
____________
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SomeGuy
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Message 1267675 - Posted: 4 Aug 2012, 20:39:51 UTC - in response to Message 1267661.
Last modified: 4 Aug 2012, 21:13:22 UTC

Okay so I have download the Lunatics Optimised app and changed the app_info file to allow it to run 3 work units on the GPU. At the minute I have 7 work units running on the CPU and 3 on the GPU, does this seem reasonable?

Also if somebody could check over my app_info file that would be great:
Basically changed the count to 0.33 and instances per device to 3 on every application.



<app_info>
<app>
<name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>AK_v8b2_win_SSE3_AMD.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>603</version_num>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8b2_win_SSE3_AMD.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>603</version_num>
<platform>windows_x86_64</platform>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AK_v8b2_win_SSE3_AMD.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>astropulse_v6</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r555.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v6</app_name>
<version_num>601</version_num>
<avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.2</max_ncpus>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
<cmdline>-instances_per_device 3 -unroll 4 -ffa_block 2048 -ffa_block_fetch 1024 -sbs 128</cmdline>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>0.33</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v6</app_name>
<version_num>601</version_num>
<avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.2</max_ncpus>
<platform>windows_x86_64</platform>
<plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
<cmdline>-instances_per_device 3 -unroll 4 -ffa_block 2048 -ffa_block_fetch 1024 -sbs 128</cmdline>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>0.33</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>astropulse_v505</name>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>506</version_num>
<avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.2</max_ncpus>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
<cmdline>-instances_per_device 3 -unroll 4 -ffa_block 2048 -ffa_block_fetch 1024 -sbs 128 -v505</cmdline>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>0.33</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>505</version_num>
<avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.2</max_ncpus>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
<cmdline>-instances_per_device 3 -unroll 4 -ffa_block 2048 -ffa_block_fetch 1024 -sbs 128 -v505</cmdline>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>0.33</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>506</version_num>
<avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.2</max_ncpus>
<platform>windows_x86_64</platform>
<plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
<cmdline>-instances_per_device 3 -unroll 4 -ffa_block 2048 -ffa_block_fetch 1024 -sbs 128 -v505</cmdline>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>0.33</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>505</version_num>
<avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.2</max_ncpus>
<platform>windows_x86_64</platform>
<plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
<cmdline>-instances_per_device 3 -unroll 4 -ffa_block 2048 -ffa_block_fetch 1024 -sbs 128 -v505</cmdline>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>0.33</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>astropulse_v6</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r555.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v6</app_name>
<version_num>601</version_num>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v6</app_name>
<version_num>601</version_num>
<platform>windows_x86_64</platform>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>astropulse_v505</name>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>505</version_num>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<cmdline>-v505</cmdline>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>505</version_num>
<platform>windows_x86_64</platform>
<cmdline>-v505</cmdline>
<file_ref>
<file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r555.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>MB6_win_x86_SSE3_OpenCL_ATi_HD5_r390.exe</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<file_info>
<name>MultiBeam_Kernels_r390.cl</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>610</version_num>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<avg_ncpus>0.05</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.05</max_ncpus>
<plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
<cmdline>-period_iterations_num 20 -instances_per_device 3</cmdline>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>0.33</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>MB6_win_x86_SSE3_OpenCL_ATi_HD5_r390.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>MultiBeam_Kernels_r390.cl</file_name>
<copy_file/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>610</version_num>
<platform>windows_x86_64</platform>
<avg_ncpus>0.05</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>0.05</max_ncpus>
<plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
<cmdline>-period_iterations_num 20 -instances_per_device 3</cmdline>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>0.33</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>MB6_win_x86_SSE3_OpenCL_ATi_HD5_r390.exe</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>MultiBeam_Kernels_r390.cl</file_name>
<copy_file/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
</app_info>

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Message 1267705 - Posted: 4 Aug 2012, 21:57:11 UTC

Just a couple thoughts:

First, there is no more AP505, so if you wanted to edit that out, you could. You also should go to your preferences section on your account screen, uncheck AP505 and make sure that AP6 is checked to accept work.

Second: this section--<cmdline>-instances_per_device 3 -unroll 4 -ffa_block 2048 -ffa_block_fetch 1024 -sbs 128</cmdline>--is the part that sometimes needs to be tweaked to maximize performance. Again, being an Nvidia user, I can't help, but if you wander through the Number Crunching Forum, you can probably find references to tweaks.

Looks like you've finished and returned a couple GPU units already, and in my opinion only, they ran a bit longer than what I'd expect. You might want to try cutting back to 2 instances at a time and see if your speed improves.
____________

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Message 1267735 - Posted: 4 Aug 2012, 22:56:50 UTC - in response to Message 1267705.

Thanks again for your help.

Okay so I have removed all AP505 preferences from the app_info file and unchecked it from the preferences section and checked AP6 now.

Also running 2 work units on the GPU now and it seems to be running faster.
Will have a look through that number crunching forum tomorrow and see if I can get it optimised further.

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Message 1267778 - Posted: 5 Aug 2012, 2:53:52 UTC - in response to Message 1267735.


You may want to read this:
New AstroPulse for GPU ( ATi & NV) released (r1316):
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=68675

My observations posted in the same thread:
"On ATI AMD Radeon HD 6570 / Catalyst 11.12 / Win XP
r1316 is 1.3x times faster than r555 and uses less CPU and more GPU %":
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=68675&postid=1258692


P.S.
0) Lunatics Windows Installer v0.40 release notes:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=67407

1) All the files in the Lunatics' Installer (Lunatics_Win64_v0.40_setup.exe) can be extracted by 7-Zip
(if you want to do things manually, e.g. to use ap_6.01r557_SSE2_331_AVX.exe instead of AP6_win_x86_SSE_CPU_r555.exe)
(if you run the Lunatics' Installer again it will create new app_info.xml (erasing your edits) so make copy of it)

2) Subscribe to 'Optimized Applications and Other Binaries' to know about updates:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=53611

3) This is my app_info.xml if you want to compare with yours:
(You will have more ('duplicate') sections for <platform>windows_x86_64</platform>
I use -unroll 3 because I have 'Max compute units: 6'
You have 'Max compute units: 24' so you may try -unroll 12 (this probably will compute APs faster but may increase lag and/or lead to errors (invalids))
)

<app_info> <app> <name>setiathome_enhanced</name> </app> <file_info> <name>AK_v8b2_win_SSE3_AMD.exe</name> <executable/> </file_info> <app_version> <app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name> <version_num>603</version_num> <file_ref> <file_name>AK_v8b2_win_SSE3_AMD.exe</file_name> <main_program/> </file_ref> </app_version> <app> <name>astropulse_v6</name> </app> <file_info> <name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r1316.exe</name> <executable/> </file_info> <app_version> <app_name>astropulse_v6</app_name> <version_num>601</version_num> <avg_ncpus>0.04</avg_ncpus> <max_ncpus>0.2</max_ncpus> <plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class> <cmdline>-unroll 3</cmdline> <coproc> <type>ATI</type> <count>1</count> </coproc> <file_ref> <file_name>AP6_win_x86_SSE2_OpenCL_ATI_r1316.exe</file_name> <main_program/> </file_ref> </app_version> <app> <name>astropulse_v6</name> </app> <file_info> <name>ap_6.01r557_SSE2_331_AVX.exe</name> <executable/> </file_info> <app_version> <app_name>astropulse_v6</app_name> <version_num>601</version_num> <file_ref> <file_name>ap_6.01r557_SSE2_331_AVX.exe</file_name> <main_program/> </file_ref> </app_version> <app> <name>setiathome_enhanced</name> </app> <file_info> <name>MB6_win_x86_SSE3_OpenCL_ATi_HD5_r390.exe</name> <executable/> </file_info> <file_info> <name>MultiBeam_Kernels_r390.cl</name> <executable/> </file_info> <app_version> <app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name> <version_num>610</version_num> <avg_ncpus>0.05</avg_ncpus> <max_ncpus>0.05</max_ncpus> <plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class> <cmdline>-period_iterations_num 80 -instances_per_device 1</cmdline> <coproc> <type>ATI</type> <count>1</count> </coproc> <file_ref> <file_name>MB6_win_x86_SSE3_OpenCL_ATi_HD5_r390.exe</file_name> <main_program/> </file_ref> <file_ref> <file_name>MultiBeam_Kernels_r390.cl</file_name> <copy_file/> </file_ref> </app_version> </app_info>


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Questions and Answers : GPU applications : Little GPU help please

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