combining video cards

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j tramer

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Message 1424685 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 21:07:51 UTC

can I use different video cadrs? say a 550ti and a 660ti?

can I use NVidia and amd cards together?
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Message 1424691 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 21:26:51 UTC

Yes, both is possible.



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Message 1424694 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 21:33:04 UTC

So...you are saying if I upgraded my motherboard to 4 pci express slots I could use 2 or 3 NVidia cards and an amd card?
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Message 1424696 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 21:39:00 UTC - in response to Message 1424694.  

Yes.


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Message 1424700 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 21:47:14 UTC - in response to Message 1424694.  

So...you are saying if I upgraded my motherboard to 4 pci express slots I could use 2 or 3 NVidia cards and an amd card?


Yes, but you have to consider you also need a powerful CPU to feed the GPU`s properly.
Not to forget the PSU.



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Message 1424702 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 21:54:05 UTC - in response to Message 1424700.  

What would you say Mike, one or two free CPU cores to run four GPUs? Plus, it would probably take at least a 1,000 watt power supply to run that monster.


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Message 1424704 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 21:55:57 UTC - in response to Message 1424694.  

So...you are saying if I upgraded my motherboard to 4 pci express slots I could use 2 or 3 NVidia cards and an amd card?

If you want them all to do Seti, you'll need to manage your cache settings otherwise everything will be sent only to the fastest device (the fastest app version)

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Message 1424705 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 21:56:57 UTC

I have a 1200 psu for it all ready...once I sell my house a guess its time for a new motherboard and a 7950 video card and new case and a blue ray drive....I think I will stay with my amd cpu...I have a water cooler for the cpu....just want to upgrade to push my way up from where I am....
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Message 1424707 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 22:04:38 UTC - in response to Message 1424702.  

What would you say Mike, one or two free CPU cores to run four GPUs? Plus, it would probably take at least a 1,000 watt power supply to run that monster.


One core for the Nvidias plus another one for the AMD card.
If AP comes into the game one core for each card.

THE PSU always depends which cards are choosen.



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Message 1424708 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 22:06:31 UTC - in response to Message 1424705.  

I have a 1200 psu for it all ready...once I sell my house a guess its time for a new motherboard and a 7950 video card and new case and a blue ray drive....I think I will stay with my amd cpu...I have a water cooler for the cpu....just want to upgrade to push my way up from where I am....


You should be fine with that.



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Message 1424709 - Posted: 5 Oct 2013, 22:14:18 UTC - in response to Message 1424707.  

Can't tell by looking, he only has three APs on his machine now and they are all for his CPUs.

That's another thing he may want to play with after awhile. Try APs on his GPU also. Right now, I'm set up to run either two MBs or one MB and one AP on my GTX-650. When I get an AP on my GPU I use a full CPU core to run it. That's just because I grabbed someone else's app_config file and I'm too lazy to change it. :)


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Message 1424758 - Posted: 6 Oct 2013, 4:02:48 UTC - in response to Message 1424709.  

Can't tell by looking, he only has three APs on his machine now and they are all for his CPUs.

That's another thing he may want to play with after awhile. Try APs on his GPU also. Right now, I'm set up to run either two MBs or one MB and one AP on my GTX-650. When I get an AP on my GPU I use a full CPU core to run it. That's just because I grabbed someone else's app_config file and I'm too lazy to change it. :)


Don't even think of changing it, lazy or not. EACH AP running on NVIDIA GPU requires 1 CPU core. I try to set my (two only) rigs to run no more than #cores used for SETI - 1 APs at a time on my GPUs. On the I7, it's cool, but on the AMD rig, since there are 6 possible AP GPU threads (2 x GTX 660TI) and only 5 cores available, I limit the number of simultaneous APs via app_config.xml. (I don't run AP on CPU as they run a godawful long time).
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Message 1424778 - Posted: 6 Oct 2013, 5:35:12 UTC - in response to Message 1424758.  

Can't tell by looking, he only has three APs on his machine now and they are all for his CPUs.

That's another thing he may want to play with after awhile. Try APs on his GPU also. Right now, I'm set up to run either two MBs or one MB and one AP on my GTX-650. When I get an AP on my GPU I use a full CPU core to run it. That's just because I grabbed someone else's app_config file and I'm too lazy to change it. :)


Don't even think of changing it, lazy or not. EACH AP running on NVIDIA GPU requires 1 CPU core. I try to set my (two only) rigs to run no more than #cores used for SETI - 1 APs at a time on my GPUs. On the I7, it's cool, but on the AMD rig, since there are 6 possible AP GPU threads (2 x GTX 660TI) and only 5 cores available, I limit the number of simultaneous APs via app_config.xml. (I don't run AP on CPU as they run a godawful long time).


I will probably catch a lot of heat for this, but using .5 CPU core I am running 2 APs on each of my GTX660SC with no problems. My AP run times seems to be consistent with both your GTX660Tis and the GTX680s, and your GTX660Ti has more memory than my 660SCs. It really seems inconceivable to me that I'm the only one with a Fermi or newer card doing this and why every one is insisting on using 1 core for each AP task. Regardless to what everyone says, I've been running this scenario prior to v7 with no problems, so I think I've shot that requirement in the head. If your card has the memory to deal with 2 AP tasks, I see no reason to use a full core for each task.


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Message 1424845 - Posted: 6 Oct 2013, 11:21:04 UTC - in response to Message 1424778.  
Last modified: 6 Oct 2013, 11:27:56 UTC



I will probably catch a lot of heat for this, but using .5 CPU core I am running 2 APs on each of my GTX660SC with no problems. My AP run times seems to be consistent with both your GTX660Tis and the GTX680s, and your GTX660Ti has more memory than my 660SCs. It really seems inconceivable to me that I'm the only one with a Fermi or newer card doing this and why every one is insisting on using 1 core for each AP task. Regardless to what everyone says, I've been running this scenario prior to v7 with no problems, so I think I've shot that requirement in the head. If your card has the memory to deal with 2 AP tasks, I see no reason to use a full core for each task.


I'm currently running 2 APs on 3 GTX560s spreads over 2 computers. A GTS450 also runs 2 with no problems. It's all setup to free up 1 core when the APs start. The run times on the GTX560s seem OK at 2300-2500 seconds. The times on the GTS450 varies a little more, 3000-4000 seconds on %0 blanked APs.
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Message 1424946 - Posted: 6 Oct 2013, 15:54:08 UTC - in response to Message 1424705.  

once I sell my house a guess its time for a new motherboard and a 7950 video card and new case and a blue ray drive.

What about a new house to have around that PC? As even in Norway a PC being outside won't work well in the snow and rain. ;-)
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Message 1424978 - Posted: 6 Oct 2013, 18:02:04 UTC

will be renting.....looking for a job in western Canada....nothing here in Niagara falls Ontario...or starting my own business(food truck)
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Message 1425235 - Posted: 7 Oct 2013, 14:08:08 UTC - in response to Message 1424778.  

I will probably catch a lot of heat for this, but using .5 CPU core I am running 2 APs on each of my GTX660SC with no problems. My AP run times seems to be consistent with both your GTX660Tis and the GTX680s, and your GTX660Ti has more memory than my 660SCs. It really seems inconceivable to me that I'm the only one with a Fermi or newer card doing this and why every one is insisting on using 1 core for each AP task. Regardless to what everyone says, I've been running this scenario prior to v7 with no problems, so I think I've shot that requirement in the head. If your card has the memory to deal with 2 AP tasks, I see no reason to use a full core for each task.


I base my 1-CPU-core-per-GPU AP on some anecdotal data - I noticed (in Task Manager) a major upsurge in Kernel time (which I took to be CPU thrashing - that is, CPU time charged to the system, rather than to any particular process) when allocating less than 1 core/GPU AP, and times were significantly longer with stretchout of wall clock vs. CPU time. Now, my AP GPU WUs run at around 95% or better CPU/wall clock time.

BTW: GPU memory doesn't matter, as long as you have enough. I don't see any diff between my two 660TIs, though one has 2GB, the other 3GB. Also, FWIW, I am running 3 WU/GPU, not 2.
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Message 1442158 - Posted: 14 Nov 2013, 0:26:45 UTC - in response to Message 1424704.  

If you want them all to do Seti, you'll need to manage your cache settings otherwise everything will be sent only to the fastest device (the fastest app version)


Would you have time to explain to this newbie how you do that? I'm running a GT-620 and a GT-610 in an old XP machine, and BOINC Manager sees both but only gives the 620 work. I would swear I saw a thread on this earlier, but it was unclear to me if it applied only to Lunatics stuff or the off-the shelf vanilla setup I have.

A quick primer would be greatly appreciated, or a link if it's already explained elsewhere!
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Message 1442171 - Posted: 14 Nov 2013, 1:30:08 UTC - in response to Message 1442158.  

Disregard. Found out what I needed; both crunching nicely now.
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Message boards : Number crunching : combining video cards


 
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