Message boards :
Number crunching :
Strategies for managing mixed GPU WU balance.
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Author | Message |
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_ Send message Joined: 15 Nov 12 Posts: 299 Credit: 9,037,618 RAC: 0 |
Hello Everyone, Thanks to all the great people on this forum, I was finally able to get my cruncher back and running with an NVIDIA card and an ATI card running side by side. Over the years, has anyone developed working strategies for maintaining a WU balance between the two types of WUs needed? For example, I have heard that keeping the "Maintain enough tasks to keep busy for at least..." field in the account preferences very low will help. I've not had any luck in this department however. If anyone has had any luck in this department, I'd love to know! |
Wedge009 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 451 Credit: 431,396,357 RAC: 553 |
The issue stems from the task limits that continue to be in place. Reducing the work cache is the only way that I know of to balance task counts between ATI and NV GPUs. You will need to experiment with what numbers work best for your host: I generally find 1 day is fine for when AstroPulse is being distributed, but when only MultiBeam is available then I will need to drop it to 0.2-0.3, depending on the server's expected work-unit time for your GPUs, plus whether or not it's sending lots of small tasks AKA 'shorties'. In the latter case, I've found I've had to drop the cache to as low as 0.1. Soli Deo Gloria |
_ Send message Joined: 15 Nov 12 Posts: 299 Credit: 9,037,618 RAC: 0 |
Thanks very much for your reply! I was trying .5 days, but I will lower it to .2 and see what happens. |
_ Send message Joined: 15 Nov 12 Posts: 299 Credit: 9,037,618 RAC: 0 |
Does this statistic actually do anything? :) Half joking... I've set the value to .1, and my machine still keeps a 100 GPU WU cache. (With no ATI WU, to boot!) |
Josef W. Segur Send message Joined: 30 Oct 99 Posts: 4504 Credit: 1,414,761 RAC: 0 |
Does this statistic actually do anything? :) Half joking... If you're changing the web preference setting with no effect, it may be because any local preferences override web prefs. For the version of BOINC Manager I'm using, the Advanced menu -> Preferences brings up those local prefs. You can either set the minimum and extra values there, or clear them so the web prefs will be in effect. Joe |
_ Send message Joined: 15 Nov 12 Posts: 299 Credit: 9,037,618 RAC: 0 |
Does this statistic actually do anything? :) Half joking... Thanks Joe! I'll be sure to take a look at this when I get home! |
Wedge009 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 451 Credit: 431,396,357 RAC: 553 |
It'll also take some time for your system to work through its cache, if it's already hit 100 WUs. Once your cache setting is low enough that less than 100 WUs is enough to satisfy one GPU, then the server will start delivering WUs for your other GPU. Soli Deo Gloria |
Wiggo Send message Joined: 24 Jan 00 Posts: 34930 Credit: 261,360,520 RAC: 489 |
I think that you're a bit late with that post Wedge as he is getting work for both cards. Mherr, you may want to check you hard drive for free space or adjust the amount of disk space that BOINC can use as you're now generating errors with, "SETI@home error -3 Can't write to file -- disk full?", "SETI@home error -1 Can't create file -- disk full?", "(unknown error) - exit code -1073741819 (0xc0000005)" or "couldn't start app: CreateProcess() failed - Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service." [edit] Maybe even check the hard drive for errors. Cheers. |
BilBg Send message Joined: 27 May 07 Posts: 3720 Credit: 9,385,827 RAC: 0 |
Or his antivirus is interfering: http://boincwiki.mundayweb.com/index.php?title=Add_the_BOINC_Data_directory_to_the_exclusions_of_my_antivirus_program  - ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)  |
_ Send message Joined: 15 Nov 12 Posts: 299 Credit: 9,037,618 RAC: 0 |
Thanks for your statement Wedge. Thinks are going pretty well with my cahce at the moment once I have it hovering under 100 WUs. I think that you're a bit late with that post Wedge as he is getting work for both cards. Thanks for the advice Wiggo. This happens usually after the computer is running for a few days straight. BOINC has plenty of disk space to use. Thanks bill for mentioning the antivirus. That could be it, but since it only seems to happen after the computer has been on for a while, you would think that the antivirus would interfere long before that. One problem I am having however, and I am considering making a thread about it if I can't find any information, is that my NVIDIA WUs are freezing now and then. I'll come home from work only to find that a NVIDIA WU has been going for 8 hours and hasn't even gotten above 10%. If I suspend that WU, and resume it, it can usually finish up. It seems to happen pretty often. I've checked the computers memory and that doesn't seem to be an issue. |
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