Hi All,

I've been crunching Seti since 1999 but have only recently got a laptop with a video card that is CUDA capable.
CPU is an i7-4600U (quad core) and the GPU is an AMD Radeon HD 8750M.
When BOINC starts I see that the GPU is found in the event log but it doesnt appear to be using it (I dont think so anyway, how do I know?)

Thanks all,
enCrypt

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It would appear that it is.
The task list for that computer shows 200 tasks in progress. 100 for the CPU and 100 for the GPU.
It has not returned any completed WUs just yet.

You should be able to look in Boinc manager under the tasks tab and see what work is being processed right now.

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

Thanks,

I installed something from the Lunatics site which appears to have got it sorted.
Don't know why the stock install of Boinc didn't see my GPU earlier, any ideas?
It was a fresh Boinc Install I did, without the 'install as a service' option.
But, now I'm seeing a much greater time per WU for each CPU core than before (14hrs versus about 1.5 hrs)

Is this normal?
Does using the GPU slow down the CPUs?

Thanks,
Mark...

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Hi All,

I've been crunching Seti since 1999 but have only recently got a laptop with a video card that is CUDA capable.
CPU is an i7-4600U (quad core) and the GPU is an AMD Radeon HD 8750M.
When BOINC starts I see that the GPU is found in the event log but it doesnt appear to be using it (I dont think so anyway, how do I know?)

Thanks all,
enCrypt

Please post the Boinc startup from the Event Log.

It could be that Seti's scheduler refused to send work because of an incompatible driver version,
Installing apps via the Lunatics Installer bypasses the driver restriction.

Claggy

...a laptop with a video card that is CUDA capable.
...the GPU is an AMD Radeon HD 8750M.

Only Nvidia GPUs are CUDA capable. AMD GPUs are OpenCL capable.

Make sure you chose the correct GPU in the project preferences. (use ATI GPU, not Use Nvidia GPU)

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...a laptop with a video card that is CUDA capable.
...the GPU is an AMD Radeon HD 8750M.

Only Nvidia GPUs are CUDA capable. AMD GPUs are OpenCL capable.

Make sure you chose the correct GPU in the project preferences. (use ATI GPU, not Use Nvidia GPU)

His host has work (and had work) from the SETI@home v7 Anonymous platform (ATI GPU) planclass, to get work from that planclass he has to have Use ATI GPU set to Yes.

Claggy

It doesn't hurt to tell extra how to do it, especially when the user shows lack of knowledge on the capabilities of his GPU.

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Thanks,

I installed something from the Lunatics site which appears to have got it sorted.
Don't know why the stock install of Boinc didn't see my GPU earlier, any ideas?
It was a fresh Boinc Install I did, without the 'install as a service' option.
But, now I'm seeing a much greater time per WU for each CPU core than before (14hrs versus about 1.5 hrs)

Is this normal?
Does using the GPU slow down the CPUs?

Thanks,
Mark...

That 14 hours is estimated time. Actual performance on the CPU appears to be ~55 minutes for VHAR shorties, ~2 hours 15 minutes for midrange or VLAR. On the HD 8750M GPU shorties are ~35 minutes, midrange slightly under 1 hour.

The reason the estimates are long is that BOINC uses a very conservative guess at the performance of anonymous platform apps until they've completed 11 or more tasks. There's an awkward situation for your CPU tasks, all 100 were sent before you installed Lunatics so the servers will count the completions for the stock CPU app version even though they're being done by the optimized app. That is, when your host again asks for CPU tasks they'll be sent for anonymous platform and the completed count will start at 0 and not grow until some are actually done.

                                                                  Joe

Thanks for all the help with my GPU newness!

I have the correct GPU ticked in my preferences, (in fact I have them all ticked!)

Here are the first few lines from my startup log...

17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | cc_config.xml not found - using defaults
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | Starting BOINC client version 7.4.36 for windows_x86_64
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | Libraries: libcurl/7.39.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1j zlib/1.2.8
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | Running under account Mark
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: Oland (driver version 1411.4 (VM), device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1411.4), 1024MB, 1024MB available, 322 GFLOPS peak)
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | OpenCL CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz (OpenCL driver vendor: Intel(R) Corporation, driver version 3.0.1.10878, device version OpenCL 1.2 (Build 76413))
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | OpenCL CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz (OpenCL driver vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., driver version 1411.4 (sse2,avx), device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1411.4))

As stated, before I installed the Lunatics app, the GPU was being seen as shown above but it didnt appear to be being used.
I have an ATI driver installed (probably not the latest version though)

So are you saying if I'd waited a while, it would have started to use it without me installing the Lunatics app?

The CPU times seem to have settled down a little to approx 5hrs 45mins per WU but I guess that needs to settle some more yet?

Am I better off sticking with the Lunatics app installed or should I go back to stock (performance wise?)

Thanks again,
Mark...

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Just let it run.
Stock GPU app is much older and slower too.
Everything looks O.K. so far.

You can look for a file called mb_cmdline_win_x86_SSE_OpenCL_ATi_HD5.txt in your project folder.

Add -sbs 256 and save as txt.
This will speed up the GPU a little more.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: Oland (driver version 1411.4 (VM), device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1411.4), 1024MB, 1024MB available, 322 GFLOPS peak)
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | OpenCL CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz (OpenCL driver vendor: Intel(R) Corporation, driver version 3.0.1.10878, device version OpenCL 1.2 (Build 76413))
17/03/2015 13:03:20 | | OpenCL CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz (OpenCL driver vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., driver version 1411.4 (sse2,avx), device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1411.4))

Your host is not reporting any CAL support for it's GPU, some devices have it deprecated in later drivers,

Of the five ATI/AMD Seti v7 apps, four of them expect CAL support, the other one should send work for devices without CAL support, But there may be a minimum driver set for it,
your host with APP runtime 1411.4 fits in somewhere between Cat 13.12 and 14.4 which have APP runtimes 1348.5 and 1445.5 respectively, Probably a Beta release:

ATI Driver Version Cheat Sheet

Had you updated your drivers you may have then received stock ATI/AMD Seti v7 work.

Claggy

Just let it run.
Stock GPU app is much older and slower too.
Everything looks O.K. so far.

You can look for a file called mb_cmdline_win_x86_SSE_OpenCL_ATi_HD5.txt in your project folder.

Add -sbs 256 and save as txt.
This will speed up the GPU a little more.

Yes, except the non-HD5 version was installed so the file name wouldn't have the _HD5.

Rerunning the Lunatics installer and selecting the HD5 version would give a nice speed increase by itself, then boosting the single buffer size by editing the indicated file should indeed help some more.

=========================

Anyone know if it would be possible to get the Intel HD Graphics 4400 in that i7-4600U crunching in addition? My guess is it may be possible, but tricky enough that the potential gain may not be worth the effort.

                                                                  Joe

Thanks again to all,

I've re-run the Lunatics installer.
Enabled HD5 and added the line to the txt file.
Also got an option to enable the Intel GPU too which I didnt notice before.

My Intel driver is above the version it states it needs but is not see by BOINC in its eventlog.

Would be nice to get this working too to bump the figures up a little!

Mark...

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Also got an option to enable the Intel GPU too which I didnt notice before.

My Intel driver is above the version it states it needs but is not see by BOINC in its eventlog.

Would be nice to get this working too to bump the figures up a little!

Read "Intel GPU" thread and decide if iGPU worth the effort (times for CPU tasks may suffer a lot)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=76941

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

Ok thanks for the link there, maybe I wont bother with the iGPU.

I have one more question for the experts!

I've read that I should reserve one CPU core to help out the GPU so I currently have my CPU Usage to use only 75% of my CPUs, hence 3 out of the 4.

Is this the right thing to do or can I safely crunch all 4 CPU cores AND the GPU at the same time.
Bear in mind that this is a laptop so is more vulnerable to overheating.

Thanks,
Mark...

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Yes, it is absolutely correct to reserve a CPU core.
It helps to feed the GPU better.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.