Given that "most" (if not almost all) projects on BOINC use CPU for their calculations...the question comes to my mind why use it on SETi@home also?

Especially, when GPU are so awesome in calculating at SETi@home:
1. they don't clog up the GPU that it's unusable - like other projects...so you can crunch almost all the time (exceptions are in gaming or 3D CAD programs, in my examples)
2. they are so much powerful than CPUs (but not in all areas, just in some)

Example:
my SETi@home grid consists of 4 computers, in which only 2 are crunching on SETi@home (other don't have enough minimum requirements for calculating, either by RAM or GPU version)...in those 2 computers there are 3 GPUs, not the latest kind, but they crunch 24/7...but the put me in top 5% contributators on SETi@home!

So my question comes to:
Why use SETi@home on CPUs at all?
Why not switch SETi@home on GPUs all together?
;)

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non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Given that "most" (if not almost all) projects on BOINC use CPU for their calculations...the question comes to my mind why use it on SETi@home also?

Especially, when GPU are so awesome in calculating at SETi@home:
1. they don't clog up the GPU that it's unusable - like other projects...so you can crunch almost all the time (exceptions are in gaming or 3D CAD programs, in my examples)
2. they are so much powerful than CPUs (but not in all areas, just in some)

Example:
my SETi@home grid consists of 4 computers, in which only 2 are crunching on SETi@home (other don't have enough minimum requirements for calculating, either by RAM or GPU version)...in those 2 computers there are 3 GPUs, not the latest kind, but they crunch 24/7...but the put me in top 5% contributators on SETi@home!

So my question comes to:
Why use SETi@home on CPUs at all?
Why not switch SETi@home on GPUs all together?
;)

Think if that happened you would loose a lot of crunchers ! CPU might be slower but still does the job !!

Well my i5 2.9G does about 75% of the work my 750Ti does .... so why shut it down?

Many none dedicated crunchers don't buy big GPU's for crunching, they use the CPU they have, and just whatever GPU they have.

I think most "Off the Shelf" desktop computers will have almost as much CPU power as GPU power. Unless you're buying a gaming computer.

EDIT: My "off the shelf" Quad 2.9G came with a R7 240, My CPU WAY outperformed that GPU.

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I was just wondering how EFFICIENT is the crunching, 'cause we all spend electricity for it. Mostly, when the last month a bill came for half year change of electricity!

And, btw, my 3 cards are:
1. nVidia Quadro 2000 - listed as 30% of the speed of the Titan, on an office PC
2. intel HD 2500 - listed as 55% of the fastest intel HD 4600, also on an office PC
3. nVidia 730GT - a PCIe 8x card for a server board that I have in my computer.
Not so much, but works!

So I would like to hear from bronze users or less...what is their opinion?
;)

Also, keep in mind that most future users will use CUDA or OpenCL cards in their computers...so that is the future, obviously! ;)

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non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

I was just wondering how EFFICIENT is the crunching, 'cause we all spend electricity for it. Mostly, when the last month a bill came for half year change of electricity!

And, btw, my 3 cards are:
1. nVidia Quadro 2000 - listed as 30% of the speed of the Titan, on an office PC
2. intel HD 2500 - listed as 55% of the fastest intel HD 4600, also on an office PC
3. nVidia 730GT - a PCIe 8x card for a server board that I have in my computer.
Not so much, but works!

So I would like to hear from bronze users or less...what is their opinion?
;)

Also, keep in mind that most future users will use CUDA or OpenCL cards in their computers...so that is the future, obviously! ;)

I wouldn't know you can see what ive got running easy enough . I know that GGPU's are spozed to be more efficient at some tasks like Nvidia vrs AMD for certain types of task , They are "faster" than the cpu > Swings and roundabouts I spoze and each to their own :-)

I am running 7 BOINC projects on 3 PCs, two Linux and one WindowIs. Only this last one has a graphic board and sometimes runs Einstein@home and SETI@home GPU tasks. But it runs mostly CERN programs using VirtualBox and no GPU tasks. So I am not willing to install graphic boards on the 2 Linux boxes, not an easy task as it is on Windows. I have a Windows 8.1 OEM version by HP but I don't have a DVD with the OS, they never gave me one. So I am afraid to install a faster graphic board which I have bought, a Geforge GTX 750 on it. It now has a Radeon HD 8470, not very fast.It has also an onboard 8670D Devastator. Einstein@home sees only this one, while SETI@home sees also the Radeon Caico.
Tullio

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I know what you are saying...but here is the deal:
1. Quadro 2000 - 480GFLOPs, http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/900/quadro-2000.html
2. intel HD2500 - almost 8GFLOPs, http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/1250/hd-graphics-2500.html
3. GeForce 730GT (a rebranded version of ASUS 630GT) - almost 693GFLOPs, http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b2007/asus-gt-630-silent-2-gb.html

combined - it's about 1180GFLOPs of computing power!
actually, don't use nVidias on dual-jobs...so they get about 90% of computing power...

running about 10 computers, with most of them dual or quad cores (24days in total, 22,5 effectively) in a WCG grid - get me 122GFLOPs of compute power!
so running GPUs give me 10x more compute power...WoW!


on top of that...those GPUs don't use extra PINs for hookup...and run under 45W of power!
every computer runs at least of 100W per case... ;)

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non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

NONE of my computers has a graphics card. I'm not a gamer, I don't do anything that NEEDS a GPU or other graphics card, so I'm not going to spend the money for one, no matter how inexpensive they are.

My Windows boxes take between 1 and 3 hours per MB v7 Tasks, and I run 2-3 at a time. My ancient Mac iBook takes 3-4 days, but that is still plenty fast for this project. Some folks take weeks to complete a Task, but they are usually running only when the machine is not doing other things (as this project was ORIGINALLY designed).

If this project went to GPU-only, how fast would they chew through the data files? And what would that do to the servers, which already struggle for a day after each weekly outage, as they catch up and build a ready-to-send cache?

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Donald
Infernal Optimist / Submariner, retired

Tullio i just looked at your machines if the win 8.1 is a laptop which i'm thinking it maybe then the reason you don't have a disc for windows is because you have to burn one with a external DVD if it doesn't have one built in .

read your instructions manual and it should tell you how to burn a disc .

You will find that the hard drive will be partitioned into 2-3 partitions . One partition is where the operating system is .

If there is no instructions to burn or backup the system then i would not worry to much if you put a GPU in it and stuff up the installation as there will be instructions on how to reinstall windows . As it's in a separate partitioned you wont delete it .

I think you will find the options in the shutdown tab . I've only had limited use of win 8 but i know you can do a clean install and delete everything off the computer from 1 of the menu's as i had to do it to a friends computer and i thought it was a cool function .

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klik as Donald says it would cause problems at seti which is all ready having problems with not having enough bandwidth and work to supply all the users.

Most computers you buy will not have a powerful GPU and would be expensive to then go out and buy a good GPU on top of the cost of a new system

I have 2 GPU's and i would like to do AP's but there just is not enough work to do AP's 24/7

Seeing as 80% of the time you only average 30-50 points per units and most times it's closer to 35 even doing 6 units at a time 3 on each GPU there is not that much diffence between CPU and GPU as the CPU one averge about 100-140 points .

I can do i CPU in 1 hr and 8 mins up to 3 hrs so i get 100
The GPU can take from 29 mins to 1 hr 17 mins and get 35 so the GPU has to do more to get the same points as the cpu .

doing units faster does not mean you get more points in fact it's usually the other way round you get less and have to do more units .

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klik as Donald says it would cause problems at seti which is all ready having problems with not having enough bandwidth and work to supply all the users.

Most computers you buy will not have a powerful GPU and would be expensive to then go out and buy a good GPU on top of the cost of a new system

I have 2 GPU's and i would like to do AP's but there just is not enough work to do AP's 24/7

Seeing as 80% of the time you only average 30-50 points per units and most times it's closer to 35 even doing 6 units at a time 3 on each GPU there is not that much diffence between CPU and GPU as the CPU one averge about 100-140 points .

I can do i CPU in 1 hr and 8 mins up to 3 hrs so i get 100
The GPU can take from 29 mins to 1 hr 17 mins and get 35 so the GPU has to do more to get the same points as the cpu .

doing units faster does not mean you get more points in fact it's usually the other way round you get less and have to do more units .

Also im no expert but ive found that you are far more likely to get a "bad" result from a GPU than a CPU in my limited experience it seams that what ever make or model of CPU is they are more "stable" . I 4t it was correct results that were the important factor here not how fast you can turn them around

I am running 7 BOINC projects on 3 PCs, two Linux and one WindowIs. Only this last one has a graphic board and sometimes runs Einstein@home and SETI@home GPU tasks. But it runs mostly CERN programs using VirtualBox and no GPU tasks. So I am not willing to install graphic boards on the 2 Linux boxes, not an easy task as it is on Windows. I have a Windows 8.1 OEM version by HP but I don't have a DVD with the OS, they never gave me one. So I am afraid to install a faster graphic board which I have bought, a Geforge GTX 750 on it. It now has a Radeon HD 8470, not very fast.It has also an onboard 8670D Devastator. Einstein@home sees only this one, while SETI@home sees also the Radeon Caico.
Tullio

Tullio, if this is just about windows, you can download 8.1 directly from Microsoft and create a DVD/bootable USB-stick from the ISO:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

If you don't have the product key then look for a small program called Windows Product Key Viewer.

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As Donald said:

NONE of my computers has a graphics card. I'm not a gamer, I don't do anything that NEEDS a GPU or other graphics card, so I'm not going to spend the money for one, no matter how inexpensive they are.

My Windows boxes take between 1 and 3 hours per MB v7 Tasks, and I run 2-3 at a time. My ancient Mac iBook takes 3-4 days, but that is still plenty fast for this project. Some folks take weeks to complete a Task, but they are usually running only when the machine is not doing other things (as this project was ORIGINALLY designed).

If this project went to GPU-only, how fast would they chew through the data files? And what would that do to the servers, which already struggle for a day after each weekly outage, as they catch up and build a ready-to-send cache?

CPU-only hosts are also a good "reality check" for GPU hosts.

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I was just wondering how EFFICIENT is the crunching, 'cause we all spend electricity for it. Mostly, when the last month a bill came for half year change of electricity!

And, btw, my 3 cards are:
1. nVidia Quadro 2000 - listed as 30% of the speed of the Titan, on an office PC
2. intel HD 2500 - listed as 55% of the fastest intel HD 4600, also on an office PC
3. nVidia 730GT - a PCIe 8x card for a server board that I have in my computer.
Not so much, but works!

So I would like to hear from bronze users or less...what is their opinion?
;)

Also, keep in mind that most future users will use CUDA or OpenCL cards in their computers...so that is the future, obviously! ;)

GPU computing is often more efficient in work done per KWh. However there are some kinds of data that GPUs still can not processes as well as CPU. So a GPU may take longer than the CPU in the system to do the same work. As hardware, drivers, and software develop that will likely not always be the case.
SETI@home lets volunteers choose to use whichever resources they like. So you can choose to not use your CPUs for SETI@home if you like. Just change "Use CPU" in your SETI@home preferences.

Personally I only use 3 or 4 GPUs for SETI@home. One of the GPUs is nearly the oldest GPU you can even use for SETI@home. An ancient Nvidia GT 8500. The rest of my crunching comes from the vast number of CPUs I have on hand.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

No Glenn, the Windows 8.1 PC is a HP Pavilion 500 152-ea with a AMD A10-6700 CPU, a 2 TB hard disk, probably a Seagate hybrid, 20 GB RAM which I installed to run ATLAS@home, which needs 4 GB/task.I am running two vLHC@home, two ATLAS@home tasks in BOINC, plus 2 Challenge tasks of vLHC@home, a 64-bit and 32-bit outside BOINC. CPU usage is 100% and RAM usage about 52% with all this running. I update it regularly from Microsoft.
Tullio
Thanks NX-01, I have the product key.

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It's a question that's been asked before. I'm surprised no one has mentioned VLAR tasks this time - those tasks are usually better off processed on the CPU rather than GPU. And as Werecow mentioned, CPU-processed tasks are often good comparison against GPU-processed ones. With higher tolerances for errors and such inherent in GPUs, a task processed on the CPU is more likely to produce accurate results.

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Soli Deo Gloria

Taking away all of the cpus from the project could be a huge hit to the performance.

With cpus you don't have to worry problems that sometimes pop up from new video card drivers.

klik as Donald says it would cause problems at seti which is all ready having problems with not having enough bandwidth and work to supply all the users.

Most computers you buy will not have a powerful GPU and would be expensive to then go out and buy a good GPU on top of the cost of a new system

I have 2 GPU's and i would like to do AP's but there just is not enough work to do AP's 24/7

Seeing as 80% of the time you only average 30-50 points per units and most times it's closer to 35 even doing 6 units at a time 3 on each GPU there is not that much diffence between CPU and GPU as the CPU one averge about 100-140 points .

I can do i CPU in 1 hr and 8 mins up to 3 hrs so i get 100
The GPU can take from 29 mins to 1 hr 17 mins and get 35 so the GPU has to do more to get the same points as the cpu .

doing units faster does not mean you get more points in fact it's usually the other way round you get less and have to do more units .

yesterday I was just to my new godchild, so they asked me to fix-tune up their laptop...so I asked them about putting BOINC to it, they agreed!

so BOINC with WCG data came on...TThrottle with only 65C (even though it's a 100 Tjunc proc), 'cause I want them to use it wisely...and everything worked OK!

then I checked the Device properties...& found nVidia 820M & intelHD...so I also put SETi@home to it! now it's doing OK with crunching data...
most of the time he's using Word or watching web...maybe most graphic thing is Youtube by the child!

it's a new, not so expensive laptop (up to 400€)...even on them you get these graphic chips...

so NO, I'm not telling SETi@home should abandon the CPU tasks...
but to thing about it in the future!

why:
1. SETi@home is nicely written...so it doesn't interfere with video streaming or some other working on GPU in the background (ecept maybe AP, but even that is OK compared to Einstein@home - a similar app)
2. GPUs are getting more & more powerful than CPUs...
3. CPU can be used for some other projects...those that are CPU only & can make a difference! some projects have been written to be used only on CPUs, 'cause rewriting them on CUDA or OpenCL should take too much time for scientists...
4. outage this winter was 'cause we (even now) have more power to check signals than Arecibo piggyback can record...the deal that we have WUs right now is by rechecking the old data signals with newer version of SETi@home (v7)...

so think about the FUTURE...in next year or 2 years! ;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

klik as Donald says it would cause problems at seti which is all ready having problems with not having enough bandwidth and work to supply all the users.

Most computers you buy will not have a powerful GPU and would be expensive to then go out and buy a good GPU on top of the cost of a new system

I have 2 GPU's and i would like to do AP's but there just is not enough work to do AP's 24/7

Seeing as 80% of the time you only average 30-50 points per units and most times it's closer to 35 even doing 6 units at a time 3 on each GPU there is not that much diffence between CPU and GPU as the CPU one averge about 100-140 points .

I can do i CPU in 1 hr and 8 mins up to 3 hrs so i get 100
The GPU can take from 29 mins to 1 hr 17 mins and get 35 so the GPU has to do more to get the same points as the cpu .

doing units faster does not mean you get more points in fact it's usually the other way round you get less and have to do more units .

yesterday I was just to my new godchild, so they asked me to fix-tune up their laptop...so I asked them about putting BOINC to it, they agreed!

so BOINC with WCG data came on...TThrottle with only 65C (even though it's a 100 Tjunc proc), 'cause I want them to use it wisely...and everything worked OK!

then I checked the Device properties...& found nVidia 820M & intelHD...so I also put SETi@home to it! now it's doing OK with crunching data...
most of the time he's using Word or watching web...maybe most graphic thing is Youtube by the child!

it's a new, not so expensive laptop (up to 400€)...even on them you get these graphic chips...

so NO, I'm not telling SETi@home should abandon the CPU tasks...
but to thing about it in the future!

why:
1. SETi@home is nicely written...so it doesn't interfere with video streaming or some other working on GPU in the background (ecept maybe AP, but even that is OK compared to Einstein@home - a similar app)
2. GPUs are getting more & more powerful than CPUs...
3. CPU can be used for some other projects...those that are CPU only & can make a difference! some projects have been written to be used only on CPUs, 'cause rewriting them on CUDA or OpenCL should take too much time for scientists...
4. outage this winter was 'cause we (even now) have more power to check signals than Arecibo piggyback can record...the deal that we have WUs right now is by rechecking the old data signals with newer version of SETi@home (v7)...

so think about the FUTURE...in next year or 2 years! ;)

What about the people who DONT want to run other projects on their computers ? I don't and I aint going to be forced to coz seti abandons cpu use!!

What about the people who DONT want to run other projects on their computers ? I don't and I aint going to be forced to coz seti abandons cpu use!!

Well, you feel exeactly how I felt when WCG decided to code it's newer project UGM on SSE2 CPUs...so that it doesn't run on my Mendocino dual-CPU ABIT BP6 or good old Tualatin...

But that only reminded me where I was with those CPUs...& to start be more "electrically efficent" (every computer uses about 100W of energy)...with prices of electiricty going higher & higher...you have to start thinking!

example:
right now I'm selling one X1050 from one computer - don't need it! & searching for a PCIe card to fit into that slot...yesterday I was thinking baout 460 GTX...
today I'm thinking about 30W 610GT (155GFLOPs) or more expensice 60W 750Ti (1300GFLOPs)...why? 'cause of the Watts!

the DAY will come...it hasn't come right now!
but might, very soon!

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non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU