I take it that even though it can use shared memory, that doesn't help. It's the GPU memory that counts?

As I understand it, the app is written to use physical memory only. Shared memory isn't counted/used.

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You could try turning off some of the Aero effects,
_Heinz has been running an Atom with an Ion GPU here, seems he had 225Mb free and could run Optimised Cuda O.K.

Claggy

Hm, dependence of number CPU apps launched by BOINC looks weird acttually...
What BOINC will report if you increase amount of shared memory available to ION?
Some embedded GPUs can have no dedicated memory at all and use system memory. They still can be CUDA enabled ones and still can be able to do CUDA MB. Actually CUDA has even special flag for slightly different memory transfers (no need to transfer to "GPU memory" cause "GPU memory" is just system memory in such case) so cards with shared memory only quite supported by CUDA.

Thanks for that folks.

The "945GSE" versions seem to be rather rare, and often expensive. Nearest of interest I've seen is:

Foxconn NetBox-N270 Ultra Small Form Factor Intel Atom (N270) 1.6GHz Intel 945GSE+ICH7M Fast Ethernet Barebone (Black) (N270)

Surprised there's nothing new for "low power" since the GSE was announced in 2008!

Actually, there is.

The "regular" Atom chips go with the 945GC -- and the chipset needs a fan, not the CPU. 40w for a full-up system.

The next step is the "N" Atom chips with the 945GSE, at around 15w.

The "new" chipset is the US15W, paired with a "Z" Atom. Somewhere under 8w fully configured (Processor TDP under 2w).

If you think the GSE boards are pricey, you should see what the Z530/US15W boards cost.

Thanks for the summary.

At this rate, it may well come to one of:

Old Via C3 + PCI riser for 2x PCI cards for NIC and a USB2 card;

or

Old Via C3 + USB2 card + USB NIC.


It does seem rather silly to have a system where the chipset gobbles up a few times the CPU power!

This is merely for a network gateway (internal LAN <--> Internet) and a few server and monitoring functions. All the new stuff (peripherals) have gone USB2!

Happy crunchin',
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

<snip>

This is merely for a network gateway (internal LAN <--> Internet) and a few server and monitoring functions. All the new stuff (peripherals) have gone USB2!

Happy crunchin',
Martin

Keep in mind that this is what I use them for as well -- primarily as routers.

I noted the MSI-945GSE-A because it has two onboard ethernet ports, using Intel chipsets. I've had very good result with Intel ethernet chips. It also has four USB2 ports on the back of the board (and two more internal). It has a half-dozen RS-232 ports, but those probably don't matter for most of us.

The board may be a tiny bit more expensive, but you very likely don't need a riser or an add-on card, which does offset the price a bit.

---

Hm, dependence of number CPU apps launched by BOINC looks weird acttually...
What BOINC will report if you increase amount of shared memory available to ION?
Some embedded GPUs can have no dedicated memory at all and use system memory. They still can be CUDA enabled ones and still can be able to do CUDA MB. Actually CUDA has even special flag for slightly different memory transfers (no need to transfer to "GPU memory" cause "GPU memory" is just system memory in such case) so cards with shared memory only quite supported by CUDA.

Well, I don't have a clue how to increase shared memory to ION. The GPU does have256 Meg of dedicated memory + 575 Meg of shared system memory.

Well if it doesn't work, I will not cry....

Sten-Arne

The setting is probably in the Bios, i somehow don't think it'll help if you increased the shared system memory,
you could always try Collatz.

Claggy

I did find a setting in Bios "iGPU Frame Buffer Control" it was set to Auto, and that gave 256 Meg of GPU memory. When I manually set it to 512 Meg (which was the next possible higher setting), GPU-Z reported memory size to 512 Meg, and CUDA started to work it seems + I can run both cores +HT's with 6.03's.

It hasn't finished any CUDA WU yet, but it's been running for an hour and 15 minutes (yes this GPU is not fast even though it is CUDA capable)

I'll let it run, and then I'll see if it can finish the 6.08 WU without errors.

Sten-Arne

Success, it did finish without error. Lots of restarting though, since I was playing around in BIOS with the memory settings for the GPU. As can be seen in the result, the memory changes upwards due to me playing around in the BIOS, going finally up to 512 Megs where the GPU runs just fine.

Since the replica is offline the result can't easily be found, but here's a link to the finished WU

Sten-Arne

I was under the Impression that Boinc wouldn't use Shared Memory, in some respects that's probably true,
My 8400M GS only has 128Mb of Dedicated Video Memory, (and yes, I've just checked the Bios, there's no option, surprised i haven't checked earlier),
the Nvidia Control Panel reports i have 1279Mb of Shared System Memory and 0Mb of System Video Memory, giving a Total available Graphics Memory of 1407Mb,
The Ion's setup must be different, and the Shared memory gets reported as Dedicated Memory, i wonder if there's a way to get Boinc to use some of my computer's shared memory. ;D

Claggy

I was under the Impression that Boinc wouldn't use Shared Memory, in some respects that's probably true,
My 8400M GS only has 128Mb of Dedicated Video Memory, (and yes, I've just checked the Bios, there's no option, surprised i haven't checked earlier),
the Nvidia Control Panel reports i have 1279Mb of Shared System Memory and 0Mb of System Video Memory, giving a Total available Graphics Memory of 1407Mb,
The Ion's setup must be different, and the Shared memory gets reported as Dedicated Memory, i wonder if there's a way to get Boinc to use some of my computer's shared memory. ;D

Claggy

Yeah I guess that Ion has a different setup. The Nvidia Control Panel reports that I have 447Mb Shared System Memory, 64Mb System Video Memory, and 512Mb Dedicated Video Memory, and Total Available Graphics memory 1023Mb.


Before my BIOS adventure I only had 256Mb Dedicated Video Memory, so I guess that Ion treats some shared memory as dedicated memory.

Sten-Arne

I think there's some confusion between sharing the system memory with an onboard video chip and "shared" memory for AGP/PCI-E graphics cards.

When you use your BIOS to set aside some system memory specifically for the onboard video card's use, that would be dedicated memory for the graphics chip.

When modern video cards run out of this dedicated memory, they can often borrow additional memory from the system if the application so requests it (some applications don't even know the difference, they just request the amount of video RAM needed and the rest is taken care of by the driver and the OS).

Typically, on dedicated graphics cards, the onboard memory is much faster than using this "borrowed" memory from the system, due to bus protocols and latency (as well as slower system RAM compared to really fast video RAM). When looking for best performance, some programmers will actually check how much physical RAM is installed and not use more than that (and if it's not enough, it will usually give an error).

On systems with onboard video, the system RAM is the same as video RAM even if some had been dedicated to it, but due to the way applications can be or are programmed for it, they don't know the difference and will still not use more than what it detects to be installed.

The SETI@Home CUDA app is one of those such apps that check for physical memory installed and will only allow the card to run if it detects the right amount of free physical video RAM.

---

<snip>

This is merely for a network gateway (internal LAN <--> Internet) and a few server and monitoring functions. All the new stuff (peripherals) have gone USB2!

Happy crunchin',
Martin

Keep in mind that this is what I use them for as well -- primarily as routers.

I noted the MSI-945GSE-A because it has two onboard ethernet ports, using Intel chipsets. I've had very good result with Intel ethernet chips. It also has four USB2 ports on the back of the board (and two more internal). It has a half-dozen RS-232 ports, but those probably don't matter for most of us.

The board may be a tiny bit more expensive, but you very likely don't need a riser or an add-on card, which does offset the price a bit.

That is also known as the MS-6380.

Looks really good and looks ideal for the job. Very good find! Except... Shame it appears not to be available in the UK!...

:-(

Happy crunchin',
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

My Intel Atom netbook now has a SETI RAC above 200. Can I manage 250 ?

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=4725429

Well it has now gone past 250 RAC today, most of the last 2 weeks has been at or above 200. I have been crunching mostly SETI only for the last few weeks, with occasional RALPH and SIMAP. SIMAP will probably have new work in the next few days, so it may drop a bit, but I think it could get to 300 if I really tried!

My Intel Atom netbook now has a SETI RAC above 200. Can I manage 250 ?

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=4725429

Well it has now gone past 250 RAC today, most of the last 2 weeks has been at or above 200. I have been crunching mostly SETI only for the last few weeks, with occasional RALPH and SIMAP. SIMAP will probably have new work in the next few days, so it may drop a bit, but I think it could get to 300 if I really tried!

Wow, it is almost as fast as my P4 2.8...probably closer to a P4 2.4.

---

Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
And no good credit hound!

My Intel Atom netbook now has a SETI RAC above 200. Can I manage 250 ?

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=4725429

Well it has now gone past 250 RAC today, most of the last 2 weeks has been at or above 200. I have been crunching mostly SETI only for the last few weeks, with occasional RALPH and SIMAP. SIMAP will probably have new work in the next few days, so it may drop a bit, but I think it could get to 300 if I really tried!

Wow, it is almost as fast as my P4 2.8...probably closer to a P4 2.4.

I think it uses a lot less power than a P4, it does SSSE3 on a 25 or 40 Watt processor.

My Intel Atom netbook now has a SETI RAC above 200. Can I manage 250 ?

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=4725429

Well it has now gone past 250 RAC today, most of the last 2 weeks has been at or above 200. I have been crunching mostly SETI only for the last few weeks, with occasional RALPH and SIMAP. SIMAP will probably have new work in the next few days, so it may drop a bit, but I think it could get to 300 if I really tried!

Wow, it is almost as fast as my P4 2.8...probably closer to a P4 2.4.

I think it uses a lot less power than a P4, it does SSSE3 on a 25 or 40 Watt processor.

Will probably do everything an IPAD will do for less money?

---

Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
And no good credit hound!

My Intel Atom netbook now has a SETI RAC above 200. Can I manage 250 ?

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=4725429

Well it has now gone past 250 RAC today, most of the last 2 weeks has been at or above 200. I have been crunching mostly SETI only for the last few weeks, with occasional RALPH and SIMAP. SIMAP will probably have new work in the next few days, so it may drop a bit, but I think it could get to 300 if I really tried!

Wow, it is almost as fast as my P4 2.8...probably closer to a P4 2.4.

I think it uses a lot less power than a P4, it does SSSE3 on a 25 or 40 Watt processor.

Will probably do everything an IPAD will do for less money?

A 2GHz P4 does around 300 RAC. A 1.5GHz Pentium M does jsut a bit more then that. The total power suage for a netbook is muc h much less then either of those two. So it's processing per watt is much higher I'd expect.

---

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

My Intel Atom netbook now has a SETI RAC above 200. Can I manage 250 ?

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=4725429

Well it has now gone past 250 RAC today, most of the last 2 weeks has been at or above 200. I have been crunching mostly SETI only for the last few weeks, with occasional RALPH and SIMAP. SIMAP will probably have new work in the next few days, so it may drop a bit, but I think it could get to 300 if I really tried!

Wow, it is almost as fast as my P4 2.8...probably closer to a P4 2.4.

I think it uses a lot less power than a P4, it does SSSE3 on a 25 or 40 Watt processor.

Will probably do everything an IPAD will do for less money?

A 2GHz P4 does around 300 RAC. A 1.5GHz Pentium M does jsut a bit more then that. The total power suage for a netbook is muc h much less then either of those two. So it's processing per watt is much higher I'd expect.

Yea but...Can it double as a heater? LOL
I think my i7 is more efficient at seti, it can do a unit in less than 50 watts.

---

Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
And no good credit hound!

Will probably do everything an IPAD will do for less money?

Please capitalize the name the same as Apple does: iPad. There are other products with the same name.

Apple says their new device is in a new class -- and if you read the reviewers, the ones who buy into that are highly enthusiastic, the ones who think it's a computer hate it.

I think it's a cell phone that won't fit in my pocket, and don't want one.

---

Will probably do everything an IPAD will do for less money?

Please capitalize the name the same as Apple does: iPad. There are other products with the same name.

Apple says their new device is in a new class -- and if you read the reviewers, the ones who buy into that are highly enthusiastic, the ones who think it's a computer hate it.

I think it's a cell phone that won't fit in my pocket, and don't want one.

But you would look Sooo Coool walking down the street with that up to your ear....Reminds me of the old ghetto blasters...

---

Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
And no good credit hound!

Will probably do everything an IPAD will do for less money?

Please capitalize the name the same as Apple does: iPad. There are other products with the same name.

Apple says their new device is in a new class -- and if you read the reviewers, the ones who buy into that are highly enthusiastic, the ones who think it's a computer hate it.

I think it's a cell phone that won't fit in my pocket, and don't want one.

But you would look Sooo Coool walking down the street with that up to your ear....Reminds me of the old ghetto blasters...

It's not the size of your phone that matters, it's how you use it.

---

My Intel Atom netbook now has a SETI RAC above 200. Can I manage 250 ?

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=4725429

Well it has now gone past 250 RAC today, most of the last 2 weeks has been at or above 200. I have been crunching mostly SETI only for the last few weeks, with occasional RALPH and SIMAP. SIMAP will probably have new work in the next few days, so it may drop a bit, but I think it could get to 300 if I really tried!

Wow, it is almost as fast as my P4 2.8...probably closer to a P4 2.4.

I think it uses a lot less power than a P4, it does SSSE3 on a 25 or 40 Watt processor.

Just made it to a combined RAC for active projects above 300. SETI has been at or above 200 for at least 30 of the last 31 days, with a peak above 270, and 1 day when it dropped to about 193. SIMAP has just gone above 100 as well.

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=4725429
http://boinc.bio.wzw.tum.de/boincsimap/show_host_detail.php?hostid=134344
http://boincstats.com/stats/host_graph.php?pr=sah&id=4725429
http://boincstats.com/stats/host_graph.php?pr=simap&id=134344

I ran boinc (s@h) for a while on my eee-pc until one day I was interrupted, walked away from it and left it running on a hot day. It's never been the same since. It's cooked the hard disk to an unworkable level of reliability and I'm too broke to replace it with the nice ssd that I'd like.
I think that most of the netbooks assume the low power consumption means low heat - which when the environment reaches 40 degrees is not always the case.
Once I had compared the crunch power of my netbook to the crunch power of my desktop i7 with dual gpu's I realised I was really wasting my time. As I really only use the netbook away from my desk, ie on batteries, and the usually wonderful battery life depends on running as economically as possible, boinc becomes less appealing when completing about one work unit a week.
So Atom pc's come in distinctly different flavours. A netbook on batteries seems unwise running boinc, while a miniature pc on mains power in an airconditioned office is clearly a different matter.
The newer pc's seem to be improving dramatically when measured in flops/watt, I did have a couple of old pc's I kept going for sentimental reasons, but soon realised that the money I was spending on power keeping them running was more efficiently spent on shiny new hardware. oops, sorry to rant off track a little there!

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