Message boards :
Number crunching :
All hail GPU computing!! The CPU cruncher is dead!
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ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20265 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20 |
I'm just experimenting with GPU crunching, and it looks like my main test/development system can leap from a RAC of about 1000 using the CPU to instead something like 200 000 using an nVidia GPU for about the same cost. At that rate, the machine should out compute in mere days everything its ever done over the previous years... Kinda makes CPU crunching look futile when there is a GPU application available. Happy home supercomputer crunchin', Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) |
kittyman Send message Joined: 9 Jul 00 Posts: 51468 Credit: 1,018,363,574 RAC: 1,004 |
I'm just experimenting with GPU crunching, and it looks like my main test/development system can leap from a RAC of about 1000 using the CPU to instead something like 200 000 using an nVidia GPU for about the same cost. At that rate, the machine should out compute in mere days everything its ever done over the previous years... Duh? "Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster |
bill Send message Joined: 16 Jun 99 Posts: 861 Credit: 29,352,955 RAC: 0 |
Well, look at it this way. If your CPU is off, so is your GPU. Since your CPU has to be on, why not use it. |
bill Send message Joined: 16 Jun 99 Posts: 861 Credit: 29,352,955 RAC: 0 |
Indeed. |
soft^spirit Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 6497 Credit: 34,134,168 RAC: 0 |
200,000 from a single GPU is a bit much to expect. However for most GPU's (yours are hidden ML1) a great deal more can be had from a single GPU than multiple CPU's, at a small fraction of the cost, and a smaller fraction of the electricity cost. Janice |
Treasurer Send message Joined: 13 Dec 05 Posts: 109 Credit: 1,569,762 RAC: 0 |
Well, look at it this way. If your CPU is off, so is your GPU. One of my cores needs about 15W. My HD4870 is 6 times faster but needs about 90W. Do the math. Maybe its more credits per day but its not more science per watt. And if you add the idle load of the cpus its energy wasting for some "useless" credits. Nvidia cards are better but far from making cpu chrunching pointless. Edit: 90W is the difference between idle and load consumption. The ATI does indeed the work of an hexacore but for the same energy cost. |
kittyman Send message Joined: 9 Jul 00 Posts: 51468 Credit: 1,018,363,574 RAC: 1,004 |
Oh, I shouldn't be so sarcastic. If you could find my first posts when GPU crunching first came around, I was a total ass. LOL how things change. "Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster |
perryjay Send message Joined: 20 Aug 02 Posts: 3377 Credit: 20,676,751 RAC: 0 |
Awww, this GPU thing is just a fad, it'll never catch on! :-) PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC |
kittyman Send message Joined: 9 Jul 00 Posts: 51468 Credit: 1,018,363,574 RAC: 1,004 |
Awww, this GPU thing is just a fad, it'll never catch on! :-)Rolf. My kibble exactly. "Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster |
perryjay Send message Joined: 20 Aug 02 Posts: 3377 Credit: 20,676,751 RAC: 0 |
Glad you agree, now excuse me while I go hitch up my horse and buggy! PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC |
soft^spirit Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 6497 Credit: 34,134,168 RAC: 0 |
doesn't that use those new fangled wheel things? never did trust those.. Janice |
RottenMutt Send message Joined: 15 Mar 01 Posts: 1011 Credit: 230,314,058 RAC: 0 |
... I will see your raise and CALL, i want to see your cards. but we will see how these 6 core xeon chips perform, 24 logical cpus. |
bill Send message Joined: 16 Jun 99 Posts: 861 Credit: 29,352,955 RAC: 0 |
Well, look at it this way. If your CPU is off, so is your GPU. "science per watt" Now there's an interesting idea. And if you add the idle load of the cpus its energy wasting for some "useless" credits. ""useless" credits" Sounds heretical. Next thing you know, They'll be putting you in the Comfy Chair. Nvidia cards are better but far from making cpu chrunching pointless. Huh? Edit: 90W is the difference between idle and load consumption. The ATI does indeed the work of an hexacore but for the same energy cost. OK. |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
I am running 6 BOINC projects, including a VirtualMachine on a CPU. Only 2 of them could use GPUs. So I would spend more on electricity and produce more heat while having no gain on 4 projects. This is why I am not spending money on a graphic card. I have only an on board graphic chip.Maybe a new generation chip (like AMD Fusion) capable of doing also graphics could be my next choice. Tullio |
Andy Lee Robinson Send message Joined: 8 Dec 05 Posts: 630 Credit: 59,973,836 RAC: 0 |
I'm just experimenting with GPU crunching, and it looks like my main test/development system can leap from a RAC of about 1000 using the CPU to instead something like 200 000 using an nVidia GPU for about the same cost. At that rate, the machine should out compute in mere days everything its ever done over the previous years... Martin, I'm surprised you've only just realised this! I got a 5850 last year, and it was doing in 2 minutes the same WUs that my i7 did in 10 hours! 300x improvement! Totally insane. 1440 processors vs 4 for similar energy consumption. Yes, it is kind of disappointing when years work costing perhaps $1000 a year in energy can now be done for less than a tenth of the cost, but that is progress. As for economic sense: We could save a lot of energy, and still do much more science in the longer term if we don't use our CPUs now, and instead put aside what we save to buy GPUs for when our favourite projects do have proper GPU support. Unlike a distributed medical application that has some urgency, seti@home isn't a case of find ET as soon as possible, We are very unlikely to have any positive results in our lifetimes but we have at last started to put some coefficients into the Drake Equation. |
JLConawayII Send message Joined: 2 Apr 02 Posts: 188 Credit: 2,840,460 RAC: 0 |
There are many projects that won't run on a GPU. Use your CPU for those. |
-BeNt- Send message Joined: 17 Oct 99 Posts: 1234 Credit: 10,116,112 RAC: 0 |
Well feeling may change if AVX on the i7's is all it's cracked up to be. Traveling through space at ~67,000mph! |
kittyman Send message Joined: 9 Jul 00 Posts: 51468 Credit: 1,018,363,574 RAC: 1,004 |
Well feeling may change if AVX on the i7's is all it's cracked up to be. Not anytime soon....... The Lunatics boyz haven't even cracked the Fermis open yet. THAT will be something. And God trust me, they ARE working on it. Meow. "Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster |
-BeNt- Send message Joined: 17 Oct 99 Posts: 1234 Credit: 10,116,112 RAC: 0 |
Yeah unfortunately, I wish they would get something cracking on the Fermi's would really like to see what this 480 can do. Be kind of like watching a water fall instead of rock beds. Traveling through space at ~67,000mph! |
kittyman Send message Joined: 9 Jul 00 Posts: 51468 Credit: 1,018,363,574 RAC: 1,004 |
My top rigs has 2 GTX295's. Still the top doggy. I have a 465 and a 470 in the number 2 rig. Would just luv to see them cut loose. "Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster |
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