Thanks Zalster for all the info, I am pretty excited to have this one up and going, as I am going to be doing some CAD on it, and I know that it loves memory (32 gig) and horsepower, both CPU and Video. And, I didn't want to have to upgrade for at least 3-5 years, so this should work out pretty well for me.

Frustrated isn't the word for what I've been going thru with this system and that d@mn card, and I have installed a Lot of OS's over the years, from DOS to Win 8.1(ish!), and this has to be one of the most frustrating times I've had at least since trying to stuff everything up into Himem to be able to run some program that I can't even remember, way back in ancient times. So I'm glad to learn it isn't just me.

Well, if you have thoughts about the config for multiple, dissimilar cards, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
Al

Oh, and believe it or not, I used Asus's utility to overclock it, I just had BOINC running first to put a lot of stress on it, and then it went thru ramping it up till it BSOD'd, and after the reboot set it to the last known good/sucessful attempt. So far, so good, but I don't have all the vid cards running at full speed yet either, so we'll see... Looking at the temps right now, they are still bouncing between 63-70, usually a little towards the higher end, do you think that this is reasonable for a water cooled system, even if it is only the H100?

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Don't bother overclocking a CPU these days - even wildly overclocked you won't get the same return as a low-end GPU running at stock speed. Even GPU overclocking is fraught with difficulties, so these days I run stock or "factory settings" on everything, its just so much less hassle and so much more reliable.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

First thing first, if you plan on running mixed match GPUs you will need to have a cc_config.xml in the BOINC folder telling it to use all the GPUs on your system.

I'll have to find one, haven't used it in a while thou someone might post it here before I find mine.

Second, I think 3 at a time is ok with those 670s.

I use Corsair coolers on mine as well, I have H100i and H115i but prefer the 100 so I think you are good there.

I'll edit this when I find the cc_config.

You will need to adjust your CPU usage to allow for multiple GPUs, ie, at least 2 free cores to support all GPUs and the OS requirements.


edit...

<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
</options>
</cc_config>

Alright, this is weird, I did a search for the app_info file so I could start tweeking it, and it found 2 of them, both in the ProgramData directory, but one of them is in C:\ProgramData\ASUS\BOINC\projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu and the other one is in the C:\ProgramData\BOINC\projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu dir. So, it appears that somehow during the reinstallation, it (I?) put one in the ASUS subdirectory instead of straight into the BOINC dir where it was, and should be.

Is there anything I can do about it now, and what is the best way to tell where it is running from, just look at the file dates and times in each? Doing that, it appears that it is running out of the straight BOINC dir. Can/should I nuke the other one?

*edit* thanks for that heads up on the cc_config.xml file, should it be in the root BOINC dir, or the setiathome one?

---

I would start with just the GPU work units first and see how your times are.

After you get an idea, you can look at adding CPU work.

But you may find that it's better just to run GPU with CPU supporting or running limited CPU work so as not to strangle the GPUs for CPU time

Alright, this is weird, I did a search for the app_info file so I could start tweeking it, and it found 2 of them, both in the ProgramData directory, but one of them is in C:\ProgramData\ASUS\BOINC\projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu and the other one is in the C:\ProgramData\BOINC\projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu dir. So, it appears that somehow during the reinstallation, it (I?) put one in the ASUS subdirectory instead of straight into the BOINC dir where it was, and should be.

Is there anything I can do about it now, and what is the best way to tell where it is running from, just look at the file dates and times in each? Doing that, it appears that it is running out of the straight BOINC dir. Can/should I nuke the other one?

If you are not sure which one is being used, set boinc manager to No new tasks and finish up any work. Once you are out of work, then uninstall boinc. If the one in ASUS remains after the uninstall, then just delete it out right and then reinstall Boinc (making sure it is in the right place) and reattach to seti then run Lunatics.

Edit..

cc_config.xml goes into the BOINC folder 2 levels up from the setiathome folder

Don't bother overclocking a CPU these days - even wildly overclocked you won't get the same return as a low-end GPU running at stock speed. Even GPU overclocking is fraught with difficulties, so these days I run stock or "factory settings" on everything, its just so much less hassle and so much more reliable.

It seems every GPU comes factory OC now anyway. Which may not leave the end user much room to play with, or it will put the point of diminishing returns much lower than the user expects. There by consuming a lot more power for each small % of OC applied.
I generally have my i5-4670K OC to 4.0GHz. I have played around with limiting the CPU to various speeds from 3.0 to 4.0GHz while running GPU tasks. Given that the SETI@home OpenCL apps don't fully hammer a full CPU core like some other projects do. The CPU speed changes didn't have a significant impact. Einstein had the largest impact of the projects I tested. As it has a high CPU load for the GPU app.

---

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

Hey Zalster, I just pulled up my app_info.xml, after adding the app_config.xml file to the root of the BOINC dir. That thing is HUGE... I really don't want to post the whole thing here, but I did do a search for the section that contains setiathome_v8, as there are also a large number of lines referring to the V7 app as well. I am pretty confused at this point, should I paste some of the V8 section so you can give me some pointers as to where the edits should be? I am holding off on restarting BOINC till I have both files edited correctly. Thanks man, I appreciate it greatly.

---

I think I may, once this has been stress tested and burnt in, throttle back the CPU closer to stock, maybe 4200 or 4300, as it really doesn't have to run at WOT, I'm not running anything that urgent that it needs the last 1/2 of 1% of possible performance. I prefer fast but rock solid over that.

*edit* and looking at it just now, the temps look to be trending down a little, to the lower-mid 60's, with even a couple in the upper 50's. This may be due to the AS5 starting to flow a little, and start seating the CPU a little better against the water block. I'm still going to keep an eye on it, of course.

---

Hey Zalster, I just pulled up my app_info.xml, after adding the app_config.xml file to the root of the BOINC dir. That thing is HUGE... I really don't want to post the whole thing here, but I did do a search for the section that contains setiathome_v8, as there are also a large number of lines referring to the V7 app as well. I am pretty confused at this point, should I paste some of the V8 section so you can give me some pointers as to where the edits should be? I am holding off on restarting BOINC till I have both files edited correctly. Thanks man, I appreciate it greatly.

You will need both the app_info and the app_config in your setiathome folder.

If you install Lunatics v44 then everything you will need will be in your app_info. Yes there is still seti v7 work units listed as they are still a few floating around. Eventually they will retire that version and when a new installer comes out, they will remove those sections.

You really don't need to tweak the app_info if you are going to use a app_config.xml

Using the app_config.xml allows you to tweak without having to make changes to the app_info.xml

edit..

Make sure to have boinc manager read the config files after you add or make any changes.

That is done automatically if you quit boinc and restart it or you can have it read them from the pull down menus on the boinc manager

Ok, just to make sure I don't fubar it, I have the the app_info.xml in the seti folder (which I haven't modified at all), the cc_config.xml file in the BOINC folder which has

<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
</options>
</cc_config>

and I also need to create a app_config.xml file to go along with the app_info file, both of which go in the SETI dir? If so, what do I need to put into the app_config file to get all my bits and pieces working fastidiously‎ and harmoniously? Easy to create, just need to know the contents. Thanks!

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The app_info should have been created by the lunatics installer and is in the setiathome folder

The cc_config.xml goes into the boinc folder

The app_config.xml also goes into the setiathome folder and I posted that a couple of comments back but will post it here again.


<app_config>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_v8</app_name>
<plan_class>cuda50</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>0.35</avg_ncpus>
<ngpus>0.33</ngpus>
</app_version>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v7</app_name>
<plan_class>opencl_nvidia_100</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>0.35</avg_ncpus>
<ngpus>0.33</ngpus>
</app_version>
</app_config>

once all these are in place, you will need to have BOINC manager read the config from the pull down or just restart boinc

Thank you, one last question, I noticed that the app_info file was nested, and this file is left justified, will this make any difference to the program?

---

You can add the spaces before the < to make it nested.

Whenever you post to Seti boards, it tends to left justify it

Got it, thanks. Well, here goes nothing, I'll let you know the results in a minute.

---

Well, looks to be a couple possible errors, the log file shows this when it started up:

3/5/2016 1:55:55 PM | | Starting BOINC client version 7.6.22 for windows_x86_64
3/5/2016 1:55:55 PM | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
3/5/2016 1:55:55 PM | | Libraries: libcurl/7.45.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2d zlib/1.2.8
3/5/2016 1:55:55 PM | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
3/5/2016 1:55:55 PM | | Running under account Zoom
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 980 Ti (driver version 361.91, CUDA version 8.0, compute capability 5.2, 4096MB, 3065MB available, 6702 GFLOPS peak)
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 1: GeForce GTX 670 (driver version 361.91, CUDA version 8.0, compute capability 3.0, 2048MB, 1958MB available, 2915 GFLOPS peak)
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 2: GeForce GTX 670 (driver version 361.91, CUDA version 8.0, compute capability 3.0, 2048MB, 1958MB available, 2915 GFLOPS peak)
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 980 Ti (driver version 361.91, device version OpenCL 1.2 CUDA, 6144MB, 3065MB available, 6702 GFLOPS peak)
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 1: GeForce GTX 670 (driver version 361.91, device version OpenCL 1.2 CUDA, 2048MB, 1958MB available, 2915 GFLOPS peak)
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 2: GeForce GTX 670 (driver version 361.91, device version OpenCL 1.2 CUDA, 2048MB, 1958MB available, 2915 GFLOPS peak)
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | SETI@home | Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | Host name: Zoom-PC
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | Processor: 12 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5930K CPU @ 3.50GHz [Family 6 Model 63 Stepping 2]
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss htt tm pni ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 movebe popcnt aes f16c rdrandsyscall nx lm avx avx2 vmx tm2 dca pbe fsgsbase bmi1 smep bmi2
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | OS: Microsoft Windows 7: Ultimate x64 Edition, Service Pack 1, (06.01.7601.00)
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | Memory: 15.90 GB physical, 31.81 GB virtual
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | Disk: 223.47 GB total, 172.39 GB free
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | Local time is UTC -6 hours
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | SETI@home | Found app_config.xml
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | SETI@home | Entry in app_config.xml for app 'astropulse_v7', plan class 'opencl_nvidia_100' doesn't match any app versions
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | | Config: use all coprocessors
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | SETI@home | URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 7949285; resource share 100
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | General prefs: from SETI@home (last modified 03-Apr-2013 23:59:56)
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Computer location: home
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | General prefs: no separate prefs for home; using your defaults
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | | Preferences:
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | | max memory usage when active: 8142.80MB
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | | max memory usage when idle: 15471.31MB
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | | max disk usage: 100.00GB
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | | (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 28se15ac.26935.16844.14.41.250_1
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 28se15ac.26935.16844.14.41.202_0
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 28se15ac.28481.15617.15.42.193_0
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 28se15ac.18362.16844.13.40.188_0
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 29se15aa.26967.16848.8.35.160_0
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 28se15ac.18362.16844.13.40.208_0
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 28se15ac.26935.16844.14.41.216_1
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 28se15ac.26935.16844.14.41.81_1
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
3/5/2016 1:56:01 PM | SETI@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU and NVIDIA GPU
3/5/2016 1:56:02 PM | SETI@home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
3/5/2016 1:56:02 PM | SETI@home | Not sending work - last request too recent: 158 sec
3/5/2016 1:56:02 PM | SETI@home | Entry in app_config.xml for app 'astropulse_v7', plan class 'opencl_nvidia_100' doesn't match any app versions
3/5/2016 1:56:08 PM | SETI@home | Computation for task 28se15ac.26935.16844.14.41.250_1 finished
3/5/2016 1:56:08 PM | SETI@home | Starting task 29se15aa.26967.16848.8.35.217_0
3/5/2016 1:56:10 PM | SETI@home | Started upload of 28se15ac.26935.16844.14.41.250_1_0
3/5/2016 1:56:12 PM | SETI@home | Finished upload of 28se15ac.26935.16844.14.41.250_1_0

The ones in red are the only errors I saw, though from what it appears above, all 3 cards are doing 2 tasks each? And we're down to 9 tasks from 12 on the CPU so that should make the video cards happier?

---

And what the heck? I just noticed that it says I have 16 gig of ram, but I actually have 32 gig, four 8's... I need to look into this because something is whacked about that. Hmmm


*edit* Oh, and Windows Update has been running for well over an hour, and just popped up with it's recommendations. 175 Important Updates, 103 Optional ones. Sheesh. They really should have made SP2, but didn't want to get XP'ed again, and want to stick a fork in this one as quickly as they can. So the fun begins... I wonder if there are some of those 175 that might not be the best idea to install given the option at this point?

---

The red areas are ok.

It usually does that when you haven't yet done a astropulse yet.

Once it downloads an AP, those usually go away.

Check your boinc manage, you should be doing 3 MB per GPU for a total of 9.

Are you crunching any CPU work units?

And what the heck? I just noticed that it says I have 16 gig of ram, but I actually have 32 gig, four 8's... I need to look into this because something is whacked about that. Hmmm


*edit* Oh, and Windows Update has been running for well over an hour, and just popped up with it's recommendations. 175 Important Updates, 103 Optional ones. Sheesh. They really should have made SP2, but didn't want to get XP'ed again, and want to stick a fork in this one as quickly as they can. So the fun begins... I wonder if there are some of those 175 that might not be the best idea to install given the option at this point?

You can update if you like, there is a separate thread that tells you which updates to remove to keep your system from bugging you about upgrading.

After I did that, I just told it never to check for update again.

3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | SETI@home | Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform
3/5/2016 1:55:56 PM | SETI@home | Entry in app_config.xml for app 'astropulse_v7', plan class 'opencl_nvidia_100' doesn't match any app versions

An app for 'astropulse_v7' with plan class 'opencl_nvidia_100' would have been installed if you had checked the Astropulse section on the NVidia page in the Lunatics installer.