While I know my Radeon 5870 destroys my GTX260 in terms of performance, I figure, why not get that extra 10K RAC or so from the 260? The problem is, I can't seem to get WUs for it. BOINC clearly has no issue with it for SETI@home gets units for both. Is there some magic I can work on the app_info to request units for both? While I'm at it, run two WUs on each card?

While I know my Radeon 5870 destroys my GTX260 in terms of performance, I figure, why not get that extra 10K RAC or so from the 260? The problem is, I can't seem to get WUs for it. BOINC clearly has no issue with it for SETI@home gets units for both. Is there some magic I can work on the app_info to request units for both? While I'm at it, run two WUs on each card?

SEVERAL things need to be done, one you need to check and see if Boinc even sees both cards. You can do that thru the Boinc Manager and then Advanced and Event Log. Near the top it will say it found gpu 0 and gpu 1 if it sees both of them, it will indicate one is an Nvida and one is an AMD or ATI. If so try making a cc_config.xml file with the following lines in it:
<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
</options>
</cc_config>

This will tell Boinc to use BOTH gpu's it found. Save this file as name above BUT as a txt type file in NOTEPAD!!! Do NOT use a word processing type program as the file will NOT work! Save the file in the directory c:\Program Data\Boinc

Now IF Boinc did NOT see both gpu's then you will need to load the drivers for the card it did not see. And then reboot the pc and see if it sees both gpu's then.

You say you are getting WUs for both on SETI.
Did you check your mw project preferences if the use of your NVIDIA card is enabled here?

You say you are getting WUs for both on SETI.
Did you check your mw project preferences if the use of your NVIDIA card is enabled here?

DARN I NEED to learn to stop skimming...I TOTALLY missed that!!! Thanks for picking up on that!!!

One other point to take in to account, after loading the right GPU drivers (say nVidia) is to "Extend my Windows to this monitor" in the settings tab of your Display Properties.

I am currently running an old dual Xeon server rig on XP 32 bit with an ATI HD3850 in the primary AGP slot, and an nVidia 9500GT on the PCI slot. With the "use all GPUs" script I am getting Milkyway on the HD3850 and Free Rainbow on the 9500GT.


I used each projects preferences to get the right project running on the right for several weeks now.

Clearly not great outputs compared with modern PCs.

---

Go away, I was asleep

Double checked all the settings, Milkyway is set to use both ATI and Nvidia, but not CPU (which it is adhering to).

In fact, it used this same GTX260 fine when it was the only card in another PC.

I tried adding the cc_config.xml suggestion, still no dice. It still just does not collect work for both cards, and favors the 5870 exclusively.

As stated SETI@home will request work for both ATI and Nvidia, I stopped it from requesting ATI so Milkyway could have full use.

I think it seems to relate to how Milkyway severely limits the total number of WUs you can get at a time. It gives you so many depending on how many (logical) cores your PC has. It's simply full when it tries to bother with getting work for the Nvidia card?

Thanks for the suggestions so far though.

I think it seems to relate to how Milkyway severely limits the total number of WUs you can get at a time. It gives you so many depending on how many (logical) cores your PC has. It's simply full when it tries to bother with getting work for the Nvidia card?

Running the WUs on gpu it's a 40 WUs per gpu limit; so you should get 80 for your 2 gpus.
You could temporary set the fetch_minimal_work param in your cc_config (see BOINC client configuration) to see if you will get WUs for your nvidia card than. If you are getting WUs for both cards than, it's about which type of WUs are filling the cache first (like you are guessing above). In your case, the server should give you max 40 for ATI and max 40 for nvidia, which is the limit for each card.

Double checked all the settings, Milkyway is set to use both ATI and Nvidia, but not CPU (which it is adhering to).

In fact, it used this same GTX260 fine when it was the only card in another PC.

I tried adding the cc_config.xml suggestion, still no dice. It still just does not collect work for both cards, and favors the 5870 exclusively.

As stated SETI@home will request work for both ATI and Nvidia, I stopped it from requesting ATI so Milkyway could have full use.

I think it seems to relate to how Milkyway severely limits the total number of WUs you can get at a time. It gives you so many depending on how many (logical) cores your PC has. It's simply full when it tries to bother with getting work for the Nvidia card?

Thanks for the suggestions so far though.

Try one more thing then...uncheck the box to get work for your ATI card and see if it will get work for your Nvidia card. If so turn the ATI back on and then see if both work. If your idea is correct not getting ATI work should force MW to look for other work to send you is the idea. IF it works you may have to turn both off and then turn both back on to get work again, as the reverse of what is happening now could happen then.

Ok, I finally got WUs for both the 5870 and GTX260. It turns out the problem was actually SETI, they sent in enough WUs I guess to make BOINC think the 260 was too busy to get any more WUs. It's only getting about 5 Milkyway WUs at a time, but it's getting them. The usage of the 260 also seems to bounce between 40% and 80% constantly which is quite odd. It might also have been a shortage of nvidia WUs in general.

Anyway, I can't seem to find a way to keep both cards working Milkyway and run a custom app_info to crunch two WUs at the same time per card (so 4 WUs total). If I put the app_info I used for my 5870 the 260 no longer gets WUs again.

Now I was considering another option, I have a 3870 in another rig, I could swap the 260 for the 3870 and have both ATI cards in the same machine. But since the 3870 seems to need an app_info of its own to get WUs for the 32bit version of the app, I figure I'd have similar issues. (I sorta want to put the 260 in the other PC simply because it beats out the 3870 for everything outside of Milkyway.)

Ok, I finally got WUs for both the 5870 and GTX260. It turns out the problem was actually SETI, they sent in enough WUs I guess to make BOINC think the 260 was too busy to get any more WUs. It's only getting about 5 Milkyway WUs at a time, but it's getting them. The usage of the 260 also seems to bounce between 40% and 80% constantly which is quite odd. It might also have been a shortage of nvidia WUs in general.

Anyway, I can't seem to find a way to keep both cards working Milkyway and run a custom app_info to crunch two WUs at the same time per card (so 4 WUs total). If I put the app_info I used for my 5870 the 260 no longer gets WUs again.

Now I was considering another option, I have a 3870 in another rig, I could swap the 260 for the 3870 and have both ATI cards in the same machine. But since the 3870 seems to need an app_info of its own to get WUs for the 32bit version of the app, I figure I'd have similar issues. (I sorta want to put the 260 in the other PC simply because it beats out the 3870 for everything outside of Milkyway.)

Oh man do you want complications!!! Another option would be to put BOTH the AMD and the Nvidia stuff in the SAME app_info file. I have seen that done over at WCG but not exactly the way you want to do it.

LOL, I know, I just can't do this the easy way.

I added app_info for both cards and its now running 4 WUs at once! Yay! PC is laggy as hell, both gpus at 100%, but thats what I wanted when Im not using it. :)

After letting it run with this new setup a while, I have noticed that indeed my other observation is also a problem. Most often, MilkyWay is overloading the 5870 with WUs and the GTX260 doesn't get any because of that. Manually disabling future WUs for ATI allows nvidia units to download for a time, then I have to re-enable nvidia.

So, I imagine there is some app_info code to set a max WU per GPU type?

LOL, I know, I just can't do this the easy way.

I added app_info for both cards and its now running 4 WUs at once! Yay! PC is laggy as hell, both gpus at 100%, but thats what I wanted when Im not using it. :)

After letting it run with this new setup a while, I have noticed that indeed my other observation is also a problem. Most often, MilkyWay is overloading the 5870 with WUs and the GTX260 doesn't get any because of that. Manually disabling future WUs for ATI allows nvidia units to download for a time, then I have to re-enable nvidia.

So, I imagine there is some app_info code to set a max WU per GPU type?

WOO HOO, one problem down, at least one to go...okay here is the wiki link for the app_info stuff:
http://www.boinc-wiki.info/Application_Information_File

What you want should be listed IF it is an option. NO that page does NOT list all the possible options, let me keep looking.....Okay I found something that MAY help:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration

In short there are not a lot of websites, that I can find, laying out alot of app_info file options, but there are alot more cc_config file options.

WOO HOO, one problem down, at least one to go...okay here is the wiki link for the app_info stuff:
http://www.boinc-wiki.info/Application_Information_File

What you want should be listed IF it is an option. NO that page does NOT list all the possible options, let me keep looking.....Okay I found something that MAY help:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration

In short there are not a lot of websites, that I can find, laying out alot of app_info file options, but there are alot more cc_config file options.

The first is *years* out of date, the second is a different subject altogether.

What you're looking for is
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Anonymous_platform

WOO HOO, one problem down, at least one to go...okay here is the wiki link for the app_info stuff:
http://www.boinc-wiki.info/Application_Information_File

What you want should be listed IF it is an option. NO that page does NOT list all the possible options, let me keep looking.....Okay I found something that MAY help:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration

In short there are not a lot of websites, that I can find, laying out alot of app_info file options, but there are alot more cc_config file options.

The first is *years* out of date, the second is a different subject altogether.

What you're looking for is
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Anonymous_platform

Yes I saw that but thought 'there must be more options that that' aren't there?