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Questions and Answers : Preferences : Local control of GPU use
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Profile UnionJack

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Message 71965 - Posted: 16 Mar 2022, 10:21:56 UTC

I have two boxes running BOINC; one of them can run opencl apps, but the one I'm writing this on can't.

Is there a way to specify in, say, boinc/global_prefs_override.xml, that the gpu should not be used at all on this machine? I see there's a run_gpu_if_user_active parameter, which I've set to 0, but what about when I'm not 'active'?
Rgds
Peter.
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Message 71966 - Posted: 16 Mar 2022, 10:35:46 UTC - in response to Message 71965.  
Last modified: 16 Mar 2022, 10:38:53 UTC

You can use the ignore_gpu tag in the cc_config.xml to tell the boinc client to ignore any GPU.
Use <ignore_nvidia_dev> for nvidia GPUs
Use <ignore_ati_dev> for AMD GPUs.
Use <ignore_intel_dev> for intel GPUs.
Look in stdoutdae.txt for the messages when the boinc client starts and it will show the GPU info and GPU number.
<cc_config>
<options>
<ignore_nvidia_dev>1</ignore_nvidia_dev>
</options>
</cc_config>

After you make the changes, you must restart the boinc client
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wb8ili

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Message 71967 - Posted: 16 Mar 2022, 13:57:21 UTC

UnionJack -

If you would rather not fool around with the XML files, you can do what you want on the Milkyway website.

Go to the Project tab (not computing tab).
Then go to Preferences.
You will see 4 sections (locations) - default, home, school, and work.
At the end of each section is a "Edit Preferences".
Edit one of the sections, for example "work", and uncheck the boxes for use GPU.. Obviously, save it.
Now go back to your home page and go to the "Computers on this account"
Click on "Details" for the computer you do not want to use GPU.
Change the Location to Work.
The next time boinc connects to the website your location will be changed to "Work". In the future no further GPU tasks will be downloaded..Note: if you are requesting GPU tasks the location will be changed to "work" and GPU work will still be downloaded. But, not in the future.
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Profile UnionJack

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Message 71968 - Posted: 16 Mar 2022, 15:09:46 UTC - in response to Message 71966.  
Last modified: 16 Mar 2022, 15:11:11 UTC

OK, I did that - thanks! Here's my new cc_config.xml file (it didn't exist before):
$ cat ~/boinc/cc_config.xml
<cc_config>
<options>
<ignore_ati_dev>1</ignore_ati_dev>
</options>
</cc_config>

Then on starting BOINC:
--->8
OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (navi14, LLVM 13.0.1, DRM 3.44, 5.16.14-gen (driver version 22.0.0, device version OpenCL 1.1 Mesa 22.0.0, 8192MB, 8192MB available, 3344 GFLOPS peak)
--->8
[---] Config: ignoring AMD/ATI GPU 1
[etc...]

It's a pity I can't use that GPU, but it seems AMD navi14 sources are not available on most Linux distros - only a few enterprise versions, and certainly not Gentoo. And I only went for that card for its powerful GPU, too.

Thanks also to wb8ili.
Rgds
Peter.
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Message 71971 - Posted: 16 Mar 2022, 19:43:59 UTC

I mis-read your original post.

My suggestion is if you have multiple GPUs in the computer and want boinc to never use one of them.

If you want computer A to only get CPU work and computer B to get CPU and GPU or just GPU, then wb8ili's suggestion is the correct way to do it.
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Questions and Answers : Preferences : Local control of GPU use

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