_3s WUs still get compute error. When BOINC client start to crunch a _3s WU, the GPU app stop crunching any other WU indefinitely (GPU time move but progress remain at 0%). I'll have to suspend all _3s in the list, close BOINC and restart to get GPU app to work on _2s WUs.

Also, after installation of 019f, my quad system will run only 2 other CPU WUs plus 2 GPU WUs or 4 CPU WUs and no GPU task. I'm using BOINC 6.6.36 on W7 and catalyst v9.5. This catalyst package install atical...64.dll files on my system and I make a copy and rename them to amdcal...64.dll and place them back on system32 folder, will this be sufficient?

After having a look to your host list (the Win7 hosts), the only compute errors showing up on your computers are caused by using the old 0.19e version. The Core2Quad still runs 0.19e. After you updated the Core2Duo to 0.19f, all appears to be okay. And if you specify the options "n2 w1.1 f20" on that C2D, you don't have to wonder why 2 WUs run. But that is competely okay as running more won't help the performance.

And why the BOINC-Client 6.6.36 is not starting the GPU tasks in parallel to CPU tasks, I simply don't now. You can play around with the avg_ncpu value in the app_info.xml or raise the number of processed WUs in the c_config.xml. I'm using the client version 5.5.45, 6.2.19 and 6.6.21 and it runs quite okay there.

my Core2Quad host running W7 is currently using application version 0.19f not the old 0.19e application. the problem that I can see now is that BOINC client will stop processing MW WU when it run into problem. I'd have to manually closed down BOINC and restart it again to render the WU which was computed into error and the new WUs can then be progressed. I don't know why it show that I am using the old app version 0.19e but I'll try to wipe it out and reset the project again.

my Core2Quad host running W7 is currently using application version 0.19f not the old 0.19e application. the problem that I can see now is that BOINC client will stop processing MW WU when it run into problem. I'd have to manually closed down BOINC and restart it again to render the WU which was computed into error and the new WUs can then be progressed. I don't know why it show that I am using the old app version 0.19e but I'll try to wipe it out and reset the project again.

Make sure you extract and copy the app_info.xml over too. This file tells BOINC to use the version you want - simply copying the exe over does nothing. Also edit app_info.xml to how you want it to run :)

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my Core2Quad host running W7 is currently using application version 0.19f not the old 0.19e application. the problem that I can see now is that BOINC client will stop processing MW WU when it run into problem. I'd have to manually closed down BOINC and restart it again to render the WU which was computed into error and the new WUs can then be progressed. I don't know why it show that I am using the old app version 0.19e but I'll try to wipe it out and reset the project again.

It shows 0.19e it because you are using 0.19e. That string is hardcoded to the app, so it really shows which version you run. That is a simple fact, there is no point to argue the opposite. Furthermore the error message (Kernel Execution : Failed to create Program) is the one caused by the bug in the earlier versions.

Just be sure to really quit BOINC (also the service for a protected installation) when you copy over the files from the zip.

Hi,
thanks to your help i could increase my credit from 136k to 317k in 4 days.
But since i use a computer from a friend, which is here for upgrading purposes only the question came up, which graphic card is appropriate for this job.
I see a great difference between my own 38xx and the 4850 card in the pc of my friend. So i started to read technical descriptions for different cards in the range of ~120.- to 400.- Euro.
Most of them have 800 shaders and a gpu-clock in the range between 650 and 800 MHz. The main difference is the memory clock and memory type. Which of these characteristics is most important?
Another question: was anyone ever succesful in installing nvidia (gtx260) and ati 48xx in the same system? My system (E8400, 6GB, Vista Home premium 64) simply disables the ATI-card.

I think you will find that the number of shaders is the most important indication of a graphic cards power in crunching workunits. At least that is how I have found it. DDR3 is faster than DDR2 and the newest cards use DDR5. Memory clock doesn't seem to matter that much. But I'm no expert, others will know better.

I think you will find that the number of shaders is the most important indication of a graphic cards power in crunching workunits. At least that is how I have found it. DDR3 is faster than DDR2 and the newest cards use DDR5. Memory clock doesn't seem to matter that much. But I'm no expert, others will know better.

You're right in saying Memory clock makes little difference, it's the GPU clock that makes the difference. For example, the number of shaders is the same in the 4850 and the 4870, but it's the higher GPU clock in the 4870 that gives it the bigger crunch. Shaders # is still the same in the 4890, but an even higher GPU clock gives an even higher crunch.

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I see a great difference between my own 38xx and the 4850 card in the pc of my friend. So i started to read technical descriptions for different cards in the range of ~120.- to 400.- Euro.
Most of them have 800 shaders and a gpu-clock in the range between 650 and 800 MHz. The main difference is the memory clock and memory type. Which of these characteristics is most important?

As Chris and Ice already pointed out the shader power is what matters for MW. The memory speed is insignificant (one can even downclock the memory without loosing performance). So multiplying the number of shader processors with the clockrate is a good measure of the relative performance of different cards.

I've posted the (theoretically) performance relations already some time ago:

When neglecting the 1-2 seconds CPU calculation for every WU (which is justified if you have two or more concurrent WUs running), one can break it down to the following performance relations (taking the HD3850 as base):
3850 : 3870 : 4830 : 4770 : 4850 : 4870 : 4890 : 4890 OC (1GHz, is realistic with a good card)
1 : 1.16 : 1.72 : 2.24 : 2.33 : 2.80 : 3.17 : 3.73
Of course the ratios only applies for stock clocks (670MHz for 3850, 775MHz for 3870, 575MHz for 4830, 625MHz for 4850, 750MHz for 4770 and 4870 and 850MHz for 4890 with the memory speed only a very minor factor). The performance generally scales linearly with GPU clock speed.

Practically, the HD4700/4800 series are even a bit faster compared to the HD3800 series than these numbers indicate.

hmm...
i think, the sapphire 4850X2 would be a good choice ...
In september, when windows7 is available, i will swicht from my xp-pc to my vista-pc with my regular work, upgrade the older one and then ...
welcome warp-speed !

Another question: was anyone ever succesful in installing nvidia (gtx260) and ati 48xx in the same system? My system (E8400, 6GB, Vista Home premium 64) simply disables the ATI-card.

I got my 4850 and a GTX280 running both at the same time in the same system. The problem is the PC won't initialise the second card - most people get around this by having a dual monitor setup or a dummy plug. However, there is a way around the monitor bug thing in windows without using a second monitor or a dummy plug.

Go to your display settings, enable the second monitor as an extention of your desktop, AND as the primary monitor. When you click apply, you'll be left with a screen which is just your background. Now unplug the monitor cable from it's current graphics card, into the one you just enabled. You should be back to your desktop, albeit able to move your mouse off to the left. This enables both cards.

The one drawback is that sometimes (not often) windows will pop up on the other screen - I had it with my MSN messenger, until I dragged the window over and then it was fine.

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I use a Radeon 4850 and Catalyst 9.5 on Windows XP SP3. I've copied the three files to the Milkyway folder, I've copied and renamed the CAL DDL's, and I've shut down and restarted BOINC. When I look at the messages it says near the top Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform, and according to the Task Manager I have a dozen of so astronomy_0.19_ATI_SSE2f.exe running. However, the dozen or so tasks I have running according to BOINC Manager take about two hours to complete. I don't see tasks completed in seconds. I also get VPU recoveries. Can anybody tell me if that's normal?

I use a Radeon 4850 and Catalyst 9.5 on Windows XP SP3. I've copied the three files to the Milkyway folder, I've copied and renamed the CAL DDL's, and I've shut down and restarted BOINC. When I look at the messages it says near the top Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform, and according to the Task Manager I have a dozen of so astronomy_0.19_ATI_SSE2f.exe running. However, the dozen or so tasks I have running according to BOINC Manager take about two hours to complete. I don't see tasks completed in seconds. I also get VPU recoveries. Can anybody tell me if that's normal?

With WinXP use Catalyst 8.12 (strongly recommended, no need to copy dlls), 9.1 or 9.2. All newer versions don't run stable (you have not completed a single WU without error). It's a bug in the driver. Only Vista users can use newer versions.

Thanks, I'll try that.

... Only Vista users can use newer versions.

Funny enough 9.5 gave me nothing but trouble under Vista x64 (SP2), too. :-(
I got several BSODs and from what they told me the driver didn't install correctly or completely.
Now I am back to Catalyst 8.12 (and SP1) - and everything works like a charm! :-)

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Lovely greetings, Cori

I just installed the ATI GPU app 0.19f. This is my first GPU app and I love it. My system contains i7 core (920) processor, Windows 7 RC, 6 GB of memory, the graphics card is a PowerColor HD 4850 with 1GB of GDDR3 memory and using Catalyst 9.6 the driver is 8.62. Boinc ver 6.6.36

I run 7 projects and 8 task are always running, now that I install the GPU app it is 8 task plus the MW GPU tasks. My question is starting the GPU app, I have to wait for one of the 8 task to finish before it sees the GPU app or suspend an task for a few seconds and then it sees the GPU app. Is there any way to tell BOINC when MW downloads a task to start using the GPU app.

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Is there any way to tell BOINC when MW downloads a task to start using the GPU app.

Remember to have the "Use GPU while computer is in use" option checked if you want to see it start while you are there.

Thanks

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I've tried 9.2 first, but this one came up with a load of errors, something about search parameters not found, so I went back to 8.12, which seems to be working correctly. At the moment it seems to do 3 units in 3 minutes, so 1 unit in about 1 minute. Not the 9 seconds I have seen, but still much better than 2 hours. How fast is not easy to say, as it's running a number of WU's at the same time, and SaH as well. Can someone tell me if there's a way to see how long one unit takes?

I've tried 9.2 first, but this one came up with a load of errors, something about search parameters not found, so I went back to 8.12, which seems to be working correctly. At the moment it seems to do 3 units in 3 minutes, so 1 unit in about 1 minute. Not the 9 seconds I have seen, but still much better than 2 hours. How fast is not easy to say, as it's running a number of WU's at the same time, and SaH as well. Can someone tell me if there's a way to see how long one unit takes?

Just look at your results here's one.

At the moment it seems to do 3 units in 3 minutes, so 1 unit in about 1 minute. Not the 9 seconds I have seen, but still much better than 2 hours. How fast is not easy to say, as it's running a number of WU's at the same time, and SaH as well. Can someone tell me if there's a way to see how long one unit takes?

Just look to your task list.

But I see you have the BOINC Manager 6.6.36 installed. One of the "features" of that version (and 6.6.31) is that it reports often strange times. With 6.6.2x it was still normal. Don't know what is happening there.

Thanks for the tip! I'll try 6.6.2x and see what I get. The GPU version is still incredible, going from hours to minutes per unit! Amazing job!