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Posts by Sharon

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Testing ATI Application Availability (Message 35231)
Posted 9 Jan 2010 by Sharon
Post:

Yes. Do you remember the two different variants for the different driver versions? When upgrading from 8.12 to 9.12 you have to use the other variant. The exit code is just saying that the app can't load the correct dll (that is what changed between the driver versions).

You have to use this version (32bit SSE2, for Catalyst 9.2 and up).


No... I'd totally forgotten about that. Thanx much.
2) Message boards : Number crunching : Testing ATI Application Availability (Message 35221)
Posted 8 Jan 2010 by Sharon
Post:
WinXP SP3, 32b w/ 512MB 4850 card

using
ati_0.20b_win32_SSE2.zip


Installed v9.12 (was v8.12) to get Collatz working and now MW trashes immediatly with:

Compute error
Exit status	-1073741515 (0xffffffffc0000135)
Computer ID	21507
Report deadline	11 Jan 2010 23:12:57 UTC
Run time	0
CPU time	0
stderr out	

<core_client_version>6.10.18</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
 - exit code -1073741515 (0xc0000135)
</message>
]]>

Validate state	Invalid


Any ideas b4 I revert to v8.12?
3) Message boards : Number crunching : CUDA Application for 32 bit Windows (Message 31783)
Posted 1 Oct 2009 by Sharon
Post:
But works on 260 gpu's that don't crunch gpugid anymore, happy!


Yea, great, more Windoze only crap. Anybody wanna buy a 2 month old XFX GTX-260.
4) Message boards : Number crunching : Using the MW ATi application, Q & A (Message 28956)
Posted 6 Aug 2009 by Sharon
Post:
I can't explain the technicalities of the kernel frequency any better than the readme.txt file. What it does is affects how many chunks the work unit iterations are broken up into. For example on my HD 4890 with the default kernel frequency of 30 Hz the iterations of current tasks are split into 5 chunks and with the kernel frequency set to 20 Hz, split into 4 chunks. You can see this information in your Task details stderr out section, for example: "dividing each iteration in 4 parts | borders of the domains at 0 400 800 1200 1600"

In theory less chunks should be faster to process but I have found with my HD 4890 when I had the wait state at default that it made no noticeable difference if I set f to 20 Hz, 15 Hz or 10 Hz. However when I increased the wait state to 1.1, I chose to set the kernel frequency to 20 Hz because with wait state at 1.1, kernel frequency changes make more difference for me.

My experience with the HD 4890 regarding kernel frequency settings is different than I noticed with my HD 3850. So although the principle is the same the results on different speed GPUs of experimenting with these parameters may be different. This is because the faster the GPU, the less chunks the iterations need to be split into and vice versa. The results of changing the f parameter can also be different for different task sizes. The tasks are all the same size currently but in the past there were short, long and medium length tasks and changing the f parameter from default sometimes made certain length tasks speed up and other length tasks slow down. So GPU core speed, wait state, kernel frequency and task size are all related in a complex way that sometimes means changes in different combinations of w and f parameters do not always result in the expected change in performance.

What I mean by all this, is that although you are free to try parameter settings that work for others, it is not a bad idea to try out a few different combinations yourself to see if they suit your own particular GPU and needs. Some require task processing speed above all else and do not use the computer for anything other than BOINC, some require stability, some require a more responsive desktop and some prefer to run at a reduced GPU utilisation percentage which reduces processing speed but decreases the heat load on their GPU core.

The application was well designed to run with stability and efficiency for the majority of users, so if you are happy with how it performs in an unaltered default configuration, there is no need to be concerned about changing any of these values. If you are comfortable tinkering with things that's fine too, enjoy experimenting. Retaining stability and getting the scheduling right so that BOINC debt does not build up is a more important priority in my opinion than chasing the last few seconds of speed improvement. It's little use flying through the WUs in record time if your GPU locks up every day or if MilkyWay or another project's tasks stop processing for hours at a time because of BOINC scheduling issues.


Most Kewlness! EXACTLY the level and sort of 'explaination' I was after.

I swapped out the HD3870 in my wifes desktop, put in my new HD4850 and saw the typically ~3:30 WUs drop t around 1:59 each. But GPU-Z also showed the GPU was only seeing a load ranging between 67% and 77%. That seemed a bit low to me and I wanted to see if there was a way to work it a little harder because it's eventual target machine is a dedicated number cruncher. That's why I was asking and that's what I am playing with.

It appears I have the load range now in the 83 to 97% range using no "f" parm but using "w0.9". I also clocked GPU up from it's default of 625 to 675Mhz. The WUs times have dropped to something closer to 1:29.

I had tried "w0.8" & a clock rate of 690MHz and that cut the WU times by another 6~8 seconds but I also saw the GPU core temp running 3~5C higher. I set it back to "w0.9" and the clock back to 665 for now. Seems to be 'happy' settings for it in general.

I'll play around with the "f" parm a bit once it gets into it's target machine (waiting on a huge Aqua to finish so I can re-OS that machine).

You are right about the scheduler. Last night a couple times after a restart I had to suspend all the other projects for 1 second to get MW to actually start running or to start running 3 WUs even though the resource share is set such that it's share is 73% and the next largest share is 5%. Haven't had that occur today. Looks like it's back into it's happy routine of running 3, 1 waiting to report, 2 in que. In a couple minutes it'll finish 2, start the two in que, report 1~3, get 2 or 3 more and start the cycle over again.

Dang I sure wish MW and Cullzart would port these CAL apps over to Linux 64b.

Anyway, thanx much for your time.
5) Message boards : Number crunching : Using the MW ATi application, Q & A (Message 28829)
Posted 3 Aug 2009 by Sharon
Post:
Nice work -- by the way, do you (or anyone else here) know what the power consumption numbers comparison would be between say the 4830 and a 9800GT?

One thing I've noticed is that the 9800GT cards use a modest amount of power (though a decent 450W or 500W PS seems to work well enough with them) and quite a lot of heat.


4 setups that might help with getting to a real world nvid CUDA power draw:

C33 - Q9550@3.5GHz, Gigabyte G31 uATX mobo, Rosewill 80+ RG-430 PSU, OC'd 8800GT w/ S1 cooler - draw at the plug with full load ~210w (was 120w w/o vid card but was measured when it had an Antec EA-430 in it)

C31 - Q9550@3.4GHz, Gigabyte G31 uATX mobo, Antec 80+ EA-380 PSU, OC'd 8800GT w/ AC Turbo cooler - draw at the plug with full load ~215w (was 124w w/o vid card). Not as good of an HSF in this one. CPU and card in this one run hot. Has one extra 80mm fan in it to help blow some vid card & SB heat out the back.

C30 - Q9300@3.1GHz, Gigabyte G31 uATX mobo, Antec 80+ EA-380 PSU, OC'd 9600GSO w/ stock ASUS cooler - draw at the plug with full load ~160w (was ~106w w/o vid card), runs very cool.

C28 - Q6700@3.2GHz, Gigabyte G31 uATX mobo, Antec 80+ EA-380 PSU, 9800GT w/ stock BFG cooler - draw at the plug with full load ~209w (134w w/o vid card)

These machines have ONLY 1 small HDD, 1 large HSF, 1 small NB fan (40~50mm) and NOTHING (no cases, no case fans, no cd drives) else on them. They run in my 'server oven' that is currently 102F and often sees 107F.

Using 83% as a ballpark efficiency factor most of these things are falling real close to the sweet spot (45~50%) for PSU efficiency.

I'm gonna move the 9600GSO to a machine with a 300w, 80+ Seasonic PSU someday, time permitting as that should be a better match up and save the one with the EA-380 for some future used 8800/9800 acquisition.

EDIT: Poop! I posted this while logged onto my wife's account. Oh well.
6) Message boards : Number crunching : 4890 support (Message 28504)
Posted 29 Jul 2009 by Sharon
Post:
What brand w/ what cooler?

Temps aren't much good w/o knowing what brand/model or which cooler it has on it.

Thanx
7) Message boards : Number crunching : 20 workunit limit (Message 3108)
Posted 11 Apr 2008 by Sharon
Post:
Isn't there a way to go into one of the boinc files to change the LTD? It seems to me I read that in a thread a long time ago at SETI.


Yes, go to the Client state file, open with Notepad, search for 'long', change and save.



This must be done with the Boinc client closed imho.


Or see link in my sig... the older non Web version has a "clear" option.


sorry got sidetracked and edit time expired... think there are some new or coming soon built in boinc options to clear debt but this is still around...

http://skipsjunk.net/info/boincdv.html
8) Message boards : Number crunching : 20 workunit limit (Message 3099)
Posted 11 Apr 2008 by Sharon
Post:
Isn't there a way to go into one of the boinc files to change the LTD? It seems to me I read that in a thread a long time ago at SETI.


Yes, go to the Client state file, open with Notepad, search for 'long', change and save.



This must be done with the Boinc client closed imho.


Or see link in my sig... the older non Web version has a "clear" option.
9) Message boards : Number crunching : 20 workunit limit (Message 3098)
Posted 11 Apr 2008 by Sharon
Post:
It would be fine to have 5-10 wu's at a time when the time is extended by say 5-10 times. They would run 55-100 min on mine then.


Minimum needs to me 8. 8-way boxes are just too common any more.



Send me one w/ mobo. I'll replace a couple of my Q6600 'basket crunchers'!

;-)
10) Message boards : Number crunching : 20 workunit limit (Message 3097)
Posted 11 Apr 2008 by Sharon
Post:
i figured i'd sticky this post because it's something that comes up pretty often.

the reason we can't have more than 20 WUs at a time (and even this is too many) has been discussed on here many times. it's even in the known issues section. what we're doing is dynamically updating a genetic search based on the results you guys return. if we feed out more than 20 workunits (even this is too many) by the time you finish crunching them, the population has moved so far away from where those points were generated that the work you've done on them is basically useless. ideally i'd really like to have the number somewhere around 5-10.

when we update the server code, you should be able to download new workunits as soon as you finish with your previous ones. if you're just complaining about wanting more WUs out there in the case when the server crashes... i don't think theres anything we can do about that as the workunits need to be dynamically generated as new ones come in.

that being said, we definitely are trying to increase the time per workunit. the model will be updated, and we'll be doing it across multiple streams of stars - you just need to be patient with us here. this is science in progress and Nate is working on how exactly to do that. also, i'm working on incorporating doing a line search into a workunit (which should increase the computation time by a factor of 10-50) or more) -- but that's maybe a week or two away because that'll take a bit of bug fixing. i'm hoping to have that in the next version of the application.

Excellent explanation. And I love the cartoon too... Much safer project SSETL vs SETI! LOL




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