GPU's gone wild

[Bender10]

The PS3Grid project has picked up a lot of speed since it branched out to include Nvidia GPU's. There are teams posting +200k a day, and this is still in beta!?

Because of this, we have dropped from 11th down to 14th, with more sliding to follow.

The clients are pretty stable. Most of the errors are user induced. Users are pushing the envelope a bit to help work out the kinks in the clients. I have have a stable Linux quad running for about 3 months. And Vista seems to be working ok also (XP has some kind of memory issue with boinc 6.3.10 and below).

http://www.ps3grid.net/

Stop by the site and look around. Don't get overwhelmed by the user/testers (most everyone). And most people forget to post what hardware they are running. But, there is some good information to be found (or ask me, :icon_mrgreen: I'll help).

[mitchellds]

I put my two ps3's back on grid yesterday,(gotta wait for 36 hours for results). One I have running the penos, and the other I upgraded to YD 6.0. I wanted to compare the results.

I think I'll add some GPU's and run under linux once the new app is out that wont chew up my cpu power when running the gpu code. When is that supposed to be? Any idea?

[liuqyn]

I'm going to be switching my ps3 over here soon as well. however, I don't have any good nvidia cards to run it on, so thats not an option.

[Bender10]

The new Linux client (6.3.10??, I'm on 6.3.8) is supposed to run a PS3grid wu without any (or very few) cpu cycles. Client 6.3.8 does a wu with 1/10 of the normal cpu cycles.

I just found that today. Gotta run down my wu's before I do the upgrade.

My win64 client does a wu using ~15 - 20 cpu seconds.

The BIG issue is getting the client to utilize the un-used core for normal Boinc projects. There is a back-door way for the user to do this using 'ncpu' in the Boinc cc_config (?) file.

[mitchellds]

Bender,

Are you saying with 6.3.10, on a typical quad core with a gpu, that it would still only use one core of the GPU, or there would still be one core of the quad cpu left unavailable under this setup, for a total of 5 cores instead of 6

(3 cpu + 2 GPU) ?
(4 cpu + 1 GPU) ?

how about:
(4 cpu + 2 non sli GPU cards installed)
or
(8 cpu + 2 non sli GPU cards installed)

Anyone done that yet? :icon_mrgreen:

[Bender10]

I typed up a great answer, and could not post due to getting timed out....

Shorter answer:

Yes


there would still be one core of the quad cpu left unavailable under this setup

1 'core' is still needed to feed the GPU. So, 1 gpu wu + 3 Boinc wu's is all you can run with a quad on a stock client, and the same with a dual (1 gpu wu + 1 Boinc wu). The cpu usage in support of the GPU is going down with each client update.

My Linux box uses ~4,000 seconds of cpu time per GPU wu. (8800GS = 1 wu in ~20 hours)
My XP box uses ~15-20 seconds of cpu time per GPU wu. (8800GT = 1 wu in ~16 hours)
My PS3 box uses ~81,000 sec of cpu time per wu. (Thats ~22 hours)

They run different clients.....But a new Linux client came out today that should change those numbers.


Funny note:

The Devs made a 'mistake' a few days ago and a bunch of users (me too) crunched for a day or so on all cores+1 (quad = 1 gpu + 4 cpu). They fixed their 'mistake', But that caused quite a stir.



EDIT: added run times for different platforms.

[Bender10]

I just checked the Free-DC stats, and we are at 13th, for a few more days. Thats not too bad for the amount of GPU's other teams are throwing at this project. The teams making the big points have a bunch of people running just 1 GPU each.

Looking at the stats, If we can maintain an ~35k average output, we will stay around 13-14th place here.

I'm running 2 PS3's and 2 GPU's to output around 12-15k per day.

[Bender10]

My WinXP64 box (and other users on XP64) is having problems crunching. It runs for a couple of days fine, then burps, and errors out some wu's. Rebooting the box every couple of days keeps this from happening (and that is a pain to remember). The project admins have not come up with a reason for this yet.

I have to keep a sticky on the monitor to remind myself...

Win32 and Linux64 seem to behave fine.

I may have to build another Linux box.....

[PoorBoy]

My WinXP64 box (and other users on XP64) is having problems crunching. It runs for a couple of days fine, then burps, and errors out some wu's. Rebooting the box every couple of days keeps this from happening (and that is a pain to remember). The project admins have not come up with a reason for this yet.

I brought this up in the PS3Grid Forum but apparently as usual nobody took me seriously. Whats happening is the BOINC Manager in Win 64 is slowly taking up all of your memory until the PC won't run or acts very sluggish & will start to Error out the PS3 Wu's until you Re-Boot & that refreshes the memory again.

A simple solution for me on the Win 64 Box's is to not leave the BOINC Manager Window on any Manager Window that has activity. By activity I mean like Time Counting Down until a Project Updates it's self again. I noticed by watching the Task Manager & BOINC Manager @ the same time that for every Tick of a Second in the Manager the Managers Memory usage increased. I've seen it's usage get as high as 5 Million MB. So now I always before Minimizing the Manager put the Manager Window to either Statistics or Disk, this keeps the Manager on Win 64 Box's from slowly sucking up all the Systems Memory Resources & I haven't had a PS3 Wu Error out since I've been doing that.

Try it & see if it works for you Bender or anybody else too, this works on the v6.3.14 that I'm using but would probably work on other Versions too, hopefully or maybe the next Version Release won't need this simple work around ... :hello:

[Brucifer]

Well I'll ask a question or two here in friendlier turf before I go to the website and run into the hard cores being as I'm totally ignorant on the GPU thing... :icon_mrgreen:

For starters, what GPU cards are you talking about here? Like what is the best bang for the buck on the GPU cards, assuming running a linux system. What is the power consumption on the card(s)?

What's the best path to follow here, ie get a really low power consumption cpu to handle the GPU maintenance requirements, and then put all the heavy duty processing into the GPU? Can you run multiple GPU cards?

[Bender10]

Hi PoorBoy!

Thanks for the tip. I have had a hard time finding (helpful) info on that site. Not everyone posts their hardware setup, and the lines seem to blur across platforms.


A simple solution for me on the Win 64 Box's is to not leave the BOINC Manager Window on any Manager Window that has activity.

I'm must have missed this. I'll try it tonight.


Brucifer,

To me the 'best bang' would be an 8800GT (you can get them for ~$100 or less), with the fastest shader clock you can find (factory settings). You should be able to run a wu in around 15-17 hours, depending on your card.

My eVga 8800GT increases my load around 60 watts when I apply 100% load (crunch) on it. I'm running a amd 9550 on ubuntu 8.04 and it pulls about 200-210 watts running 1 gpu and 3 boinc wu's...

[vaughan]

For starters, what GPU cards are you talking about here?
8800GTs are good if you can find any. Over here they've all sold out and you have to buy 9800GSOs or GTs for about $50 more (for the same card with a new name - nice Marketing Nvidia :icon_twisted: )

[Bender10]

Hey Vaughan! I saw you made a splash into the world of PS3Grid.

There was an new (ALPHA) client fielded the other day, 6.3.17 (on 10/24), that allows ALL CPU's to be utilized and allow the GPU to run solo. You can d/l it right from the Boinc site.

Remember it is still an APLHA client. I installed it last night on my Win64 Quad, and it is running as advertised (4 CPU and 1 GPU tasks running).

The Linux client should be out soon (I hope).

[Bender10]

My (Windows on AMD X2) GPU is actually using around 16-17% cycles from a CPU. But at least it is allowing 3 'total' (gpu + cpu) tasks to be performed at almost full speed.

My Linux Quad GPU is using around 1-2% cycles and running 5 'total' tasks...

[Bender10]

Disclaimer: These readings are from my own observations of household power used, taken with a Kill.a.watt (P3) meter.

I've been crunching on PS3grid for a little while...and the project has changed a bit since I started. Just a short time ago, the project Devs decided to provide support for GPU's (I guess the PS3 is just a big GPU anyway). But only Nvidia GPU's to date. Anyway, I have tried to stay with the GPU movement, and purchased a few to 'crunch' with. Here is a short rundown of my GPU units and their power consumption...

All my 'crunchers' use onboard video, and have no other drives connected, execpt for the HD. Unless I have added a GPU to 'crunch' with. When I say '100% load', that is all cores crunching Boinc.

I have added approx wu completion times. The time is variable (depending on the speed of your CPU), as the CPU impacts the speed at which the GPU is fed data.

AMD 5200 X2 (65 w).....100% load.....~105 watts (baseline for comparison)
OC'd to 2.8ghz
w/ 8800GT.....................................---not tested yet...1 wu in 16 hours

PS3 (40 gig).................100% load....~140 watts...........1 wu in 23 hours

AMD 9550 X4 (95 w)......100% load....~140 watts (baseline for comparison)
no OC, 2.2 ghz
w/ 8800GS.....................................~200 watts (runs at ~ 50 C)....1 wu in 20 hours
w/ 9800 GX2..................................~300 watts (runs at ~ 62 C)....1 wu (per gpu) in 15 hours

Boy, when you add a GPU, you can say 'Good-Bye' to low power 'crunching'.

[liuqyn]

Boy, when you add a GPU, you can say 'Good-Bye' to low power 'crunching'.

but is that extra power worth the credit gained or would a separate entire comp be better(and more flexible)?

[Bender10]

I am (for my own porpoises) experimenting with GPU's a bit. I am balancing my output (on PS3grid) by shutting down some crunchers. I have checked the power consumption of most of my boxes, as I have a ceiling for my power bill (self imposed).

So, As I increase my power consumption to use a GPU. A standard cruncher has to get shut down. But I plan on upgrading my GPU boxes ( and some others...) to Quads this winter.

Power 'trade-off'...As we know that mostly depends on the project you crunch, and how generous they are with their points, and how fast your 'crunchers' run through the wu's. Right now, as PS3grid is in 'Testing' mode (Alpha, Beta??), their points are locked at around 3,200 per wu. Is that good? Depends on how many you can 'crunch' in a day....

Anyway, I still have ~7 crunchers, But I will only be running ~3 full time (each with a GPU).

[Jason1478963]

Keep up the great work Bender10. Any Idea how long it would take a quad core CPU to do one work unit?

I have also added a PS3 for a bit. I also have to watch my electric bill as well.

[mitchellds]

I toned down a bit also, , my bill was running about $450 a month during the summer. I have the windows open now at 27-34 degrees tonight.

[Jason1478963]

wow... I would think you would be able to shut the furnace off and heat your house with computers alone.

[mitchellds]

seemed that way if I could just get the heat circulated.