AMD(ATI) GPU apps on PrimeGrid

[Dirk Broer]

Congratulations an thanks!
I just received a sh#tload of GPU work for my 3870 as well...on a XP32 machine, which crashed as soon as the scheduler got around to start them.
Even though the BOINC Manager sees a usable GPU -my HD3870- PrimeGrid may not be able to use it if it does not support OpenCL.
You might call this a bug of the PrimeGrid client, I think I should not hve received the WUs at all.

[AMDave]

Intrigued by this development I set the linux_AMD64 to recieve work.
It too got a client and a bunch of WUs.

...which started crashing as soon as the scheduler got around to them.
linux_AMD64 *MUST* have the Stream SDK 2.2 manually installed for the client to work.

so. finally pulling out the digit and getting around to it...
a couple of hours later and it is now working (even after a couple of trial reboots)
but definitely not in the configuration that I was expecting

The SDK would not properly compile with the Ubuntu version of the 10.9 driver.
So when AMD says that the Stream SDK 2.2 supports Ubuntu 10.4 it means that it supports the AMD version of the 10.9 driver on Ubuntu 10.4 and not the Ubuntu version of the 10.9 driver on Ubuntu 10.4

Oh. Nice side note here -
the SDK install instructions are VERY unclear about what you should be doing with the "OpenCL™ ICD registration configuration files for Linux"
Like first you need to download an additional zip file that you can find at the foot of the SDK homepage.
Then go ahead and be root and
then don't be copying it down into your root folder like they say, just run the tar command from the root folder and put the path to the file in the command.
Sheesh. Who copies files int a *nix root folder?
Now check your /etc/openCL/vendor/ folder now contains the 2 ati* files ... cool

There was no way that I could get the hot-fix version of 10.9 to work. even after fully removing every trace of the ubuntu ati drivers and config files etc.
Be aware that the supported version of the ATI drivers is 10.9 as per http://developer.amd.com/gpu/ATIStre...s/default.aspx
However they issued a hot fix in late September for the 10.9 driver after a security fix that went out on linux in general as per
Oh, one more thing their support for the drivers is quite wide ranging, however the support for the SDK is not. Read what it says on the SDK homepage and stick to it. If you didn't and you haven't and you still got it working, shake your own hand. I'm too far away to take you down to the pub and yak about it.

So, my working video driver is ATI 10.10 (AMD64)
check flgrxinfo works, glxgears works. Mmm pretty.

(I did try with 10.11 and it failed to install properly also - possibly a bad download. I will do a MD5 check on it later)

Now becoming root, relocating to where I had unpacked the SDK,
export the variables again as per the SDKJ Installation Notes,
then do make and it worked this time without errors.
This time dive down into a samples folder and try out some of the OpenCL goodies.
Oh Very nice.

boinc --> crash crash crash SUSPEND <deep sigh>

add the export variables to my users .bashrc file because they won't get remembered by themselves.

reboot

boinc. SWEEEET!!!!

Spent the next 10 minutes puttiung my desktop back the way I like it - single desktop on dual widescreens at 3840 x 1080 and some huge backgrounds :P

Done.
Don't try this at home unless you are a mental linux addict, have backups of everything on your system, have checked that your backups worked, have several hours to spare and a liberal supply of you favourite brain juice ;)

[AMDave]

1st wu in 35 minutes

/ed - I see a lot of WIn+ATI looming in my rear view. Got this card working just in time! - ed/

[Dirk Broer]

We have dropped to 7th place in average results, as the Japanese (Team 2ch, 577 users) and French (L'Alliance Francophone, 755 users) read stats as well, and react on them.
In Total Points we are now 17th, having passed Canada (the more-or-less-official Canadian National team, 165 users strong)
Our next objective is team Picard, and then we take on the UK BOINC Team, which will be a thougher nut to crack.

While we have dropped to the 9th place in average results, we have risen to the 15th place in total results. Team 'Picard' and BOINC@AUstralia have been passed. We are still in pursuit of the UK BOINC Team, but we might pass the Ukrainian National Team (team 'Ukraine') first. And let's not forget: from 18 till 21 December there's the Winter Solstice Challenge, just that sub-project where our strenght lies......

[Tamaster]

Congrats AMDave for getting your Linux/OpenCL/ATI GPU platform crunchin' (I know how fun that journey can be )

I'm still looking at the source and files to see how difficult it might be to rebuild the app on the chance there may be a way to squeeze more performance out. Since the build procedure is pretty non-standard, one of the mods I'm looking at is to use autoconf/automake to bring it more in line of the gnu standard build. That's just the first step in what I envision to be a long process of optimization for Stream architecture.

In the mean time, I've experimented with the app_info.xml file in order to coax multiple threads of execution out of the adapter:

<app_info>
  <app>
    <name>pps_sr2sieve</name>
    <user_friendly_name>Proth Prime Search (Sieve)</user_friendly_name>
  </app>
  <file_info>
    <name>primegrid_tpsieve_2.3c_x86_64-ATI-linux-gnu</name>
    <executable/>
  </file_info>
  <app_version>
    <app_name>pps_sr2sieve</app_name>
    <version_num>130</version_num>
    <plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
    <avg_ncpus>0.55</avg_ncpus>
    <max_ncpus>1</max_ncpus>
    <flops>1.0e11</flops>
    <coproc>
      <type>ATI</type>
      <count>0.5</count>
    </coproc>
    <cmdline></cmdline>
    <file_ref>
      <file_name>primegrid_tpsieve_2.3c_x86_64-ATI-linux-gnu</file_name>
      <main_program/>
    </file_ref>
  </app_version>
</app_info>

NOTE: I've renamed the executable to clarify what's actually being run

I've changed the avg_ncpus to force thread affinity on my dual-core processor and the coproc count to allow for two (2) threads on the adapter. It seems to be working.

[AMDave]

Ooh. Nice multi-thread mod.
I should test | play with | hack some of those before my holiday shutdown. :D

Well done to everyone for the bump in the contest.
Not a bad effort!
Not bad at all.

[Tamaster]

On my HD4850, on my platform didn't show any significant improvement. I had thought that the dual-core might have been starving the adapter, but this experiment seems to prove otherwise. Then again, there may be driver level thread locks in play here which would keep this from actually doing what I intended.

Anyway... Made Top 10 today

[Tamaster]

I finally hit 10 Million on Ken's x86_64 OpenCL/ATI TPSieve v2.3e (that took some time). I think that I've now got a pretty good measure of the actual rate of Flops for this platform (6.0e10). Not what I had hoped for, but pretty good for an standard clocked HD 4850 on a 2.8ghz dual-core (@ 230 watts input) on Linux.

Yes friends, it can be done...
(and on a budget at that)