AMD GPU + Windows, GW GPU tasks, more than 2 tasks in parallel

Richie
Richie
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Topic 220036

In the name of the almighty gravitational force, thy cruncheree shall come out and reveal yourself ... IF ALL of the lines below hold truth :

 

1. Your host is equipped with AMD GPU

2. That AMD GPU is running in Windows system

3. That AMD GPU is crunching GW GPU tasks

4. That AMD GPU is running 3 or 4 tasks in parallel (aka 3x or 4x)

5. Validation of those tasks is NOT producing a huge amount of invalids

 

IF thy became now aware of that ALL the verses above DID hold truth what comes to you as an establishment of a voluntary cruncheree :

Show that noble host for us, for that victorious thing may be a rare one amongst all of them, battling against troubling unlikelihoods !

mikey
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Try cutting back to one unit

Try cutting back to one unit at a time, then go to two, then go to three...or just cut back to 3 or 2 at  a time and see if they validate then. Are you leaving one or more cpu cores free for the gpu to use...that could help as well.

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
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Richie wrote: ... IF ALL of

Richie wrote:
... IF ALL of the lines below hold truth :

Well that certainly lets me out! :-).  The last time I turned on a Windows box was probably back around 2007 -- after that I transitioned everything to Linux :-).  I have no clue as to what the problem might be and I doubt it's the algorithm or data.  If it were a widespread problem, I would expect to see lots and lots of ongoing complaints, since most people probably run Windows.

I have several different machines all with RX 570s and all running 4x (with one that has no problem even at 5x).  None of these are having any issues so far.

The longest running one (one that has done a couple of days at 5x and most of the rest at 4x) currently has (purely for O2MDF) a total of 3267 tasks in the online database.  Of these, 714 are in progress, 377 are pending and 2176 are validated.  There are zero inconclusive, invalid or error tasks.  This machine completes around 250+ tasks per day.

Hopefully, there will be others running multiple tasks under Windows who can shed some actual light on this.

Cheers,
Gary.

Richie
Richie
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Thanks but I have tried all

Mikey...Thanks but I have tried all that, several times with each host that have RX 5XX cards. My conclusion so far is that 2x is max for them in Windows and anything above that will result in plenty of invalids. But I'd be excited to see if somebody else came to different conclusion and what kind of platform they run.

mikey
mikey
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Richie wrote:Mikey...Thanks

Richie wrote:
Mikey...Thanks but I have tried all that, several times with each host that have RX 5XX cards. My conclusion so far is that 2x is max for them in Windows and anything above that will result in plenty of invalids. But I'd be excited to see if somebody else came to different conclusion and what kind of platform they run.

The problem is you're trying to do that on a 580 which just doesn't have the horsepower

"Though if you were hoping for the same 40 compute unit, 2,560 core, Polaris GPU Microsoft shipped with the AMD-powered Xbox One X you’d be disappointed. Outside of the reference clock speed bump the RX 580 is the same GPU beast as the RX 480. The core configuration is identical – the 14nm Polaris 20 in the new card is still sporting 36 compute units (CUs) with 2,304 stream processors spread out across them. Alongside that are the same 144 texture units and 32 ROPs.

The memory system is the same too, with 8GB of GDDR5 delivering a full 256GB/s of memory bandwidth. And, like the 400 series cards, there are both 4GB and 8GB versions of the RX 580, as well as the RX 570."

source https://www.pcgamesn.com/amd/radeon-rx-580-review-benchmarks

Richie
Richie
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These cards can run even 5x

These cards can run even 5x under linux like mentioned by Gary, but can't seem to run 3x properly under Windows (at least my cards). So, you really think the card doesn't have enough horsepower. I think the problem is definitely something else.

mikey
mikey
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Richie wrote:These cards can

Richie wrote:
These cards can run even 5x under linux like mentioned by Gary, but can't seem to run 3x properly under Windows (at least my cards). So, you really think the card doesn't have enough horsepower. I think the problem is definitely something else.

So dowload a version of Linux and put Boinc on it and see what happens, Linux is easy to install on a  spare harddrive, even an old 80 gb drive will work, and install Boinc is very easy too as long as when you install Linux you tell it  it's okay to use 3rd party drivers then it will also load your Nvidia drivers. Once it finishes you just have to tell it to use them instead of the default Mesa drivers. I use Linux Mint but Ubuntu is easy too an there is even a version you can run off the cd, ExTiX, as long as you plug in a usb stick to install Boinc on. You can download any version of Linux thru this site: [url]https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=extix[/url] I have it set to ExTiX for this conversation. If you want to use a different one you can go to the top of the page and click the drop down list under "select distribution", they are all listed alphabetically.

As far as other install options if you are using a spare hd just tell it use the whole disk however it wants to and for a username and password and pc name they can be anything that's easy to remember.

To install software I use the Package Manager and type Boinc in the search box and then from the list that comes up I select Boinc Manager and tell it yes to install anything it needs and then clickapply. It's not the latest version of Boinc but it works and means I don't  have to use/know command line stuff.

Now if you are trying to use an AMD/ATI gpu that's a whole other story and involves a more complicated set of additional install directions.

Until you find someone who has a direct comparison between Linux and Windows machines I'm guessing the Project will say it's your pc that's the problem.

Richie
Richie
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I've been running also linux

I've been running also linux on these hosts, but not for a couple of months now. I haven't run GW GPU tasks under linux yet. Only one of those RX 5xx hosts has dual-boot configuration at the moment, but I might run that one later. Anyway, this got a little bit sidetracked from the original purpose. It's not about my computers at this point or if they can run these tasks or not. I'm willing to see if there is actually anybody on this planet who is succesfully running Windows + AMD + GW GPU tasks more than 2x. None have showed up so far.

Gavin
Gavin
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https://einsteinathome.org/ho

https://einsteinathome.org/host/9161845

Win 10 Pro machine thats consistently and successfully run at x1, x2, x3 and for the last few days at x4.

This is on a (now working) RX5700 XT gpu though.

 

Gav.

Richie
Richie
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Gavin

Gavin wrote:

https://einsteinathome.org/host/9161845

Win 10 Pro machine thats consistently and successfully run at x1, x2, x3 and for the last few days at x4.

This is on a (now working) RX5700 XT gpu though.

 Gav.

Thanks for reporting!

Now we have a bedrock and let's see if other kind of platforms will be thrown in. I see your host has quite recent CPU architecture. edit: It's launch date was Q3'12, I assumed wrong. Maybe that board architecture is something that counts. Until somebody will show an example of a system with older board.


Robert Meckley
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Let me add my voice of

Let me add my voice of complaint regarding the running of the new GW app on a Windows 10 machine armed with an R9 280x  GPU. I have yet to complete a single GW app task. I've tried unchecking the GW app tasks in the hope that I would then get only GPR or BPR tasks, but I still get only GW tasks. I've reset the project (twice) hoping to get something other than GW tasks, but I keep getting back the same GW tasks. I  even removed the project, rebooted my machine, and added the project anew, but the same GW tasks keep coming back despite my preference not to accept GW tasks. Meanwhile GW tasks run on my machine to about 99% complete, (very slowly I might add), but never complete. Others then begin to run, but they too never finish. I had been running 3x with the GPRs that I had been getting with no problem. But since I can no longer get GPRs, I tried running 2 and then 1 task at a time, but this too changed nothing. They run slow and they don't finish. I've been running the Einstein project since 2011 and have never had a problem like this. Any suggestions? P.S. And by the way, yes, my preferences include not accepting tasks from other applications when preferred tasks are not available.

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