question about 2 gpus

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mdawson
mdawson
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13 Dec 2009 9:10:21 UTC
Topic 194673
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    I recently installed a monster of a video card with an NVidia chip. All is well. I thought, what the heck, why not put in the old video card too. It also has an NVidia chip.

    So.... under the TASKS tab, the STATUS column indicates a change. Instead of reporting 0.1 CPUs + 1.00 NVIDIA GPUS, it now says 0.22 CPUS + 1 NVidia GPUS.

    I don't have a monitor connected to the 2nd card. How can I be sure both gpus are crunching.

    Gundolf Jahn
    Gundolf Jahn
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    question about 2 gpus

    13 Dec 2009 9:43:34 UTC
    Message 95933
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      Both your computers show only one CUDA device each, but I don't know how accurate those host details are. So, you should check your Messages tab after a restart of the BOINC client if both GPUs are shown.

      Did you create a cc_config.xml file with the line
      1
      in it (among others)? If not, look at Ageless's CUDA FAQ for further instructions.

      Gruß,
      Gundolf

      Computer sind nicht alles im Leben. (Kleiner Scherz)

      mdawson
      mdawson
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      RE: Both your computers

      13 Dec 2009 20:35:29 UTC
      Message 95934 in response to message 95933
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        Quote:

        Both your computers show only one CUDA device each, but I don't know how accurate those host details are. So, you should check your Messages tab after a restart of the BOINC client if both GPUs are shown.

        Did you create a cc_config.xml file with the line
        1
        in it (among others)? If not, look at Ageless's CUDA FAQ for further instructions.

        Gruß,
        Gundolf

        Gundolf,

        Those are both the same machine. One is when I had XP loaded, and the other is the same machine now with Win 7. I'll combine them soon enough.

        I read through the faqs you pointed out and have created a cc_config.xml file with 1 as the only option parameter. Do I need to have all that other code as mentioned in the faqs? I have restarted BOINC and have also forced a read on the config file. Nothing seems to have changed. My messages still only indicate one GPU being used.

        Question - is it possible that the two gpus are linked and are running as one? I thought I saw an option for that in the app that came with the video card. Is there an advantage to running both as one, or would I get more work done if they were made separate gpus?

        Gundolf Jahn
        Gundolf Jahn
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        RE: Question - is it

        13 Dec 2009 21:21:45 UTC
        Message 95935 in response to message 95934
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          Quote:
          Question - is it possible that the two gpus are linked and are running as one? I thought I saw an option for that in the app that came with the video card. Is there an advantage to running both as one, or would I get more work done if they were made separate gpus?


          I think you are referring to SLI mode. As far as I know (I don't have a CUDA device) it's only an advantage for gaming, not for application processing, but the newer drivers should take care of that automatically.

          About your problem: did you see the paragraph about a second monitor or dummy plug in Jord's FAQ?

          Quote:
          OK, so now I disabled SLI and BOINC only recognizes one video card. What is up with that then?
          Some people report that in order to have both video cards recognized and be able to use them, you can try to extend your desktop over all your videocards; if that doesn't work you need to have a monitor attached to each video card, or add a VGA dummy (requires soldering) to the VGA outlet of the other video card(s). This how-to needs no soldering.


          I didn't copy the links into this quote; you'll have to read the original for that :-)

          Gruß,
          Gundolf

          Computer sind nicht alles im Leben. (Kleiner Scherz)

          Jord
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          RE: I think you are

          13 Dec 2009 21:32:26 UTC
          Message 95936 in response to message 95935
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            Quote:
            I think you are referring to SLI mode.


            SLI only works if you have two identical GPUs, e.g. both are a GTX 275.
            It won't work if they are different models, e.g. a GTX 275 and a 9400 GT.

            mdawson
            mdawson
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            RE: RE: About your

            13 Dec 2009 21:59:18 UTC
            Message 95937 in response to message 95935
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              Quote:
              Quote:
              About your problem: did you see the paragraph about a second monitor or dummy plug in Jord's FAQ?
              Quote:


              Some people report that in order to have both video cards recognized and be able to use them, you can try to extend your desktop over all your videocards;

              Gruß,
              Gundolf

              Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Hooking up a monitor is what did it. I took the VGA port of the 2nd card and plugged it into the VGA port on one of my 2 monitors. (They're getting DVI feeds from the new card.) It was recognized instantly. I then messed with nVidia's control applet, stopped BOINC and then restarted. Both gpus are now recognized. Wow! My new one is waaaay faster than the old one.

              Now it's kerchunking. Two WU entries say "RUNNING (0.22 CPUs + 1.00 NVIDIA GPUs(device 0 or 1))

              Thanks for the advice.

              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Running under account mdawson
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Processor: 4 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz [Intel64 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11]
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Processor: 4.00 MB cache
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Processor features: fpu tsc pae nx sse sse2 pni mmx
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM OS: Microsoft Windows 7: x64 Edition, (06.01.7600.00)
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Memory: 2.00 GB physical, 4.00 GB virtual
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Disk: 1.36 TB total, 1.26 TB free
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Local time is UTC -8 hours
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 260 (driver version 19107, CUDA version 2030, compute capability 1.3, 896MB, 583 GFLOPS peak)
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM NVIDIA GPU 1: GeForce 8600 GT (driver version 19107, CUDA version 2030, compute capability 1.1, 512MB, 38 GFLOPS peak)
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Not using a proxy
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              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Einstein@Home General prefs: from Einstein@Home (last modified 13-Dec-2009 00:07:08)
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              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Reading preferences override file
              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Preferences limit memory usage when active to 2046.49MB
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              12/13/2009 1:36:56 PM Einstein@Home Restarting task h1_1007.05_S5R4__486_S5R6a_1 using einstein_S5R6 version 301
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              12/13/2009 1:36:58 PM Einstein@Home Restarting task h1_1007.05_S5R4__495_S5R6a_2 using einstein_S5R6 version 301
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              astrocrab
              astrocrab
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              did you solve your problem?

              18 Jan 2010 5:09:24 UTC
              Message 95938
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                did you solve your problem?

                niterobin
                niterobin
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                RE: Hooking up a monitor is

                18 Jan 2010 11:19:45 UTC
                Message 95939 in response to message 95937
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                  Quote:
                  Hooking up a monitor is what did it. I took the VGA port of the 2nd card and plugged it into the VGA port on one of my 2 monitors. (They're getting DVI feeds from the new card.) It was recognized instantly. I then messed with nVidia's control applet, stopped BOINC and then restarted. Both gpus are now recognized. Wow! My new one is waaaay faster than the old one.

                  This article may be of interest to you if you don't want to have both monitors conencted to one machine. I have not tried it, but it does seem to work.

                  http://www.overclock.net/overclock-net-folding-home-team/384733-30-second-dummy-plug.html

                  Bernd Machenschalk
                  Bernd Machenschalk
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                  RE: This article may be of

                  18 Jan 2010 13:11:09 UTC
                  Message 95940 in response to message 95939
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                    Quote:
                    This article may be of interest to you if you don't want to have both monitors conencted to one machine. I have not tried it, but it does seem to work.

                    It does, using it on some server machines here.

                    BM

                    BM

                    mdawson
                    mdawson
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                    RE: did you solve your

                    18 Jan 2010 19:49:06 UTC
                    Message 95941 in response to message 95938
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                      Quote:
                      did you solve your problem?


                      Oh yeah, I'm cranking right along. Thanks for everybody's help.

                      hotze33
                      hotze33
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                      Hi, I got the same problem

                      19 Jan 2010 8:22:38 UTC
                      Message 95942
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                        Hi,
                        I got the same problem with my two 9800GX2. I have used them on the Win7 64bit beta with two monitors and everything worked fine with boinc 6.5 (all 4 gpus detected). Now I have installed Win7 64bit prof. and only 2 gpus were active. I have hooked up a third display and boinc is crunching on 3 gpus. So every gpu needs a display to be recognized (I still need a dummy to get the last one).
                        Also SLI did not work until I connected one display to one 9800GX2, then it was possible to enable SLI on the cards.
                        So there have been a major change from win7 beta to final.

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