Science processing using a GPU may be only months away.
From an article about ATI's new generation of cards, "The third future project at ATI is dramatically improved support for the GPGPU scene. These are researches, mostly academic, that are tapping into the massive parallel computing power of graphics processors for general computing tasks, like fluid dynamics calculations, protein folding, or audio and signal processing. ATI's new GPU architecture should be better at GPGPU tasks than any that has come before, as it provides more registers per pipeline than either ATI's old architecture or Nvidia's new one. This is a sore spot for GPGPU developers but not really a limitation for game makers. The improved performance of dynamic branching in the new architecture should be a huge win for GPGPU applications as well. Developers working to enable general purpose non-graphics applications on GPUs have lamented the lack of more direct access to the hardware, but ATI plans to remedy that by publishing a detailed spec and even a thin "close to the metal" abstraction layer for these coders, so it can get away from using DirectX and OpenGL as an interface to the cards. Those are fine graphics APIs, but they're less than optimal for general purpose computing." here http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1867123,00.asp
This looks like it will be available across ATI's entire new line of cards, released yesterday, not just the $500+ top-of-the-line model.
So now we wait on the edge of out chairs, our responsive and intrepid coders reach for the Advil, and coffee vendors in their vicinity gear up for increased sales.
May be time to consider upgrading to a mainboard featuring PCI-Express, as the AGP versions of the cards will surely be slow to come to market, if at all.
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
Like I said, if someone does a BOINC engine to use a GPU like that, well, that is an upgrade I could work into the budget much more easily than a new computer ...
Though I just priced the same Dual Xeon I bought and they have dropped abut $350 ... adding another pair of those would get me back up to 10 ... then I can start to replace the low end machines ...
Oh well, we have to wait and see what the next day will bring ... I just like the idea of actually putting the machines to work ... they are ALREADY running ...
Like I said, if someone does a BOINC engine to use a GPU like that, well, that is an upgrade I could work into the budget much more easily than a new computer ...
Though I just priced the same Dual Xeon I bought and they have dropped abut $350 ... adding another pair of those would get me back up to 10 ... then I can start to replace the low end machines ...
Oh well, we have to wait and see what the next day will bring ... I just like the idea of actually putting the machines to work ... they are ALREADY running ...
I suppose it will come down to how much crunch we can get from a GPU, and how much and how soon these crunch-friendly cards penetrate the ranks of us crunchers (enough to offset the effort of coding).
Heck, if it came down to it, I could build a minimalist dedicated crunch-rig, complete with WinXP, capable of 4-4.5 Einstein WUs/day for the same or less than the cost of one of the high-end graphics cards.
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
For me it is not the performance that is of immediate interest. It is from the fact that I could be running an extra model on a computer that is already up and running. I really don't care how efficient it is, at least not to start.
Though, with the passage of time I would be certainly looking to buy one or two higher end cards to improve my throughput. But, if I can target older cards I have, I do have a couple fairly high end GPUs that were top of the line 4 years ago ... they might still be good processors.
So, instead of running 2 models at once on a computer, I could be running 3 (or 5 on a 4 CPU Xeon). For me, I do have a desire for higher credit scores, but mostly as a way of measuring what I am contributing to science.
Have the vid card developers, or you all, spoken about adequate cooling on these gpu's and their memory?
Oh, and I hope they don't do the Corporation faux-pas of counting on us crunchers to get their sales as they move away from concentrating on the graphics they are supposed to handle and focus more on the crunching aspect.
- :) had to be said.
-----------------------
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Have the vid card developers, or you all, spoken about adequate cooling on these gpu's and their memory?
Meckano,
The new generation of vidcards are so powerful, in both processing power and memory (they're already using DDR3) that they are far ahead of the latest generation of games, so probably as powerful or more so than CPUs. The ATI cards also have such cooling that they require 2 slots worth of space, they're thick. Only thing to worry about re: cooling is ensuring plenty of flow through the case, maybe a side-mounted intake fan in that area.
Michael
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
It will depend on how much cpu overhead is needed to feed the GPU.
It could be that the cpu overhead would take to many cpu cycles
from Boinc. On the other hand it could breathe new life into an older
computer. Let the GPU handle the heavy lifting and the older, slower
cpu do support work.
It will depend on how much cpu overhead is needed to feed the GPU.
It could be that the cpu overhead would take to many cpu cycles
from Boinc. On the other hand it could breathe new life into an older
computer. Let the GPU handle the heavy lifting and the older, slower
cpu do support work.
Jim,
I don't think there are any older, slower boxes featuring PCI-Express, and it's liable to be next summer before ATI releases the Radeon 1300 series in an AGP config.
Michael
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
Science processing using a
)
Science processing using a GPU may be only months away.
From an article about ATI's new generation of cards, "The third future project at ATI is dramatically improved support for the GPGPU scene. These are researches, mostly academic, that are tapping into the massive parallel computing power of graphics processors for general computing tasks, like fluid dynamics calculations, protein folding, or audio and signal processing. ATI's new GPU architecture should be better at GPGPU tasks than any that has come before, as it provides more registers per pipeline than either ATI's old architecture or Nvidia's new one. This is a sore spot for GPGPU developers but not really a limitation for game makers. The improved performance of dynamic branching in the new architecture should be a huge win for GPGPU applications as well. Developers working to enable general purpose non-graphics applications on GPUs have lamented the lack of more direct access to the hardware, but ATI plans to remedy that by publishing a detailed spec and even a thin "close to the metal" abstraction layer for these coders, so it can get away from using DirectX and OpenGL as an interface to the cards. Those are fine graphics APIs, but they're less than optimal for general purpose computing." here http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1867123,00.asp
More here: http://www.gpgpu.org/
This looks like it will be available across ATI's entire new line of cards, released yesterday, not just the $500+ top-of-the-line model.
So now we wait on the edge of out chairs, our responsive and intrepid coders reach for the Advil, and coffee vendors in their vicinity gear up for increased sales.
May be time to consider upgrading to a mainboard featuring PCI-Express, as the AGP versions of the cards will surely be slow to come to market, if at all.
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
Like I said, if someone does
)
Like I said, if someone does a BOINC engine to use a GPU like that, well, that is an upgrade I could work into the budget much more easily than a new computer ...
Though I just priced the same Dual Xeon I bought and they have dropped abut $350 ... adding another pair of those would get me back up to 10 ... then I can start to replace the low end machines ...
Oh well, we have to wait and see what the next day will bring ... I just like the idea of actually putting the machines to work ... they are ALREADY running ...
RE: Like I said, if someone
)
I suppose it will come down to how much crunch we can get from a GPU, and how much and how soon these crunch-friendly cards penetrate the ranks of us crunchers (enough to offset the effort of coding).
Heck, if it came down to it, I could build a minimalist dedicated crunch-rig, complete with WinXP, capable of 4-4.5 Einstein WUs/day for the same or less than the cost of one of the high-end graphics cards.
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
For me it is not the
)
For me it is not the performance that is of immediate interest. It is from the fact that I could be running an extra model on a computer that is already up and running. I really don't care how efficient it is, at least not to start.
Though, with the passage of time I would be certainly looking to buy one or two higher end cards to improve my throughput. But, if I can target older cards I have, I do have a couple fairly high end GPUs that were top of the line 4 years ago ... they might still be good processors.
So, instead of running 2 models at once on a computer, I could be running 3 (or 5 on a 4 CPU Xeon). For me, I do have a desire for higher credit scores, but mostly as a way of measuring what I am contributing to science.
If it would work, my X800
)
If it would work, my X800 would be down with it. We need to find these pulsars!
Power to the Processors! ;)
I have not read this thread,
)
I have not read this thread, sorry, BUT :)
Have the vid card developers, or you all, spoken about adequate cooling on these gpu's and their memory?
Oh, and I hope they don't do the Corporation faux-pas of counting on us crunchers to get their sales as they move away from concentrating on the graphics they are supposed to handle and focus more on the crunching aspect.
- :) had to be said.
-----------------------
Click to see my tag
My tag
SNAFU'ed? Turn the Page! :D
RE: I have not read this
)
Meckano,
The new generation of vidcards are so powerful, in both processing power and memory (they're already using DDR3) that they are far ahead of the latest generation of games, so probably as powerful or more so than CPUs. The ATI cards also have such cooling that they require 2 slots worth of space, they're thick. Only thing to worry about re: cooling is ensuring plenty of flow through the case, maybe a side-mounted intake fan in that area.
Michael
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK
cool, tks. I use cigarette
)
cool, tks.
I use cigarette packs to vent-direct. ;)
- on top of the situation!
I also have a pci slot-hole fan cooling my vid card right now. ;)
- with ripped cardboard to direct air flow. ;)
ps. I'm getting that christmas feeling again, uh ohhhhhhhhhhhhh :D
-----------------------
Click to see my tag
My tag
SNAFU'ed? Turn the Page! :D
It will depend on how much
)
It will depend on how much cpu overhead is needed to feed the GPU.
It could be that the cpu overhead would take to many cpu cycles
from Boinc. On the other hand it could breathe new life into an older
computer. Let the GPU handle the heavy lifting and the older, slower
cpu do support work.
RE: It will depend on how
)
Jim,
I don't think there are any older, slower boxes featuring PCI-Express, and it's liable to be next summer before ATI releases the Radeon 1300 series in an AGP config.
Michael
microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK