CUDA 6.5?

Jim1348
Jim1348
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Topic 197732

Since no one else has asked, I will.

CUDA 6.5 implements an improved cuFFT:
http://devblogs.nvidia.com/parallelforall/10-ways-cuda-6-5-improves-performance-productivity/
https://developer.nvidia.com/cuFFT

That would seem to be of benefit to E@H:
http://einsteinathome.org/node/197316&nowrap=true#128445

Is there any consideration being given to a CUDA 6.5 version?

ExtraTerrestrial Apes
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CUDA 6.5?

As far as I remember Einstein doesn't use nVidias FFT. It never hurts asking, though! Who knows, maybe cuFFT 6.5 is better than what we currently use?

MrS

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Holmis
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To my knowledge all Nvidia

To my knowledge all Nvidia apps are Cuda apps and use Nvidias FFT libs, although stuck on version 3.2 due to a bug in later versions that eventually got fixed. There was talk about releasing new and updated apps that would use newer cuda versions but so far we're still waiting.

MarkJ
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Given Nvidia is now dropping

Given Nvidia is now dropping CUDA support for the Pre-Fermi cards perhaps now is a good time to look at doing a CUDA 6 or 6.5 app while dropping the CUDA 3.2 app.

MarkJ
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To bump the this thread

To bump the this thread again...

GPUgrid are dropping support for their older cuda apps and going with cuda 6.5 from January 2015. They already have a cuda 6.5 app they have been testing. GPUgrid tends to be quicker than most projects when it comes to cuda versions.

[AF>Amis des Lapins] Phil1966
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Yes, GPUGRID is very fast and

Yes, GPUGRID is very fast and uses GPU's almost full computing power.
While E@H is still running a GTX2XX CUDA version ...

Do you know if there is a topic where E@H admins answer to this kind of questions ?

When will we see apps that use CUDA > 32 ?

Is there a technical reason for not using CUDA > 32 ?

Have 3 * GTX970 and they are performing fantasticly well , except on E@H ... :/

Thank You

Oliver Behnke
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Hi guys, Here's some brief

Hi guys,

Here's some brief background info:

- We do use NVIDIA's CUFFT in our CUDA apps.
- We always try to support as many GPU models as possible, even if that means to sacrifice some performance by not upgrading to later CUDA versions.
- There was a nasty bug in CUDA >3.2 that prevented us from upgrading until the release of CUDA 5.5.
- We do have a CUDA 5.5 version that could be released but up to now the incentive to do so wasn't given (to justify the effort involved).
- NVIDIA drops 32 bit driver support and we already began shipping 64 bit CUDA apps, starting with OS X, based on CUDA 5.5.
- We'll check how much CUDA 6.5 can improve the FFTs we use and whether it would justify a parallel release of CUDA 6.5 binaries.

Cheers,
Oliver

 

Einstein@Home Project

[AF>Amis des Lapins] Phil1966
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Dear Oliver, Thank you for

Dear Oliver,

Thank you for the update.

Best Regards,

Philippe

NB : I am not (unfortunately) familiar at all with the technical issues :/, but ie GPUGRID sends out WU using a CUDA version that "matches" with the hardware it's sent to.

MarkJ
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Hi Oliver, thanks for the

Hi Oliver, thanks for the info.

GPUgrid currently have cuda 4.2, 6.0 and 6.5 apps. They will be dropping their cuda 4.2 app. Given nvidia themselves are also dropping cuda support for compute capability 1 you might want to do the same. I guess it depends on how many users are still using these older cards if you can get some stats.

The Fermi based cards are able to run cuda 6.5 and are still currently supported by Nvidia in their drivers so you might want to skip cuda 5.5 and go straight to 6.5. Cuda 6 added a zero-CPU memory copy function which might be of benefit to Einstein as well.

Oliver Behnke
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We'll evaluate our options in

We'll evaluate our options in due course.

Thanks,
Oliver

 

Einstein@Home Project

ExtraTerrestrial Apes
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RE: GPUGRID sends out WU

Quote:
GPUGRID sends out WU using a CUDA version that "matches" with the hardware it's sent to.


Yes. This is relatively easy if you have the apps, because BOINC reports the driver version under Win. It's a bit more tricky under Linux, as something will always break under some distro.. but for most systems this works.

They also have custom kernels within these apps for the different chip architectures / generations. It's basically required for top performance.

MrS

Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

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