Mixed video cards
24 Oct 2018 21:47:44 UTC
Topic 216696
(moderation:
Hi all,
Some of you expert crunchers out there. Anything wrong with adding an Nvidia 750 or 760 card to a cruncher that already has a 980 in it? I have one laying around and thought I could add a bit to the RAC without building another box.
The current machine I have online is a gamer I built a year or two ago and has plenty of "support" horsepower, so to speak.
Any advice is appreciated and please tell me if you need more info to properly advise me.
https://einsteinathome.org/host/12718465 is the link to the host in question.
Phil
I have run mixed Nvidia card
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I have run mixed Nvidia card types a lot. If you were short on CPUs the fact that the current Nvidia GRP application at Einstein really does want a CPU per GPU task could make you run out of CPUs, or rather noticeably degrade interactive performance, especially if you like to run at multiplicity greater than 1X. But with an eight core processor at hand on your system, that seems not a problem in your case.
The scheduler will "breathe" as the estimated completion time for queue work inches down each time your faster GPU completes a task, then inches up when the slower one completes a task, but will suddenly snap up all the way to the single most recent actual time when the difference is too large.
This makes for somewhat erratic work fetch activity, but so long as you use a moderate requested work queue length, and don't nervously watch all the details, that should not be a problem.
In your case, having over 250 GPU gamma-ray pulsar tasks "in progress" seems to indicate you have queue settings I'd consider higher than prudent for making this change. I suggest you cut the queue settings to a tenth their current value, then grind down your cache to something smaller before making the change. You can always push it back up gradually once you have things settled down.
Phil wrote:Hi all, Some of
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Need a cc_config.xml in the BOINC folder that tells it to use all GPUs. Currently it only sees the "higher"/newer GPU.
Zalster wrote:Phil wrote:Hi
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One like this for example.
<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
</options>
</cc_config>
I changed my work storage
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I changed my work storage from 1.0 on both settings to .1 . I'll let it draw down the workload before I try installing the other card.
I also forgot about telling it to use all video cards.
Thanks for the tips guys.
Phil
Ok, sooooo.I put the
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Ok, sooooo.
I put the following in a file name "cc_config.xml" in the BOINC folder and saved it as a text file:
<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
</options>
</cc_config>
It still appears the computer is only using the GTX980 gpu. I've restarted BOINC, restarted the computer, and told BOINC to read the config files.
Any ideas?
Phil
I pulled up the computer on E@H and it is not showing the other gpu.
Phil wrote:I put the
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That file must not be saved as a text file. You need to use an editor that is capable of saving files as xml. Real xml. It must be in correct format. This is a handy free software for example:
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Save as... Save as type... eXtensible Markup Language file
Link to host in
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Link to host in question: https://einsteinathome.org/host/12718465
I used Notepad++ to save the file and BOINC now shows it in the log as"not used" and ignored.
As usual, any advice is appreciated. This is my first foray into multiple Gpus in a single machine.
Phil
My worst experience in
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My worst experience in installing multiple cards came when multiple tries did not have my system seeing and using a 1060 I had added to a 1070 machine. I actually sent the card back and bought another model, which did the same thing.
Only then did I stumble on what seems to have been the key answer in my particular case: Specifying "clean install" during the Nvidia driver installation. This apparently wiped away some remnant of the past which had escaped DDU's attention.
All of which is a long preamble to:
If you have not already done so, I suggest you download the current Nvidia driver, and do a full install, specifying "custom" so you get the choice of ticking the box for "clean install".
The maximally conservative thing is also to download (and unzip) DDU, and do all of this:
0. suspend all BOINC tasks (running and queued)
1. go to Control panel, Programs and Feature, find your current Nvidia driver, and uninstall it, but refuse the offer to reboot at the end.
2. run msconfig , select the boot tab, select safe minimal boot, OK, and restart
3. log in safe mode
4. run the Display Driver Uninstaller you unzipped from the DDU download file (it will be down a level)
5. Choose the most recommended mode
6. After Next boot, wait for things to settle, then run the Nvidia installer
7. reboot again before letting boinc start up
I'm not promising this will make any difference in your case, but it is crucial that the driver installation has seen your system as it currently is.
If you want to leave anything out of the above recipe, I'd leave out DDU. While I think there were times in the past in which it often cleaned up things Nvidia left behind, my impression is that the modern driver releases less often leave something behind for it usefully to do.
Phil wrote:Link to host in
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Yeah, it has to be just right otherwise it will still save it as a .txt
when you go to save it, you have to make sure that the save type is *.* Save file as all types. Then use "Save as" and type in the cc_conf.xml It might ask you if you are sure you want to save it as a xml file. Yes. Also make sure it's placed in the BOINC folder. I'm starting to forget these things since switching to Linux haha
Is that other GPU now GTX 760
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Is that other GPU now GTX 760 or 750? Does Windows see both of them? Do they both show up on Device Manager display adapters list?
Could you install GPU-Z ( https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ ) and check if it's able to properly read presence of the other GPU (choose a card at the bottom left)?