I apologized if this has been covered before, but I did attempt to do a search. But I am wondering if it is possible to run multiple GPU's on BOINC in one system.

My set up

-650W PSU

-Intel i5 ivy bridge GPU ( No hyperthreading so only 4 cores for crunching),

-Asus P8B75-V Mother board has 1 PCI 3.0 x16 and one PCI 2.0 x16 @x4 (not quite sure what the last bit means unless it is just specifying its location in the tower).

I currently have a Passively cooled GT 640 GPU in there that is running nice.

I am wondering if it would be possible to add a GTX 680 into my system.


While I do have two systems I already learned that the passively cooled GPU does not fit into my older system, which has the lowest power GPU, and its fairly new so I do not want to not use it.

I am just wondering if there are weird driver considerations, and I run Ubuntu 12.04 and I do not know if that also has the issues where the computer will automatically disable any GPU that does not appear to be in use.

I am not looking to make the purchase immediately, rigth now I am just trying to scope out to see if it is possible.
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I don't know about Ubuntu, but on Windows multiple GPU's can be used. For example, I have two GTX 670's that aren't in SLI mode, but both still run tasks for GPUGRID.

To tell BOINC to use more than one GPU, you have to add a line of text to a certain BOINC config file. The file is the cc_config.xml file. On Windows, it wasn't present already, so I had to make one, and then add the line of text.

Sorry to say, but I have forgotten what this text is, and am hoping someone else may help you here.

As for drivers, I'm pretty sure that the driver for the 640 works with the 680, as they are in the same series, however, this is coming from my experience with Windows and not with Ubuntu, as I only have Windows systems.

Hope this answers something for you.

Check out this thread for more information: Using two different GPUs.

http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=3113#28722



Also, maybe this thread may help you: HOW TO - Install NVIDIA drivers on Linux 64 bit (generic)


http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=266#1385

I apologized if this has been covered before, but I did attempt to do a search. But I am wondering if it is possible to run multiple GPU's on BOINC in one system.

My set up

-650W PSU

-Intel i5 ivy bridge GPU ( No hyperthreading so only 4 cores for crunching),

-Asus P8B75-V Mother board has 1 PCI 3.0 x16 and one PCI 2.0 x16 @x4 (not quite sure what the last bit means unless it is just specifying its location in the tower).

I currently have a Passively cooled GT 640 GPU in there that is running nice.

I am wondering if it would be possible to add a GTX 680 into my system.


While I do have two systems I already learned that the passively cooled GPU does not fit into my older system, which has the lowest power GPU, and its fairly new so I do not want to not use it.

I am just wondering if there are weird driver considerations, and I run Ubuntu 12.04 and I do not know if that also has the issues where the computer will automatically disable any GPU that does not appear to be in use.

I am not looking to make the purchase immediately, rigth now I am just trying to scope out to see if it is possible.

Alright then my follow up question would be I assume I would want the 680 in the PCI 3.0 so it has the best transfer speeds, and to move the 640 to the PCI 2.0?

Though just to be sure Ubuntu is able to keep the drivers straight? Or they will work just fine on the same driver?

Also there is the question do I need to do anything special to keep one of the GPU's from shutting off every time a task finishes?
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You can use the same driver for both cards. GPU's require a CPU to feed them, it's set up that way through hardware and the motherboard BIOS, most will remove 1 CPU core from BOINC for every GPU their running, the video card will find and use the free core automatically. As far as GPU-GRID is concerned, it doesn't use enough bandwidth to saturate a PCIe 2.0 bus so either way would work.

I can answer your first and last questions.

Alright then my follow up question would be I assume I would want the 680 in the PCI 3.0 so it has the best transfer speeds, and to move the 640 to the PCI 2.0?

Also there is the question do I need to do anything special to keep one of the GPU's from shutting off every time a task finishes?

I found the cc_config.xml file, it was under Program Files - BOINC.

This was the code inside it that tell BOINC to use all GPU's.


<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
</options>
</cc_config>


Very simple, I guess.

Thank you everyone who has responded so far. You have given me a lot to think about.

In response to MarkJ's last comment, I should say that this Tower is used almost exclusively to crunch Boinc Projects, so while the 640 is not the fastest pony at the race, it does make up for it at a certain level by being on nearly 24/7/365.

Now that you are mentioning this though, I realize it would be a headache to attempt to split tasks between GPU's by setting the 640 to crunch Short Runs, and the newer card to crunch Long Runs.

You have given me a bit to think about.
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If the GT 640 is running all the time, would it really be that bad running Long Runs on it instead of Short Runs to avoid the issue of splitting tasks?

Now that you are mentioning this though, I realize it would be a headache to attempt to split tasks between GPU's by setting the 640 to crunch Short Runs, and the newer card to crunch Long Runs.

it would be a headache to attempt to split tasks between GPU's by setting the 640 to crunch Short Runs, and the newer card to crunch Long Runs.

You could set the GPUs up for different projects, so that the GT640 runs something with shorter WUs.

You can use the exclude_gpu to restrict one card from long work units and another entry to do the opposite, so that way the faster card can run the longs and the 640 can run the short WU.. He'd need two exclude_gpu statements, one for each device.

Yes, you can run multiple graphics cards. I have three computers with multiple graphic card configurations. A computer with two (2) GTX590's, a computer with one (1) GTX590 AND one (1) GTX660Ti, also have a computer with one (1) GTX590 AND one (1) GTX550Ti. prior to my last upgrade, I had the same dual configuations with GTX295's, which were replaced by the GTX590's. I have been runing dual configuations for several years, with the only issue being heat build up during the summer. Regards, Rick
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If the GT 640 is running all the time, would it really be that bad running Long Runs on it instead of Short Runs to avoid the issue of splitting tasks?

Mine with 1040 MHz stock core clock takes ~135 ks for a long run WU. That's 1.5 days - not nice and won't get the 1-day-return-bonus, but easily within the deadline.

MrS

Thanks Mark, an example always helps.