this is just a waste of time as the new workunits will not work on old applications.

gdf

This is good to know. But looking through recent posts, I don't think you've previously made it clear that the workunits were changing too - all the talk was about applications. In fact, message 18984 gives rather the opposite impression.

It might have helped avoid some of the confusion if there was somewhere where you could give an overview of the intention behind the whole batch of app changes, and the implications - or if that's too time-consuming, brief the moderators, and let them pass it on to the rest of us.

The reason to update the cuda2.2 applications is that the new ones have a new algorithm which should be 30% faster for any card. This feature must be activated with new workunits and will crash on old apps. Even without this feature, new applications should be equally fast on G200 cards and slightly faster on Fermi cards.

I have now created a more specific thread to comment on them.

gdf

Think of one task type for all cards, and a separate Fermi application and non-Fermi application for Windows platforms and again separate Fermi and non-Fermi applications for Linux platforms.

6.12 (cuda for non-fermi cards), 6.11 (cuda 3.1 for Fermi card) and the old 6.04 and 6.05 are examples of windows application types.

In reality there are project based task separations (IBUCH, HIV...), but an IBUCH or HIV task type can crunch on both 6.11 (the Fermi app) and 6.12 (the non-Fermi app), ditto for the two Linux apps.

The ACEMD2/3 CUDA applications utilize routines and files within NVidias Cuda developers kit, and the cards depend on NVidia drivers. So changes in drivers or the developers kit can improve application/task performance or hinder it, depending on the card.

The scientists have to facilitate the newest and fastest cards in order to expedite the research which is twofold; developing and optimizing GPU research for Molecular simulations, and the actual research itself, into folding pathways for example.

Hope that makes things clearer.

Think of one task type for all cards, and separate ... application(s)

That was my understanding as well, but

GDF wrote:

the new workunits will not work on old applications

rather contradicts our shared assumption.

It is difficult trying to second guess, predict or retrospectively interpret changes, especially if you are use to project management.

I think the present set of applications are interoperable WRT running tasks, but just not fully backward compatible; a task for the 6.11 app is the same as a task for the 6.12 app, but neither is guaranteed to work with the old app that ran 6.05 tasks. The apps just make the task work on different cards, subject to using an app compatible driver.

The move to new applications is to utilize new subroutines only available within the newer CUDA apps, and to facilitate new cards, such as the GTX580 (for which there is a 262.99 driver, released today, along with the card).
GPUGrid is limited in that it cannot optimize to individual cards; to do so would require multiple servers and more staff.