This new application mainly present changes in terms of the science.

gdf

I would appreciate it if you could elaborate and I'm sure other GPUgrid contributors would.

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The old application was 6 months old and several things have changed.
Most important are the ability to read the latest CHARMM forcefield and a fix in the wrapping of periodic boundary conditions.

gdf

Well, the app runs faster and uses 92% of GPU! Great, you think?

I now can't watch HD movies or do anything else without turning GPUGrid off!

The GUI lags and programs unresponsive.

Windows 7 - Swan Sync - 4GB Ram - GTX460 IGig

This is only going to cost you production and I did warn you that PC's are used for other things while running GPUGrid. This is only going to stop some people helping you at all.

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Does anybody know if GUI slowdowns also happen without SWAN_SYNC?

My Windows 7 computer with the GTX 480 card just successfully completed the first of these units. It took a little over 6 hours to finish compared to about 8 hours for the 6.13. Card utilization was up to 85% compared to the mid 60's for 6.13. The card temperature reached into the 80's compared to the 70's for 6.13 at 100% fan speed. Except for the fact that the computer is sluggish and slow to respond, nothing bad is happening.

My Windows xp computer with the GTX 285 shows no significant improvement in performances. Card utilization increased from 95% to 97%. The sluggishness is less noticeable on this one.

Both are running swan_sync = 0.

I just deleted the swan_sync = 0 on my windows 7 computer, and yes it did become more responsive (less sluggish). Card utilization is down to 73% max, temperature is down. It runs great.

My Windows 7 computer with the GTX 480 card just successfully completed the first of these units. It took a little over 6 hours to finish compared to about 8 hours for the 6.13. Card utilization was up to 85% compared to the mid 60's for 6.13. The card temperature reached into the 80's compared to the 70's for 6.13 at 100% fan speed. Except for the fact that the computer is sluggish and slow to respond, nothing bad is happening.

My Windows xp computer with the GTX 285 shows no significant improvement in performances. Card utilization increased from 95% to 97%. The sluggishness is less noticeable on this one.

Both are running swan_sync = 0.

Hmm strange. My GTX480 also runs on win7 64 bit with swan sync on and I have no sluggishness at all. Utilisation is about the same as yours at 84%. My card is slightly overclocked at 750core 1500shader 1900mem and my temps are 88c at 66% fan speed (standard fan setting for the night) and about 71c at 82% fan speed (daytime setting).

My current 6.14 WU also seems to be aiming at about a 6 hour completion time.

Anyways, I'm happy with the higher utilisation, used to be a bit low on my card.

I was not expecting the machine to become faster if you were using SWAN_SYNC already. Strange.
All these utilization things are really system dependent. The change of above average priority should not produce any sluggishness. It should be transparent to you. Maybe try to remove SWAN_SYNC.

gdf

My Windows 7 computer with the GTX 480 card just successfully completed the first of these units. It took a little over 6 hours to finish compared to about 8 hours for the 6.13. Card utilization was up to 85% compared to the mid 60's for 6.13. The card temperature reached into the 80's compared to the 70's for 6.13 at 100% fan speed. Except for the fact that the computer is sluggish and slow to respond, nothing bad is happening.

My Windows xp computer with the GTX 285 shows no significant improvement in performances. Card utilization increased from 95% to 97%. The sluggishness is less noticeable on this one.

Both are running swan_sync = 0.

See this post http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=2546#21400

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Radio Caroline

I was not expecting the machine to become faster if you were using SWAN_SYNC already. Strange.
All these utilization things are really system dependent. The change of above average priority should not produce any sluggishness. It should be transparent to you. Maybe try to remove SWAN_SYNC.

gdf

My Windows 7 computer with the GTX 480 card just successfully completed the first of these units. It took a little over 6 hours to finish compared to about 8 hours for the 6.13. Card utilization was up to 85% compared to the mid 60's for 6.13. The card temperature reached into the 80's compared to the 70's for 6.13 at 100% fan speed. Except for the fact that the computer is sluggish and slow to respond, nothing bad is happening.

My Windows xp computer with the GTX 285 shows no significant improvement in performances. Card utilization increased from 95% to 97%. The sluggishness is less noticeable on this one.

Both are running swan_sync = 0.

I don't believe it has anything to do with change in CPU priority, This WU http://www.gpugrid.net/workunit.php?wuid=2525127 finished 6000 seconds faster and this one 7000 secs faster http://www.gpugrid.net/workunit.php?wuid=2528082 on GTX460 machines that were already using sync. I think you have optimized the app to use more GPU to the detriment of some machines and that will inevitably lead to people joining GPUG and leaving when they discover lag.

I will try turning off Swan when I get to my comps but fear that will only mitigate the problem and not eliminate it.

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I noticed a slight increase in temperature, higher GPU utilization and on at least one system an improvement in task performances (they run faster). However I do see some GUI lag when browsing/normal desktop usage. You would normally expect higher performance when GPU utilization increases, so no surprise there. The fact that I only saw a small rise in performance is because the systems I have are high end and had high GPU utilization before the 6.14 move (90%+, often around 95%), so 98 is not that much.

I suggest you try normal priority as opposed to above normal priority.

There should be no lag. So maybe we want to remove the higher priority on the gpu with the display.
I would have expected more lags due to SWAN_SYNC than the priority, but it seems not to be the case.
gdf

Now acemd2 is also out.

gdf

Is the new higher priority being applied at the application level, or the thread level?

I think this was also the problem with eFMer Priority; made the systems responsiveness sluggish (as well as not being as fast as using SWAN_SYNC).

Removing the higher priority on the gpu with the display should work well, if you can do that.

Looks like the priority is applied to the application (going by Task Manager):
acemdlong_6.14_windows_intel86__cuda*32 - Priority = Above Normal.

I think it maybe the CPU priority and you're right.

I lowered the app priority to "below normal" on a problem machine and walla! it all came back I can now play HD movies and run progs and still use 90% GPU for GPUGrid. Happy!

Your path is clear.

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Looks like the priority is applied to the application (going by Task Manager)

Try looking at it in Process Explorer instead.

Edit: the Einstein developers weren't aware of the difference either - http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/forum_thread.php?id=8660&nowrap=true#109345

Setting the app to NORMAL priority seems to work as well.

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I don't understand. What did Einstein@home do?
The point is to increase utilization on heavy loaded CPU windows machines without affecting lag in the user interface.

gdf