Hi I am currently running 2 gtx 660s, but because i do game at the same time i have my main gpu ignored so only gpu grid runs on my second gpu, now what id like to do, which i have been trying to figure out is. id like to run my main gpu when im not gaming but suspend work when i am gaming.

but as far as i know if i allowed both gpus to do wu i cant suspend one gpu using boinc. what i have tried is running 2 boinc clients. i got the second client to work except its not finding any gpu whatsoever, the core client works fine but the 2nd client just isnt seeing any gpu.

Does anyone know what i can do to fix this problem wether getting the 2nd boinc to see the gpu or some other setting i dont know about :)

Core client


24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | Starting BOINC client version 7.2.42 for windows_x86_64
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | Libraries: libcurl/7.25.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.6
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | Running under account
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 660 (driver version 335.23, CUDA version 6.0, compute capability 3.0, 2048MB, 1909MB available, 2107 GFLOPS peak)
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 1: GeForce GTX 660 (driver version 335.23, CUDA version 6.0, compute capability 3.0, 2048MB, 1966MB available, 2107 GFLOPS peak)
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 660 (driver version 335.23, device version OpenCL 1.1 CUDA, 2048MB, 1909MB available, 2107 GFLOPS peak)
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 1: GeForce GTX 660 (driver version 335.23, device version OpenCL 1.1 CUDA, 2048MB, 1966MB available, 2107 GFLOPS peak)
24/04/2014 18:46:00 | | OpenCL CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz (OpenCL driver vendor: Intel(R) Corporation, driver version 3.0.1.10878, device version OpenCL 1.2 (Build 76413))

Secondary client

24/04/2014 19:57:17 | | Starting BOINC client version 7.2.42 for windows_x86_64
24/04/2014 19:57:17 | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
24/04/2014 19:57:17 | | Libraries: libcurl/7.25.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.6
24/04/2014 19:57:17 | | Data directory: C:\test
24/04/2014 19:57:17 | | Running under account
24/04/2014 19:57:17 | | No usable GPUs found
24/04/2014 19:57:17 | | Host name:
24/04/2014 19:57:17 | | Processor: 4 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz [Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3]

Here is a wiki of the different settings you can use to micro control Boinc:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration

One that might interest you is to tell Boinc you have two installations, another would be the one to tell Boinc to stop crunching when you are running X program, ie your game. Your pc is hidden so I can't tell which version of Boinc you are using but the last several versions let you go into the Boinc Manager, down by the clock in Windows, and add an exclusion file under Tools, computing preferences then exclusive applications.

i know i can set preferences but i have multple gpus in my pc that arent in an sli configuration. meaning im already using my second gpu constantly, but im not using my main gpu to do work. if i set preferences it affects both gpu's, not just one.

Unfortunately you cannot suspend/Snooze one GPU at a time. It's all or nothing. This feature was requested over a year ago, but it has not been implemented into Boinc Manager.

The only thing I can suggest is before gaming, alter your cc_config.xml file to ignore the GPU you game with and then tell Boinc to Read config files, and after gaming reverse the changes. You might be able to write a script to do it.

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ive tried running 2 boinc clients, which i can easily do for cpu but the second client doesnt see any usable gpu, which is strange since the first one sees it no problem

im currently playing around with scripting the cc config file, will let you all know if itll due the trick. thanks skgiven for the idea

ok well, the script to change cc config when gaming seems to work, ty.

Can you share the script so that others, and especially those with less skills, can use it?

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yep can do, well the way i did it, was easiest for me since i knew how to make a batch file, but i created two cc_config files put them both in two seperate folders, folder 1 and folder 2, then i created 2 batch files, one batch to copy and paste the cc config in folder 1 into the boinc folder, and the second batch was to copy and paste the cc config in folder 2 into boinc folder, essentially switching out cc configs at a click of the button.

Batch 1,

echo y|XCOPY c:\gpu0\cc_config.xml c:\ProgramData\Boinc\

batch 2

echo y|XCOPY c:\gpu1\cc_config.xml c:\ProgramData\Boinc\

the reason i added echo y| into the command was when putting in the xcopy command dos will ask if you wish to confirm and youd have to enter y, echo y| in front of the xcopy command did the trick.

Bassically the one cc config has one of the gpu's excluded and the other cc config has them running all. will have to go to boinc manually and hit read config under Advanced > Read Config


also have to manually suspend the task that was running on the gpu when you turn off the gpu or itll keep running, and will have to hit resume when putting the one gpu back to work, but the second gpu can and will continue crunching numbers.

remember im also not running in an sli configuration, the games i play dont require 2 660's heh.


If anyone knows of a better way to do this im willing to give it a try, im constantly changing things with my pc, its fun heh

Batch 1,

echo y|XCOPY c:\gpu0\cc_config.xml c:\ProgramData\Boinc\

batch 2

echo y|XCOPY c:\gpu1\cc_config.xml c:\ProgramData\Boinc\

the reason i added echo y| into the command was when putting in the xcopy command dos will ask if you wish to confirm and youd have to enter y, echo y| in front of the xcopy command did the trick.

You can use the /y switch of the XCOPY command instead of the "ECHO y|".
Batch 1:
XCOPY c:\gpu0\cc_config.xml c:\ProgramData\Boinc\ /y

batch 2:
XCOPY c:\gpu1\cc_config.xml c:\ProgramData\Boinc\ /y

You can use the Boinc command line commands to automate reading the cc_config file after you modify it:

cd C:\Program Files\BOINC
boinccmd --read_cc_config

For a list of other commands open a CMD window and type,

boinccmd -help

You could also suspend the project (GPUGrid), disable a GPU, and then enable the project again (with only 1 GPU running):

boinccmd --project http://www.gpugrid.net/ suspend
* disable GPU0
boinccmd --project http://www.gpugrid.net/ resume

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My attempt at a set of instructions for Win7 (and similar; Vista, W8)...

How To automate suspending one GPU while allowing other GPUs to run using batch files and Boinc commands
(useful when gaming or when watching HD video):

The idea is that you simply double click one batch file to disable GPU0 so you can game on that GPU or watch video's... and then simply double click on the other batch file to enable GPU0 again.

Included are options to suspend/resume GPU0 if you are attached to GPUGrid and MilkyWay. If you have other GPU projects attached you will need to add instructions for those projects. If you are only attached to GPUGrid, you can remove all reference to MW.

Create 2 folders under the C:\ directory called,

‘DisableGPU0’
‘EnableGPU0’

Manually copy your existing cc_config.xml file into these folders.
Edit the cc_config file in the DisableGPU0 folder to exclude GPU0 from your GPU projects,

</cc_config>
<options>

<exclude_gpu>
<url>http://www.gpugrid.net/</url>
<type>NVIDIA</type>
<device_num>0</device_num>
</exclude_gpu>

<exclude_gpu>
<url>http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/</url>
<type>NVIDIA</type>
<device_num>0</device_num>
</exclude_gpu>

</options>
</cc_config>

Create a batch file on your desktop to disable GPU0:
Right click on the desktop, select new text document, call it DisableGPU0.bat and click enter to save it. Right click on it and select edit. Add the following lines and save the batch file:

cd C:\Program Files\BOINC
boinccmd --project http://www.gpugrid.net/ suspend
boinccmd --project http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/ suspend
XCOPY c:\DisableGPU0\cc_config.xml c:\ProgramData\Boinc\ /y
boinccmd --read_cc_config
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 6000 > nul
boinccmd --project http://www.gpugrid.net/ resume
boinccmd --project http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/ resume

I've included the ping command to force a 6seconds wait, basically to give Boinc a chance.

Then create another batch file on your desktop to Enable GPU0:

cd C:\Program Files\BOINC
boinccmd --project http://www.gpugrid.net/ suspend
boinccmd --project http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/ suspend
XCOPY c:\EnableGPU0\cc_config.xml c:\ProgramData\Boinc\ /y
boinccmd --read_cc_config
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 6000 > nul
boinccmd --project http://www.gpugrid.net/ resume
boinccmd --project http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/ resume

This seems to work reasonably well for me (although I'm using different directories), but I would mention that if you are attached to lots of projects Boinc can on occasions be slow to start running GPU work again.
The instructions above assume your Boinc data is in the default location (rather than a secondary drive).
Note that the Boinc directories are different in XP.
Assumes you are using a recent Boinc version.
Presumes you have a working cc_config file.
I've included instructions for GPUGRID and MW only. If you are attached to other projects you will need to add options for those too.

Thanks to Angelique for raising this problem, going to the trouble of writing and posting batch files, and highlighting some further issues.
Thanks to Zoltan for additional input on the batch files and spotting my typos.
Hopefully this will keep a few people happy. I expect this might be of interest to people who crunch for other GPU projects too.

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thank you for the replies will be editing my batch file further, didnt know there was a read cc config command , i tried looking for the command but google wasnt very helpfull, but with the new command itll make things alot easier and quicker.

And i do hope other find this usefull since alot of people do play video games and other things. i originally had tried running my intel graphics but that didnt go so well games were too laggy on low settings :) i dont mind low graphics but when theres lag that when problems arrise heh.

anyway again thanks.