Same problem here with my GTX280. The real running time is changing on Vista 64bit from 24000 sec to 34800 sec, now my GTX260 is much faster on XP 64 bit. Normally it should be reverse.

GTX280 http://www.ps3grid.net/results.php?hostid=7785 on Vista 64 bit
GTX260² http://www.ps3grid.net/results.php?hostid=13337 on XP 64 bit

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We have tested this and it should not happen.

gdf

It is unfortunatelly happening :(. Too many times my 280 is waiting to run :(.

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We have tested this and it should not happen.

gdf

This also happens on my XP machines, which, for me, can be solved by running the CUDA task at realtime priority. The following is probably close to a worst-case scenario: without modifying Windows priority: 91,256ms/step; realtime priority: 69.999ms/step (I expect it to be around 67.xxx had this task been run at realtime priority throughout).

Please put back <1 to 1 cpu

Just want to say I myself prefer <1 CPU, since I don't have to muck about with ncpus now. The time sharing for non CUDA project works better without ncpus for me.

We have tested this and it should not happen.

gdf

Sorry GDF, but it does happen...
I also had one of my computers today only crunching 4 CPU tasks but no GPU task.
And there wan nothing in deadline trouble. The 6.3.17 scheduler is still buggy... :(

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pixelicious.at - my little photoblog

huumm.
Let's see what they (BOINC) can do in a couple of days. This thing has been under tests for months and was working fine before, if we go back now it is likely to stay on hold for a long time.

gdf

Same for the scheduler in 6.3.18, I described my problem in that thread.
6.3.14 + CPU setting of 1 and cpus +1 was the best solution for me so far, under Linux...
Since we are on 0.9 the scheduler is behaving strange...

edit:

ok, haven't seen your post, so I'll wait ;-)

This thing has been under tests for months and was working fine before

The scheduling errors we are currently seeing seem highly random (at least under windows, don't know about this linux problem). For many people it works just as expected, whereas on other machines the scheduler just seems to be crazy.

How would you test for such an error? The old problem of software reliability.. how could you be sure you tested all possible cases, if you can not proove your algorithm mathematically?

The BOINC scheduler seems to be quite complex beast already. Otherwise such *simple* things like "first priority: keep co-processors busy" just wouldn't go wrong, would they?

.. just some random thoughts before going to bed ;)

MrS

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Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

I couldn't manage to make GPUGrid work (always idle dammit) since the CPU request change but it solved the issue by himself last night: WU got into high priority mode and started running. Now I'm on a tight schedule so it keeps working.

But I have to say that since the change my PC have become EXTREMELY MORE SLUGGISH. To the point that I could consider detaching from the project. I also tried lowering the process' nice value but it didn't do any good.

Yes, thats one thing I forgot to mention, which bugs me a lot...

On a desktop machine that is actively used, a nice value of 0 for the acemd process is to high. The system feels sluggish...
5 is fine for me, but most of the time I put it back to 19 and only when I leave the computer for some time I switch it to 0.

On my dedicated cruncher, its running at -5, but that one is headless ;-)

If you want to set some nice value to be set automatically, just put the following to roots crontab:

* * * * * renice 19 `ps -ef | grep acemd | grep -v grep | awk '{ print $2 }'`

acemd is using little CPU. It's not the cause of a sluggish system, more that all the cores are busy.

gdf

Has anybody tried 6.3.19?
gdf

I know that it doesn't use much of the CPU, that's not the problem, the problem is the priority...

Low priority (like 19) - desktop is responding quickly and feels smooth
current default priority of 0 - the desktop feels sluggish

Yesterday I wrote, that my GTX280 on Vista 64 need 34800 sec for one WU. I had reboot the Vista PC and the next WUs are runung with

26676.869 s and
25396.466 s

Looks like a longer uptime makes the calculation slower. Then Vista 64 bit has to reboot often to shorten the calculation time and XP 64 has to boot to clean up the GPU memory.

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Looks like a longer uptime makes the calculation slower. Then Vista 64 bit has to reboot often to shorten the calculation time

Are you basing this supposition on one single incident?

MrS

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Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

I know that it doesn't use much of the CPU, that's not the problem, the problem is the priority...

Low priority (like 19) - desktop is responding quickly and feels smooth
current default priority of 0 - the desktop feels sluggish

Yep, that works for me

I've added koschi's crontab suggestion
Very sluggish with nice=0, good response with nice=19

Looks like a longer uptime makes the calculation slower. Then Vista 64 bit has to reboot often to shorten the calculation time

Are you basing this supposition on one single incident?

MrS

No, 2 in a row. But I will watch this further ...

It's only for the GTX280, our both (Cebion and my) GTX260 running constantly with better times than the GTX280 with a long uptime of the PC. After the reboot the next 2 WUs are faster, then the long run time starts again.

http://www.ps3grid.net/results.php?hostid=7785

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I have been getting consistent 26ms and 22000-23000 total runtimes out of my GTX260 EVGA card in Linux Hardy 8.04 latest 2.6.24.21 Kernel.Default is Nice 19 priority btw. My runtimes seem a bit shorter than most other 260's out there that post their numbers.(216 shaders) I have not seen any slowdowns or longer tasks.For me the optimizations so far keep making the tasks run shorter and shorter :)

Yes, thats one thing I forgot to mention, which bugs me a lot...

On a desktop machine that is actively used, a nice value of 0 for the acemd process is to high. The system feels sluggish...
5 is fine for me, but most of the time I put it back to 19 and only when I leave the computer for some time I switch it to 0.

On my dedicated cruncher, its running at -5, but that one is headless ;-)

If you want to set some nice value to be set automatically, just put the following to roots crontab:

* * * * * renice 19 `ps -ef | grep acemd | grep -v grep | awk '{ print $2 }'`

How?

you need to become root, or use sudo to start the crontab command as root...
As user you call sudo crontab -e, then it depends on which editor is the default one on your system. Some use pico or nano, which are almost self explaining, as they have the key combinations listet at the bottom. Other distribution use vi, then you should look for a vi tutorial or set the editor variable to a more simple one.

Dont edit roots crontab file (should be somewhere in /var) directly, its better to use crontab because its doing some checking on what you entered and warns you if something is missing...