Hey,
I've just downloaded CUDA and the latest BOINC, and if I run the GPUGrid application my computer gets really slow, even though the priority is set to low
any clues on why this happens?

It's about this computer:
http://www.ps3grid.net/show_host_detail.php?hostid=16186
It has a 8600M Video card I think, it's a laptop anyway

the GPU has no thread prioritization. The card you are using has to few shaders to run the GPU app AND run AERO at the same time smothly.

That GPU only has 32 shaders, whereas 64+ are recommended. The problem is not even only related to Aero, it's screen refreshs in general. Basically the GPU is blocked for the time it's crunching GPU-Grid and this "blocking-time" gets shorter the faster the GPU is. With your 8600M you'll have problems to keep the deadline even if you run your laptop 24/7.

MrS

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Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

hehe thanks :)
It said 6 hrs til completion though, I guess that wasn't really accurate.

Ah well, so much for GPU computing

Yeah, the current BOINC development version is still unable to predict GPU runtimes. Yours should be 100+h ;)

MrS

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Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

Hmmm odd I'm seeing this same issue with my 9600GT (though it has 64 shaders). Also, I was able to run BOINC (on both cores of my 4200+) along with the folding@home GPU client with none of these issues.

It's odd: the approximately doubled crunching power will bring from the equivalent of 5 fps to 10 fps .. still choppy and unpleasant. On my 9800GTX+ I'm at about 20 fps, that's still noticeable.
GTX260 and up are doing really well :)
Edit: actually I meant "It's not odd"

MrS

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Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

That GPU only has 32 shaders, whereas 64+ are recommended. The problem is not even only related to Aero, it's screen refreshs in general. Basically the GPU is blocked for the time it's crunching GPU-Grid and this "blocking-time" gets shorter the faster the GPU is. With your 8600M you'll have problems to keep the deadline even if you run your laptop 24/7.

MrS

Hi,
i have 9800GT 1GB DDR3 - 112shaders and my computer is also very slow whe GPUGRID runs. I have no problems with FAH - i have XP, no aero or something, what need special compute time on GPU. Just opera and word + winamp. Switch of window is much more slower and im very not satisfied with this side efect of GPU computing - fix on developer`s side highly necessary.

My computer configuration
C2D E7300 - 2,66GHz/1066/MB
2GB 667MHz RAm - SC, INTEL DG-965-RY

Br.
P.

·· i have 9800GT 1GB DDR3 - 112shaders and my computer is also very slow whe GPUGRID runs. I have no problems with FAH···

The same problem with a 8800GT 512MB. Running Vista and when I drag a window it doesn't do it finely. In FaH, very fine, no problem.

·· i have 9800GT 1GB DDR3 - 112shaders and my computer is also very slow whe GPUGRID runs. I have no problems with FAH···

The same problem with a 8800GT 512MB. Running Vista and when I drag a window it doesn't do it finely. In FaH, very fine, no problem.

Same thing with my 8800GT running 64-Bit Linux though, without BOINC running it's fine but with BOINC running the BOINC Manager is very choppy or slow to responds to what I click on. Thats only if I'm running a GPU Wu though, just running 4 regular Wu's & it's okay.

This is a general problem. If the GPU executes CUDA code it is blocked from doing anything else, even screen refreshs. The "average time per step" which you see in the results is the average time one step needed. Shorter step times mean less lag. The project team evaluated splitting the steps up even further, but got horrible performance, so there is no easy fix for now. Sorry guys.

FAH uses molecules with less atoms, the structures they simulate are less complex. That's probably why they can get away with more fine grained steps and hence you don't notice a lag.

MrS

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Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

Same thing with my 8800GT running 64-Bit Linux though, without BOINC running it's fine but with BOINC running the BOINC Manager is very choppy or slow to responds to what I click on. Thats only if I'm running a GPU Wu though, just running 4 regular Wu's & it's okay.

Koschi's crontab solution improved things for my 8800GT on linux64, see here

Which version of Linux are your running, I'm running Intrepid 8.10. I found the crontab folder/file in the /etc folder. Unsure though where to enter that line in the file ???

Which version of Linux are your running, I'm running Intrepid 8.10. I found the crontab folder/file in the /etc folder. Unsure though where to enter that line in the file ???

I run Fedora 9 but it should be the same for any linux.
You don't edit a file directly but rather issue the command (as root) crontab -e (or sudo crontab -e if your linux doesn't have a root user)

This will open roots cron file in your systems default editor (usually vi) and you just copy & paste that line into a newline anywhere in the file.

Which version of Linux are your running, I'm running Intrepid 8.10. I found the crontab folder/file in the /etc folder. Unsure though where to enter that line in the file ???

I run Fedora 9 but it should be the same for any linux.
You don't edit a file directly but rather issue the command (as root) crontab -e (or sudo crontab -e if your linux doesn't have a root user)

This will open roots cron file in your systems default editor (usually vi) and you just copy & paste that line into a newline anywhere in the file.

Okay Thanks for the Info, but do I really need to do this for a dedicated Cruncher & what value would I use for a dedicated Cruncher, also do I leave the Stars in front of the command, won't they REM out the Command ???

I'm a Linux Newbie and need things explained in detail or I'm going to mess it up, so bear with me here & Thanks again ... :)

Okay Thanks for the Info, but do I really need to do this for a dedicated Cruncher & what value would I use for a dedicated Cruncher,

Your machine isn't a dedicated cruncher or you wouldn't be complaining it "sticks" ;-)

also do I leave the Stars in front of the command, won't they REM out the Command ???

Yes, leave the stars, they have meaning for cron

Its up to you of course, if you want to improve the screen response then add koschi's suggestion. If you can live with the screen being sluggish then leave things as they are.

It is a Dedicated Cruncher at least by my Standards, it does nothing but run BOINC & GPU Wu's. But i check on it once in awhile and thats when I notice the Stuttering/sticking when I click on the different BOINC Manager Tabs ... :)

It is a Dedicated Cruncher at least by my Standards, it does nothing but run BOINC & GPU Wu's. But i check on it once in awhile and thats when I notice the Stuttering/sticking when I click on the different BOINC Manager Tabs ... :)

Do you run other projects on this host and how many tasks does it have in the queue, running, ready to report ?

Sorry for my previous post (dwm.exe ...). I hadn't noticed this one.

So my question should rather be :
how many shaders the nVidia Quadro NVS 160M has got (I don't know the word in French so I can't look in the card properties) and/or is it powerful enough for the project ?

Thanks.
Duanra

how many shaders the nVidia Quadro NVS 160M has got (I don't know the word in French so I can't look in the card properties) and/or is it powerful enough for the project ?

It has 16 shaders (it is essentially the same as a 9300M GS), see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVIDIA_Quadro

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units


And that means that it is almost certainly too slow to complete a GPUGRID workunit within the 4-day deadline.