Posts by wiyosaya

1) Message boards : News : Experiment queue being filled up (Message 53705) Posted 20 Feb 2020 by wiyosaya Post: Thanks, Toni! 143,000 WUs as of today!! Awesome. Now I just need to get my BSOD problems resolved on my other computer, and I'll be totally back in action.
2) Message boards : News : New workunits (Message 53110) Posted 25 Nov 2019 by wiyosaya Post: I am getting high CPU/South bridge temps on one of my PCs with these latest work units. The PC is http://www.gpugrid.net/show_host_detail.php?hostid=160668 and the current work unit is http://www.gpugrid.net/workunit.php?wuid=16866756 Every WU since November 22, 2019 had been exhibiting high temperatures on this PC. The previous apps never exhibited this. In addition, I found the PC unresponsive this afternoon. I was able to reboot, however, this does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling about continuing to run GPUGrid on this PC. Anyone else seeing something similar or is there a solution for this? Thanks.
3) Message boards : Number crunching : XP - Lets fight a step (back)forward (Message 52907) Posted 28 Oct 2019 by wiyosaya Post: It was beautiful while it lasted. But currently all ACEMD CUDA65 WUs started to fail, and I'm not expecting them to work again. it's really too bad that something like this once more happens without any announcement by the GPUGRID people. I also guess that ACEMD CUDA65 won't come back :-( Anyway, would just be great if someone from the team could let us know. https://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=5002#52865
4) Message boards : Number crunching : Work Units???? (Message 48294) Posted 7 Dec 2017 by wiyosaya Post: I use my PC as a heater during the winter and just started running again since it will be 45 tonight in Phoenix. Are there no work units to be downloaded? It keeps saying "communications deferred" and it says there is one work unit ready to download. Is there not enough work??? Currently not, I suggested expand the scientists that can contribute to this supercomputer as rushing scientists to get out work faster is not going to get anything done. Personally, I find it amazing that these NO WORK WTF? posts continually pop up. So please excuse the following rant. For a user like us that donates computing power, it is easy to say to the project should "add whatever at whatever cost". However, the project has limited budget. If they had an unlimited budget, they would buy their own supercomputer and would not need us to supply computing power. The research field, such as what is done by this project - research - is rarely highly profitable. It is expensive to perform research, and this project has a donations button because they would love to have the extra money. Even if someone donates, it is a donation and the project will allocate any donation to what they determine will be the best place to spend that donation. Most research projects have a limited budget and can only do so much. I imagine that all BOINC projects have a very long wish list, and since they have a limited budget, they have prioritized their wish lists and will fill that wish list as they deem necessary and when the items are within their budget and priority. It is not the responsibility of any BOINC project to provide work units to any user for any reason. Not in the least. There are plenty of other GPU projects out there that have work to do such as Einstein, MilkyWay, Amicable Numbers, and Seti to name a few. Please take my advice: Join those projects and remember that we are the volunteers here; we volunteer our computing power to run the work units of BOINC projects. Not all projects will have work units at all times for any number of reasons whether we like it or not. If that is not acceptable, then I suggest not running BOINC. Again, please excuse my rant.
5) Message boards : Number crunching : CPU Projects (Message 48179) Posted 13 Nov 2017 by wiyosaya Post: Would FPGAs ever be used in a project like this or are GPUs still faster? The thing about an FPGA is that they are primarily used in low-volume production situations or for low-volume specialized applications. They would require specialized programming, and, in the case of a project like this, the people like you and I who run this project would need to have one, or a board that contains one, in their computer in order to run the project. Contrast this against a GPU or a CPU where GPUs and CPUs are commonly available. Virtually everyone who has a computer has a CPU and a GPU inside the computer, although, some GPUs are not acceptable to this project. What makes the GPU/CPU aspect of BOINC attractive to a project like this is that virtually no one has to spend extra money on a specialized board to put in their computer to run the project. If we did have to have a specialized board, outside of the GPU requirements of the project, I doubt that there would be as many people that run this project because the chances are that it would be significantly more expensive for the average computer user to run this, or any project, that required a specialized FPGA device. This is not to say that a project like this could not be run on an FPGA. It could. However, at least as I see it, the project would constrict itself significantly, and might get very few people who would run it. To sum it up: GPU/CPU = widely available, virtually every computer has at least one GPU/CPU - requires no specialized hardware, requires little end-user knowledge. FPGA = limited availability, project runners would have to spend extra money to buy one, requires specialized programming knowledge that the project would have to support, may require that the project runner (you and I) have specialized knowledge.
6) Message boards : Number crunching : CPU Projects (Message 48124) Posted 10 Nov 2017 by wiyosaya Post: The latest generation of Intel server CPUs have 28 cores, and you can put 8 such CPUs in a single server (however it costs $13000 each). The latest AMD server CPUs have 32 cores each. I do not think there is a limit to the number that can be put on a motherboard, but AFAIK, current MBs only support two. They cost $3,000 each. CPUs are better at iterative (serial) tasks where the input for the next iteration is the output of the previous iteration such as an integration that might be used to calculate a path to the Moon. GPUs are better at tasks that have multiple sets of data where each data set requires the same calculations. Both AMD and Intel CPUs have special functions commonly termed "SIMD" for "Single Instruction Multiple Data" (MMX (IIRC) and successive generations) where they are capable of performing the same instruction on multiple sets of data like GPUs do. Each has their place, as I see it, and I have also heard that there are BOINC projects out there where both GPU and CPU applications exist and they both take the same amount of time to run. I program and maintain an FEA application professionally. Only portions of that application can be done in parallel. It is not as easy a task as one might think to compute large amounts of data in parallel. For the application I work with, it is basically not possible to program the solver portion as a massively parallel portion of the code because each successive step requires the output from the previous step as input. The exception in that part of the code is that once Gaussian elimination is done, back-substitution can be done in parallel. The post-processor portion of the code is a different story. Multiple load cases can run in parallel - where the input for the post-processor is the output from the solver step.
7) Message boards : News : An important note for Windows XP users (Message 47907) Posted 21 Sep 2017 by wiyosaya Post: Regarding the recent WannaCrypt attacks, Microsoft has released a vulnerability patch for older operating systems as well. This update won't download automatically, as it has not been put into Windows Update. You can find the original technet blogpost here (but it throws a runtime error right now). There's a lot of links in that post to the patches for older operating systems. However I can provide a direct download link for Windows XP x64 / Windows Server 2003 x64 (English only) You can also do a search for kb4012598 on the web. You can select the appropriate patch for your os from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Sorry for the much belated reply to this... Another way to block wanacry is to block netbios ports, both incoming from the internet and outgoing to the internet on a firewall. There is no reason to have those ports open anyway. I have had those ports blocked to/from the internet for well over ten years, and I have not noticed any issues from having them blocked. The fact that I had them blocked may have prevented problems. I am on the side of retiring the app for XP, and it seems that the project has decided that due to the fact that so few users are running XP at this point. As a software engineer, I agree with this. The company that I worked for dropped XP support a few years back. XP simply will not run software developed with the latest compilers, and supporting such machines becomes a nightmare scenario I personally have an XP x64 box, but there are no longer even Windows Defender updates for it. It is a dual core Opteron machine on which I ran this project; however, these days, it consumes a lot of power in comparison to newer machines for far less computational power even if I did put a newer GPU in it. If people still want to run a machine like that and they have the technical knowledge to do so, I suggest wiping the machine and installing a Linux variant - or if the budget allows, buy an OEM version of 7 or 8.1 or, perhaps, 10 (assuming 10 still supports the hardware) and install that. However, with aged hardware, Linux would be a better choice, IMO.
8) Message boards : Number crunching : Long runs stopping for no apparent reason (Message 47902) Posted 20 Sep 2017 by wiyosaya Post: It may be that this is related to the thread Problem with Pablo Tasks Specifically from the post that is linked to the end of the thread may provide a solution for you.
9) Message boards : Number crunching : BOINC manager v7.8.2 has been released (Message 47875) Posted 14 Sep 2017 by wiyosaya Post: I've updated on Win 10 x64 creator's edition, and I have not noticed any bugs. Thanks for your dedication, Richard!
10) Message boards : Number crunching : PCIe x1 risers (Message 47868) Posted 13 Sep 2017 by wiyosaya Post: speaking of...but still mostly x1 slots: http://www.pcgamer.com/heres-an-insanely-long-motherboard-with-8-pcie-x16-slots/ W Marketing! :( As for Threadripper, I have seen MBs where all x16 slots are not electrically x16 slots. It looks like the MSI has 4, electrically x16 slots, however, it would be worth an e-mail to them if one were going to buy this board to ensure that they are all x16 slots. https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/X399-GAMING-PRO-CARBON-AC There is an EPYC proc that is about the same price as the 1950X, however, the MBs out there as of now do not look like they would be good choices in which to run 8 gpus - IMO.
11) Message boards : Number crunching : Problem with PABLO tasks (Message 47865) Posted 12 Sep 2017 by wiyosaya Post: Interesting to know of your experience, and it is also interesting that you do not see this setting. [snip] I finally found it. It was turned on, so I turned it off. Awesome! So we may have found the problem where these tasks seem to suspend and then not resume. I was reading another thread, and it seems like it may not be specific to PABLO tasks. It will be interesting to know if you see it again. If I do, I will post to this thread.
12) Message boards : Number crunching : Problem with PABLO tasks (Message 47863) Posted 12 Sep 2017 by wiyosaya Post: Interesting to know of your experience, and it is also interesting that you do not see this setting. For me, it is under - 1. My Account 2. Preferences section 3. "When and how BOINC uses your computer" 4. Click on "Computing Preferences" which is on the same line as "When and how BOINC uses your computer" 5. "Processor Usage" 6. In the "Processor Usage" section there is an entry "Suspend work when non-BOINC CPU usage is above" If you also observe that this problem happens again, I suggest checking BOINC's Activity Log for a message similar to the one I found. To me, finding the same message would be a strong indicator that the same thing is happening on your system.
13) Message boards : Number crunching : Problem with PABLO tasks (Message 47861) Posted 12 Sep 2017 by wiyosaya Post: What setting are you using for: "Use at most X% of CPU time" If you're not using 100%, can you try it and see if it fixes the problem? 100% Not sure whether this will help, but I just got a 1060 up last night on Win 10 x64, and noted that while the elapsed time kept incrementing, the percent done stopped. This was after it had crunched about 2.5-percent of the WU. I looked into the BOINC client log and there was a message in there that said "CPU busy, suspending work" or something like that. I was using my computer at the time with non-CPU intensive stuff like running my web browser. I checked "Suspend work when non-BOINC CPU usage is above" in "When and how BOINC uses your computer" under "Preferences" on my account page and noted it was set to 80%. I then set it to 0 which means to run BOINC projects all the time regardless of host CPU usage. I suggest checking that setting. I then did an Update on GPUGrid, and it still did not restart. So I exited BOINC and restarted, and the problem seemed to disappear - that is, I was still using my computer, however, the task did not suspend and ran to completion in a timely manner. Perhaps this is coincidental, IDK. However, I have a 6-core processor and there is no way that non-BOINC total core/thread usage was 80% or above at the time, unless the browser briefly spun up 11 or 12 threads. The next time I get a PABLO, I will watch for this again. If it is not coincidental and the job of checking that setting is in each individual client's code, then perhaps there is a bug in that code with PABLO units. If the code is in BOINC, then perhaps there is a bug there.
14) Message boards : Graphics cards (GPUs) : Obsolete Video Cards (Message 47137) Posted 28 Apr 2017 by wiyosaya Post: Have a look at this thread - especially this post
15) Message boards : News : App update 17 April 2017 (Message 47136) Posted 28 Apr 2017 by wiyosaya Post: is it official that Fermi is no longer supported for gpugrid? Yes. Fermi (GTX 4xx & GTX 5xx series) is CC2.0 and CC2.1 which is below the minimum required CC3.0 therefore they are no longer supported for GPUGrid. Due to some undisclosed "compiler problems" the the lesser Kepler based cards (CC3.0, GTX 660Ti) will fail all tasks. See the compute capability (CC, also known as Shader Model (SM)) table on Wikipedia. Thanks, Retvari. The link will help me pick a new card later this year. I'll probably get something off of e-bay, but I am not sure what yet. I will, however, be considering cards that have more recent SM implementations.
16) Message boards : News : App update 17 April 2017 (Message 47066) Posted 22 Apr 2017 by wiyosaya Post: I upgraded both of my PCs to the 381.65 driver, and I am no longer getting work. It is a bit unclear to me whether I should be getting work. From what I understand, my 460 and 580 are fermi based, but from the announcement, I am lead to believe that Fermi is still supported. I do realize that there are others using similar cards and that they are not receiving work, either, so I am guessing that these cards are now no longer supported. Matt, is it official that Fermi is no longer supported for gpugrid? Thanks.
17) Message boards : Graphics cards (GPUs) : List of supported GPUs? (Message 46870) Posted 14 Apr 2017 by wiyosaya Post: I'm getting a lot of errors on a GTX 460 - which was running fine last week. Has this card been retired? I also humbly suggest that a list of supported GPUs be maintained in this forum, and that it be a sticky post. Here is the list of tasks for the PC with the 460 - http://www.gpugrid.net/results.php?hostid=101762 Some of these tasks have failed on other hosts, too, with an "unknown error" code. Thanks.
18) Message boards : Server and website : Welcome back Gpugrid (Message 46157) Posted 12 Jan 2017 by wiyosaya Post: Thanks for the update. Unfortunately, the WU that I had gotten before the crash and had finished without error uploaded and was not credited. That has happened before, but not that often, and these were extenuating circumstances, so I am not all that concerned.
19) Message boards : News : New server is running! (Message 45813) Posted 21 Dec 2016 by wiyosaya Post: I was just watching the download speed on a couple of the new BNBS WUs. They both were hitting about 2Mbps - which for me in the US is very impressive IIRC. No errors, either.
20) Message boards : Server and website : Could we have a Server and WU situation update? (Message 45681) Posted 12 Dec 2016 by wiyosaya Post: Guys, this is an R&D project. Please be patient with them. Unfortunately, they do not have unlimited professional programmers and unlimited money at their disposal. This is a big change for them, and even professional programmers may easily have underestimated the time required for this change. To make an analogy, this is akin to swapping out the engine a car for another engine. Things will get going again.

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