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Message boards : Graphics cards (GPUs) : Swan_Sync=0 and GTX 470 results: is this slow?

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Meow
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Message 17979 - Posted: 15 Jul 2010 | 14:15:42 UTC

Hi all. I have noticed my WUs take this long to finish:

14 Jul 2010 12:07:41 UTC 15 Jul 2010 8:12:47 UTC Completed and validated 29,640.30 22,532.77 4,727.93 7,091.89 ACEMD2: GPU molecular dynamics v6.05 (cuda30)

29,640 seconds?

I have Swan_Sync = 0 in my environment variables. My 2 GTX 470s SLI are disabled; only the physical bridge connector is left on. Win7 64 bit. Task manager reports 25% cpu load per WU. MSI Afterburner reports ~74% GPU load for both GPUs. Is there a problem? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Message 17981 - Posted: 15 Jul 2010 | 15:05:47 UTC - in response to Message 17979.

Hi Meow!

This is very slow, and it's Win7's fault. More specifically the new WDDM's fault, so Vista has this 'slowness' too, no matter if it's x86 or x64.
Use Windows XP, or Linux for crunching.

Bye

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Message 17983 - Posted: 15 Jul 2010 | 15:15:41 UTC - in response to Message 17981.

Try the gpugrid usb key in the join section.

gdf

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Message 17984 - Posted: 15 Jul 2010 | 16:07:52 UTC - in response to Message 17979.


Unfortunately you have run smack into the WDDM overhead issue

Noticeably slower in gaming and crippling slower in high performance GPU computing like GPUGRID.

I still can't comprehend how Microsoft much less anyone else finds it acceptable that the new graphic driver architecture is slower.

But that's a topic for another thread

Suffice to say there is nothing you can do short of crunching on Linux or XP as already suggested to realize better productivity.

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Message 17985 - Posted: 15 Jul 2010 | 16:17:23 UTC - in response to Message 17983.
Last modified: 15 Jul 2010 | 16:20:43 UTC

Meow, As said several times, all of your tasks are slow because the operating system controls and allocates GPU usage on Vista/Win7 (WDDM), but some of your tasks appear very slow - too slow.
There are lots of task restarts! Either you are restarting the system a lot, gaming a lot, or the tasks are failing and recovering to the last checkpoint - in which case your dual card system has a physical problem - the PSU is not up to the task, or more likely the cards are running too hot, and you need to increase their fan speed.

From the join section, try to Run GPUGrid from a USB stick.

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Message 17988 - Posted: 15 Jul 2010 | 18:51:19 UTC
Last modified: 15 Jul 2010 | 18:56:05 UTC

Thanks for the suggestions. I have installed Win XP and just began to crunch. The progress seems to be much faster now. Any critical system or boinc settings that need changing? Or Win XP will allow my GPUs to work to their fullest potential by default? Does the boinc version matter? I am using the latest version 6.10.58 now.

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Message 17990 - Posted: 15 Jul 2010 | 19:39:45 UTC - in response to Message 17988.

Nothing critical needs changing that I am aware of...unless you are in fact running too hot or something.

However i do suggest setting
Boinc Manager -> Advanced -> Preferences -> Network usage (tab) -> Additional Work Buffer -> 0.01

That way your client doesn't download and hold additional jobs too early.
This will ensure you take advantage of and receive the quick turnaround bonus credits.

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Message 17994 - Posted: 16 Jul 2010 | 6:05:34 UTC

Thanks to everyone.. thank you for contributing. My WUs seem to be much faster now. They take about half the time it used to. I hope its okay now.

15 Jul 2010 18:37:26 UTC 16 Jul 2010 3:29:19 UTC Completed and validated 9,981.50 8,539.00 4,727.93 7,091.89 ACEMD2: GPU molecular dynamics v6.05 (cuda30)

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Message 18141 - Posted: 22 Jul 2010 | 16:13:45 UTC - in response to Message 17994.

Meow, you might want to update your Windows 7 drivers from 25721 to 25896.

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Message boards : Graphics cards (GPUs) : Swan_Sync=0 and GTX 470 results: is this slow?

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