BRP6 work not working properly

floyd
floyd
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RE: RE: The value of 0.5

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The value of 0.5 CPUs per task is set by the server and cannot be changed through the UI.

Yes it can - see my previous message. App_config.xml over-rides the server side settings


Sorry, I didn't say you can't change that value. But there's no user interface where you can simply enter a number like the GPU utilization factor.

Chooka
Chooka
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RE: B ... You told the

Quote:

B ... You told the BOINC client to use only three of your four CPU cores. With one already reserved for the GPU tasks this allows BOINC to run two CPU tasks. (Assuming that's 75% of processors, not 75% CPU time.) The fourth core is available for whatever and could even be used by the GPU tasks.

Now if you allowed BOINC to use 100% of processors it could run one more POGS task but that would probably slow down the GPU. Try it and see what works best for you.

75% of processors gets 97% GPU load. 100% (or 0 being unlimited) sees an average GPU load of 91%
However..... I currently have no POGS WU's in progress so I'm sure things will change once they kick in.
I'll just keep tabs on it.

Thanks once again!
Andrew


Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
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RE: RE: The GPU

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The GPU utilization factor was a feature added by Bernd before BOINC had a suitable mechanism of its own.

I think you mean the user-defined utilization factor was added by Bernd, right? Surely the utilization factor must have existed before that.


I don't believe it did. As I recall (my memory is hazy because I wasn't using GPUs at the time) the app_config.xml mechanism came in around late 2012 with BOINC 7.0.42 or something like that. I think that prior to that, people had to use the very user unfriendly app_info.xml mechanism if they wanted to schedule more than 1 concurrent task per GPU. Bernd avoided this pain and suffering by developing the GPU utilization factor as a project configuration option, easily settable by the user. As I understand it, the success of that feature led to the BOINC Devs, some time later, adopting the idea and providing the functionality through app_config.xml. I may be wrong and I'm sure someone will correct me if I am. I don't remember exactly when the GPU utilization factor came in but my understanding is that it was unique to Einstein when first introduced.

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While I agree that app_config is the most potent tool for fine tuning, I don't like the way it is implemented. I avoid it if possible.


It's really quite easy to use compared to app_info.xml. Sure it's not quite as convenient as editing a single number in the GPU utilization preference box but once you have a basic file installed, editing, followed by a click on 'reread config files' is quick, simple and convenient - and part of the user interface :-).

As an example of its usefulness, I wanted to tweak a dual core host with a GTX650 that had been running with a GPU utilization factor of 0.5. When using that factor, the server supplied cpu_usage of 0.2 and gpu_usage of 0.5 would allow 2 CPU tasks and 2 concurrent GPU tasks to run. I wanted to try 3 GPU tasks and then experiment with CPU tasks. A GPU factor of 0.33 would give the three tasks but would also always allow 2 CPU tasks, which I didn't want. Sure, I could reduce the allowed cores to 50% which would do the job but at the expense of always having a free core even if there were no GPU tasks running at the time. It was just easier to set cpu_usage to 0.35 and gpu_usage to 0.33 through app_config.xml to get the 3+1 task mixture I wanted to test.

For me, however, the biggest disadvantage of GPU utilization factor is not the above but rather that it is tied to venues. Every other host you have in the same venue gets the same change in settings. Of course this is of no concern to people with less than 4 computers, since there are 4 venues available to house the different preference sets. For me it was a real problem until I bit the bullet and deployed app_config.xml on every single host with a GPU.

Cheers,
Gary.

Richard Haselgrove
Richard Haselgrove
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RE: RE: RE: The GPU

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
The GPU utilization factor was a feature added by Bernd before BOINC had a suitable mechanism of its own.

I think you mean the user-defined utilization factor was added by Bernd, right? Surely the utilization factor must have existed before that.

I don't believe it did. As I recall (my memory is hazy because I wasn't using GPUs at the time) the app_config.xml mechanism came in around late 2012 with BOINC 7.0.42 or something like that. I think that prior to that, people had to use the very user unfriendly app_info.xml mechanism if they wanted to schedule more than 1 concurrent task per GPU. Bernd avoided this pain and suffering by developing the GPU utilization factor as a project configuration option, easily settable by the user. As I understand it, the success of that feature led to the BOINC Devs, some time later, adopting the idea and providing the functionality through app_config.xml. I may be wrong and I'm sure someone will correct me if I am. I don't remember exactly when the GPU utilization factor came in but my understanding is that it was unique to Einstein when first introduced.


You're absolutely right, Gary. app_config.xml was first usable with v7.0.42, available for testing from 12 December 2012. It was first introduced a few days earlier with v7.0.40, but that version was buggy and unusable. AFAIK, Bernd's implementation of GPU utilization factor via the the project website remains unique to Einstein to this day.

Both techniques are clunky, and have their individual drawbacks. GPU utilization factor only comes into effect when new work is fetched for the specific application being controlled: app_config (mostly) comes into effect immediately - the exception is the later enhancement to control multi-threaded applications via cmdline, which only works for newly-started tasks - but often the BOINC Manager display takes some time to catch up.

Quote:
Quote:
While I agree that app_config is the most potent tool for fine tuning, I don't like the way it is implemented. I avoid it if possible.

It's really quite easy to use compared to app_info.xml. Sure it's not quite as convenient as editing a single number in the GPU utilization preference box but once you have a basic file installed, editing, followed by a click on 'reread config files' is quick, simple and convenient - and part of the user interface :-).


app_info.xml is an absolutely nightmare for anyone except experienced developers to use. Not only do you to have to specify every detail of the application you want to test or deploy, you have to supply every file that the application needs to run, and you have to to the same for every other application running at the same project. And you have to do it all over again every time the project updates any of its application types. One typing error, and you have to go back to the beginning, probably losing your cached work and/or your program files in the process.

App_config.xml is much simpler. You only have to mention the single application you wish to modify, and even then, most elements are optional. If you get it wrong, it doesn't work (which is fair enough), but no damage is done - you can go back and try again.

Bookmark Application configuration.

Chooka
Chooka
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I'm still finding E@H feeling

I'm still finding E@H feeling quite different from a few weeks back for some reason :/

GPU stuff aside, I haven't changed any settings and running 4 E@H WU's (nothing else no POGS), BOINC is showing 40hrs and 70 hrs to complete 2 of the WU's. Surely that can't be right. They are S6 WU's.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to run different projects at the same time. Especially if I have to change settings to allow them to run simultaneously.

I think I'll just stop running E@H. Seems too complicated all of a sudden which it never used to be.


Sasa Jovicic
Sasa Jovicic
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Did you set your

Did you set your account/Compute preferences? Under "Suspend work if CPU usage is above...", default setting is 25%. Erease 25% and set 0.

floyd
floyd
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RE: RE: RE: The GPU

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
The GPU utilization factor was a feature added by Bernd before BOINC had a suitable mechanism of its own.

I think you mean the user-defined utilization factor was added by Bernd, right? Surely the utilization factor must have existed before that.

I don't believe it did. As I recall (my memory is hazy because I wasn't using GPUs at the time) the app_config.xml mechanism came in around late 2012 with BOINC 7.0.42 or something like that. I think that prior to that, people had to use the very user unfriendly app_info.xml mechanism if they wanted to schedule more than 1 concurrent task per GPU. Bernd avoided this pain and suffering by developing the GPU utilization factor as a project configuration option, easily settable by the user.


We're talking about different things. I was aiming at the server including something like

    
        ATI
        0.330000
    

in the application info. I'd call that a GPU utilization factor and it existed before it was adjustable by the user. Let's ignore app_info.xml. Then Bernd added the option to modify this code on the Einstein server side and even later a way to override it at the client side was added to BOINC. That's how I understand it.

floyd
floyd
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RE: App_config.xml is much

Quote:
App_config.xml is much simpler. You only have to mention the single application you wish to modify, and even then, most elements are optional. If you get it wrong, it doesn't work (which is fair enough), but no damage is done


Unless you name it app_info.xml out of habit. Been there, done that, lost days of work. :-) Okay, my own fault.

floyd
floyd
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RE: I'm still finding E@H

Quote:
I'm still finding E@H feeling quite different from a few weeks back for some reason :/


I'm not aware of any major changes at Einstein.

Quote:
GPU stuff aside, I haven't changed any settings and running 4 E@H WU's (nothing else no POGS), BOINC is showing 40hrs and 70 hrs to complete 2 of the WU's. Surely that can't be right. They are S6 WU's.


You did a very slow GPU task. Now BOINC thinks your whole computer is slow. It will adjust, but probably not to a point where estimates for GPU and CPU are correct at the same time.

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I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to run different projects at the same time.


In this case it's not about running different projects, it's about doing different types of work at one project.

Quote:
I think I'll just stop running E@H.


POGS doesn't have a GPU application. You might want to opt-out from CPU applications at Einstein, then do GPU work for Einstein and CPU work for POGS. There should be little or no interference.

Richard Haselgrove
Richard Haselgrove
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RE: We're talking about

Quote:
We're talking about different things. I was aiming at the server including something like
    
        ATI
        0.330000
    
in the application info. I'd call that a GPU utilization factor and it existed before it was adjustable by the user. Let's ignore app_info.xml. Then Bernd added the option to modify this code on the Einstein server side and even later a way to override it at the client side was added to BOINC. That's how I understand it.


Yes, the structure was there - that's why we can use it in app_info.xml.

But every project I know (apart from Einstein) has it hard-wired at 1.00 when tasks are issued by the server.

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