Guide to running multiple GPU work units

[[Ion]]

How would I set that up with the Utility? Would I put it to run 5 WU's per card, but how many threads so I specify the PC has? I still say eight or...?

Personally, I'd manually edit the app_config.xml file

Tell it to have a maximum of five HCC WUs, each getting .2 GPUs and .6 CPUs:

- <app_config>
<app>
<name>hcc1</name>
<max_concurrent>5</max_concurrent>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>.200</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>.6</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
</app_config>

(this for the HD7770, not the HD6870)

 

[Chicken Patty]

With the utility you have to put 10 WU at a time, 5 per card and 6 threads.

Thank you. How do I determine these #'s? Just trying to understand the utility better so in the future if I have to make changes I'd know what I'm doing. Thanks.

 

[Norton]

Thank you. How do I determine these #'s? Just trying to understand the utility better so in the future if I have to make changes I'd know what I'm doing. Thanks.

The utility is pretty straight forward- you'll get it after a few changes (I still do mine manually most of the time)

Output is basically T&E with your results- add wu's until the ppd is max'd out. Too few and you have lower than ideal results/too many and the time to complete a wu gets too long and ppd drops off.

gpu usage over 95% continuously is about max for the card

 

[sabre23]

My HD7850 works @96 % continuosly in 4 WU's + 1 WU (CPU only).
I dont want to put more pressure as i have stock fan only . Big corsair 400R with open holes .

 

[Chicken Patty]

For now the settings I'm using are doing pretty good. over 28K so far and the day is young.

We'll see how it does.

 

[[Ion]]

For now the settings I'm using are doing pretty good. over 28K so far and the day is young.

We'll see how it does.

You're doing great Captain!

 

[Chicken Patty]

You're doing great Captain!

Thank you sir, looking forward to seeing how much it'll put out by the end of the day.

 

[stinger608]

Quick question, and it has probably been answered a few times LOL

How many wu's can a person run with a 7770 GHZ edition card and still have the system usable?

Reason I ask, is I am pretty sure I have my 6870 traded for the above mentioned card. I know the 7770 will crunch much better than the 6870 but it will still need to be usable as it is the wife's system.

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[Norton]

Quick question, and it has probably been answered a few times LOL

How many wu's can a person run with a 7770 GHZ edition card and still have the system usable?

Reason I ask, is I am pretty sure I have my 6870 traded for the above mentioned card. I know the 7770 will crunch much better than the 6870 but it will still need to be usable as it is the wife's system.

Thanks in advance guys.

Start with 3 and if all is OK then go up to 4 or 5... 4 is generally the best but if you're using the rig I don't know how the lag will be on it?

You can also bump the clock up at least 50Ghz w/o too much trouble

 

[stinger608]

Thanks Norton! I was thinking that most were running 4 threads with them. I will give 4 a try and see how much lag if any there is.

With the 6870 I can only run 1 thread otherwise it lags bad.

 

[Chicken Patty]

I'm running five WU's on mine and it's pretty freaking laggy, but the CPU crunching as well.

 

[t_ski]

Quick question, and it has probably been answered a few times LOL

How many wu's can a person run with a 7770 GHZ edition card and still have the system usable?

Reason I ask, is I am pretty sure I have my 6870 traded for the above mentioned card. I know the 7770 will crunch much better than the 6870 but it will still need to be usable as it is the wife's system.

Thanks in advance guys.

Part of it depends on the system and the CPU I guess. I can run eight on each of the 7770's and everything is fine except videos.

 

[[Ion]]

I'm running five WU's on mine and it's pretty freaking laggy, but the CPU crunching as well.

Yes, it will be laggy--I've found that over two WUs on cards tends to do that (unfortunately). Hence why I suggest (if possible) a different system for daily use (or suspending GPU computing while you're using the computer)

 

[Chicken Patty]

Yes, it will be laggy--I've found that over two WUs on cards tends to do that (unfortunately). Hence why I suggest (if possible) a different system for daily use (or suspending GPU computing while you're using the computer)

I just suspended when in use, have no choice really. Oh well, it does spend a lot of time idle, and that's when the magic happens.

 

[topry]

Question for those running multiple GPUs - do you notice any performance difference based on the PCI slot? For example if you have 3 identical cards in a mobo with x16, x8, x4 is there any demonstrable difference due to the number of channels or are the data transfer requirements for the GPU tasks such that this metric isn't relevant?

 

[Norton]

Question for those running multiple GPUs - do you notice any performance difference based on the PCI slot? For example if you have 3 identical cards in a mobo with x16, x8, x4 is there any demonstrable difference due to the number of channels or are the data transfer requirements for the GPU tasks such that this metric isn't relevant?

I had 2x 7770's running in a AMD 970 chipset board (x16/x4) and didn't notice any difference in output.... The difference between a 16X and a 4X slot shouldn't be more than 10% imo

 

[[Ion]]

I know that even an x2 slot is plenty for FAH, so I doubt that x4 is an issue. At least it doesn't seem to be with my i7-920 system.

 

[topry]

Norton/Ion - thanks for the input. I did not expect it would be relevant (assuming there wasn't a bottleneck elsewhere). I tried to perform some anecdotal tests, but with WU's of varying sizes and the inability to re-run the same WU's for comparisons, it wasn't possible to get any meaningful datapoints.

 

[Deleted member 74752]

Does anyone know what the average completion time should be for a WU on a 7970 running say 8 WU's concurrently? I'm showing around 9 minutes to completion and was wondering if all is well.

 

[HammerON]

That sounds about right

 

[Deleted member 74752]

That sounds about right

Revised - It's about 7 minutes now...I should probably add more WU's to the card?

Changed to 12 WU's and it's back to around 9 minutes...

 

[t_ski]

When you change you have to let it settle a little. If you have several WU's trying to complete all at the same time they are fighting for CPU time, and it slows them down. As they settle, they start to stagger more and finish one after another instead of all at the same time.

 

[topry]

Anyone successful in running NVidia and AMD/ATI GPU in same rig - either same project or different? I have not tried it yet and while both cards with current drivers 'should' run under windows 7 independently, I don't currently have an AMD card to test with.

 

[Deleted member 74752]

Anyone successful in running NVidia and AMD/ATI GPU in same rig - either same project or different? I have not tried it yet and while both cards with current drivers 'should' run under windows 7 independently, I don't currently have an AMD card to test with.

I have done it recently with one 5850 and two GTX 295's...worked great for a spell, but the 295's quit receiving WU's after a re-boot.

 

[stinger608]

Anyone successful in running NVidia and AMD/ATI GPU in same rig - either same project or different? I have not tried it yet and while both cards with current drivers 'should' run under windows 7 independently, I don't currently have an AMD card to test with.

I have done it recently with one 5850 and two GTX 295's...worked great for a spell, but the 295's quit receiving WU's after a re-boot.

I have been wondering the same thing. I am currently running a single 7870 but also have a GTX560 that is sitting doing nothing.
Not sure how that would work LOL. Would I install the card and Nvidia driver and try it?