HOW TO: Set up two nvidia clients

[SparkyJJO]

I saw that you guys have a how-to for setting up a single GPU client but nothing (that I saw anyway) for multiple. I was frustrated with homework at 2:45 in the morning so I thought I'd type this up

Any questions or corrections, let me know and I'll address them.

Notes:
I based this off using the systray client, however setup should be similar for the console.

You must turn SLI to OFF for this to work. You can leave the bridges connected, just be sure SLI is OFF in the control center.

You will need to extend your desktop to the second card (and third and fourth etc) in order to activate the card to fold on it. XP users can just extend, Vista users need DUMMY PLUGS on each card to extend the desktop as shown HERE. Downside is your mouse pointer can run away on you, but if it does, just drag your mouse to the left until it reappears

Sometimes, the GPU IDs and the actual cards get confused in software, i.e. gpu 0 ends up being the second card and gpu 1 ends up being the first card (this happened to me). Cause is unknown but it doesn't hurt anything. Just confusing is all.

1. DOWNLOAD
GPU2 systray client, I used the standard one not the "special" nvidia one since you should leave the viewer closed anyway! Slows stuff down
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther

2. INSTALL
just follow the directions. Not too hard here

3. DUPLICATE
For XP: Go to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data and make a second copy of the Folding@Home-gpu folder and call it Folding@home-gpu-1

For VISTA: Go to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming and make a second copy of the Folding@Home-gpu folder and call it Folding@home-gpu-1

4. CREATE SHORTCUTS
Ignore the shortcut that the installer made in your start menu. Create a new shortcut on your desktop (or wherever you prefer) using THIS INFO:

For XP:
TARGET (Include everything in bold): "C:\Program Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 0
START IN (include everything in bold): "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Folding@home-gpu"

For VISTA:
TARGET (Include everything in bold): "C:\Program Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 0 note Vista x64 users: Program Files will be Program Files (x86)
START IN (include everything in bold): "C:\Users\username\AppData\Folding@home-gpu"

Repeat for the second client, except change the TARGET to have -gpu 1 on the end and START IN to have -1 on the end, like so: In XP "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Folding@home-gpu-1" or in VISTA "C:\Users\username\AppData\Folding@home-gpu-1"

5. CONFIGURE
Start the shortcut for your first client. It will display a control panel.
Put in your F@H username, team number, and (if you have one) passkey.
Go to the advanced tab, make sure the machine ID is set to 1, UNLESS you have a CPU client (i.e. SMP) on your CPU. In which case, use the next available ID number (probably 2 if you are running just one CPU client). I suggest setting priority to "slightly higher" as well. CPU usage percent should be all the way up for max performance, note that it probably will not use more than a few percent if any in actual usage. Hit OK, your first client should be running.

Start the second client. Set your username, team number, etc... everything the same as the first client EXCEPT set the machine ID to the next ID number.

Voila! Both should be working now. Good job

6. MONITORING
To monitor the GPU clients in FAHmon, point FAHmon to the START IN folders of the clients.

 

[bogmali]

Yup pretty much the same way for the console, good write up. Careful with the spaces with the -gpu tags as it will reject it (easy fix nonetheless)

Buck Nasty-can we get this stickied?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Oh shoot I was doing it from memory - is it supposed to be -gpu0 not -gpu 0? *EDIT* Checked and I have it right.

 

[crtecha]

great article sparky subscribed

 

[alphadog0309]

quick question.... say i didn't want to turn sli off, should the single version work with my system still???

 

[Papahyooie]

Can someone write up a little more detail for the console client? I cant see how its the same as these folders are not created by the console client. Its all in its own self-contained folder. I tried naming them all using the how-to's configuration, but they still all point to the same gpu and blue screen when I try to run more than one. (reason i know they all still point to the same gpu is because both (and all three as well when i tried 3 of them) folders will work to run the same gpu when there is only one gpu present, obviously only one at a time though.

 

[goldfries]

Can someone write up a little more detail for the console client?

I'll try to get it done for you.

I run console clients using both cores on the GTX295. it should work the same.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

have you set the gpu-0 and gpu-1 flags in the shortcut properties? These flags tell the client what GPU to run on.

 

[Papahyooie]

I couldnt get the shortcuts to work atall. I tried naming the exe's as such as well but to no avail. What should the "start in" be? Just the root folder?

 

[goldfries]

for the GTX295, I had to disable multi-GPU and extend the desktop for it to work.

 

[bogmali]

What should the "start in" be? Just the root folder?

Once you've created your shortcuts, you should not have to mess with the "start in" directory, as shown by Buck the "target" box is where you need to edit it and add the "-gpu" flag.

 

[bogmali]

for the GTX295, I had to disable multi-GPU and extend the desktop for it to work.

Correct and that would be the only way to get the 2 cores folding. Be careful and be prepared to get "UNSTABLE MACHINE" errors once you start folding with 2 cores using DVI and dummy plugs. It will only work if you use the HDMI output as the primary and the 2nd DVI as secondary core

 

[Solaris17]

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=850811&postcount=1440

win7 and xp dont need dongles only vista because the other 2 os's can run more than 1 display driver...also you wouldnt need to disable sli for xp or 7 iv gotten it to work without doing that. this post is so you can add info as you see fit. good idea good guide.

 

[Papahyooie]

Hm. I tried that, and I tried changing the start in directory to what the tutorial said (which obviously didnt work because those folders dont exist) anyway niether way seemed to work, they still pointed to the same gpu. Gonna try it again right now. Wish me luck, this darn rig needs it... got all my nice folding/crunching hardware finally (thanks bogmali ) and it hasnt worked right yet...

 

[goldfries]

the annoyance i face is that sometimes it just refuse to extend desktop. Usually a reboot solves it. First output with DVI and 2nd with dongle.

I've stopped folding with it. After about 2 month or more of using it, i got tired with the noise and heat it did for my office. . . . . Ok well my gaming rig it is.

aside from the above points. I also have seperate folder for each GPU console client. Both also have the flag. Will printscreen later when i'm home.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

I couldnt get the shortcuts to work atall. I tried naming the exe's as such as well but to no avail. What should the "start in" be? Just the root folder?

you must create 2 separate folders (named gpu-0 and gpu-1) for the start-in. Then un-zip the client into each of those folders. Create a shortcut for the executable in each folder and move it to the desktop, then you want to re-name and change the properties of both shortcuts(to -gpu 0 and -gpu 1). What kind of errors are you getting?

 

[Papahyooie]

I'll give it another whirl today. The error im getting was that when i tried to run more than one client it would hang forever then blue-screen. Then while I researched it i realized that all the shortcuts were still pointing to the one card because when i removed all but one card, both folders would still start the one card folding, whereas it should tell me I needed to upgrade my gpu driver, blah blah (or i expect something similar with the console client, thats what it did for the tray client.)

 

[goldfries]

as mentioned, here's a screenie of my F@H 2-GPU client setup.

 

[MoonPig]

Got a problem with Windows 7 7127.

I don't have any "F@H" folders in "C:\Users\MoonPig\AppData\Roaming"

Here's a screenshot:

 

[El Fiendo]

What data / items are you looking for? I can't think of any client of mine having a folder in roaming either.

 

[MoonPig]

Im going by the OP.

Tbh, if anyone fancies setting it up for me, im more than happy for them to use Teamviewer and do it

Let me know.

Otherwise, if someone can help me with setting up two clients on Windows 7, thanks.

 

[El Fiendo]

Ah, I think it installs to roaming when you say install for everyone on this computer (I think, I can't remember for the life of me). Check for it in 'Local' or the third folder there.

 

[MoonPig]

I didn't have the choice to 'install for everyone'. Im using the console version...

Edit:

Ahhh....

I have a folder on my desktop with all the same files as other peoples 'Roaming' ones.

Lets see if i can make this work.

 

[El Fiendo]

Ah, the console version just extracts right? I was thinking there was a reason why I've never had folding files anywhere near AppData.

 

[kylzer]

If you use GUI version then

Right click on start, and select Explore. to C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming, and locate the Folding@home-gpu folder. Right click on the folder, and select copy.
Now Paste the folder into the Roaming directory two times, and name them:
Folding@home-gpu-2

Right click on the Folding @home-1 icon, and set it's properties to run as Administrator, and set the:
Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 0
Start in: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Folding@home-gpu

Right click on the Folding @home-2 icon, and set it's properties to run as Administrator, and set the:
Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 1
Start in: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Folding@home-gpu-2

sometimes if you can problems try using theses lines "-gpu 0 -forcegpu nvidia_g80" "-gpu 1 -forcegpu nvidia_g80"

omg just noticed you're on about the console version lol.