GPU usage up and down

Hi all

since yesterday ive noticed the gpu usage % is all over the place.

it never used to be, it use to stick at 99% all the time, i did update the driver the other day and ive just reverted back the the older one and its still doing it

the WU is P8008 its done loads of these with an average PPD of 16.5k

but now the PPD is showing 12.5k...

screen shot

 

ive found it.....

the cpu has finished a WU so when the cpu load dropped to 0% the gpu when upto 99% its not done this before..

BUT i set up the cpu to fold in Ubuntu in a VM...

is this the problem?

 

Hi kirk46

Clearly you have multiple processes fighting for CPU resources and causing a bottleneck for the GPU. Normally it`s the the GPU that wins and steals resources from the SMP client. Maybe your VM has a higher priority than the GPU client. You will have to experiment with settings to see what gives the best results overall.

Good luck

 

That's true I never thought of that

What's settings do I need to be looking at?

Thanks

 

ive changed the priority in task manager and now its all good

the vm player was set at 'normal'

and the gpu core was set to 'low'

so i just swapped them round

 

Check that the GPU doesn't revert back after a WU has finished and restarted.

 

will do Doc

 

Priority

Hi kirk46

Setting priorities in task manager is only a temporary solution. The thing that actually does the calculations is the FAH core, when a work unit finishes the client will shut down the core, download a new work unit and then restart the core. This is seen by windows as a new process so any priority you had set will be lost. The VM should not have this problem, but if you restart the VM then its priority will be lost.

You can change CPU priority within FAH, the settings are "low" or "slightly higher". You can probably set priority within your virtual machine software.

Your GTX560 is down to 11.5K PPD. Are you gaining any performance from the VM? P8008 work units use a lot of CPU cycles, You will not be able to get full performance from the GPU and the CPU with these work units. something has to give.

 

Hi slowlemon

yes you and the Doc were correct, after the gpu WU finished the priority changed back...

i cant find any option to change it in the VM payer software

for now ive changed the priority for the VM player to low in task manager so when the GPU starts a new WU they will both be on low

im folding in linux with client v6.34 and i only have low or idle as the priority
the priority is set to idle will changing it to low help?

 

Hi kirk46

I would change the priority of the GPU client to the higher option within FAH. What is your actual set up? I assume we are talking about your Q6600, I assume you are running windows native and Linux in a VM. Which version of windows? Which version of Linux? Which FAH client are you using for the GPU? Are you using a pre-built disc image from Linuxforge in the VM or did you install Linux onto the VM your self?

Are you actually gaining any advantage from running a VM? Wouldn`t it be easier just to run everthing on FAHcontrol V7 in windows?

 

yes the Q6600

running windows 7 with ubuntu 10.10 as a VM

the gpu client is gpu tracker, the fah client is 6.30r1?

i just downloaded VM player and it did the rest from the ubuntu iso file i used a guide to set it up

i am seeing a slight increase in ppd on the Q6600 in linux as thats always been the case so i thought id give it a shot

 

Upgrade to 6.34 at least.

You may do better overall by ditching the VM and doing everything in Windows 7 and using v7 clients. It'll be interesting as this is one of those "you don't know till you try it" situations.
Were you getting -bigadv CPU WUs by spoofing, or just ordinary SMP?

 

spoofing?

i always get P609* WU's

im not sure how to update the client for gpu tracker

, i think i will scrap the VM as its more trouble than its worth....

i did start with V7 but moved to gpu tracker