PrimeGrid Year of the Horse Races Jan 3-18

[Ken g6]

Just when you thought it was safe to rest your GPU...

Welcome to a new year of PrimeGrid challenges, starting with the "Year of the Horse" races. And, yes, I mean "races": there are two running in parallel: the Pony Express for short GFN WUs, and the Stallion Edition to attempt to find a world-record-size prime.

Two independent sets of scores. There will be a winner for the "Pony Express" challenge and a winner for the "Stallion Edition" challenge. Also, challenge points will be higher in the WR challenge than in the short task challenge due to the increased difficulty of running the long tasks. This is being done as an incentive to run GPUs in the Stallion Edition challenge.

(By challenge points, I mean the points you get for coming in first, second, etc.)

What you need to participate:

• One or more stable GPU(s). They can be either AMD or nVidia, but they need to be able to do double-precision computation. Scroll down to the bottom ofthis page for a list of known working GPUs on GFN, as well as their relative speeds. If your GPU is not listed there, you may be SOL. (Single-precision Only Level. ) Be sure not to overclock too much. If any of your PPS Sieve WUs errored out in the last race, lower your overclock for sure. I'm going to try to do a GFN Short WU between the F@H race and this one, just to be sure it doesn't crash.
• And/OR you can run one or more fast, stable x86-64 processors with a 64-bit OS. There is no 32-bit CPU work. CPUs with SSE3 will have an advantage; Intel CPUs with AVX will have a greater advantage.
• Windows, Linux, or MacOS 10.4+.
• BOINC, attached to PrimeGrid (http://www.primegrid.com/).

Configuring your computers, at http://www.primegrid.com/prefs.php?subset=project
First, do you have a GPU capable of running Genefer WUs? (See above.)

• Yes: Be sure to check both GPU checkboxes at the top of the page. Be sure that no checkboxes are checked in sections other than "Subproject (Genefer)".
• Yes: Do you want to run world-record sized WUs? I estimate they take about 10 times as long as short WUs, but that's only an educated guess.
  • No: Only select checkboxes in the first row of "Subproject (Genefer)" options. Do not select any in the second row (the one without CPU options.)
  • Yes: Only select checkboxes in the second row of "Subproject (Genefer)" options, except for CPU options in the first row. After your computer(s) have downloaded enough GFN-WR work for the race, you may want to deselect the checkboxes in the second row and select the corresponding ones in the first row.
• Yes: Is it AMD or nVidia?
  • AMD : You will want to select the OpenCL checkbox in the AMD/ATI GPU column, in your selected row.
  • nVidia: Is your GPU is 500-series or older?
    • Yes: You will want to select only the CUDA checkbox in the NVIDIA GPU column, in your selected row. You probably shouldn't fiddle with blocksize.
    • No: You will want to select only the OpenCL checkbox in the NVIDIA GPU column, in your selected row.

Second, do you have any 64-bit CPUs on 64-bit OSes?

• Yes: Be sure to check the CPU checkbox at the top of the page, and the CPU checkbox in the "Subproject (Genefer)" section. Be sure that no checkboxes are checked in sections other than "Subproject (Genefer)".
• Yes: Are any of them running Windows and do they have (Edit: Intel) processors capable of running AVX instructions? (Sandy Bridge or later CPUs that are not named "Pentium" or "Celeron" can use AVX.)
  • Yes: Check the "Force AVX" checkbox in the "Subproject (Genefer)" section. Edit: Also deselect the non-AVX CPU checkbox! Be sure to use this profile only on systems with CPUs that can use AVX!

As you can see, there are quite a few options for this project. Also note that there are only four profiles you can set up: Home, Work, School, and the default ("--"). Some people with diverse systems may need to compromise somewhere. For example, the nVidia OpenCL client is only a little slower than the CUDA client on GT500-series GPUs, so you might have to set some systems to do that. But, hopefully, there won't be too many conflicts.

What might help:

• Ken's WU Juggling Guide for those using multi-core CPUs.

What won't help (but won't hurt either):

• A large amount of RAM.
• Any really old video cards or Intel video cards - though you might want to use them for your display while newer cards crunch.

This challenge starts on January 3 at 18:00 UTC and runs for 15 days. Only WUs downloaded after the start of the challenge and completed before the end of the challenge will be counted. Should you not be able to be in front of one or more computers at the start time, try one of the scheduled start methods from the strategy thread (for Linux or Windows). Network connection time options may also be useful - though they depend on your computer's clock being correct, so set the start time a few minutes late.

Welcome and good luck to all! :thumbsup:

P.S. Did I mention my stats user script lately? Add it to Firefox or Chrome, and click one of the Username links in my stats for the latest stats.

 

[Ken g6]

Asked in the last race thread:

I am a little confused as the next race is a dual challenge. Do we only run the Pony Express Challenge?
Or do we fiinish as many Stallion Challenge WUs as there is time for and then start running the shorter Pony Express WUs?

That's somewhat up to you. If you are willing, and your GPUs are stable, please do finish as many Stallion Challenge WUs as there is time for and then start running the shorter Pony Express WUs. If your GPUs are less stable, or slow, or you want a slightly better chance of finding a prime, or you just don't want to wait several days for one WU to complete, then just do the Pony Express WUs.

 

[deerslayer]

the GFN-WR tasks on a GPU and GFN-Short tasks on a CPU both take about 10 days on my computer

Wow. Ten days?

 

[GLeeM]

While BOINC's time estimates are notoriously unreliable, the Genefer app is very good at predicting how long it will take to run. After a few minutes, it writes a very accurate time prediction to the file "stderr.txt" located in the BOINC "slot" directory where the app is running. You can open this file in your text editor of choice to view this time estimate.

According to this we can check if our computer will finish before the end of the race.

 

[Ken g6]

If WUs take less than 10 days, and you have two CPU cores or more, then you can juggle in at least 50% more work with my WU Juggling Guide. I think the same might apply with two identical GPUs on one machine - I'm not sure because I've never run with two GPUs on one machine.

 

[zzuupp]

... If you are willing, and your GPUs are stable, please do finish as many Stallion Challenge WUs as there is time for and then start running the shorter Pony Express WUs. ....

It's been a few months since I last attempted a big WU. IIRC, those took 7 - 8 days on my cards.

My strategy will be to complete one WR, then switch to the smaller ones. They "only" take 16-ish hours.

 

[lane42]

so, a GTX 570/580 check the cuda box. a GTX 780 check the opencl box,
I have one box with a 580 and 780, what would I do.

 

[Ken g6]

so, a GTX 570/580 check the cuda box. a GTX 780 check the opencl box,
I have one box with a 580 and 780, what would I do.

:hmm: Good question. I don't have two GPUs in one box, so I don't know the answer to this: If you have two different WUs running, and you suspend them both and then resume one, will it always resume on one GPU as opposed to the other? If so, I'd say the ideal thing to do is to get one type, reconfigure your computer in the PrimeGrid settings, abort any extra WU, and then get another of the other type.

Otherwise...probably OpenCL. It makes the 780 much faster, and the 580 not much slower.

 

[deerslayer]

I'm in.

 

[lane42]

Thanks g6. oh, i'm in.

 

[biodoc]

Remember, only WUs downloaded after the start of the race count as challenge points. I seem to recall I had problems with Nvidia cards that are factory overclocked. Is this still true?

 

[Ken g6]

Remember, only WUs downloaded after the start of the race count as challenge points. I seem to recall I had problems with Nvidia cards that are factory overclocked. Is this still true?

Yes and yes. Somebody in one of the threads mentioned that lowering the memory clock might help more than lowering the core clock, but I don't know for sure. And it's not all cards either - my GTX460 is factory overclocked and working fine. 550tis or 560tis seemed to have the most trouble.

 

[deerslayer]

So I need to suspend the WUs I have downloaded that say "Ready to start" and download new ones on the 3rd?

 

[biodoc]

So I need to suspend the WUs I have downloaded that say "Ready to start" and download new ones on the 3rd?

There's a countdown clock on the PrimeGrid home page (upper right) that shows the time left until the start of the challenge. That clock is in sync with your computer's clock so if your computer's clock is accurate then that's how much time is left until the start. Am I making sense??

Anyway, since these WU's are so long make sure you download WUs after the race starts, otherwise they don't count.

The WUs you are crunching right now can be aborted, if you like. What I do is highlight PrimeGrid project in the Boinc manager and then choose "no new tasks". Then I highlight the tasks you are currently crunching and choose abort. I then wait until 5-10 minutes after the start of the race, highlight PrimeGrid and then choose "allow new tasks". It would be a bummer if you spend 8-9 days crunching WUs downloaded before the challenge officially starts and then the work doesn't count toward challenge points.

 

[biodoc]

For my 660Ti, in linux, using the OpenCL app for "short (pony) WUs":

Estimated total run time for 292240^1048576+1 is 12:41:55

EDIT: Boinc is estimating 7 hours and 24 minutes

 

[deerslayer]

Race starts at 18:00 UTC which would be NOON central time correct?

 

[biodoc]

Race starts at 18:00 UTC which would be NOON central time correct?

Yes.

 

[deerslayer]

Oh and my 7770 took a lot longer than the boinc claimed 18 hours.

 

[Ken g6]

And we're off!

My computer wouldn't stop downloading more stallion WUs until I stopped in manually. So maybe you should check yours as well.

 

[deerslayer]

Fired mine up about 10 minutes ago from work. Teamviewer doesn't work too bad.

 

[Ken g6]

Important news for people running on Windows with AVX:

IMPORTANT:

IF you have a Windows AVX-capable machine:

I just discovered that a BOINC feature isn't the working the way it is supposed to work (or at least not the way I thought it's supposed to work.)

The instructions on the preferences page USED to say that, in order to get the GeneferAVX app, you must check the ForceAVX box and it didn't matter if you also checked the CPU box. It doesn't seem to actually work that way.

To get the GeneferAVX app, you must check the "Force AVX" box and NOT check the "CPU" box. If you check the "CPU" box you will get the SSE3 app instead of the AVX app.

The instructions on the preferences page have been modified accordingly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you've downloaded the SSE3 app and want the AVX app, feel free to correct the preferences and then abort the SSE3 apps. The difference in speed is well worth wasting a little time aborting the SSE3 task.

I'll update the OP shortly.

 

[deerslayer]

app = task?

How do you tell which one they are? Mine says Genefer 2.10 (atiGFN)

Is this how the check boxes should be for FX6300 and ATI gpu?

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/deerslayer/Capture.JPG

 

[Ken g6]

That should work OK. However, AMD CPUs don't have a good AVX implementation. So you should probably check the regular CPU checkbox instead.

You should see seven WUs running on your computer. However, [thread=2361692]you may have elected to make some of them non-PrimeGrid WUs[/thread].

Edit: P.S. Don't abort any PrimeGrid WUs based on the advice in this post.

 

[deerslayer]

I have 6 rosetta@home running and the 1 primegrid on gpu. This race is gpu only isn't it?

 

[Ken g6]

This race is gpu only isn't it?

Nope. You can run it on CPUs too:

Second, do you have any 64-bit CPUs on 64-bit OSes?

• Yes: Be sure to check the CPU checkbox at the top of the page, and the CPU checkbox in the "Subproject (Genefer)" section. Be sure that no checkboxes are checked in sections other than "Subproject (Genefer)".
• Yes: Are any of them running Windows and do they have (Edit: Intel) processors capable of running AVX instructions? (Sandy Bridge or later CPUs that are not named "Pentium" or "Celeron" can use AVX.)
  • Yes: Check the "Force AVX" checkbox in the "Subproject (Genefer)" section. Edit: Also deselect the non-AVX CPU checkbox! Be sure to use this profile only on systems with CPUs that can use AVX!

I'm only going to get one WU done per core, about 13 days each. But if your cores are any faster, you ought to be able to juggle at least one more in, if you wanted to.