Variation in GPU work units

[tontod]

I'm getting a pretty big variation in GPU work units. In the last successful run, WU's were being completed in 25-30 min with a Radeon 3450, however, with the new WU, its taking 50-55 min. When this happens, usually the deadline for the WU passes before its completed. Do I need to adjust the parameters to only allow smaller WU's?

 

[theAnimal]

AFAIK all the GPU WUs are small (< 5MB download by definition).

 

[Philippart]

they have small and large proteins, your gpu is really about the weakest I would run folding on. The only thing you can do is experiment with the environment variables, mainly FLUSH_INTERVAL. foldingforum.org gives you a lot of info on how to use these variables!

 

[tontod]

Yeah, I think running with FLUSH_INTERVAL of 16 has worked so far, works fine on a small protein. So, does a slow GPU "weigh down" a CPU?

 

[Philippart]

What is your gpu usage and what's your cpu usage from the gpu client. the gpu only makes your points per day worse if it uses more than 5% cpu usage and takes this way the processing power away from the smp/cpu client.

 

[GLeeM]

Originally posted by: tontod
however, with the new WU, its taking 50-55 min. When this happens, usually the deadline for the WU passes before its completed.

I don't see any WUs that have less than 1.0 day for a Preferred deadline.

What makes you think that the deadline is past?

 

[tontod]

Originally posted by: GLeeM

Originally posted by: tontod
however, with the new WU, its taking 50-55 min. When this happens, usually the deadline for the WU passes before its completed.

I don't see any WUs that have less than 1.0 day for a Preferred deadline.

What makes you think that the deadline is past?

I see the message in the log file:

Unit 5's deadline (September 26 03:12) has passed.
[03:36:28] Going to interrupt core and move on to next unit...
[03:36:29] Got kill signal -- issuing INTERRUPTED core shutdown

 

[GLeeM]

And this is happening after 55 minutes?

What is the Project number?

It should look something like this in the log:

[01:01:37] Project: 5767 (Run 5, Clone 67, Gen 1119)

You can look here to see deadlines, points and other info on WUs.

 

[tontod]

Originally posted by: GLeeM
And this is happening after 55 minutes?

What is the Project number?

It should look something like this in the log:

[01:01:37] Project: 5767 (Run 5, Clone 67, Gen 1119)

You can look here to see deadlines, points and other info on WUs.

It happened after getting to 83% :|

Project info:
Project: 5735 (Run 3, Clone 105, Gen 285)

Looking at that site, looks like I wont finish the current WU (Project 5736), guess I'll just kill it now and obtain a new WU. Also, with my other rig that has the Radeon 3450, its running Project 5738, with a max deadline of 3 days.

 

[theAnimal]

So are you getting frame times of 55 minutes?

 

[tontod]

Originally posted by: theAnimal
So are you getting frame times of 55 minutes?

Yes I am.

 

[FaaR]

Maybe you're better off simply replacing that videocard; fact is the ATI client is woefully underdeveloped despite ATI were the ones who originally pioneered GPGPU applications...

If money (or rather, lack thereof) is a problem, maybe you should just quit folding on your GPU if it just causes a lot of thrown-away work units. It would save electricity on your side, and network bandwidth and server capacity on the Stanford end...

 

[tontod]

Yeah, I was thinking of buying a new video card. I have an Optiplex 960, and from earlier posts, determined that a 1 GB GTS 250 card should work with the existing PS. Hopefully no WU's will be lost with that card.

 

[GLeeM]

Originally posted by: tontod

Originally posted by: theAnimal
So are you getting frame times of 55 minutes?

Yes I am.

Yikes! I thought you meant 55 minutes for the whole WU

My GTX275 finishes a 353 point WU in less than 55 minutes

A 250 shouldn't be too far behind that, should it?. Although I saw someone had one of those OCed to 1900+ on the shaders :shocked: Is that normal and can a GTX275 do the same?

 

[tontod]

Originally posted by: GLeeM

Originally posted by: tontod

Originally posted by: theAnimal
So are you getting frame times of 55 minutes?

Yes I am.

Yikes! I thought you meant 55 minutes for the whole WU

My GTX275 finishes a 353 point WU in less than 55 minutes

A 250 shouldn't be too far behind that, should it?. Although I saw someone had one of those OCed to 1900+ on the shaders :shocked: Is that normal and can a GTX275 do the same?

Actually, 1% was taking me 55 min. so it was crossing the deadline in most cases before it got to 100%

 

[TonyH]

Originally posted by: tontod
Actually, 1% was taking me 55 min. so it was crossing the deadline in most cases before it got to 100%

Ouch!! Definitely time to upgrade. Even my dated 8800s aren't taking any more than 8 or 9 minutes a frame on the largest WUs for GPUs.