GPU OCing Help Thread

[Mabyboi]

The only change I made yesterday was memory and I had some errors also).
I noticed something else ... the WUs both you and I were erroring on were IBUCH ... we both complete the TONIs fine.
Perhaps IBUCH is more demanding than TONI, maybe it is just memory?
My 285 is processing IBUCH just fine so I think we are running a little too high on our 295s.
I turned memory down a hair (1152) and we'll see how today goes ... so far no errors since early this morning.

<edit>I posted over at GPUGrid to see if the failuire rate fro IBUCH Pyxxxx type Wus has been higher recently ... trying to see if it might be them and not our OC.</edit>

i just noticed that too, i just had another error out, thats 6 in the last 14... and theyre all IBUCH... you lowered your memory? ill follow suit and see what happens..

dropped back to 701/1611/1233, shows on evga precision at 702/1620/1242.. i had stability before at 701 1577/1233 so well see if just having the shaders up is causing the issues...

but is now showing 8-11hours for completion....

[CaptMorgan]

I gots my fingers crossed

[Mabyboi]

Just had my drivers reset, and both error'd out... now down to 400/799/297... i may be at my maximum.... great...

Currently running 701/1600/1233 well see how this goes, at this point it looks like my shaders may be at its maximum. but if/when this is stable, ill start fiddling with the core and the memory and see what i can get!

[Snow Crash]

I managed to finish 1 IBUCH and two TONIs this morning. I am a couple hours into another IBUCH without error but I can't tell from here (work) if I have downclocked or not. In the middle of all this mess I did shave a couple minutes off so now my TONI runtime is almost 4:30 exactly

Now if I can keep it running at that rate I can cash in some serious points Where's the checkout counter ???


Crunching is about as exciting as watching paint dry (think I am quoting 123bob on that one) so ....

Otis ... any update on those top secret tweaks you have been working on?

Capt ... where's the worklog ??? I know you added a 280 and have a couple of 275 just waiting to bury me but quit the suspense already
ps ... that 285 is starting to produce some real numbers now ... what did you do to *fix* it? clap:

[CaptMorgan]

Hmm I will edit this soon- I know my 285 seems to be chugging without me even looking @ it and the 280 is getting used to things. From what I remember I have everything @ stock except the shaders.

[Otis11]

Ok... So I already told Mabyboi my hunch... Might as well say it here now.

We're clocking the shaders up extremely high, and some of us even clock memory up... but realize, these parts have to communicate. If they're clocks don't match on any given cycle they can't pass information... So we need to find out what they correct ratio is to lower any timing bottlenecks. I was working on proving this, but as I only have 1 260 it's taking quite a bit of time to get numbers to support it.

I think the numbers I do have support it a little bit... anyone else hitting 27k ppd from a 260???

The best ratio I have right now is 1/2.1565/1.6821 (core/shader/mem) So I'm trying to stay as close to that as possible in all of my clocks... Now I don't think core much of an effect (as far as my inexact science has been), but I think the mem shader does.

[Snow Crash]

So I'll add what little I know about gpu *ratios*

Yes, default out of the box core and shaders are linked ... there must be a reason for that!

Posted somewhere here on XS and specific to old style 295s, I read that once you have maxed your shaders, if you bump your core a notch or two above 600 you can get the next shader strap stable. This did not work for me. No matter what I tried I can;t get 1674 shaders stable. YMMV.

As to the ratios you posted ... not sure I follow ....
Are you saying that the optimal settings for 1656 shaders is 768 core and 1292 memory? Now the core is unimportant for crunching so maybe I could get away with it but I would never be remotely close to stable at anything that actually uses the core. As you've been reading, I think I'm maxing out around 1152 on my memory ... 1292 would crash in a heartbeat.

Of course I may have misunderstood your point entirely and what you mean is that the core is the key to it all so if I get my core max stable then apply your ratios to my shaders and memory then everything will be running at their optimal frequencies and get better runtimes than I have been?

Let me know which direction you are thinking in and I will setup and run a couple of WUs to see where it goes.

[CaptMorgan]

i have gotten slightly lost in this thread, which is not a bad thing, though all I need to do is to go back to post 1. But you are saying that has little or nothing to do with an OC? Also you are thinking that the memory and shader setting's are linked so that if you can find the right setting we could get a stable, higher shader OC?

So my GTX 260's stock are- Clock 576-------Memory 999------ Shader 1242------ = and the only thing I have OC'd is shader @ 1496 and Precision is reading it as 1512

But on this particular Rig with these 2 260's the GPU usage has been slightly higher than normal. Also because it has been previously mentioned the thing I am OC'ing at this point is the shader.

[Mabyboi]

just completed a IBUCH stable and succesfull at 701/1600/1233 ! gonna push the core up a notch after this next WU finishes

[Snow Crash]

i have gotten slightly lost in this thread, which is not a bad thing, though all I need to do is to go back to post 1. But you are saying that has little or nothing to do with an OC? Also you are thinking that the memory and shader setting's are linked so that if you can find the right setting we could get a stable, higher shader OC?

So my GTX 260's stock are- Clock 576-------Memory 999------ Shader 1242------ = and the only thing I have OC'd is shader @ 1496 and Precision is reading it as 1512

But on this particular Rig with these 2 260's the GPU usage has been slightly higher than normal. Also because it has been previously mentioned the thing I am OC'ing at this point is the shader.

I'm kinda hoping Otis lets us know what he thinks in a little more detail
I have only ever seen benefits from OCing shaders and a little bit on memory but I am pretty sure I have reached my limits so if Otis has another approach to getting better runtimes I'm all for it

[Otis11]

What I'm thinking is that you push both mem and shaders to the limit that they can stay in that ratio... Unfortunately your weakest link kills ya and it's probably mem, but if I'm not going crazy I think my run times support that it's better to have them atleast in relation. Idk if that ratio is best, but given that's what NVIDIA sets it at, I think there has to be a reason...

So eg. SC your max mem is 1156? So if it were me i'd put your Shaders at 1467 or as close as they get. But that seems like a large drop for you...

Sure there isn't something else going on? I have my mem stable at 1188 at stock volts no problem and mabyboi is at 1233 without volts... Maybe there is an effect if you keep them in ratio as you start to OC and not just jump one all they way up and then the other?

The reason behind all of this is because the core/shader/mem can only communicate between each other when they're clocks are high, so if you think of sound wave frequencies, think of the beat you hear between different frequencies... every beat you hear between a wave of say 1512 hz and 1188hz is a missed communication. Now of course it's more complicated (and actually not quite the same thing) with clocks and the fact that they only have to be in the same half cycle and all... but that's the thought.

Capt. What's your ppd on that 260 with shaders at 1512? Cuz that's exactly what mines at and that could totally disprove my theory if it's doing roughly the same... Or it could support it. Who knows?

[CaptMorgan]

Looking quickly I have an IBUCH thats says it will complete in 4 hours---- a TONI that will complete in 4:30. Also 2 TONI's waiting that are telling me 5 hours. Lolness trying to finish this rig and i dropped the micro card into the computer and had to pull it apart to get it out- now the card reader is not workin. Don't worry I'll still take pics though Snow Crash

[OldChap]

I'm expecting a new 260 tomorrow or Wednesday and will repeat my Folding @ Home trial ...That is a straightforward gig because of fahmon but my question to you guys is...did anyone who made the move here have to change clocks or were you able to run higher here at all?

Also, does voltagetuner help shaders? and improve completion times?

[Snow Crash]

OldChap ... I read that Voltage Tuner does not help shaders but I am pretty sure that if I don't up my volts the best I can do my shaders is 1512. This is on my old style 2 card GTX295, ymmv on a 260 but the stock core/shader mem is the same for both (576/1242/999)

[Otis11]

Yeah... My TONI says 5:14, but hasn't started... Any idea of your PPD though Capt?

Runtimes change slightly, but PPD is where it counts.

[CaptMorgan]

From the looks of it i am getting some errors here and there but hopefully will stop- I see 6,123 points for some projects and 5,369 for some others. How can i tell where the completed and validated projects come from? As in what rig/card?

[OldChap]

GPUGrid>your account>tasks,view>click on task i.d.

Then if you need to know which rig.... machine i.d.

[CaptMorgan]

Ok so hopefully this helps (thank you Old Chap) Run time 18833----------- CPU time 925----------- claimed credit? 4535------------- granted credit 6123

This is for the 260 Runnin in the AMD rig with Shaders @ 1512

[Snow Crash]

I think I'll let you guys work it out a bit more before I go changing anything.
Otis ... PPD is what we get *paid for* but it is only a side effect of runtime in conjunction with how often and long we let the cards stay running just GPUGrid without interuption. Your runtimes are good for the TONI wus coming around 19200 GPU runtime.

Captain ... your TONI wus are coming in quicker on average (18500 - 18600) but you need leave that machine alone ... the individual runtimes are all over the place for the TONIs

My TONIs are coming in around 16200 - the last one was ~16500 and the two previous were just under 16200.
Granted the 295 has 240 shader units compared to the 216 in the 260s but I am returning faster than that implies and I believe it is because my shaders are at 1656.

Please put up some more numbers to tempt me to test out reducing my shaders to match the magic ratio.
As for my memory issues ... I know there is a CUDA memory tool out there ... I may need to go find it

And to compare my memory settings to Mabyboi's ... hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way but with his current error rate and runtime for TONI coming in over 20k ... I think I'll pass on using his settings as a baseline

[OldChap]

here you go.... https://simtk.org/project/xml/downlo...l?group_id=385

Just an observation from folding : My cards would all run 1944 shaders but only if ambient was under 10deg, above that to about 23 deg I could hit 1890 ...in summer local ambients don't usually go above 33deg and for this I can only run 1836. (all from gx2's and 98gtx) although my 260's display the same characteristics but the top speed is 1620 and the thresholds are a degree or two different

[Mabyboi]

I think I'll let you guys work it out a bit more before I go changing anything.
Otis ... PPD is what we get *paid for* but it is only a side effect of runtime in conjunction with how often and long we let the cards stay running just GPUGrid without interuption. Your runtimes are good for the TONI wus coming around 19200 GPU runtime.

Captain ... your TONI wus are coming in quicker on average (18500 - 18600) but you need leave that machine alone ... the individual runtimes are all over the place for the TONIs

My TONIs are coming in around 16200 - the last one was ~16500 and the two previous were just under 16200.
Granted the 295 has 240 shader units compared to the 216 in the 260s but I am returning faster than that implies and I believe it is because my shaders are at 1656.

Please put up some more numbers to tempt me to test out reducing my shaders to match the magic ratio.
As for my memory issues ... I know there is a CUDA memory tool out there ... I may need to go find it

And to compare my memory settings to Mabyboi's ... hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way but with his current error rate and runtime for TONI coming in over 20k ... I think I'll pass on using his settings as a baseline

I dont know whats wrong!! 711/1600/1233 running a core i7 stock, and im getting 6.5-7hours for completion! what the hell is wrong with my 295?! snow crash, are you running a core i7? what ghz?

stable so far at the clocks listed too...

im extremely dissapointed with my current ppd, and completion rate... can anyone help?

can anybody help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Otis11]

@ SC - yeah the reason I give points value is because it's directly correlated to how much work you get through. And in the end that's what matters!

And I think the best way to test this is just see how high I can push my shaders and mem while stable and then drop the mem a notch or two and see how high shaders can go. I'll work on it later, but as this rig has to be stable for the next week as i won't be able to touch it so I'm not going to start messing to much right now.
(plus i should study... yeah... that's why I'm not messing with it )

Edit: oh and Mabyboi... I think you just need to chill and let the times settle. If you keep messing with the computer it'll slow them down. Also, are you using that computer? Even for small things like you tube videos I've found a decent impact. Mine isn't touched most of the day cuz I have a laptop for daily driver... But I think that's what's going on.

[Mabyboi]

@ SC - yeah the reason I give points value is because it's directly correlated to how much work you get through. And in the end that's what matters!

And I think the best way to test this is just see how high I can push my shaders and mem while stable and then drop the mem a notch or two and see how high shaders can go. I'll work on it later, but as this rig has to be stable for the next week as i won't be able to touch it so I'm not going to start messing to much right now.
(plus i should study... yeah... that's why I'm not messing with it )

Edit: oh and Mabyboi... I think you just need to chill and let the times settle. If you keep messing with the computer it'll slow them down. Also, are you using that computer? Even for small things like you tube videos I've found a decent impact. Mine isn't touched most of the day cuz I have a laptop for daily driver... But I think that's what's going on.

Yeah, its my main rig, i use it alot of the day, watching movies, tv shows.. so i guess it makes sense..

[Otis11]

Yeah, its my main rig, i use it alot of the day, watching movies, tv shows.. so i guess it makes sense..

Yeah, even if you're only using 10-15% of it 20% of the day... It adds up quick... Throw in an error and your toast as far as pie is concerned.

Oh, and FYI - keep posting clocks and revisions. I'll add them all before the weekend.

And thank you to those who have already posted!

[Mabyboi]

Yeah, even if you're only using 10-15% of it 20% of the day... It adds up quick... Throw in an error and your toast as far as pie is concerned.

Oh, and FYI - keep posting clocks and revisions. I'll add them all before the weekend.

And thank you to those who have already posted!

711/1600/1233 stable, 4 WU's done, will push the core up another notch in the morning, see what i can do...

When i get my new Macbook Air, ill probly use that more frequently than the desktop.. so ill be able to overtake you that much faster!