Dual gpu crunching question

[kjeldoran]

I am getting some excess financial aid next semester and I want to have some more crunching power. So, I am thinking of two solutions.

1. Buy a radeon 7970 and sell my 7850
2. Get a 2nd radeon 7850

But, if I get a 2nd radeon 7850, is it possible to have one card crunch while the other is suspended? Right now, my gpu is disabled when I need to use it. This can reduce my output by up to 25% a day. If I had a second card, I could suspend one card when I need it while leaving the other to do crunching

Is this possible? If so, how do I set that up?

[OldChap]

To the best of my knowledge there is no independent control of gpu's AT THIS TIME...... However the new app_config is still being actively worked on with a view to us getting more control over what is crunched. I feel that it is likely that such a feature may be included in the near future.

I wonder though if you could use your config file switching between use all and use one....would mean a re-start of boinc though

[bluestang]

Make 2 config files and copy and read them into BOINC depending on whether you want to run both or just 1. No restart needed.

[werdwerdus]

cc_config.xml:

<exclude_gpu>
<url>http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/</url>
<device_num>0</device_num>
</exclude_gpu>

Will free your first gpu (most likely your display gpu)

[kjeldoran]

Hmm, thanks for the input, but I want a more seamless approach without me having to change the config each time.

Do you think I could have two instances of boinc using the below Config? One instance will be for one GPU and the other will be for the other GPU. Then I can set my primary GPU to suspend when certain .exe's run?

cc_config.xml:

<exclude_gpu>
<url>http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/</url>
<device_num>0</device_num>
</exclude_gpu>

Will free your first gpu (most likely your display gpu)

Thanks for this info.

[werdwerdus]

absolutely, I've done it before. There is a whole thread on here somewhere about running multiple instances. Protip: use 127.0.0.1 as the local ip address, NOT localhost, to connect, it caused me hours of headaches!

a full cc_config.xml would need to be created to include that part, here is a simple example, for the 2nd BOINC instance change the device_num to 1 instead of 0

<cc_config>
   <options>
      <use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
      <exclude_gpu>
         <url>http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/</url>
         <device_num>0</device_num>
      </exclude_gpu>
   </options>
</cc_config>

[kjeldoran]

absolutely, I've done it before. There is a whole thread on here somewhere about running multiple instances. Protip: use 127.0.0.1 as the local ip address, NOT localhost, to connect, it caused me hours of headaches!

a full cc_config.xml would need to be created to include that part, here is a simple example, for the 2nd BOINC instance change the device_num to 1 instead of 0

<cc_config>
   <options>
      <use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
      <exclude_gpu>
         <url>http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/</url>
         <device_num>0</device_num>
      </exclude_gpu>
   </options>
</cc_config>

Thanks for the info. I'll keep this thread in mind. I'm still on the fence about a 7970 or a 2nd 7850. I know I'm getting a samsung 840 pro 256gb and a dell u2412. I don't need the extra gpu power, but I want to crunch more :-).