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Thread: The app_config Questions thread:

  1. #1
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    The app_config Questions thread:

    Things are getting mixed up between app_info and the later and easier app_config, so I wanted to gather together some information here and Kinda make a fresh start.

    If you are having problems the things needed to help you are a screenshot of your app_config file and your Log (up to the line "not using a proxy"). Please also state your Boinc version.

    I have had success using the complete driver package downloaded from AMD site. Doing that I was sure that I have all the open-cl drivers too.

    So, lets start with a previous post, slightly modified:

    What you need is an app_config file. FOR APP_CONFIG YOU NEED TO RUN BOINC 7.0.42 OR LATER !! Select the one for your os on this page: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php There are advantages to using 7.0.54 or later in that you can make changes on the fly (boincmanager>advanced>read config file)

    Users should be aware that due to the lack of driver support, namely open cl support, AMD 7xxx cards will not crunch using Windows XP.



    Here is one that I have used on 3770K/7950

    <app_config>

    <app>
    <name>hcc1</name>
    <max_concurrent>16</max_concurrent>
    <gpu_versions>
    <gpu_usage>0.0625</gpu_usage>
    <cpu_usage>0.25</cpu_usage>
    </gpu_versions>
    </app>

    </app_config>

    copy this into notepad then save it in the following folder: program data> Boinc> projects> www.worldcommunitygrid.org ensuring you select the "all files" option in the "save as type" box. Name the file app_config.xml

    Unless you changed it already files and folders like this are hidden. Unhide them to get this done: (in search box type folder options and select that from results> you will see this



    As in the highlighted area select show hidden files and folders. It also helps to uncheck the Hide Extensions of Known File Types box...see post 3 below.

    When you stop and re-start boinc this should then start working on 16 wu's running concurrently on your graphics card but your rig may have a number of other projects waiting to run. Go to your my grid page and change your profile to stop cpu work then abort any cpu tasks you may have in cache.

    To get the best out of your rig it is necessary to spend some time separating in time the concurrent wu's so that they are all at a different stage of completion at any one time. It needs to look a little like this:



    May I suggest a figure of around 40 seconds between wu's to start with until you get a feel for how your rig is performing. It is the figure I use on an overclocked 3770K or 2600K. Unfortunately this is not an exact science, as you can maybe see from the pic, so you may find that, over time, the wu's tend to group together. If you are one that wants absolute best performance it is necessary to re-allign regularly (daily) or after you use graphics for anything else like watching vids

    You may want to experiment with how many wu's to run concurrently so here is a little insight as to what each figure in the config file is doing. You can cut/paste this version with its descriptions as your app_config file if you wish. This one runs 8 concurrent GPU wu's and no cpu wu's on a 4 core no h/t cpu.

    <app_config>

    <app>

    <!-- the name tag is the name of the application you want to control with this app_config file-->
    <name>hcc1</name>

    <!-- set max_concurrent to the total number of both CPU and GPU WUs to run at a time on your RIG-->
    <!-- this line is unnecessary but adds control especially for those with two different cards in a rig-->

    <max_concurrent>8</max_concurrent>

    <!-- gpu_version tag is where you take control of how BOINC allocates your resources for this GPU app-->
    <gpu_versions>

    <!-- gpu_usage calucation is 1 divided by the number of WUs you wish to run on any single card-->
    <!-- Don't change this when you add a card then each card will run this number. (if you have enough CPU)-->

    <gpu_usage>0.125</gpu_usage>


    <!-- cpu_usage is how much cpu resources BOINC will reserve to run each gpu WU-->
    <!-- calculation is the number of CPU cores/threads you allow for all GPU work divided by the number of GPU WUs-->

    <cpu_usage>0.5</cpu_usage>

    </gpu_versions>

    </app>

    </app_config>


    Feel free to ask any question if I have been unclear on something
    Last edited by OldChap; 04-01-2013 at 07:41 AM.


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  2. #2
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    Excellent Easter gift OC... This short app_config post will prove very useful to all as a sticky replacement for the present "Working app_info file" sticky...

    Happy Easter...!!!


  3. #3
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    Just to add a little to OCs post. When you set Windows to show hidden files and folders I recommend you remove the check mark next to Hide Extensions of Known File Types. This will not effect you creating an app_config from notepad but this is needed if you ever need to rename a file ( like .cfg to .txt) so you can edit the contents. I found this out the hard way when first setting up BoincTasks.



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  4. #4
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    Edited to include that. thanks nano.


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  5. #5
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    Excellent post OC

    ... I wrapped the xml in code tags and added the notes as XML comments that can be left in the actual file.

    Code:
    <app_config>
    <app>
    
     <!-- the name tag is the name of the application you want to control with this app_config file-->
     <name>hcc1</name>
    
     <!-- set max_concurrent to the total number of both CPU and GPU WUs to run at a time on your rig-->
     <!-- this line is unnecessary but adds control especially for those with two different cards in a rig-->
     <max_concurrent>16</max_concurrent>
    
     <!-- gpu_version tag is where you take control of how BOINC allocates your resources for this app-->
     <gpu_versions>
    
      <!-- gpu_usage calucation is 1 divided by the number of WUs you wish to run on any single card-->
      <!-- don't change this when adding a card as each will try to run this qty (if you have enough CPU)--> 
      <gpu_usage>0.0625</gpu_usage>
    
      <!-- cpu_usage is how much cpu resources BOINC will reserve to run each gpu WU-->
      <!-- calculation is the number of CPU cores/threads for all GPU work divided by the number of GPU WUs-->
      <cpu_usage>0.25</cpu_usage>
    
     </gpu_versions>
    
    </app>
    </app_config>
    Last edited by Snow Crash; 05-04-2013 at 08:10 AM.

  6. #6
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    Made some changes then added your version of what does what. Thanks SC


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  7. #7
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    im running a 3770k and a 7950. my app config looks like this
    <app_config>
    <app>
    <name>hcc1</name>
    <max_concurrent>16</max_concurrent>
    <gpu_versions>
    <gpu_usage>.062</gpu_usage>
    <cpu_usage>0.062</cpu_usage>
    </gpu_versions>
    </app>

    </app_config>
    what the differ with the cpu usage? im now getting around 11mins to finish. if i change it to 0.25 would it help???? kinda confused here. thanks.





  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by the1320god View Post
    im running a 3770k and a 7950. my app config looks like this
    <app_config>
    <app>
    <name>hcc1</name>
    <max_concurrent>16</max_concurrent>
    <gpu_versions>
    <gpu_usage>.062</gpu_usage>
    <cpu_usage>0.062</cpu_usage>
    </gpu_versions>
    </app>

    </app_config>
    what the differ with the cpu usage? im now getting around 11mins to finish. if i change it to 0.25 would it help???? kinda confused here. thanks.

    For 16 concurrent WUs with your setup try this:

    <app_config>
    <app>
    <name>hcc1</name>
    <max_concurrent>16</max_concurrent>
    <gpu_versions>
    <gpu_usage>.0625</gpu_usage>
    <cpu_usage>0.5</cpu_usage>
    </gpu_versions>
    </app>

    </app_config>
    CPU Usage number = Number of core/threads you have (this is 8 for your 3770K with HT active) divided by the number of GPU WUs you wish to run (16 in your case) thus 8 /divided by 16 = 0.5

    Good luck
    Last edited by jeanguy2; 04-02-2013 at 09:10 PM.


  9. #9
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    I posted a list of project names to go in an app config file...... Now I can't find it HELP!


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  11. #11
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    Thanks SC, I was looking for the former and it will fit in here too I think:

    <app_config>
    <app>
    <name>cep2</name>
    <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>c4cw</name>
    <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>cfsw</name>
    <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>dddt2</name>
    <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>dsfl</name>
    <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>faah</name>
    <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>gfam</name>
    <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>hcc1</name>
    <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>hcmd2</name>
    <max_concurrent>0</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>hpf2</name>
    <max_concurrent>0</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>rice</name>
    <max_concurrent>0</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>sn2s</name>
    <max_concurrent>0</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    </app_config>


    Some of the finished projects are still in this list.
    Last edited by OldChap; 05-04-2013 at 07:38 AM.


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  12. #12
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    that app_config is going to try and disperse crunching across all projects, I'm not sure how that is really going to work ... what if you have lots of 1 project but none of another ... will BOINC stop at 1 concurrent as stated by app_config and you have idle cores? Maybe set max concurrent to 99 and add a cpu_usage tag with a value of 1?

    <edit> set max_concurrent> for cep2 to 4 ... 3 might be better

    <edit> there is no need for having all the projects inside an app_config, we can let WCG handle things as normal for any projects other than the HCC1 that I assume for now we are all trying to run the leftovers as efficiently as possible.
    Last edited by Snow Crash; 05-04-2013 at 10:40 AM.

  13. #13
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    There may be an advantage to running app_config for cep2 in that it can be set to download a lot of wu's but only run a given number at any one time. settings the old way would only download a given number and would run them at any time.


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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by OldChap View Post
    There may be an advantage to running app_config for cep2 in that it can be set to download a lot of wu's but only run a given number at any one time. settings the old way would only download a given number and would run them at any time.
    That is how I use it. On the device profile on the WCG site I have set it to download 5 cep2 wu's. But only run on at a time on my crunchers in the app_config. That way you have a few in your cache. Other wise it would only download a new wu when the first is finished and put it at the end of the queue. With a large cache it would only crunch 1 wu every few days.

    On my i3 cruncher with a 3 day cache there is cep2 wu being crunched most of the time.

    All other projects are handled by wcg and are not in my app_config file.
    Last edited by Rob_B; 05-04-2013 at 11:27 PM.

  15. #15
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    So If I have 8 threads and want to crunch 4 CEP2 and 4 HPF2, I would need...

    <app_config>
    <app>
    <name>cep2</name>
    <max_concurrent>4</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    <app>
    <name>hpf2</name>
    <max_concurrent>4</max_concurrent>
    </app>
    </app_config>

    Look about right?

    May as well tidy up some badges until more GPU work comes along.
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  16. #16
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    Try it! I found that if I try to specify max concurrent for each of a larger number of apps it ignored my settings so in the end I just used max for CEP2


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  17. #17
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    Ok, I'll see when I get home how it goes!

    FWIW, rig was running fine with 6 CEP2 WU's going at once, but I don't want any issues when streaming my movies or music either.
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  18. #18
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    Yep, that works...running 4 CEP2 + 4 HPF2.
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    24/7 Cruncher #2
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    24/7 Cruncher #3
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    Samsung Green 4x4GB @2133 C10, EVGA 2080ti FTW3 Hybrid, Samsung 870 EVO 500GB, 2x1TB WD Red RAID1, Win10 Ent, Rosewill Rise, EVGA SuperNOVA 1300W G2

    24/7 Cruncher #4 ... Crucial M225 64GB SSD Donated to Endurance Testing (Died at 968 TB of writes...no that is not a typo!)
    GA-EP45T-UD3LR BIOS F10 modded, Q6600 G0 VID 1.212 (L731B536), 3.6 GHz 9x400 @ 1.312v full load, Zerotherm Zen FZ120
    OCZ 2x2GB DDR3-1600MHz C7, Gigabyte 7950 @1200/1250, Crucial MX100 128GB, 2x1TB WD Red RAID1, Win10 Ent, Centurion 590, XFX PRO650W

    Music System
    SB Server->SB Touch w/Android Tablet as a remote->Denon AVR-X3300W->JBL Studio Series Floorstanding Speakers, JBL LS Center, 2x SVS SB-2000 Subs


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