CUDA 3.1 app is imminent

[Snow Crash]

GPUGrid has started sending out beta for a CUDA 3.1 version of their app which works with any 3.1 CUDA capable card/ driver

Please note you have to have a 257.x driver installed to recieve any beta WUs.

More importantly they will be releasing this app shortly as the beta seems to be working quite well so everyone should install 257.x drivers.

While the beta WUs are very small I have seen an improvement of 60% on time per step on my GTX480 (avg 10 ms per step on old app and less than 4 ms per step on the beta app: WinXP w SWAN_SYNC=0) and about 40% on my GTX285 (avg 22 ms per step on old app and 12 ms per step on the new app: Win7 no SWAN_SYNC necessary)

While these beta results look very promising we will have to see if the improvements hold up on full size WUs. If they do I expect GPUGrid will increase the size of each WU so overall runtime will ultimately remain about the same per WU however we will get more points per WU ... it's all good

And for those of who OC'd to the edge of stability, as originally posted by Pulsar, I have also seen that I needed to turn my clocks down a little to remain stable with the 257.x drivers.

http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=2213#17791

[WhiteFireDragon]

so these beta WU's are good for all cards (including 200 series) on 257 drivers or is it exclusive to fermi cards?

EDIT: nm, i just checked some of my complete WU's and looks like these are good for any cards using the new drivers. my 295 finishes the WU in just over 4 min (8.5min each GPU)

[=[PULSAR]=]

updated to 3.1 cuda drivers and still get the old 3.0 WU's

[Snow Crash]

I have not recieved any new WUs beyond the betas myself. When I get 3.1 WUs I'll crunch them and in the mean time I'm going to try to be patient and help the project finish up the old WU streams.

[WhiteFireDragon]

updated to 3.1 cuda drivers and still get the old 3.0 WU's

after you said this, i just checked my settings and realized they took off the option to pick and choose which application you want to run. i think as long as you have the run test applications checked off, then it's just the luck of the draw if you get these beta WU's or not. i've only gotten a couple on one of my machines, so it seems these are pretty scarce. nothing to worry about if you don't get any

[Snow Crash]

GDF just posted up that he forgot to tell the server to start sending out 3.1 so we should see them soon

[=[PULSAR]=]

GDF just posted up that he forgot to tell the server to start sending out 3.1 so we should see them soon

hahaha that would explain a lot

[WhiteFireDragon]

GDF just posted up that he forgot to tell the server to start sending out 3.1 so we should see them soon

cool, i have one one queue right now. waiting to see how big these new WU's are

[DAK1640]

Good info Snow Crash

[hedge]

I have only processed one of these new WUs. It seems to have higher cpu usage that the 6.05. I am curious if this is a small WU or if it is the size of the usual WUs?

[Snow Crash]

I posted this over at GPUGrid ...
http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread....rap=true#17824

My first return on a full size 3.1 is slower ... very disappointing.
No changes to system setup: GTX480 on WinXP
Examples are from the same WU type: TONI_CAPBIND*

Old version average runtime was 6550 (very little delta between runs)
# Time per step (avg over 650000 steps): 10.065 ms
# Approximate elapsed time for entire WU: 6541.937 s

New version 1 result runtime was 7768 seconds.
# Time per step (avg over 650000 steps): 11.947 ms
# Approximate elapsed time for entire WU: 7765.391 s

[Snow Crash]

I have only processed one of these new WUs. It seems to have higher cpu usage that the 6.05. I am curious if this is a small WU or if it is the size of the usual WUs?

sorry for the double post ... hedge ... I don't see that you have processed any WUs with the new app version ... can you post a link please?

[WhiteFireDragon]

for me, i'm getting a little bit faster for the v6.09. all my queues are now the new WU's.

v6.09 - 12,730sec - I181-TONI_KIDln-13-100-RND4503_0
v6.05 - 13,422sec - I534-TONI_KIDln-11-100-RND1098_0

[06F150fx4]

I've processed one as well and it was a bit faster than normal.

[hedge]

sorry for the double post ... hedge ... I don't see that you have processed any WUs with the new app version ... can you post a link please?

My computer was almost done with one this morning when I left for work. It had about one hour to go. Don't know why it hasn't posted yet. I will have to check when I get home from work.

[SMTB1963]

I posted this over at GPUGrid ...
http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread....rap=true#17824

My first return on a full size 3.1 is slower ... very disappointing.
No changes to system setup: GTX480 on WinXP
Examples are from the same WU type: TONI_CAPBIND*

Old version average runtime was 6550 (very little delta between runs)
# Time per step (avg over 650000 steps): 10.065 ms
# Approximate elapsed time for entire WU: 6541.937 s

New version 1 result runtime was 7768 seconds.
# Time per step (avg over 650000 steps): 11.947 ms
# Approximate elapsed time for entire WU: 7765.391 s

I installed the new driver, and immediately noticed GPU utilization dropped from ~70% to ~50%. Didn't get any CUDA31 WUs right away, so I thought I'd let it run for awhile to see some work get completed/validated. Woke up this morning to this:



Yellow = 257 driver, red = 1st CUDA31 result. No change in BOINC/GPUGrid preferences (BOINC CPU time throttled 66.67%).

Not sure what to make of this...any ideas?

[werdwerdus]

the new app has been looking great for me, windows 7 x64, swan_sync=0, no ht, gtx470, core i7 930 4ghz:

[WhiteFireDragon]

hmm...with these new WU's, SMTB1963 is getting worst results, werdwerdus is getting better results, and i'm getting a mix of better and worst compared to the 6.05v. this was before my cruncher went into sleep mode and can't wake up

[SMTB1963]

hmm...with these new WU's, SMTB1963 is getting worst results, werdwerdus is getting better results, and i'm getting a mix of better and worst compared to the 6.05v. this was before my cruncher went into sleep mode and can't wake up

A couple more cuda31 WUs have completed, and unfortunately (for me!) it's more of the same - I'm guesstimating ~1/3 drop in PPD.

I don't really want to roll back to the old drivers just yet. I'll run a few more while I keep an eye on the relevant forums to see if uh...oh wait...I'm new at this...can anyone point me to the relevant forums? (besides here and Snow Crash's thread of course)

Also, anyone else here seeing a slowdown running a GTX275?

[Snow Crash]

GDF posted that he has been able to reproduce this performance decrease in the lab and will be working on it next week. While that does not mean there will be something ready next week it is good news that hopefully he can find a fix