Hello: You can use <app_config.xml> two tasks to run on a GPU, if so, what is the name of the project or projects to set app_config GPUGRID correctly in "<name>??????? </ name> " in BOINC 7.0.54

Hello: Solved, by trial and error.

Is: "acemdshort" for short tasks and suppose to be the equivalent long.

Hello: So far works perfectly running two GPU tasks (tasks GTX590x4) plus 1 CPU per task.

We'll see if the performance is worth a whole ...?.

Hello: In the first tasks undertaken by configuring TWO tasks per GPU the result is not very encouraging.

The gain in execution time is an average of 5%, that's something but not enough for me.
Obviously only applies to short tasks to keep the bonus.

In other projects like WCG gain is 30% on average, I guess in GPUGRID GPU load is already highly optimized and there is no room.

Hello: I still have some testing to confirm results, for which the interested reader this is the configuration file app_config.xml replaced in the project directory GPUGRID.

<app_config>
<app>
<name>acemd2</ name>
<max_concurrent>4</ max_concurrent>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>.5</ gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>1</ cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
</app_config>

Note that in order to work with the two types of short tasks become the name "acemd2" instead of "acemdshort" discussed above.

With this configuration we perform two tasks per GPU and CPU by assigning a task, in this case it is a GTX590 performing 4 tasks using two GPUs and 4 CPUs. Greetings.

I'll chime in with my information.
I have 2 nVidia GPUs (GTX 660 Ti, and GTX 460).

When I watch some of the GPUGrid tasks run, I notice that some of them use a CPU all of the time, some tasks only use a CPU part of the time, and some don't really use much CPU. Also, the GPUGrid processes appear to have been tweaked such that the base priority is "Below Normal", which is above "Low" (which CPU tasks use).

With that in mind, since I have 2 video cards and care very much about my other CPU projects, I have decided to use the following app_config.xml. Essentially, I've set it up with 0.499 for cpu_usage, so that even when both video cards are crunching GPUGrid tasks, my CPUs are still kept busy. The GPUGrid projects still get all the CPU they'd need/want (because their base priority is special), and when I happen to get GPUGrid tasks that don't use much CPU, my CPU tasks pick up the slack (Since 0.499 + 0.499 < 1.000, meaning that a CPU core is NOT reserved for GPUGrid)... and the result is always 100% CPU utilization.

I hope you understand that logic. It works well for me.

Hello: "<max_concurrent>50</max_concurrent>" this means that can perform 50 tasks simultaneously ... but assigns only one GPU, I do not understand this configuration.

I believe <max_concurrent> means "run up to this many tasks at once, of this application, across your entire computer"

Since I only have 2 GPUs, and I'm only running 1 task per GPU, I could theoretically set it as low as 2 and it wouldn't have any effect.

I just put it to 50 to ensure it never limits me, and to satisfy the spec found at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/ClientAppConfig. Though I'm told the <max_concurrent> line can be omitted, I'd prefer not to risk it, so I just set it arbitrarily high, to 50.

It's the <gpu_usage> and <cpu_usage> settings that determine how many tasks run at the same time on a given GPU, and how much CPU each task takes.

Make sense?

Come to think of it, in case I add more GPUs in the future, I'll probably go ahead and set <cpu_usage> arbitrarily low, to 0.001, for each of the apps, that way even if I had 3+ GPUs, a CPU core would never be reserved.

I have tested it already. While watching Task Manager's Details tab, sorted by CPU descending, I see that the acemd process is never starved for CPU, even though other running CPU tasks are (at times) starved.

This is because the acemd process is running at a higher priority; the "base priority" column shows "Below normal" for the acemd task, which is higher than the "Low" priority that the CPU tasks get. Process Explorer also confirms that the GPUGrid process is running priority 6, whereas the CPU tasks are running priority 4.

So, even though the computer is a bit overloaded (especially when a GPUGrid task actually does use a CPU core most of the time), only CPU projects are getting starved. And my CPU is always at 100% usage. It works wonderfully.

So, now my app_config.xml file is:

Carlesa25;

I tried using your app_config.xml example to run 2 WU per GPU on 2x GTX 590 for acemdlong WU.

I'm using BOINC 7.0.52.

I still get only 1 WU per GPU running.

I put the app_config.xml in the GPUGrid.net project directory.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Operator
____________

Assuming you have the app_config.xml file in the right location (mine is within the folder: C:\ProgramData\BOINC\projects\www.gpugrid.net)

You'll have to get BOINC to read the file, either by

Clicking Advanced -> Read config file, or
Restarting BOINC

In the Event Log, you'll know the file was read, when you see the following line:
3/22/2013 5:32:27 PM | GPUGRID | Found app_config.xml
... within the startup block (Mine is pasted below).

Finally, once the app_config.xml is read, BOINC should show tasks using your configured amount of resources. For instance, my GPUGrid tasks say: "Running (0.001 CPUs + 1 NVIDIA GPU)" If BOINC doesn't show the task using the resources you configured, then try restarting BOINC.

Good luck - Hope you get it to work!

Hello: As JacobKlein says should work.

To ensure your app_config.xml fits all short tasks <name> can put two lines with each of their names is:

<app_config>
<app>
<name>acemd2</ name>
<name>acemdshort</ name>
<max_concurrent>4</ max_concurrent>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>.5</ gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>1</ cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
</app_config>

With this configuration must be able to run two GPU tasks and assign each task a CPU for short (unless they change the names). Regards

Hello: As JacobKlein says should work.

To ensure your app_config.xml fits all short tasks <name> can put two lines with each of their names is:

<app_config>
<app>
<name>acemd2</ name>
<name>acemdshort</ name>
<max_concurrent>4</ max_concurrent>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>.5</ gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>1</ cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
</app_config>

With this configuration must be able to run two GPU tasks and assign each task a CPU for short (unless they change the names). Regards

Hello: It sure can put multiple labels <name>.

Naturally provided <gpu_usage> and <cpu_usage> parameters are the same for the aforementioned tasks.

In my case as short tasks using both names are
<name>acemd2</name>
<name>acemdshort</name>

So I cover the two variants.

For long I see interesting tasks execute more than one task per GPU.

<cpu_usage>0.001</cpu_usage> continued without understanding this configuration.

He says to use only one thousandth of CPU for each task, but in reality what will send the "priority" that the task is assigned by default to the OS (low, medium, high, etc ...)

Using Ubuntu 10.12-64bits not if Windows responds differently, but really what matters is what each one would work. Greetings.

Carlesa, I know what I'm talking about, and your syntax is wrong. I've done some local testing on my machine to conclusively prove it, too.

Basically, by supplying multiple <name> tags within the same <app> block, the program only applies the requested <gpu_usage> and <cpu_usage> tags to the LAST <name> tag that was provided. The prior <name> tags are essentially ignored. You can prove it by testing this, yourself. Please don't spread incorrect information.

The correct syntax is the one that I've provided, where the different apps each have their own <app> block, and each <app> block only has 1 <name> tag.

Thanks,
Jacob

From what I can tell (and I admittedly do need to do some more testing), on my quad-core hyper-threaded (so windows sees 8 CPUs) machine, here's what I see:

When the CPUs are under full load with other projects, a Long-Run NATHAN GPUGrid task gets about 86% GPU Load on my GTX 660 Ti FTW, while also using a full CPU core.

When the CPUs are not under load (ie: I have set BOINC to use 0.01 % of the processors), a Long-Run NATHAN GPUGrid task gets about 90% GPU Load on my GTX 660 Ti FTW, while also using a full CPU core.

Even though under full CPU load the ACEMD process isn't starved for CPU, I believe it is still "competing" for 2 things:
1) The process is running full blast, along with another process, hyper-threaded, on the same core.
2) If the number of active processes is larger than the 8 CPUs windows sees, there's context swapping that decreases performance.

So, there is a trade-off, as you say. I think the best way to determine how to maximize GPUGrid performance, while not sacrificing CPU task performance, is to test running the GPUGrid tasks, at various levels of BOINC x% of the processors, and then comparing task run times. I haven't done this yet, and might not get around to it, as I believe that keeping the CPU busy outweighs slightly overloading the CPU and slightly sacrificing % GPU Load.

Hope that makes sense.

I'm due to get more memory for this machine in a week or so, which will help me to even better ensure that the 8 CPU slots remain filled. I *might* get around to doing the tests mentioned above, maybe.

PS: I find it a bit odd that, when a Long-Run NATHAN task is processing on the GTX 660 Ti, the ACEMD process uses a full CPU, yet when a Long-Run NATHAN task is processing on the GTX 460, the ACEMD process doesn't appear to use much CPU at all. Does that really depend on the GPU card's architecture? If so, then it's great that I'm using 0.001 <cpu_usage>; better to assume it's NOT using a CPU, than to assume it is.

I haven't really gone through this thread, so I don't know if someone covered this or not, however it seems that many workunits use a bit more of CPU time then one core or thread. Therefore, I leave open an additional core so that any of the workunits, whether they are CPU or GPU based, won't compete for time.


Here is my configuration:

I have 8 cores(i7-3820, hyperthreaded), and two 670's.

Furthermore, I tell BOINC to use 75% of the processor, or 5 cores, and 100% CPU time. I also use the Swan sync variable that allows one core per GPU, so then 2 more cores are allocated to the 670's. This means I have one core not being used, however it seems that BOINC still uses it, as my total CPU usage is 97%, not 87.5%, like it should be if I had one core still free.

Looking in Task Manager, I see that both the GPUGRID workunits, and the CPU workunits (World Community Grid Clean Energy Project)use somewhere around 13.4-13.8 CPU time, which is more than one core.

To conclude, a one core per workunit configuration, whether the workunits are a CPU or GPU one, doesnt' always mean that the workunits won't have to compete, and another solution might be needed, such as having 1 unused core to make sure every workunit gets as much CPU time that it needs.

Sorry if this seemed confusing, if you have questions, please ask and I will try to answer them. I also want to add that I didn't check the GPU usage to see if this solution made any difference in GPU performance.

Thanks to both Carlesa25 and JacobKlein I managed to coax my machine with the 2x GTX 590s to process 2 WUs per GPU.

But there is a problem. And so far it has something to do with Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle because it only happens when I'm not looking.

To whit, everything is crunching along just fine with 8 WUs. I log off and come back later to find that several of the previously happy WUs that were more than half way through (in most cases) have decided they are finished and they upload without the 'output file' that can't be found.

I have gone back to crunching just one WU per GPU until I have time to investigate further.

Hey, it was worth a shot....

Operator
____________

For the record, I've had no stability problems saturating the CPU, telling BOINC to use 100% of the processors (all 8/8) while using a <cpu_usage> value of 0.001 for the GPUGrid applications. So, for me, 8 other CPU tasks run just fine alongside the GPUGrid GPU task.

I haven't tried doing multiple GPUGrid tasks on the same GPU yet.

For stability reasons I almost always tell Boinc to crunch using one or two less CPU's than the processor has, and usually dedicate one to the GPU. So for an 8thread system with a GPU, I tell Boinc to use 75% of the CPU's (6).

If testing app_config with more than 1 GPUGrid task per GPU, I suggest you don't use the CPU for anything else for a few days, to properly test stability. Then add 2threads/cores, then another 2, but don't saturate the CPU.

Carlesa, I know what I'm talking about, and your syntax is wrong. I've done some local testing on my machine to conclusively prove it, too.

Basically, by supplying multiple <name> tags within the same <app> block, the program only applies the requested <gpu_usage> and <cpu_usage> tags to the LAST <name> tag that was provided. The prior <name> tags are essentially ignored. You can prove it by testing this, yourself. Please don't spread incorrect information.

The correct syntax is the one that I've provided, where the different apps each have their own <app> block, and each <app> block only has 1 <name> tag.

Thanks,
Jacob

Carlesa:

This isn't about drawing conclusions. It's about proving that your syntax is wrong, and showing that if you put 2 name tags in a row, the first ones are ignored.

I didn't want to do this, but I feel I must, in the name of science. I encourage you to use the steps here to prove that what I am saying is correct. Here goes:

I am currently processing a GPUGrid.net task, of type "acemdlong". In the BOINC Manager, it currently says:
"Running (0.001 CPUs + 1 NVIDIA GPU (device 0))"
... because of my current app_config.xml file.
... But let's say I wanted to change those settings.

If I change the app_config.xml file in the \projects\www.gpugrid.net directory, and I change it to:

Exactly. The whole purpose of the nested XML syntax is to make it absolutely clear which settings apply to which application. Everything from

I have tested it already. While watching Task Manager's Details tab, sorted by CPU descending, I see that the acemd process is never starved for CPU, even though other running CPU tasks are (at times) starved.

So the ACEMDs are still grabbing CPU time. Now the important question is: are they able to do this just at the right time to avoid the GPU running dry, i.e. does GPU performance suffer (I suppose so) and by how much? The latter would be needed for people to decide if this trade-off is worth it for them.

Watching GPU utilization, maybe averaging it, would be a nice indicator. Although the best performance indicator would be WU runtimes for similar tasks.

MrS

So, there is a trade-off, as you say. I think the best way to determine how to maximize GPUGrid performance, while not sacrificing CPU task performance, is to test running the GPUGrid tasks, at various levels of BOINC x% of the processors, and then comparing task run times. I haven't done this yet, and might not get around to it, as I believe that keeping the CPU busy outweighs slightly overloading the CPU and slightly sacrificing % GPU Load.

Ah, so are you saying I should test against the Short Run units also, to see if I get similar results?

Your findings apply to NATHAN_dhfr36 WU's...

Thanks Jacob,
That's a fairly solid set of results for Nathan's present WU's, Long and Short.

I'm not seeing any other task types at present, so it acts as a good guide, but Noelia, Gianni and Toni WU's would also need to be tested as and when they arrive.

The CPU apps that are running can have a massive or minimal impact on GPU performance. You really don't want to be running 8 climate models and a GPU task, or perhaps a full suite of WCG's CEP tasks.

You really don't want to be running 8 climate models and a GPU task, or perhaps a full suite of WCG's CEP tasks.

The aforementioned CPU task types are quite extreme; require massive I/O. So much so that they interfere with their own performances never mind other tasks. The RunTime to CPU Time delta tends to expand rapidly with such tasks, and in the past has impacted upon GPU performance for several projects (albeit more so the OpenCL apps) and other CPU projects. Anything that hammers the CPU kernel, memory and hard drive will have a negative impact on almost any crunching. It's my understanding the disk I/O is OS controlled and high priority irrespective of the app requiring disk I/O.

You're right, we're off topic, and I apologize. I greatly appreciate your inputs, and if I manage to perform some tests on those applications, I'll reply privately, and I'll consider making a public post.

Back to the original "app_config.xml" topic, until I have any conclusive proof/reason to believe otherwise...

To maximize my crunching efforts, I'm using and recommending:

BOINC settings:
% of the processors: 100%
% CPU time: 100%

app_config settings for each of the 4 GPUGrid projects:
<max_concurrent>9999</max_concurrent>
<gpu_usage>1</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>0.001</cpu_usage>

Best of luck,
Jacob

FWIW you can do away with the max_concurrent tag for running GPU tasks. It's only needed when running CPU tasks. The gpu_usage tag controls how many tasks each GPU uses.

Through my testing, I have been able to conclude that it DOES have an affect even on GPU tasks. ie: If you specify <max_concurrent> of 1 for a given GPU app type, it will only run 1, regardless of having <gpu_usage> of 0.5 or less. So, the setting DOES apply to GPU apps; feel free to test and verify.

I understand that it still appears to work even without setting a <max_concurrent> value, but... the documentation doesn't say that it's optional.

If that tag is optional, or if there are default values for tags not specified by the user, then the documentation should say so.

As it is, it doesn't say, and so I assume that it'll use whatever the project chooses as its default, unless the user specifies otherwise. And so, I explicitly specify otherwise, 9999.

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration#Application_configuration

- Jacob

I will probably perform your requested test sometime soon. Right now, though, I'm testing running 2 tasks at the same time on the same GPU, and actually having some success.

When I have results ready, I think I'll create a new thread, so that posts to this thread can remain related to app_config.

The thread that contains my performance tuning can be found here:
http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=3331

========================================================================
As I mentioned before:
To maximize my crunching efforts, I'm using and recommending:

BOINC settings:
% of the processors: 100%
% CPU time: 100%

app_config settings for each of the 4 GPUGrid projects:
<max_concurrent>9999</max_concurrent>
<gpu_usage>1</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>0.001</cpu_usage>

I'm still testing on "doubling-up" GPU tasks on a single GPU; if you wanted to do this, you'd use:
<gpu_usage>0.5</gpu_usage>

Best of luck,
Jacob

FYI:

Per Toni (a project administrator), because of application and validator problems, I was told to disable running 2-at-a-time. So I have suspended my testing/research, and have put <gpu_usage> to 1, in the app_config.xml file.

http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=3332#29425

Regards,
Jacob Klein

FYI:

Per Toni (a project administrator), because of application and validator problems, I was told to disable running 2-at-a-time. So I have suspended my testing/research, and have put <gpu_usage> to 1, in the app_config.xml file.

http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=3332#29425

Regards,
Jacob Klein

i know but i want use 87% 1st wu and 13% 2nd wu , is that possible ?

If you are asking if you can tell BOINC to only use a specified portion of a GPU for each of the tasks that are running on the GPU, then answer is no.

You can only use <gpu_usage>, to have BOINC determine how many tasks to run on a single GPU. You cannot specify that certain tasks should be run more of the time.

Regards,
Jacob

thx for the reply, very sad, what i have to do with this saved power, i dont want to slow down my ending times of a wu ?

Just thought , can i run a second instance of boinc in the same inviroment and start a second gpugrid instance ???

Or is there a way to start a command line option to run gpugrid wus ?

There is a software on this site : BoincTasks

Where u can adjust the priority of the tasks, allready installed yet, but still trying.

i thought wrong, there is no adjustment.

I will try Windows Task Manager...no gpu usage change by changing the priority with windows. clueless :(

As far as I have seen, a single task will only use "so much" of the GPU's "Usage" or "Load".

It's normal for GPU "Usage" or "Load" to vary, per app, and per project. I've seen some cases where the task makes it 99% (some SETI tasks), some where it's around 80-90% (Nathans here at GPUGrid), and some where it's quite low like 40% (POEM tasks).


To increase a GPU's "Usage" or "Load", so far as I know, your options are:
- Free up CPU resources, so the GPU is never waiting on the CPU to help it get a kernel of work started/ran.
- Run more tasks at once on the GPU, if possible

I thought a GPU used some of it's own processing power for house keeping purposes, I've noticed when a wu breaks, the GPU will shoot up to 100% while the memory controller goes to 0%. So the more the data is being pumped through the GDDR memory, the more the GPU usage will lower slightly, amongst other things.

ok, i will give the gpu a full cpu and see what happens next.

No effect, still the same gpu usage...
we must be waiting for a solution...

so long...

Hi, guys.

Having some issues getting multiple tasks to run per GPU.

I'd like (if possible) to have 2 tasks per GPU running of any and all of the GPUGrid tasks available. I'm not sure how to set this up regarding what the <name> value(s) should be currently in the app_config file.

If only one task/work unit type is available per value, I would prefer the long runs.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

...

Edit: If there's some way to set this up globally in BOINC for all projects instead, that would be ideal. I already have BOINC set up to run 2 GPU tasks (presently 1 per GPU) simultaneously instead of the default 1.

To clarify: I'm trying to get a total of 4 GPU tasks to run simultaneously.
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

The <name> values can be found within your client_state.xml file, assuming you had previously downloaded a task for the application. Make sure that you do not touch/edit/save that file... just look at it, don't change it :)

Then the BOINC configuration for setting up the app_config can be found here:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration

Finally, it sounds like you might be looking for the following (pasted below), which could be placed in your app_config.xml file within the gpugrid project folder. The gpu_usage of 0.5 indicates 2 tasks per GPU, and the cpu_usage of 0.667 means reserve 1 core when 2 tasks are running, and 2 cores when 3 tasks are running.

Good luck!
Jacob

Thank you, sir! And thanks for the prompt reply. It's much appreciated.

I modified the other values you listed a little for my needs.

So far this seems to be working as desired. More tasks are being pulled in (downloaded) now, and the two GPU tasks I had running are now running on one GPU.

Rough estimate so far is that my total VRAM and VRAM per card will only be about 50% loaded running the 4 tasks simultaneously, which leaves more than enough head room even for gaming and the like. I even have the two cards in SLI configuration so their memory usage is mirrored.

Very awesome, and should give a significant boost to the total work per time I'm able to crunch on this computer.

Thanks again.
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

Setup info:

I have two EVGA Titan Black Superclocked cards (6GB VRAM each). They are set to SLI in the Nvidia control panel for game rendering optimization. This causes their VRAM to be mirrored between the two cards so they can work on the same data at the same time.

In the Nvidia control panel I also have prefer maximum performance set to basically help keep the GPU clock rates up so that they're able to do more work per time.

I also have the C:\ProgramData\BOINC\cc_config.xml <use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus> value set to use each of my GPUs instead of just one.

OK, upon further testing:

With 4 GPUGrid tasks loaded in VRAM on each card (since the VRAM is mirrored), the VRAM is about 30% to 40% loaded on average, and with 2 tasks running per GPU, they're about 80% to 90% loaded on average (this is up about 20% from when only 1 task is being run per GPU). Additionally, the GPU clock rates seem to be much more consistently held at their higher stock boosted clock rate of 1125MHz. (I have a custom fan curve set for these cards to keep them well and cool and nowhere near throttling down.)

This should yield a significant performance increase in regard to the amount of overall work done per time.

...

I generally use 67% (8 of 12) CPU threads to crunch for BOINC, leaving 4 open for other tasks and programs. So I now simultaneously run 4 GPU tasks (GPUGrid) and 8 CPU tasks (World Community Grid).

So given that, what would be the optimal value for <cpu_usage>? I've tried 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5. I would prefer to leave enough room open on my CPU for other programs, but wouldn't mind using up to the equivalent of one additional thread as needed for the GPU tasks, so should I set this value to 0.25? But then again, would they even really use it? What is the default amount used for GPUGrid GPU tasks?

Thanks.
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

So given that, what would be the optimal value for <cpu_usage>?

*1124MHz

...

Thanks, Jacob. You've given me some good info and things to try with this setup.

Will give 100%, 1.0 a try based on your suggestions and see how that goes.
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

You're welcome! Nice setup, by the way -- If you're ever interested in upgrading it, I wouldn't mind a used GPU at a decent price :) I'm pretty sure my MSI Frozr II fans are failing, but I'm still running GPUGrid on it, and having the other 2 EVGA rear-exhaust fans try to compensate :) It's literally a hot mess over here - All 3 GPUs at max fan with 70-80*C, and CPU at max fan at 86*C. This office is a sauna!

CPU at max fan at 86*C. This office is a sauna!

Where did you get that info?

Everything I see shows that TjMax is 100*C, and I've only ever seen it go above 90*C whenever it was loaded and the fan didn't react quick enough.

I believe my CPU is actually:
Intel® Core™ i7-965 Processor Extreme Edition
http://ark.intel.com/products/37149/Intel-Core-i7-965-Processor-Extreme-Edition-8M-Cache-3_20-GHz-6_40-GTs-Intel-QPI
... factory overclocked from 3.2 GHz to 3.74 GHz (5 years ago by Dell).

Edit:
Ah, I see on that page:
"TCase: 67.9°C"
"Case Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS)."
... I think that's different than the 80*C-90*C core temps that I'm monitoring. In fact, here's a page that explains some of the differences: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-033342.htm

Anyway, if we need to discuss this further, send me a PM. Otherwise, we should get back to the topic "app_config.xml" :)

Just thought I'd mention it. Here's the info I saw, Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition:

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core%20i7%20Extreme%20Edition%20I7-965%20AT80601000918AA%20(BX80601965).html

For the external CPU temp (Tcase) I try and stay below 50 to 55 degrees C, and for the core temps below about 70 to 75 degrees C. Jacob, I think your CPU's thresholds are a little higher than mine, but you're still definitely pushing it a bit more than I would care to. Might want to look into upgrading your CPU cooler, or possibly down-clocking a little. It could be the GPUs' heat causing the CPU to heat up more, so might want to look into cooling the case inside down more too. I like to keep a well defined airflow path through my case that goes with convection; cool air in from the bottom front and side, and hot air out the back and rear top. So naturally I'm also a fan of the cards that exhaust heated air out the back instead of mixing it up inside the case.

As for my cards, I've only had them a couple of months now, so I will likely be hanging onto them for some time yet. Might even pick up a couple more if they're still available and I decide to go to the X99 build (i7-5960X, ASUS X99-E WS). I'll keep you in mind though if/when it comes time for them to find a new home. I might end up passing them down to some other friends of mine, if they're in the market for them. (I usually sell them at half the current going rate of new cards.) We shall see.
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

(Would have edited my previous post, but just missed the cutoff time.)

...

Oh, by the way (and back on topic), I wanted to say that the 100%, 1.0 CPU usage settings seems to be going great so far. My only slight concern is CPU availability for other programs, but so far that doesn't seem likely to be an issue. Think I will stick with these settings for some time and see how it plays out. Thanks again.
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

Open Process Explorer to check the GPU tasks. You'll see they're really probably only using 15-25% of a core. So, by reserving 4 threads, you're actually allowing plenty of CPU to be readily available for any other tasks you might be doing (like browsing, Word, etc.). You *could* allocate that extra CPU towards CPU tasks (by using 0.001 <cpu_usage>), but then as I said, GPUGrid GPU tasks performance would suffer a bit.

It's all about tradeoffs. But Process Explorer will show you exactly how much CPU each of your acemd tasks is really using.

Yeah, not so much wondering about how much GPUGrid will use of those 4 threads, but more so some other programs I run could potentially want to load them up. (A few Minecraft servers, some games, media players, etc. all running at the same time.) But yeah, I think I should be fine. And if not, I can adjust things as needed later on. Right now I'm concentrating more on being patient enough to see how these settings play out.

Other than that though, I have noticed GPUGrid pulling in CPU tasks as well now which run on 12 CPUs. Some of those will somehow manage to run for a small fraction of a second before being suspended indefinitely (or maybe to run for another fraction of a second at some point) until I abort them. I'd rather not use up GPUGrid's bandwidth needlessly by downloading these tasks (nor get "their hopes up," thinking I'll be crunching them). Any ways for getting around this issue that you know of?
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

If you don't want certain applications from a project, go into the project's web settings and disable those applications for your account.

OK. Found the settings. Thanks.

Was thinking it was due to something I had done locally, since I hadn't noticed these tasks being pulled in before, but guess that's moot.
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

After a bit more tweaking...

I decided to dedicate my GPUs to running 2 long work units each (provided they're available), as I think this will get the most out of my hardware.

GPUs are loaded more consistently at a higher 90% to 92%, and VRAM is loaded about 56% (approaching 3.5GB) with 4 WU in each card's VRAM since they're in SLI and mirrored. Fortunately the GPUs are holding at a decent 73 to 75 C°.

The higher GPU loads seem a little strange to me, as I would have thought they would have crunched through WU more similarly regardless of their total run times. As it is, it seems there's a bit more for them to work on at any given time with the long work unites, not just in total. Then again, this may just be due to the particular WU the GPUs are currently crunching.

Anyway, long story short, it looks like this will work out to be another slight performance improvement.
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My BOINC Cruncher, Minecraft Multiserver, Mobile Device Mainframe, and Home Entertainment System/Workstation: http://www.overclock.net/lists/display/view/id/4678036#

Hi Wrend,

I sent you a PM, as the best solution/method to improve / optimize crunching on GPUGRID I've tested is here :

http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=2123&nowrap=true#16832

Kind Regards,

Phil1966