Reserving GPU power

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Kiska

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Message 43488 - Posted: 14 Apr 2012, 9:40:05 UTC
Last modified: 14 Apr 2012, 9:43:23 UTC

Is there a way to reserve processing power of the GPU exclusively for displaying and drawing graphics, even 10 Mhz will do as it's really slow and I am using my laptop so I do need some GPU power.
Stats:
Lenovo SL500
Intel Core 2 Duo(tm) P8400 @2.26Ghz
2GB RAM
Nvidia 9300M GS with 256MB for dedicated RAM
160GB HDD
Ubuntu 12.04 beta 2

Since it is beta but I welcome all suggestions and solutions, solutions for version 11.10 should work for 12.04 beta 2 so if you have any please post the solution and I will see if it'll work
I mainly use the wlan so it might be slow on downloading and uploading but its fine. Thanks
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Profile Jord
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Message 43491 - Posted: 14 Apr 2012, 10:30:14 UTC - in response to Message 43488.  
Last modified: 14 Apr 2012, 10:31:07 UTC

The default use of the GPU to do calculative work, is to only use the GPU when the system is idle. So that means that you have overridden this preference and said that it can be used at all times.

In web preferences this means that
"Suspend GPU work while computer is in use? " is set to No, where it should be Yes.

In local preferences this means that
"Use GPU while computer is in use" is checked where it should be unchecked.
(Local preferences override their web-preferences counterparts.)

No, there is no way to only use part of the GPU. It's either use, or don't use, no middle way.
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Kiska

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Message 43557 - Posted: 17 Apr 2012, 11:46:03 UTC
Last modified: 17 Apr 2012, 11:48:54 UTC

With that said can it be done outside of boinc such as a speed modifier or inside linux kernel or something along these lines? Also can it be limited to only use 4 cuda cores instead of the 8 in the processor? As I am running more than just BOINC, I am also running mprime, as well as distributed.net and others can it be split into sections and used simultaneously? And yes I did change it because I am using my computer/laptop 24/7 and require the use of minimal gpu usage as I am only doing web browsing and document processing. Well can this idea be presented to the developers of all editions of BOINC and let them think about it and do a poll whether it should be done?
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Profile Jord
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Message 43559 - Posted: 17 Apr 2012, 12:04:21 UTC - in response to Message 43557.  

With that said can it be done outside of boinc such as a speed modifier or inside linux kernel or something along these lines?

Any CPU throttling will also throttle the GPU, since it's the CPU that feeds the GPU. Meaning that when this feed slows down, you slow down the data feeding into the GPU, thus less heat. You can use BOINC its own "Use at most X% CPU time" for that.

Also can it be limited to only use 4 cuda cores instead of the 8 in the processor?

No, this isn't possible. Even when you run multiple tasks simultaneously on the same GPU, will they all be using all cores in that GPU at the same time. It's like running multiple tasks on a single core CPU, it'll get there, just slowly.
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Profile Trog Dog
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Message 43560 - Posted: 17 Apr 2012, 12:12:06 UTC - in response to Message 43557.  

Well can this idea be presented to the developers of all editions of BOINC and let them think about it and do a poll whether it should be done?


You can register with trac and post an enhancement ticket (http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac) or join the boinc-dev email list and post your request there (http://lists.ssl.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/boinc_dev)
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Profile mitrichr
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Message 44703 - Posted: 3 Jul 2012, 10:38:05 UTC - in response to Message 43491.  

Hey Jord, how are you?

You said "In web preferences this means that
"Suspend GPU work while computer is in use? " is set to No, where it should be Yes."

Sorry, but where do I find "web preferences"? Does this mean somewhere in the settings of BOINC Manager, or does it mean at the projects' own computer preferences pages?

I have had continual problems with my new computer running projects that run on GPU's. So, I am trrying to find the problems and this might be what I need to look at.
http://sciencesprings.wordpress.com
http://facebook.com/sciencesprings

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Profile Jord
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Message 44704 - Posted: 3 Jul 2012, 11:02:51 UTC - in response to Message 44703.  

Project computing preferences through your account. E.g. at Einstein, that's at http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/prefs.php?subset=global

You only have to set these at one project, they propagate to other projects when they get contacted.
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Message boards : GPUs : Reserving GPU power

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