How to utilize my HD4250 and HD5670

Message boards : GPUs : How to utilize my HD4250 and HD5670
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Joe Bloggs

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Message 47110 - Posted: 7 Jan 2013, 15:10:59 UTC

Hi guys, first post here.

A bit of system background:
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Starting BOINC client version 7.0.28 for windows_x86_64
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Libraries: libcurl/7.25.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.6
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Data directory: D:\ProgramData\BOINC
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Running under account User
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Processor: 6 AuthenticAMD AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1090T Processor [Family 16 Model 10 Stepping 0]
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Processor: 512.00 KB cache
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 htt pni cx16 syscall nx lm svm sse4a osvw ibs skinit wdt page1gb rdtscp 3dnowext 3dnow
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | OS: Microsoft Windows 7: Ultimate x64 Edition, Service Pack 1, (06.01.7601.00)
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Memory: 7.50 GB physical, 14.99 GB virtual
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Disk: 746.35 GB total, 281.21 GB free
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | Local time is UTC +8 hours
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | ATI GPU 0: ATI Radeon HD 5x00 series (Redwood) (CAL version 1.4.1646, 512MB, 479MB available, 1240 GFLOPS peak)
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | ATI GPU 1: ATI Radeon HD 2300/2400/3200 (RV610) (CAL version 1.4.1646, 512MB, 480MB available, 124 GFLOPS peak)
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | App version needs OpenCL but GPU doesn't support it

I've got an ATI HD5670 which is a single precision OpenCL capable card, and also an ATI HD4250 (single-precision, that comes with my 880G motherboard. It took me a bit of fiddling about in the bios to enable the 4250, but now BOINC will detect both "cards" when catalyst 11.12 drivers are installed for them. (11.12 seems to be the last stable release that supported the 4250)

Now here's where the fun begins...
1. There's few apps that would run on the HD4250. Only one I've found so far is Collatz Conjecture. But when it runs, it runs almost as fast as the HD5670 even though the log says it only has 124 GFLOPS to the 5670's 1240 GFLOPS!
2. What's even more fun is what I must do to get it working properly. When drivers are installed for the 4250, all WUs sent to it would crash out (computation error). But if I uninstall the 4250 in device manager while BOINC is running, it would start churning out proper WUs even though it shouldn't exist in the eyes of windows anymore! Phantom GPU? Voodoo graphics? :D If I exit and restart BOINC after the uninstall of course the 4250 isn't detected anymore.
3. the HD5670 supports OpenCL, and would download and run OpenCL apps which are generally much more useful. But when the 4250 is detected using the method in (2), none of the cards are detected as OpenCL capable. The apps that were downloaded by the 5670 would show errors like this:
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | App version needs OpenCL but GPU doesn't support it
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | Poem@Home | Application uses missing ATI GPU

Is this an unavoidable bug with the current version of BOINC? Or is there something in the config file I can change? FWIW I didn't have to change config_cc.xml (or something like that) for both cards to be detected and run.

4. Finally, is there a setting I can make to have the 4250 running all the time but the 5670 to only run when the computer is "not in use"? If I run the GPUs while the computer is in use the display of course becomes jerky--but only the 5670 is responsible for the actual display!
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Profile Jord
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Message 47113 - Posted: 7 Jan 2013, 16:42:57 UTC - in response to Message 47110.  

Is this an unavoidable bug with the current version of BOINC? Or is there something in the config file I can change? FWIW I didn't have to change config_cc.xml (or something like that) for both cards to be detected and run.

Yes, there's something you can set in cc_config.xml, it being either the use of the <ignore_ati_dev/>:
<ignore_ati_dev>N</ignore_ati_dev>

Fill in the device number of the GPU you do not want to use. Can be used for multiple GPUs, one line per GPU. Reminder: Zero will disable device zero, it does not disable the line, only removal does.

This ignores the whole device though, for any project you want to use it on.

If you want to use one GPU on one project and the other on another projects, you can use the <exclude_gpu/> function:
<exclude_gpu>code</exclude_gpu>

Don't use the given GPU for the given project. If <device_num> is not specified, exclude all GPUs of the given type. <type> is required if your computer has more than one type of GPU; otherwise it can be omitted. <app> specifies the short name of an application (i.e. the <name> element within the <app> element in client_state.xml). If specified, only tasks for that app are excluded. You may include multiple <exclude_gpu> elements. New in 6.13

<exclude_gpu>
   <url>project_URL</url>
   [<device_num>N</device_num>]
   [<type>nvidia|ati</type>]
   [<app>appname</app>]
</exclude_gpu>



If you feel you need help on setting that up, just holler. Do tell which project(s) it's for.

It's not possible yet to set one GPU on disabled until idle preferences allow it to run, while the other runs always. Maybe in a future version.
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Joe Bloggs

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Message 47116 - Posted: 7 Jan 2013, 18:48:49 UTC
Last modified: 7 Jan 2013, 19:13:21 UTC


3. the HD5670 supports OpenCL, and would download and run OpenCL apps which are generally much more useful. But when the 4250 is detected using the method in (2), none of the cards are detected as OpenCL capable. The apps that were downloaded by the 5670 would show errors like this:
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | | App version needs OpenCL but GPU doesn't support it
7/1/2013 22:47:15 | Poem@Home | Application uses missing ATI GPU


What I meant by the unavoidable bug is the above--that having a non-openCL gpu detected drags down the other gpu to become non-openCL too.

As it is, I have to choose between having one GPU that can take part in stuff like SETI astropulse and POEM folding or two GPUs that can do nothing but this "Collatz conjecture" project. They gained me more credit in a day than I got with my hex core Phenom in a week but just what is it for really??

As for the other question, leaving both GPUs to run when I'm away seems my best bet. I'm not at my computer for that much time in a day and the idle GPU is the weak one anyway.[/quote]
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Darrell
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Message 47599 - Posted: 1 Feb 2013, 3:49:31 UTC - in response to Message 47116.  

My windows7 64bit system uses a HD5550 and an integrated HD3000. They run the latest amd drivers. The driver for the HD3000 is a modded driver from the good folks off the guru3d forum. This gives me two gpus that are CAL capable which is perfect Collatz and one gpu that will run opencl for the other projects. The opencl projects are excluded from using the HD3000 and the Collatz project is excluded from using the HD5550. Switching projects every hour is disabled, and I use just the boinc screensaver which is set to show just the default screensaver only and none of the project screensavers. For the most part this works, but a couple of times each day the exclusions fail and boinc tries to run opencl apps on the HD3000 which causes them to fail. The problem is that boinc is not designed to control gpus with different capabilities and to do so will require a rewrite of major sections of the code. The developers are currently focusing on getting boinc to run on the android platforms, thus it will be a long time before they can get to adding the require changes.
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Jan Vaclavik

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Message 49421 - Posted: 30 May 2013, 10:03:02 UTC

Would it be any different, if I used the HD4250 IGP and OpenCL capable Nvidia PCIe card instead of the HD5xxx?
Or would it be even worse?
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Message boards : GPUs : How to utilize my HD4250 and HD5670

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