Hello together,

since the last dist-upgrade BOINC does not use the GPU.
Before that, it works fine for Miliway and Seti, Einstein often runs into computation errors.

Versions:
Linux version 3.2.0-74-generic
BOINC client version 7.2.47 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 331.113

Any suggestions to solve the problem?

Regards,
Klaus

I don't know how to solve you problem but I can tell you that the GT 630 is a very strange card. It comes in 3 types. I am listing then in performance order from slowest to fastest.

GT 630 D3 = Fermi / basically a GT 440 with DDR3 memory and a 700 mhz clock / 49 watts

GT 630 G5 = Fermi / basically a GT 440 with GDDR5 memory and a 810 mhz clock / 65 watts

The above 2 types are based on the Fermi architecture and have 96 CUDA cores and a 128 bit memory interface. The third type is:

GT 630 = Kepler architecture GPU with 384 CUDA cores at 902 mhz with a 64 bit memory interface and DDR3 memory. It uses only 25 watts.

Note that I don't know which is faster on the few projects requiring DP (double precision floating point) math, the Fermi GDDR5 or the Kepler card. nVidia changed the way they do DP on the Kepler.

On Fermi they had cores that could do either single or double precision math and turned DP math off on most cores when they sold them in graphics cards. IIRC, the Fermi graphics cards only had 1/8th or 1/12th of the cores DP enabled. The reason Fermi had all of the cores DP capable was because they could use the same chip with all of the CUDA cores DP enabled in supercomputers or expensive workstations and sell them for several thousand dollars per card. I think the reason for using them in expensive workstations was because the expensive cards had different drivers and were the only ones that were certified for some professional software that had to produce perfect results. When companies are designing something like an entire aircraft they need those perfect results so they only use the expensive graphics cards that are certified for the design software.

On Kepler graphics cards the regular CUDA cores are single precision only (SP is what is needed for graphics) and they have a few separate double precision only cores (8 IIRC). I think the Kepler chips also have much less cache since they are graphics cards only. By not having all of the cores be double precision capable like in Fermi, the Kepler can have more SP CUDA cores in a similar sized chip. BTW, it was not unusual for the older graphics cards (pre-fermi) to have single precision only. My nvidia 9600 GT card didn't have double precision at all so it could only run the BOINC gpu projects that didn't require double precision.

You can find more information on the GT 630 versions at http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-630/specifications

I have run a Fermi based GT 630 under windows Vista and it worked great with Seti, Milkyway, Einstein, GPUGRID and PrimeGrid. It also worked with the original POEM GPU project (haven't tried the new one that POEM has now) and it worked with the WCG GPU sub-project that used to exist but that sub-project has finished.

Does your GPU have 96 CUDA cores (Fermi architecture) or 384 CUDA cores (Kepler architecture)?

Hi Klaus,
was "No usable GPUs found" in the BOINC event log at start up?

I have a Radeon/ATI card, and use Debian and Ubuntu.
I get that message at boinc start up in the event log.

I work around the problem by restarting the boinc-client with a
sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client restart

Perhaps, this will work for you...
Jay

Hello Jay,

I will test it the next days, feedback follows.

Thanks,
Klaus

There's what sounds like an authoritative walk-through of a solution at Einstein: BOINC doesn't detect my GPU [Solved]

Hello Richard,

really, it sounds like a solution, but I failed in execution :-(

The steps doesn't fit my computers configuration. To solve that I have executed a lot of apt installs which results in a crash without realistic chance of repair. So I needed to setup the system from scratch, it's done so far by now.

Where exact do I get a working nvidia-modprobe for my system?

Thanks,
Klaus

I installed nvidia modprobe via synaptic. If you don't have synaptic yet install it trough ubuntu's software manager. Then you open synaptic and you do a search. The interface is pretty clear.

I usually install my stuff trough synaptic. It's the usual GUI way in debian.

Hallo daedalus,

thanks for the hint. In its first job my machine works as a Hard Disk Receiver (yaVDR is doing the task). So there is no GUI and I have to install packets using apt.

Regards,
Klaus

Hallo jay_e,

yes, I found the error message in the BOINC Manager Eventlog at start up.

boinc-client restart doesn't work.

Regards,
Klaus

Hallo David,

I actually don't know which kind of GT 630 it is, but the shop named it "Gigabyte GeForce GT 630 2GB DDR3 PCIe DVI/HDMI/VGA LP - Retail".

Regards,
Klaus

Hallo Together,

lat us do a push. Has any one an Idea?

regards,
Klaus