Milkyway help

[aux9o]

I just installed a quad core processor a few weeks ago into my milkyway rig. I noticed that every since i am not doing as much wu's as i used to. I was getting over 300,000 per day now im down to maybe 200,000 per day. I noticed that it is taking over 45 sec to do one wu. I can suspend my cpu task and the amount of time drops to 27sec per wu. But I would like to be able to run a cpu project while getting the best out of my gpu on milkyway. What can I do to fix this?

[Fire$torm]

Sounds like you need to reserve a CPU core for Milkyway. In BM set "Use all CPUs" to 75%.

Edit: The above is for non-HT CPUs. For CPUs w/ HT use 87.5%

[Maxwell]

You could also use a app_config file to reserve an entire thread to feed your GPU on MW. I've actually ended up going this route on several GPU projects I've crunched recently.

[aux9o]

Can you help with setting this up?

[Maxwell]

Drop this into the MW project folder and name it "app_config.xml" (without the quotes). Then hit "read config files" in the BOINC manager. It is setup to run 2 WUs at a time, and each will reserve half a CPU (so, two WUs reserves a whole CPU thread). Should work. If not, let us know how it goes.


<app_config>
<app>
<name>milkyway</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>0.5</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>0.5</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>milkyway_separation__modified_fit</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>0.5</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>0.5</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
</app_config>

[Mumps]

Don't forget to mention that "app_config.xml" does require a relatively new BOINC Client. It was added in the 7.0.40 release.

[aux9o]

This looks like it is working. Maybe better then before!

[Maxwell]

This looks like it is working. Maybe better then before!
Glad to hear it! Keep us posted...

[FourOh]

If this is your rig with an HD 7970, I would change the gpu_usage to .25 - I have found that 4 work units yields best results on faster cards. Milkyway has pretty low CPU overhead so you can change cpu_usage to .05 or match your gpu_usage to keep a core dedicated.

[aux9o]

I got a Dell t7400 with a 6900 series and I also installed the 7970 in there. I have one card running 4 wu's at a time but only 1 card is running wu's. What have I forgot to do to make both cards run?

[aux9o]

ha ha! I need to stop spending a hour trying to figure somthing out then post on here. cause after i post on here i figure it out everytime! I should just post on here first so I figure it out quicker! I got it working !

[aux9o]

Guys I have been trying to figure this out for a couple of days and can't seem to pin point the problem. The problem is when I was just running my one 7970 on milkyway I was getting over 300k per day. Now I am running the 7970, 6950, gtx570hd, and 2 gtx760's and I am only getting 400k per day. I have all of them running 4 wu's at a time and I am out of ideas.

[FourOh]

Guys I have been trying to figure this out for a couple of days and can't seem to pin point the problem. The problem is when I was just running my one 7970 on milkyway I was getting over 300k per day. Now I am running the 7970, 6950, gtx570hd, and 2 gtx760's and I am only getting 400k per day. I have all of them running 4 wu's at a time and I am out of ideas.

Try limiting your work to Milkyway@Home only (uncheck Modified Fit). Then keep an eye on your results times and look for anomalies or errors. Your Nvidia cards aren't going to contribute much because they have very low Double Precision processing power compared to your 69xx and 79xx AMD cards. I would expect around 325k for the 7970, 225k for the 6950, and 40-45k for each of your Nvidia cards.

On Milkyway, you can lower your memory clocks as low as they'll go to save power & heat - giving you more room to OC your GPU clocks.

[aux9o]

another problem! I am running a 6950 and 7970 on milkyway but the 6950 only puts errors out on milkyway@home. It will run all other projects fine but for the most credit I need to run milkyway@home. Any ideas? The 7970 runs them fine with no problems but I have both cards in same computer and have to un check milkyway@home.

[FourOh]

I tend to have more problems with Milkyway@Home Separation (Modified Fit), so I stick with Milkyway only. You might start with that to isolate one variable.

If you are running the latest AMD drivers, you may want to roll back to 12.4. Those always seemed to work best for 5xxx and 6xxx cards, at least for me.

Finally, if you can't get it running on both cards, you could exclude the project from using your 6950 in cc_config, but I don't think you should have to do that.

[aux9o]

im sorry what I meant was it will only run milkyway@home separtion modified fit. It won't run the milkyway only. I am downloading the older driver now im gonna try it and see what happens!