UK BOINC Team Forum

are there manual settings i can change? my gpu usage is only 10-20% with minor spikes to 40%

I maybe wrong but looks like its project dependant. With Asteroids my GPU hits 100% usage, Einstein around 40-50% so far, maybe just the way it works but would be nice if we could manually tweak it

there is probably another manager that lts you split your gpu work like you can cpu

Hi both,

First you are saving a CPU core to service the GPU while it's running? The GPU does most of the work but it still needs some CPU help for loading, setting up, supplying data and reporting the tasks. If all the cores are busy, the GPU will be sitting waiting for attention.

If that doesn't get the GPU working to full capability, there is a solution. There's no manager to do it as far as I'm aware but you can add a text file to your GPU project directory to run more than 1 GPU WU on each GPU at a time.

For Milkway (for example) create a file called app_config.xml with a text editor and put this in it:
Save it into the Milkyway project directory as plain text (don't use Word or any fancy editor, it needs to be just plain text with no formatting), quit and restart Boinc and when new work is downloaded, you should have two WUs running on the GPU (the WUs already downloaded will still be set to use the whole GPU) Repeat in any other GPU project you want to run (obviously you'll need to change the <name>milkyway</name> tags to the name of the app that runs the WUs)

gpu_usage is telling Boinc how much of the GPU to use for each task, any left over will be used for other tasks.

cpu_usage tells Boinc how much of a CPU core to reserve for each GPU task running.

You'll can adjust the cpu_usage value according to how much CPU core each WU takes but setting it to the same as the gpu_usage is a good start (check completed WUs on the project website to see what percentage of the total time was also cpu time)

If you're still not hitting 100%, change the gpu_usage to run more than two WUs at a time (0.33 = 3 WUs, 0.25 = 4 etc) but be aware that you might need to allocate more than one CPU core to service multiple GPU tasks.

Also be aware that running the GPU at 100% 24/7 will generate a lot of heat so keep an eye on the GPU temperature.

Mark

where would i find this folder? ive tried to find it im running windows

nevermind was hiding in program data folder why it did not find it in search

Hi Nick,

It depends on your version of Windows and how Boinc was installed. By default in Windows XP it should be "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC\" and in Windows 8 (and 8.1) it should be "C:\ProgramData\BOINC\Projects\" but it's a hidden directory. I don't have Windows 10 so I can't help you there.

You can enter the path name directly into explorer or change the directory settings to show hidden files and directories.

If it's not there then stop and restart Boinc then check the log. Near the beginning there should be a "Data directory: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC" message.

Once you're there, it should be obvious which is the directory for the project you're interested in although some projects have names that don't really line up with their Boinc names.

Regards,

Mark

nick wrote:nevermind was hiding in program data folder why it did not find it in search

Whoops, too late in replying

It probably didn't show up in the search as it's a hidden directory.

mariakatosvich wrote:my gpu usage is only 10-20% with minor spikes to 40%, With Asteroids my GPU hits 100% usage, Einstein around 40-50% so far.
Thanks

Remarkably similar to the first two posts:

Nick -

my gpu usage is only 10-20% with minor spikes to 40%

BaskB -

With Asteroids my GPU hits 100% usage, Einstein around 40-50% so far

I'm calling

yes very spam like since there hyperlink it to a paid support line

Hi Mark & Nick

Thanks for the report.

This member has edited their profile, AFTER I removed the URL they had first entered...and by basically re-quoting lines from other posts, so they have made it obvious that they are not a suitable member to have on board.,,,and all they are here to do is to promote a specific URL.

So, their membership is being rescinded.

regards
Tim