Folding Update - Multi GPU Support (New Core 1.07)

Julepalme · **Memory**: 2x4GB 1600mhz 8-8-8-24

Hey folks..

Just came from foldingforum.org where they recently.. some hours ago released a new core for the GPU2 Folding client version 1.07

The main new feature of this core is the support for multi gpu folding.
This means that all you 3d guru's out there with more than 1 GPU in your machine will finally be able to harvest the potential power of all your GPU's

*NOTE* this is not SLI support, this works without sli.. im currently folding on a 9800GTX (5700PPD) and an old 8500GT i had as a spare (770PPD) Both running the vista x64 version of the 177.41 driver.

How you ask? well the original post on foldingforum.org has a few bits of info but i found it bit hard to setup myself so i'll share my knowledge.

-------------------

1. Download the new core revision from http://www.stanford.edu/~friedrim/FahCore_11.exe and replace the old
FahCore_11.exe usually found in your work directory.. mine is
C:\Users\Julepalme\AppData\Roaming\Folding@home-gpu

-------------------

2. This requires you to run 2 clients of the GPU2 kind, Find on your work folder, mine was C:\Users\Julepalme\AppData\Roaming\Folding@home-gpu (I'm running vista x64)

Then copy this folder and make C:\Users\Julepalme\AppData\Roaming\Folding@home-gpu 2

-------------------

3. make a 2 shortcuts on your desk with the workdir pointing to each of the folders you've just made.

So you'll end up with 2 shortcuts looking something like this:

Shortcut 1:
Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 0 -local -verbosity 9
Start In: "C:\Users\Julepalme\AppData\Roaming\Folding@ho me-gpu"

Shortcut 2:
Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 1 -local -verbosity 9
Start In: "C:\Users\Julepalme\AppData\Roaming\Folding@ho me-gpu 2"

The trick here is the -gpu argument.. telling the client to use device 0 and device 1 for the respective clients. and the start them up in seperate work dirs..

** Remember to change the paths to the those that apply to your system **

If you have more than 2 GPU's .. say 2x9800gx2 or 3x280's(which would be 4 and 3 cores respectively) .. just make 3.. 4.. folders etc.. and change the shortcuts to say -gpu 2 and -gpu 3.

Remember the gpu's start from 0. so if you have 4 GPU cores they'll be named 0 1 2 and 3..

-------------------

If everything works you'll see this in your log

Launch directory: C:\Users\Julepalme\AppData\Roaming\Folding@home-gpu 2
Arguments: -gpu 1 -local -verbosity 9
...
[08:42:18] Folding@Home GPU Core - Beta
[08:42:18] Version 1.07 (Mon Jun 23 10:53:13 PDT 2008)

Or something similar.

** Addition

In vista x64 you may need to attach a monitor to the output of each card that you want to use or it wont get recongnized by CUDA. not sure if this is still the case, haven't tested without.

** Another bug i've noticed

Both of the viewers will come up stating its a 8500GT in my case.. when i got a 9800GTX as device 0 and a 8500GT as device 1, this is just a bug with the viewer i suppose.. the PPD seems appropriate for both clients.

** Updated a few not so elegant links.

Lyla · 07-02-2008, 11:02 | posts: 154

I believe that it is meant to be Multi-CPU and it is a typo. so be sure to check it out properly.

aircool · 07-02-2008, 11:08 | posts: 13,428 | Location: Devon, In A Little Town.

You sir have beaten me to it, I'll add this to the sticky later as a quote.

Good job mate.

roguesn1per · 07-02-2008, 11:09 | posts: 9,514 | Location: Aussie Perth WA

Mabye you should read dude ^^

"*NOTE* this is not SLI support, this works without sli.. im currently folding on a 9800GTX (5700PPD) and an old 8500GT i had as a spare (770PPD) Both running the vista x64 version of the 177.41 driver."

aircool · 07-02-2008, 11:11 | posts: 13,428 | Location: Devon, In A Little Town.

Quote:

Originally Posted by roguesn1per

Mabye you should read dude ^^

"*NOTE* this is not SLI support, this works without sli.. im currently folding on a 9800GTX (5700PPD) and an old 8500GT i had as a spare (770PPD) Both running the vista x64 version of the 177.41 driver."

Same goes with crossfire, they cannot not actually be linked (or multi gpu enabled) but plugged in to the pc, also on crossfire it still seems to work once you hook up a display to each card.

Its a bit like running any two of the normal clients really.

roguesn1per · 07-02-2008, 11:12 | posts: 9,514 | Location: Aussie Perth WA

i was talking to Lyla

You just happened to post before me lolz

aircool · 07-02-2008, 11:13 | posts: 13,428 | Location: Devon, In A Little Town.

Quote:

Originally Posted by roguesn1per

i was talking to Lyla

You just happened to post before me lolz

Yeah, I know - I was just adding to it as crossfire functions similarly with the client

As you can follow the ATI GPU2 Client FAQ.

roguesn1per · 07-02-2008, 11:17 | posts: 9,514 | Location: Aussie Perth WA

ah k, didnt read ur post thoroughly enough

Julepalme · **Memory**: 2x4GB 1600mhz 8-8-8-24

So.. have you guys set it up yet? on your dual 8800's and 9800gx2's etc..

waiting to hear from ya'll

And as i said.. its not a mutli-cpu .. it really is multi-gpu... or more a way of choosing which gpu to use.. allowing you to run more clients and therefor utilizing more gpu's..

Here's a few results after having run for a few hours with this setup

The 8500GT Client working on 5004 (R2, C147, G25):

[08:52:09] Completed 1%
[09:01:05] Completed 2%
[09:10:02] Completed 3%
[09:18:57] Completed 4%
[09:28:02] Completed 5%
[09:36:57] Completed 6%
[09:45:53] Completed 7%
[09:54:48] Completed 8%
[10:03:42] Completed 9%
[10:12:36] Completed 10%
[10:21:33] Completed 11%

Min. Time / Frame : 8mn 54s - 775,01 ppd
Avg. Time / Frame : 8mn 55s - 773,56 ppd
Cur. Time / Frame : 8mn 56s - 772,12 ppd
R3F. Time / Frame : 8mn 55s - 773,56 ppd
Eff. Time / Frame : 10mn 20s - 667,51 ppd

The 9800GTX Client working on 5004 (R7, C204, G13):

[08:44:15] Completed 1%
[08:45:39] Completed 2%
[08:46:51] Completed 3%
[08:48:05] Completed 4%
[08:49:17] Completed 5%
[08:50:34] Completed 6%
[08:51:48] Completed 7%
[08:53:03] Completed 8%
[08:54:16] Completed 9%
...
[10:28:39] Completed 87%
[10:29:52] Completed 88%
[10:31:06] Completed 89%

Min. Time / Frame : 1mn 11s - 5828,96 ppd
Avg. Time / Frame : 1mn 11s - 5828,96 ppd
Cur. Time / Frame : 1mn 14s - 5592,65 ppd
R3F. Time / Frame : 1mn 14s - 5592,65 ppd
Eff. Time / Frame : 1mn 12s - 5748,00 ppd

And i've made the observation that running the extra 8500GT has not in any way altered the performance negatively or positively on my system.. same old PPD as before.

Also im running 2 Clients on each of my cores of the E6550 @ 2.8GHz churning out 220PPD each.

The CPU Load of the 8500GT FaHCore_11 is neglible.. 0-1%..
The 9800GTX FaHCore_11 is pushing 5-10% on one core... so hardly affecting my folding on the cpu's.. also set the priority of the GPU Clients slightly higher to so the cpu ones wont interrupt my gpu ones.

So all in all.. pushing 6882,86 on 1 Machine.. 9800GTX+8500GT+E6550.. with slight overclocking all around. haven't gotten the 8500GT overclocked yet tho.. will try rivatuner now..

MoosePower · 07-03-2008, 10:16 | posts: 881 | Location: Seattle, Wa.

Hmm... I tired installing the new core, but when I ran the aplication the fahcore couldn't locate nvcuda.dll. Any ideas?
Edit: Are the 175.19 drivers supported? I'm guessing this could be the problem.

aircool · 07-03-2008, 10:19 | posts: 13,428 | Location: Devon, In A Little Town.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoosePower

Hmm... I tired installing the new core, but when I ran the aplication the fahcore couldn't locate nvcuda.dll. Any ideas?
Edit: Are the 175.19 drivers supported? I'm guessing this could be the problem.

As far as im aware they are not supported as cuda drivers.

177.35's/41's - .41's seem to be doing better.

Julepalme · **Memory**: 2x4GB 1600mhz 8-8-8-24

I'd suggest going through a process of uninstalling the gpu client first..

Then make sure all the gpu's are using the same driver.. with a modded inf all 8000, 9000 and 200 series cards can run the 177.41 driver.. mines doing fine on both the old 8500gt and the 9800gtx..

Once the driver is in reinstall the GPU client.. make a copy before you start playing around.. and edit the client.cfg so that it has a seperat machineid.. could cause problems otherwise..

Then just continue by putting in the new core in both clients work dir and put up the shortcuts like i explained above.

MoosePower · *Last edited by MoosePower; 07-03-2008 at 10:53.*

Thanks for the tip guys. I figured it was an easy fix.

Edit: Umm are the 177.41's compatible with the 8800 series?

MoosePower · 07-03-2008, 10:59 | posts: 881 | Location: Seattle, Wa.

Sad, apparently those drivers arn't compatable with the 8800's... Moving back to the .19's.

Julepalme · **Memory**: 2x4GB 1600mhz 8-8-8-24

They arent officially compatible no..

But im running that driver on a 8500GT

Its running flawlessly and well compatible with the cuda capabilities of the card and the FaH GPU2 client. so why shouldn't your 8800gt

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=265498 has all the info on the driver.. just download the driver for your OS, let it unfold itself to some folder.. C:\NVIDIA\WinVista64\177.41 in my case.. then download the modded nv_disp.inf (this file tells the driver which cards its for).. and replace the one already in the folder.. and run setup.exe.. should install and run flawlessly

Also from the forum post various modded nv_disp.inf's

http://www.mediafire.com/?cpx0df7iaz5
modded x64 vista inf only (from OP)

http://www.mediafire.com/?keinlz4cz29
modded x86 xp inf only

greaterthenjake · 07-03-2008, 21:18 | posts: 110

Ok i mananged to get it running on both gpu's but my second gpu performance is horrid. My first 8800gts 320 is getting 5047 ppd On Wu 5004. and my second GTS same clocks is getting 1228 on the same WU. Also i have noted the cards heat hasnt gone up much at all the first card is running at around 74C and the second card is close to its idle temp at 55C. any input on how to get the ppd of the second card up is much appreciated.

Julepalme · **Memory**: 2x4GB 1600mhz 8-8-8-24

Have you made sure both cards got their drivers updated?.. i had the same problem where i installed my 2nd card and it just installed a default driver for it (175.19 i think).. and had to go into the device manager and update it manually to 177.41... if you've gotten a bad driver for it with poor cuda performance this could explain it... so have a look.

Also do you have SLI Enabled? if so disable it while folding.

dw1234 · 07-03-2008, 23:33 | posts: 1

Everyone who has 8xxx cards can use F@H GPU core, but you need to use the 177.35 drivers found here:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html

These are Nvidia's offical drivers for Cuda support for all 8xxx cards.

Hope this helps,

DW

EDIT: BTW been folding on dual 280s and 8800GTs with the new core for about 2 hours and it seems fine so far.

greaterthenjake · 07-04-2008, 00:59 | posts: 110

AH gotcha SLI is enabled so thats the culprit for the low performance of the second card. thanks for the reply i will disable sli later and see how she does. thanks

MoosePower · 07-04-2008, 04:07 | posts: 881 | Location: Seattle, Wa.

Thanks to aircool f@h is up and running again! The 8800 is currently scoring 6048 ppd! Big improvement over the last driver/fah client.

Crossfire · 07-04-2008, 04:44 | posts: 1,737 | Location: Kentucky, US

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoosePower

Thanks to aircool f@h is up and running again! The 8800 is currently scoring 6048 ppd! Big improvement over the last driver/fah client.

Are running the SMP Client also ?

MoosePower · 07-04-2008, 06:40 | posts: 881 | Location: Seattle, Wa.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crossfire

Are running the SMP Client also ?

Nope, I'm holding off on installing that till my computer is fully setup.

morbias · **Memory**: 6GB HyperX @1600 6-7-6-18

Just to report, I had to plug in a second monitor to my second card to get it running, otherwise it would just sit folding the test protein. And this is on XP, is this normal as in the OP it says you only need to do this for Vista?

Fahmon is currently reading ~9000ppd

if only I could leave my machine on all day

Julepalme · **Memory**: 2x4GB 1600mhz 8-8-8-24

I've heard it was a vista 64bit issues.. may also be an issue for other people..

i got my single monitor hooked up with its 2nd input (vga) on my other card to make it work. otherwise i'd get loads of errors on it.

also you may need to extend a desktop too it aswell for it to be recognized

sardine · 07-05-2008, 11:51 | posts: 60 | Location: UK

On my jolly Holls for a week,

shut down 2 of 3 pc's

happy catching up PPD