GPU Assignment Questions

[Sailer]

Mod note: These posts were split from viewtopic.php?f=80&t=27138 where they were off-topic

I've noticed several mentions of Core 18 projects, but I don't think I've ever gotten one. I have a few computers, most with GTX780 Ti cards, one with a Titan, and one with a GTX980. Is there anything that I need to do to get them, perhaps changing the slot configuration, or are they just random and I haven't been assigned one yet?

[Joe_H]

I've noticed several mentions of Core 18 projects, but I don't think I've ever gotten one. I have a few computers, most with GTX780 Ti cards, one with a Titan, and one with a GTX980. Is there anything that I need to do to get them, perhaps changing the slot configuration, or are they just random and I haven't been assigned one yet?

What OS are you running? They are only assigned to nVidia cards on Windows currently. And with a recent restriction, only to Fermi or Kepler based GPU's. So the 780ti and possibly the Titan cards would get assignments of Core_18 projects and not the GTX980, but only with Windows.

[Sailer]

I've noticed several mentions of Core 18 projects, but I don't think I've ever gotten one. I have a few computers, most with GTX780 Ti cards, one with a Titan, and one with a GTX980. Is there anything that I need to do to get them, perhaps changing the slot configuration, or are they just random and I haven't been assigned one yet?

What OS are you running? They are only assigned to nVidia cards on Windows currently. And with a recent restriction, only to Fermi or Kepler based GPU's. So the 780ti and possibly the Titan cards would get assignments of Core_18 projects and not the GTX980, but only with Windows.

I'm running Windows. mainly Win7, but a couple computers have Vista. All Nvidia cards. Perhaps some snuck in during the night and I didn't see them. Most I see are core 17 and a few core 15 projects. No big thing, just curious.

[Mousemonkey]

A couple of days ago I was getting Core 17 WU's and averaging 400K a day and now I'm getting Core 15 WU's and averaging 120K a day, nice! I guess it's time to power down until PG can sort out the AS properly.

[Joe_H]

A couple of days ago I was getting Core 17 WU's and averaging 400K a day and now I'm getting Core 15 WU's and averaging 120K a day, nice! I guess it's time to power down until PG can sort out the AS properly.

Getting Core_15 jobs means that there are no suitable Core_17 jobs at the time your client requested a new WU. The AS is working properly, just not to your desired only Core_17 all of the time. The only way to get just Core_17 right now is to run GPU folding on a Linux install. That is because Core_18 has not been ported to Linux yet and Core_15 never was. You do take the chance of not getting any GPU work and 0 points at all if the servers happen to be out when a new WU is requested.

[bruce]

There's a good chance that the AS is working properly. All servers must have their results off-loaded before the supply of new WUs is replenished (even when there are no problems such as a server crashed). When high-priority projects run short of WUs, it's the Assignment Server's job to find lower-priority work that needs to be done. The science involved with low priority jobs suffers whenever there is higher priority work to be done, and it suffers again when folks refuse to help with those projects.

[Mousemonkey]

A couple of days ago I was getting Core 17 WU's and averaging 400K a day and now I'm getting Core 15 WU's and averaging 120K a day, nice! I guess it's time to power down until PG can sort out the AS properly.

Getting Core_15 jobs means that there are no suitable Core_17 jobs at the time your client requested a new WU. The AS is working properly, just not to your desired only Core_17 all of the time. The only way to get just Core_17 right now is to run GPU folding on a Linux install. That is because Core_18 has not been ported to Linux yet and Core_15 never was. You do take the chance of not getting any GPU work and 0 points at all if the servers happen to be out when a new WU is requested.

So why does my other PC running an AMD card and W7 get them continuously then?

[bruce]

Good question. It all hangs on two things: the word "suitable" as well as on a bit of luck.

"Suitable" involves your hardware, your client, your Operating System, as well as your client's settings. Those are not documented in your profile nor did you post your log and any guesses I might make are probably wrong. It can also depend on things like recent WUs which were assigned but not successfully returned plus other factors which I don't happen to know about. (Any explanation is going to be incomplete.)

The "bit of luck" depends on dynamic server conditions which can change very rapidly and I know of no method of detecting them.

[Mousemonkey]

I have 2 PC's both running the same client versions on the same settings and both are on W7 64, the only main difference as far F@H is concerned is that one runs dual Nvidia cards and the other is running a single AMD card. Now I'm still going to power down the Nvidia rig this weekend because I want to have a play with these 970's and see what they game like but the whole AS thing is just really weird and having seen a it mentioned quite a few times in various threads I know I'm not alone.

[Joe_H]

There are no Core_15 WU's for AMD cards, so it can not be assigned any. By chance the AMD card might be assigned a WU using Core_16, but those projects' servers are set at a very low priority and might even have been turned off from looking at the server status. You might have to examine the logs of that W7 machine with the AMD card to see if there were any delays in assignment of new WU's after completing one.

As bruce mentioned, there may also be a bit of luck involved. There may also be specific issues connected with how WU's are queued up on the servers, but as forum moderators we do not have a means of telling if that is the case.

[Mousemonkey]

There are no Core_15 WU's for AMD cards, so it can not be assigned any. By chance the AMD card might be assigned a WU using Core_16, but those projects' servers are set at a very low priority and might even have been turned off from looking at the server status. You might have to examine the logs of that W7 machine with the AMD card to see if there were any delays in assignment of new WU's after completing one.

As bruce mentioned, there may also be a bit of luck involved. There may also be specific issues connected with how WU's are queued up on the servers, but as forum moderators we do not have a means of telling if that is the case.

I have four monitors running and so at times I have the AMD rig displayed on one and so can see that it just rolls from one Core 17 to the next with no delay and the kind of consistent "luck" that I wish I could get with the National Lottery!