[SOLVED, sort of] GPU Laaaaaggggg

[Yakbreeder]

I know lag is normal, even more so on my lowly ATI 5750 GPU, but I'm seeing increased lag on my system with each additional 0x21 core I get. So much in fact, I had to pause my GPU slot to make this post, else it would have taken me 5-7 minutes to type it out. Of course I'd rather not pause it. To be honest, I'm shocked that my 5750 will even run 0x21's at all.

The lag was tolerable when I got 0x17 and 0x18 WU's as I could still maneuver the internet etc, albeit at a slower pace. I know that 15's are extinct, or almost extinct. Are 17's and 18's still running? Any chance of them going extinct soon? What flags would I need to set in hopes of getting core 17/18 WU's?

I would upgrade my GPU, but I'm paying off some medical bills at the moment, and I'm at least another year away from an upgrade.

Halp!

System:

i5 750
ATI 5750
16GB ram
650W PSU
Win 7 64bit Home Premium

Yak

[7im]

Work Units keep getting bigger and more crunchy all the time. Each new core brings new improvements in the accuracy of folding. So this heavier processing load is expected.

Yes, core 15, 17, 18, and 21 are all still running. Yes, 15 will go the quickest. Core 17 will follow after that, just as core 16 and core 11 have ended. Natural progression. Some projects run until the Researcher leaves school, some continue longer until their server finally dies. No ETAs available.

Unfortunately, there are no current flags to exclude core 21 work units. Only to Opt In to core 15 work units for NV cards.

But this current situation is prompting a review to see how to handle this better in the future.

[davidcoton]

AFAIK Core17 and Core18 are still in full production, no EOL has been announced (unlike Core15). Experience suggests that wind-down after announced EOL takes at least a year, though that is not necessarily always going to be the case.

[bruce]

To minimize the lag, you can set your GPU slot to idle=true and it will only fold when you're not using the computer. Of course since you don't like to pause the WU, automating that process won't make it any more palatable -- except if you forget to undo the manual pause.

A few Core_21 projects require the setting of max-packet=big to be assigned, so you certainly do not want to use that setting. The packet size is only indirectly related to how completely the FahCore is able to utilize ALL of the resources, but excluding the most challenging WUs can't hurt.

A WU which uses 98% of the GPU's resources leaves (more or less) 2% to update your screen. A WU which uses 99.9% of your GPU will be more efficient, leaving less for other applications.

Do investigate the settings that allow you to choose GPU acceleration vs. CPU support for that application. Using a GPU that's mostly idle and very fast is ASSUMED to be what everybody will prefer, so it's the default. When FAH is running, using the CPU is plenty fast and gets the screen updated quicker than waiting for a gap in GPU processing.

[Yakbreeder]

Sounds like I'm stuck between a rock and hard place till I can upgrade my system.

I just hate pausing that slot as I only average 10-13k PPD using both CPU and GPU.

Such is life.

Thanks for the replies/suggestions.

Yak

[bruce]

Though it's not a major issue, pause only the GPU. The CPU WUs don't cause enough lag for you to detect it visually/manually.

[Yakbreeder]

What I was initially blaming on GPU lag, turned out to be a sick mouse scrolling wheel. The mouse (Logitech MX 500) isn't dead, just seems rather ill. I've never had a mouse do that before, they've always kicked the bucket straight up.

Anyway, I had been noticing that even when I paused the GPU WU, my mouse wheel scrolling still just wasn't right. (I never even put 2 & 2 together until I cleaned the dust bunnies from my desktop case today.) So a random thought pops into my pea brain just before I reboot my system, to swap my desktop mouse out with my basic MS mouse I use for my laptop. BINGO! Webpages are SO much better now. I still have WU/GPU induced lag (to be expected of course) but it doesn't take days to scroll down a webpage. I can tolerate the lag again, and not have to pause the GPU when surfing. I'll gain more ppd, plus I shaved about 5-7C off me temps.

Now to search for a replacement for the desktop.

Thanks for the input/replies everyone.

[foldy]

If your internet browser still lags a little while folding with GPU then you need to disable browser hw acceleration and also for flash or other video plugins or software.