Reduce GPU Folding power

If you're new to FAH and need help getting started or you have very basic questions, start here.

Moderators: Site Moderators, FAHC Science Team

Post Reply
naw
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:54 am

Reduce GPU Folding power

Post by naw »

Hello

I'm using F@H on a system with Ryzen 5 3600, Nvidia GTX 1050 on Arch Linux. When I turn ON GPU folding the desktop, some windows render slowly. I notice in on new windows and also on firefox.

For CPUs you can change the power used by using the power slider or by adjusting the thread number. Is there something equivalent for the GPU? I only have seen that with the power slider you can disable or enable the GPU completely.

Thanks
HaloJones
Posts: 906
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:16 am

Re: Reduce GPU Folding power

Post by HaloJones »

Sadly GPU drivers do not allow this. It's not a folding thing, just a operating system and manufacturer driver thing.

In Firefox, you can turn off hardware acceleration and the browser will stop using the gpu and rely on the cpu only.

Option two on this page: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ha ... inds-crash
single 1070

Image
foldy
Posts: 2040
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2012 3:43 pm
Hardware configuration: Folding@Home Client 7.6.13 (1 GPU slots)
Windows 7 64bit
Intel Core i5 2500k@4Ghz
Nvidia gtx 1080ti driver 441

Re: Reduce GPU Folding power

Post by foldy »

Try these tweaks for Arch linux and firefox
viewtopic.php?f=106&t=34105
bruce
Posts: 20824
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:13 pm
Location: So. Cal.

Re: Reduce GPU Folding power

Post by bruce »

The OS manages a GPU as a single device. It is either on or off. The FAH software, including the slider has to live within the constraints of the OS.

FAH drivers actually manage the device in several ways, but mostly to protect it from being damaged by heat. Within the driver settings, there are some settings that MAY be used to manage the things you're looking for but those settings are not available to FAH's control.
naw
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:54 am

Re: Reduce GPU Folding power

Post by naw »

foldy wrote:Try these tweaks for Arch linux and firefox
viewtopic.php?f=106&t=34105
Thanks! Reenabling hardware acceleration and forcing it with layers.acceleration.force-enabled makes firefox smooth again
pcwolf
Posts: 62
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 4:49 pm
Hardware configuration: Manjaro Linux - AsRock B550 Taichi - Ryzen 5950X - NVidia RTX 4070ti
FAH v8-4.3
Location: Yorktown, Virginia, USA

Re: Reduce GPU Folding power

Post by pcwolf »

Search for package "nvidia-smi" and you will land on the NVidia Developer page. This package works on all Linux distros, and allows me to limit RTX 2070 to 150w from allowable 185w without any noticeable loss of F@H PPD, lowers the GPU temp, and makes mouse movement snappier on the screen. Manjaro
Image
Konadreamer
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:45 pm

Re: Reduce GPU Folding power

Post by Konadreamer »

If I want to disable GPU and still do CPU work, can I do that through the advance options>slot configuration>gpu-index = 0 ? And when I'm ready to enable it just set it back to -1 ?

Update: Never mind. Found the pause button on the advanced control interface and got it to do what I want from there. :D
kiore
Posts: 921
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:45 pm
Location: USA

Re: Reduce GPU Folding power

Post by kiore »

Konadreamer wrote:If I want to disable GPU and still do CPU work, can I do that through the advance options>slot configuration>gpu-index = 0 ? And when I'm ready to enable it just set it back to -1 ?

Update: Never mind. Found the pause button on the advanced control interface and got it to do what I want from there. :D
You can also use 'finish' in advanced control to complete a unit and not automatically start another while keeping the cpu active and let the gpu finish its work then auto pause.
Image
i7 7800x RTX 3070 OS= win10. AMD 3700x RTX 2080ti OS= win10 .

Team page: https://www.rationalskepticism.org/viewtopic.php?t=616
Post Reply