GPU processor core priority problem

[APOLLO]

One of my systems isn't responding to affinity tools that set core priority for GPU clients. I have tried Bill's Process Manager and Win AFC. Neither of these seem to work. The GPUs starve for CPU cycles if I don't isolate them to a core. I also have a VM running in this system that has been set to idle both in the *.vmx file and affinity tools. No dice.

Has anyone else encountered stubborn systems that don't respond well to priority settings, and what if anything did you do to get this resolved?

 

[Vaulter98c]

Hmm, if it were just AFC I'd say an error in the log file, but 2 apps? I dunno
I can't remember the name of the one I use on my netbook
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[APOLLO]

Hmm, if it were just AFC I'd say an error in the log file, but 2 apps? I dunno
I can't remember the name of the one I use on my netbook

I could DL other apps but would like to see recommendations first. I tried WinAFC after seeing that BPM wasn't working. I'm pretty sure it's not the apps because I got BPM to work briefly but it stopped after a reboot. This is under Win XP...

 

[The_Heretic]

Has anyone else encountered stubborn systems that don't respond well to priority settings, and what if anything did you do to get this resolved?

(1.)Yes I have and (2.) no I haven't. I tried Rivatuner, different affinity programs, and honestly just gave up messing with it. This is on my main box which is the i7 with Win7 64 and essentially has a lot of other programs installed with it for my normal uses.

 

[APOLLO]

(1.)Yes I have and (2.) no I haven't. I tried Rivatuner, different affinity programs, and honestly just gave up messing with it. This is on my main box which is the i7 with Win7 64 and essentially has a lot of other programs installed with it for my normal uses.

Do you just isolate the GPU processes to a single core now? It's the only thing that works but I lose an entire core to the GPU clients.

 

[The_Heretic]

I tried isolating the GPU and CPU core/clients and still would check back and it had become ass again. I literally threw in the towel so to speak, took all that off except rivatuner to keep the fans speeds up and just let it Fold as it will. Thankfully I got bigadv to start working so it kinda makes up for it. Although after I finished my last unit on the box it downloaded a 1920 for some reason.

 

[APOLLO]

I tried isolating the GPU and CPU core/clients and still would check back and it had become ass again. I literally threw in the towel so to speak, took all that off except rivatuner to keep the fans speeds up and just let it Fold as it will.[/i]

If you cannot set priority like me, you will need to isolate to a specific core. However, to prevent affinity drift after a GPU WU is completed, you have to also set the core affinity in the Environment Variables of System Properties. Otherwise isolation is only temporary.

Thankfully I got bigadv to start working so it kinda makes up for it. Although after I finished my last unit on the box it downloaded a 1920 for some reason.

The only thing I can think of that would cause this to occur is stopping the -bigadv WU and then restarting without the -bigadv flag, and just typed -smp x. In such a scenario, the -bigadv WU would have resumed and completed but the client would then proceed to DL a standard SMP WU instead of a new -bigadv.

Anyway, if you still want the most of both worlds and cannot use a priority tool, try adding the Environment Variables GPU setting to lock affinity, then isolate the GPU clients to that single core. You will still be able to run -bigadv WUs but you will lose a single core to the GPUs. It might still come out to more PPD depending how many and what type of GPU cards you have.

 

[The_Heretic]

Not sure what it was, but the 1920 finished and it's back on a big one.

 

[jfb9301]

I just had trouble with this, seems under win7 even if I start winAFC with highest privlages, winAFC cannot see or change vmware-vmx.exe so I set the GPU cores to above normal as the VM was set at normal (I'm thinking there is a way to change that in the vm config file.

 

[APOLLO]

I just had trouble with this, seems under win7 even if I start winAFC with highest privlages, winAFC cannot see or change vmware-vmx.exe so I set the GPU cores to above normal as the VM was set at normal (I'm thinking there is a way to change that in the vm config file.

That's relatively easy to change. All you have to do is find the *.vmx file in your VM folder and edit the following lines:

priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

Change "normal" to "idle" and you should be good to go. If you can't find the lines, then add them in.

 

[T4rd]

That's relatively easy to change. All you have to do is find the *.vmx file in your VM folder and edit the following lines:

priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"

Change "normal" to "idle" and you should be good to go. If you can't find the lines, then add them in.

QFT, this worked perfect for me. I also have my GPU clients configured to use "slightly higher" priority so they get cycles over the VM. I haven't had any issues with my GPU clients getting CPU cycles this way.

 

[The_Heretic]

So Apollo I'm wondering if the client is set to use all cores but one (3 out of 4 / 7 out of 8, etc,) if it will allow the GPUs to not get sucked down ?

 

[jfb9301]

Deleted

 

[nitrobass24]

Reinstall the OS?

 

[The_Heretic]

Reinstall the OS?

Which person are you recommending this for nitro ?

 

[nitrobass24]

Which person are you recommending this for nitro ?

Apollo

 

[APOLLO]

Update: I tried yet another affinity utility. This is called Priffinity. It's a nice tool but it didn't help my problem. There is something fundamentally different with this system that will not permit me to set priority for my GPU clients. This is a blind shot in the dark but could the video cards be responsible in any way?

So Apollo I'm wondering if the client is set to use all cores but one (3 out of 4 / 7 out of 8, etc,) if it will allow the GPUs to not get sucked down ?

I have the client running on all but one core. I would like it to run on all cores to improve performance. It's the setup I have on my other systems and it works well.

Reinstall the OS?

I reinstalled the OS recently. It's still the same version (XP) and the problem hasn't gone away. I am at a loss as to what to do.

 

[nitrobass24]

Update: I tried yet another affinity utility. This is called Priffinity. It's a nice tool but it didn't help my problem. There is something fundamentally different with this system that will not permit me to set priority for my GPU clients. This is a blind shot in the dark but could the video cards be responsible in any way?

I have the client running on all but one core. I would like it to run on all cores to improve performance. It's the setup I have on my other systems and it works well.

I reinstalled the OS recently. It's still the same version (XP) and the problem hasn't gone away. I am at a loss as to what to do.

Its definitely software related.
I would try another OS, i know it sucks but your kinda out of options.

 

[APOLLO]

Its definitely software related.
I would try another OS, i know it sucks but your kinda out of options.

I briefly tried Win 7 but my software OC tool isn't supported, and I could not OC the processors. What I will lose in OC is far, far greater than what I will gain from fixing the priority issue, so I reinstalled XP on the machine for the time being.

 

[nitrobass24]

Just curious what board do you have?

 

[APOLLO]

Just curious what board do you have?

This is a Supermicro H8DCi. Is there a potential motherboard-related issue that could affect it do you think? If so, I wonder if a BIOS flash might help? I have never flashed the BIOS on this board since I bought it years ago. I have had bad experiences with flashes in the past and everything else is working on it.

 

[The_Heretic]

The box that I have that's the worse offender of pulling the vid cards down has had WinXP on it and any time I ran the VMWare it would pull the GPU clients down bad. With the WinSMP client they stay running full speed. So yesterday I installed Win7 64 on the box and tried again. Once again when running the VMware client it would pull the GPUs down to where with both GPUs and VMWare running it produced less PPd than with just the two GPUs alone.

So I'm beginning to wonder about the hardware, specifically the MB and the virtual client.

 

[nitrobass24]

This is a Suipermicro H8DCi. Is there a potential motherboard-related issue that could affect it do you think? If so, I wonder if a BIOS flash might help? I have never flashed the BIOS on this board since I bought it years ago. I have had bad experiences with flashes in the past and everything else is working on it.

Yea i dont think that would affect things like priority.
Since its an nForce Chipset how do you software OC it?
I have Server2008R2 installed on my 690i and nTune works just fine.

 

[APOLLO]

So I'm beginning to wonder about the hardware, specifically the MB and Windows OSs.

I'm nearly convinced it's hardware-related, but what exactly is an endless debate. I'm strongly considering a BIOS flash but won't do it until the new year. I just don't have the time to fiddle with this system in case something unexpected happens as a result from the flash.

 

[APOLLO]

Yea i dont think that would affect things like priority.
Since its an nForce Chipset how do you software OC it?

An old version of clockgen is the only thing I have tried that works with this board. You cannot find this tool now.

 

[The_Heretic]

I'll check and see if there's a newer bios for mine, If so I'll give it whirl just to see if it could be an issue.

 

[404 - File not found]

hey APOLLO, I have the same problem with my e6600 vmware 3.0 and a 8800gt, under latest xp too. Tried everything to set affinity but just gave up on running smp along the gpu :-/ Maybe not hardware related.

 

[APOLLO]

hey APOLLO, I have the same problem with my e6600 vmware 3.0 and a 8800gt, under latest xp too. Tried everything to set affinity but just gave up on running smp along the gpu :-/ Maybe not hardware related.

Maybe, I just don't know. I have four other XP SP2 machines that have no issue with priority settings and GPU clients, so it's hard to say at this point except that this is a different hardware config than the other setups.

 

[404 - File not found]

ok I'll try messing around tonight, like changing nvidia drivers, bios options and I'll let you know.

 

[Tobit]

Apollo, for shits and giggles, have you tried SetPriority? http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10506

 

[flogge]

Can you change the priority via the task manager? It works in Vista, but it's not a permanent setting, you have to re-do it every time you start the client. Not good long term but it can get you going for a while and possibly help you troubleshoot. Just find the process in the task manager and right-click.

 

[The_Heretic]

Apollo, no dice on the bios update having any effect. Still the same after the update.

 

[404 - File not found]

ok, I fixed my problem, I hope this will help you out.
I tried playing a highdef movie while wmware was crunching, it worked perfectly, so the idle priority for the vmware is actually working... Stopped vmware, restarted gpu folding while taking a look at task manager. For some reason my gpu was taking 35% off a dual core. That's no right, it should be max 15%. Windows refused to give priority to fah_core11, probably because it was just eating too much resources. I uninstalled, and installed the console version instead and it's now working perfect.

 

[nitrobass24]

You dont have a ATI card in that system do you?

 

[APOLLO]

Apollo, for shits and giggles, have you tried SetPriority? http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=10506

Yes, I tried it when I saw your post. Thanks for the link, but unfortunately it doesn't work either. All the affinity tools are likely using the same procedure to assign priority.

Can you change the priority via the task manager? It works in Vista, but it's not a permanent setting, you have to re-do it every time you start the client. Not good long term but it can get you going for a while and possibly help you troubleshoot. Just find the process in the task manager and right-click.

Thanks for the suggestion. It didn't make a difference. I guess whatever affinity tools do to assign priority, doing it in TM is probably the same thing. Either way it didn't change anything.

Apollo, no dice on the bios update having any effect. Still the same after the update.

It was worth a shot, thanks.

ok, I fixed my problem, I hope this will help you out.
I tried playing a highdef movie while wmware was crunching, it worked perfectly, so the idle priority for the vmware is actually working... Stopped vmware, restarted gpu folding while taking a look at task manager. For some reason my gpu was taking 35% off a dual core. That's no right, it should be max 15%. Windows refused to give priority to fah_core11, probably because it was just eating too much resources. I uninstalled, and installed the console version instead and it's now working perfect.

I am actually using the console version. I haven't used the systray client since it was released. Glad it has worked for you though. At least this thread has helped you to get a little more out of your system.

You dont have a ATI card in that system do you?

No, there are two nVidia cards and clients in this box.

 

[The_Heretic]

I tried using task manager to set affinity last night before bed, woke up this morning and it was back to dragging the GPU down. It had changed the affinity of one of the GPU clients back to a core I had switched it from. So I shut down the VMware to verify the "idle" commands were in the .vmx (they were) then restarted VMware and reset GPU and VMware priorities and affinity. I'll check again when i get home but I'm honestly expecting to see it as it has been.
It's certainly a positive aspect of the WinSMP client that it doesn't seem to suffer the same issues. Although I dread the thought, I'll probably end up trying to get it working in this Win7 installation.

 

[The_Heretic]

It appears to me what needs to be done here is Stanford needs to modify the GPU client so that it can be set to a high priority, preferably add normal and high. Currently the client only offers the choices of idle/low. Now that's understandable for those who wish to run the client and do other things on the box. But for boxes that are mainly Folding, or for those who shut the clients down when doing other intensive apps I believe this is what's shooting us in the foot here. As the clients by default are running at low priority in Windows (sorry I am speaking only windows here), even if I set the priority to high once it completes a unit and downloads another it is resetting itself back to low and the PPd drops back down.

 

[404 - File not found]

come to think of it, the tray version has Option -> Advanced -> Core priority something to try if everything else fails.

The Heretic, you'll need to use something like Bill's Process Manager and create a rule for FahCore11 & FahCore14, so that it goes back to normal/high auto.

 

[jfb9301]

don't bother trying to set the priority of the VM. or just go into the folding.vmx file with "wordpad" not "notepad" and edit the priorities there.

use winAFC to set the priorities of the GPU cores to what ever you want (even above normal where mine are set)

as long as you can solve issues like a GPU using 33% process load, this plan works.

AFAIK, VM-ware did something with the 3.xx VM-player that screws with affinity and process changing. the 2.5 I can set with winAFC. but 3.xx can't seem to be set by anything other than editing the vmx file.

sure would be nice if stanford allowed the rest of the priority variables in the config.

 

[jfb9301]

come to think of it, the tray version has Option -> Advanced -> Core priority something to try if everything else fails.

The Heretic, you'll need to use something like Bill's Process Manager and create a rule for FahCore11 & FahCore14, so that it goes back to normal/high auto.

???

why would anyone use the tray client?
so they could loose points to pretty pictures?