Tazz <dmswaine@gmail.com> wrote:

DaveT wrote:

OK. I've now got a card with an Nvidia GeFoce 8400 engine and 512 MB of vDram. I have the latest
supposedly CUDA-enabled version 6.4.7 of BOINC. The start-up log says "CUDA devices found". How do I
determine if it's actually using this capability? So far it's processing Astropulse at the rate of
about 0.1% per 10 minutes. That sounds like about 166.66 hours to completion, versus an estimate of
194 hours, which is about what it used to take. Is this roughly 16% improvement the best I can hope
for? That would be about 7 days. By the way, for what it's woth, it rates my 2 CPUs at 2594 floating
point MIPS and 4146 integer MIPS each. 

Thanks
Dave

The seti@home website is down right now so I can't confirm this, but I 
think that the stock version of BOINC will only do regular workunits on 
the Nvidia GPU, not Astropulse.

Thanks for the info. That kind of sucks. I would infer, then, that in order to use CUDA, I have to
prevent seti from sending Astropulse units (per prior post) since those are the only ones it wants
to send.

Also, from what I've read, on a multi-core system one core will not run 
a workunit but will be "feeding" the CUDA GPU. Probably the same on a 
single core system; the CPU will be feeding the GPU.

Both CPU's are maxed out, so I guess that means no CUDA.

I'm still in the planning stages trying to figure out what I'll need to 
run CUDA units. So far it looks like a major upgrade.

I wanted a machine that could handle H.264-compressed hi-definition video via the Hauppague 1212
"PVR". This required a Dual-core CPU. A 45 watt CPU like the 2.5GHz AMD Athlon X2 4850e goes for
around $56. Likewise for the mobo. As soon as I upgraded the system, seti started loading me up with
Astropulse units, which take over a week to process. 

I needed smoother video playback, so I picked up the GeForce 8400 for another $40 (less than I paid
in 1992 for the co-processor for my 386). I noticed in the literature that it supports CUDA, so I
thought I'd give it a try. Now I guess I will have to clear out these Asstropulse units before I can
try again.
Thanks.
Dave
	

</Tazz>