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stevew220

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Message 73625 - Posted: 15 Aug 2012, 1:34:25 UTC
Last modified: 15 Aug 2012, 1:44:49 UTC

i have a slightly above average computer (built myself) am running windows 7 x64sp1, based on an MSI 890fxa-gd70 board, 8gb of transcend aXe ram, with an AMD fx4100 3.6ghz quad core cpu (cpu is slightly oc'd to 4.0ghz)and an amd/radeon hd5750 1ghz graphics card.

my question is, if i add another graphics card but do NOT configure it for crossfire, can Rosetta access this second gpu for processing? or would a second(additional) gpu have to be linked to be usable?
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Kenneth DePrizio

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Message 73626 - Posted: 15 Aug 2012, 2:27:34 UTC

Rosetta is a CPU only project. It doesn't use the GPU.
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stevew220

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Message 73627 - Posted: 15 Aug 2012, 4:46:32 UTC - in response to Message 73626.  

ok, thanks. and if i had known more about this 'bulldozer' series of processors i NEVER would have purchased it, shared cache may have enabled them to shrink the die size, but i think it may be a processing bottleneck when it comes to crunching.
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Message 73628 - Posted: 15 Aug 2012, 6:49:52 UTC - in response to Message 73625.  

my question is, if i add another graphics card but do NOT configure it for crossfire, can Rosetta access this second gpu for processing?

Rosetta not, but BOINC can use as many GPUs as you install for other projects. If you haven't find yet any project for your GPU, you can simply look at WUProp@Home ATI on which projects ATI cards can be used. Note that your GPU doesn't support double precision, so projects which need that, won't run on it (Milkyway for example).
.
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mikey
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Message 73629 - Posted: 15 Aug 2012, 10:15:41 UTC - in response to Message 73625.  

my question is, if i add another graphics card but do NOT configure it for crossfire, can Rosetta access this second gpu for processing? or would a second(additional) gpu have to be linked to be usable?


And when you do find a project you like that can use your gpu using cross-fire does NOT make Boinc crunching faster. It does not seem to hurt it either though, so if you game which CAN use cross-fire to its best advantage, go ahead and do it.

Here is a link to all current Boinc projects, well it is mostly current at least, the Boinc projects are noted:
http://www.distributedcomputing.info/projects.html
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stevew220

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Message 73633 - Posted: 15 Aug 2012, 23:33:23 UTC - in response to Message 73629.  

ok. you seem to be know a bit more than i do, so can i install a second(higher end) graphics card and set it up so it is used ONLY by boinc projects.

i am sorry if i sound stupid, but i do not want to use it as graphics support for my system, i want it used as a scientific tool. if this is possible i will shop for a decent card that can support double precission, and a bit faster speed.
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mikey
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Message 73639 - Posted: 16 Aug 2012, 11:49:15 UTC - in response to Message 73633.  

ok. you seem to be know a bit more than i do, so can i install a second(higher end) graphics card and set it up so it is used ONLY by boinc projects.

i am sorry if i sound stupid, but i do not want to use it as graphics support for my system, i want it used as a scientific tool. if this is possible i will shop for a decent card that can support double precission, and a bit faster speed.


Yes for most projects, but on some projects no you cannot. Moo for instance uses all video cards even if you exclude them, Milky Way seems to work just fine though. Here is an example of a file that does not work as it has the project Moo in it:

<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
<exclude_gpu>
<url>http://http:/moowrap.net/</url>
<device_num>0</device_num>
</exclude_gpu>
<exclude_gpu>
<url>http://boinc.thesonntags.com/collatz/</url>
<device_num>1</device_num>
</exclude_gpu>
<report_results_immediately>1</report_results_immediately>
</options>
</cc_config>

The file is called "cc_config.xml" but MUST be saved as a txt file in Windows thru Notepad. If you use a word processing program extra junk is saved and the file won't work. If you go to here:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration
you can see all the possible configuration options. When you save the file you save it in the folder under C:/ProgramData/Boinc if you installed Boinc with the default options. ProgramData is a hidden folder so you must unhide it first to save stuff to it, push the Alt key and then select to show hidden files and folders. BE SURE to hide it again when you are done as bad things can happen to your pc if you play around in those hidden folders too much.

In the above file I was trying to exclude the first gpu, num 0, from Moo and exclude the 2nd gpu, num 1, from Collatz. It worked for Collatz but not for Moo. And then I was trying to send the results back immediately as my network was giving me trouble, that is NOT a recommended permanent option though. When Boinc first starts up it inventories what is available to it, you can see which gpu is num 0 and which is num 1 in the Event Log under the Advanced tab in Boinc Manager which is down by the clock. It will be near the top of the list.
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Message boards : Number crunching : system design



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