I've been feeling a little silly shelling out for gpu's considering the cost of the things like a 7950, but considering how many ppd they generate, especially when multithreaded, and I compare that to the amount I spent on 4 2P servers this year, it's really pretty much of a no brainer and beer money by comparison. Oh and that doesn't even count the 5th server I have all the components for but haven't built because I'd rather use the 18 cent per KWHR electricity for GPU's.

So I've gone ahead and gotten one more card for the E5-2687 (the only server that has PCI-e slots and the PSU for 2 cards) - a Powercolor 7870. That will come tomorrow.

I've had some issue with the scheduler not giving me new HCC wu's on 2 rigs so I'm letting the queue clear out normally and see what happens. Once everything is running normally and I see what my ppd total is I'll reassess what I want to do in terms of hardware. At one point I only had a few people on my tail getting ready to turn me into road kill, but now it's more like an outlaw gang from a mad max movie.

Here is my thread on it but I can try to condense it to the essential points.

https://secure.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread_thread,34228

First you need to locate the following directory. I assume you know how to expose hidden directories, but if not, wplachy explains near the end of the thread above.

c:\ProgramData\BOINC\Projects\www.worldcommunitygrid.org

In that directory, use notepad, you're going to create a file called app_info.xml that looks like this with some modifications noted below.

<app_info>
<app>
<name>hcc1</name>
<user_friendly_name>Help Conquer Cancer</user_friendly_name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>wcg_hcc1_img_7.05_windows_intelx86__ati_hcc1</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<file_info>
<name>hcckernel.cl.7.05</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>hcc1</app_name>
<version_num>705</version_num>
<platform>windows_intelx86</platform>
<plan_class>ati_hcc1</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>.5</avg_ncpus>
<max_ncpus>1.0</max_ncpus>
<coproc>
<type>ATI</type>
<count>.125</count>
</coproc>
<file_ref>
<file_name>wcg_hcc1_img_7.05_windows_intelx86__ati_hcc1</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
<file_ref>
<file_name>hcckernel.cl.7.05</file_name>
<open_name>hcckernel.cl</open_name>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
</app_info>

There are 2 main things to note here

1. the avg_ncpu parm should be cores/desired threads. So let's say you have a non-hyperthreaded 4 core cpu and you wanted to run the max threads. You would keep this at 1. If it's hyperthread and you want to run 8 threads on 4 cores I THINK this would be 0.5.

2. the count parm should be 1/desired threads. So for 4 thread, 0.25. For 8, 0.125, etc. In mine you'll see it's set to 0.125

Currently, I think all of mine are set to 1 for avg and then I just play with the count but I'll have to check. It's easy enough to modify - once you manage to put it in the right damned directory that is.

BUT

Make sure that you first

1. set up a profile that ONLY permits HCC work units. NOTHING else.
2. change the max days of wu's to something much lower than what it is so you don't dl anything and update the project to pick up the new profile
3. delete all wu's that indicate they have 0 run time. If there is even a second, leave it in the queue.
4. now wait for all of the non-hcc wu's to run out

This may be unnecessary, but I had an issue today on 2 machines where I was getting no work and i'm guessing because the scheduler kept trying to resend canceled wu's. So I let them dl and I'm waiting for them to finish.

Once you have a clean queue with only HCC, close BOINC manager (BM). Make sure that everything but boinctray.exe is out of memory - including the science apps.

Make sure you've saved the app info file and have closed notepad.

After a few seconds, restart BM and you should be solid. Just be warned that if you max out your threads, it will impact performance.

This is getting interesting

Wow, just wow, Ok thanx Twilyth will give it a go.
Hi Sport, glad to see your still kick'n.

I am not in a hurry to delve into the project just yet; I only have 5 wu in the queue that will use it anyway. Allowing for 3 different projects running on this machine. I am pleased with the progress/ points that it is producing across the board.


PS: I never "yell" at anybody that is willing to help me get to where I need/want to be. (although I do get a bit peeved at the Linux bunch,as they are a "tad" condescending when "helping")