nVidia Folding

[grumpydaddy]

nVidia beta 6.12 beta8 has arrived

Download is on this page: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther

First, read the following it is an extract from Stanford themselves.


Basic Requirements:

• a GeForce, Quadro, or Tesla card that supports CUDA (G80 or later for the most part)
• A CUDA capable driver, version 174.55 is recommended. Or 177.35 for GTX cards.
• 32-bit Windows operating system, XP or newer (better Vista support coming soon); 64-bit Windows operating systems appear to currently be incompatible (We're working on this too.)

This is a beta release and we expect there will be bugs, flaws, problems, etc. To minimize problems, we have been testing the client and cores extensively in house and they run well there. However, it's our experience that running in the controlled setup in our lab and running "out in the wild" are very different situations.

As in the use of any beta software, please make sure to back up your hard drive, and Do Not run this client on any machine which cannot tolerate even the slightest instability or problems.

Extracts from their FAQ:

- What hardware does the new client/core support?
The client runs on all hardware supported by NVIDIA's CUDA.

- What OSs does the new client/core support?
The client runs on Windows XP and Vista for now. (Linux and OSX may be a possibility in the future.)

- Can I use my CPU to do calculations too?
For now, the NVIDIA GPU2 core uses the CPU a bit in addition to heavy use of the GPU. However, we hope to off load the calculation completely to the GPU in the future.

- How do I use flags with the SysTray client?
Create a new shortcut and add the command line switches in the shortcut properties.

- How do I make a new shortcut?
After you make a new shortcut in Windows Explorer, you need to set the properties correctly, as noted below.

In Windows XP:
Target: "C:\Program Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -verbosity 9
(or whatever flags you use instead of -verbosity 9)
Start in: "C:\Documents and Settings\<your_windows_username>\Application Data\Folding@home-gpu\"

In Windows Vista:
Target: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -verbosity 9
(or whatever flags you use instead of -verbosity 9)
Start in: "C:\Users\<your_windows_username>\AppData\Roaming\ Folding@home-gpu\"

NOTE: The "Start in" path is not the same as the "Target" path! Do NOT enter this specific text: <your_windows_username> it only represents the account name you used to login to Windows. Enter your actual account name instead. And when using a new shortcut, be sure to remove the original FAH GPU shortcut from the Start/Programs/Startup folder. Also, if you update or reinstall the client again later, the installer will recreate that original shortcut. Remove the original shortcut again to avoid corrupting the work unit data.

- What about multi-gpu support?
Yes, you can add the "-gpu N" flag (N starts at 0) to your extra parameters in the advanced page of the systray clients, or the advances settings of the console clients. Again N starts with 0 not 1, so your primary display is 0, the next is 1, etc. Each client if you are running more then one needs a different -gpu and a different machineD, and a different working directory, so follow the instructions for multiple clients.

For Tesla and other non-desktop cards, we have the "-forcegpu" flag, which will make the client ignore what it thinks the GPU is, but the core will not work if that card is unsupported, so use with caution.

Here I will add a note: It may be possible to run one nVidia and one Ati card together if the rig is just folding more comments:

http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=3336

The Rest

Lots of GPU folding problems have cropped up. The forum trying to solve this is:

http://foldingforum.org/viewforum.php?f=43


EDIT: ADDENDUM 2 1st july 08

NOTICE: You can now get the official 177.35 drivers with cuda support. It is for 8xxx and 9xxx and 200 series (although 200 series already have later drivers)

http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html



Any member: Feel free to PM me if you find errors omissions or updates that i've missed

the usual AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

[Wayne]

Nice work there will give it a go. Been trying to get this working . With a bit of effort and time (which i got now its the weekend) il get this up and running. Will share my efforts incase anyone else needs any help.

[grumpydaddy]

If You Are Watching This I Will Be Adding To It As I Find More.

See Addendum:

[Wayne]

Ive installed driver version 174.55 along with the correct cuda toolkit and cuda sdk. Then installed the gpu 2 folding client. Things seem ok at the minute but the client display dosent work. This a known issue which they are working on. Been folding for around 15 mins and im reading 800/5000 when i put my cursor over the client programme in the task bar. Not sure how fast this is cos i cant see my iterration speed due to display not working.

[grumpydaddy]

Try FaHmon...see what it says (see post in folding)

[Wayne]

Using FAHmon now its saying 2065 PPD sure i can get it better with different driver version will try it and post results.

[Wayne]

I can only get the 174.55 drivers to work. i can install the 177.35 with the modded inf file but after restart the driver hasnt installed. Some people are getting it to work but lots arent so i guess im unlucky. Will stick with 174.55 for now and watch out for updated drivers.

Only tried this on my 32 bit vista today will have a gp at 64 bit tomorrow.

[Jameson]

good work on the guide.

[Wayne]

My PPD is up and down like a yo yo. Been as high as 2500 and low as 950. With the latest drivers some people are hitting 5000. Has anyone got the 177.35 drivers working on vista yet. If so what PPD are you getting.

[grumpydaddy]

@ Jameson...Best I can till now. Thank You for the edit etc.

I should be trying this...right now....Instead got to test psu/ motherboard and find the problem

[grumpydaddy]

@Wayne you do have the graphic display off don't you? It messes with the points!!

[Wayne]

Yer display dosent work for me im using FAHMon. Will just have to wait till i can get latest drivers it gives a huge speed boost apparently.

[reQuiem]

I'm currently testing 177.26 CUDA Drivers which seem to be stable will post info on this has most people with 177.35 have atifects and crashing in games.

So bare this in my people if like me your using 1 rig and like to game as well as fold do some research on your drivers.

[Wayne]

175.44 are deffo the most stable for 8 series cards. No others will install for me. Also ive read modded INF drivers can corrupt the results in folding not sure how true this is.

[grumpydaddy]

@reQuiem and Wayne: cos the stats are slow for these can you let us Know what sort of ppd FaHmon is reporting

[Wayne]

Yer mines 2200 PPD. A lot with a lesser graphics card are getting better hopefully will improve when i can get the latest drivers to work.