Should I drop 1 WinSMP instance?

[torin3]

Ok, I've been moving in more GPUs into my work machine. I started out running 2 WinSMP instances, then a GPU2 client, then a second, and now a third. I should be able to add a 4th as soon as I get in a fan with enough CFM to keep them all cool. But the PPD on the two WinSMP clients has kept going down.

Here is what it looks like currently:

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/torin3/oc/ppd.jpg

It used to be almost 4k PPD from the SMP clients alone, but now I'm not even getting 2k. Will dropping one help out? Part of the drop is I changed motherboards and went from about 3.3Ghz down to 3Ghz, but that doesn't account for it all.

[jonspd]

If you add a 4th I would drop 1 for sure.

Have you dropped 1 to see what the other turns up to as for PPD?

[torin3]

If you add a 4th I would drop 1 for sure.

Have you dropped 1 to see what the other turns up to as for PPD?

I know I was thinking about it, but I don't remember if I actually did test it.

I'll go ahead and wait until a unit ends and then shut that one down and see what happens.

[harlam357]

I'd try dropping one too... but, you could also try playing around with affinities.

Do you have each GPU running on it's own cpu core? I assume this is a quad.

If so, you might try setting the affinity for all the GPU2 core processes to core 3 and see if they can all co-exist on the same cpu core. Then save cores 0-2 for SMP. Works when running two VMWare VMs.... why not WinSMP? :)

[torin3]

Well, I'm currently running with affinity changer on this machine. So I could uninstall it and set them to their own cores. I just noticed on my home machine when I put in the second 8800 GS card, it was taking forever to run, and then I noticed it was on core 2. So I moved it to 3, along with the other 8800 GS, then set the VMs to both 0\1\2, and they seem to be playing fine now.

I also noticed, when I had 4 cards in for a bit, one of them was only turning out about 3600ppd, and another was 4500ppd, so I probably should go with direct affinities. It may have been the heat though, the one card was running at 98-99°C.

The fan coming in tomorrow is 110CFM, so I should be able to keep them all cool enough with it directly on them.

[Adak]

In FahMon, be sure your preferences are using *just* the last 3 frames for reference, as it predicts your ppd. Otherwise, you'll be looking at garbage values for a long time, whenever you make a change, and want to know how it affects your ppd.

You don't want to look at what client 1 or client 2 is generating in ppd - you want to give it time to make up 3 frames (maybe 60 minutes for your SMP clients), and THEN look at your *total* ppd.

Only the total, and only after the new setting has had time for 3 full frames, at least, for each client.

[torin3]

In FahMon, be sure your preferences are using *just* the last 3 frames for reference, as it predicts your ppd. Otherwise, you'll be looking at garbage values for a long time, whenever you make a change, and want to know how it affects your ppd.

Yep, I set all my FahMon clients to only the last 3 frames.

You don't want to look at what client 1 or client 2 is generating in ppd - you want to give it time to make up 3 frames (maybe 60 minutes for your SMP clients), and THEN look at your *total* ppd.

Only the total, and only after the new setting has had time for 3 full frames, at least, for each client.

Good point about making sure to check the total, rather than the individual clients. Speeding the SMP up 1K ppd isn't worth it if the rest goes down 2.5K ppd.

I'll report back what the results are for running 1 SMP, and running 2 with affinty set.

[torin3]

This is with F@H Affinity Changer, and only 1 SMP client.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/torin3/oc/ppd2.jpg

This is without F@H Affinity Changer, and 2 SMP clients.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/torin3/oc/ppd3.jpg

I'm currently running without F@H Affinity Changer, and 1 SMP client, but it is still looking like 2 with Affinity Changer is the best option at the moment.

Edit:

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/torin3/oc/ppd4.jpg

Looks like 2 clients with Affinity Changer is the way to go....weird though.

[harlam357]

Looks pretty even to me... a couple hundred ppd one way or the other is nothing to worry about. I'd go with whatever setup is the easiest to maintain... to me that means... less clients == easier. :)