mfakto: an OpenCL program for Mersenne prefactoring

[Axelsson]

Originally Posted by Bdot

Well, Cayman has always been a challenge for computing. The nominal power can hardly be used. The kernel that is now working with the GPU sieve is about the worst case for it (lots of 32-bit multiplications which basically make it a 384-core GPU). GCN-based cards also have a problem with these multiplications, but can handle other stuff way more efficiently.

Axelsson, regarding the slow response: try reducing GPUSieveSize and especially GPUSieveProcessSize in mfakto.ini - this should make it more responsive. And then, please, have a look if it really is CPU usage by mfakto, or if it is just the GPU at its limit (which will also lead to slow screen responses).

Great, that made it! I'm getting 80 GHz-days/day from it while running four old mfakto processes simultaneously (they manages to deliver 60-70 GHz-days/day together) and the new process only takes 0-1% CPU.
Still, there are some small effects when the graphics lags a bit, but nothing major. It only tells me that finally my CPU isn't the weakest link.

So, you are saying that my card isn't very good on sieving, what type of work would use it to it's fullest potential?

... and when is this version cleared for production runs?

Btw, I have run a thousands small factoring jobs and compared it with the last stable version and it all matched up.

Göran

[pinhodecarlos]

Can I help? Maybe I need to upgrade the drivers...I am new to GPU crunching.
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/04/18/4sp.png

[Bdot]

Originally Posted by Axelsson

Great, that made it! I'm getting 80 GHz-days/day from it while running four old mfakto processes simultaneously (they manages to deliver 60-70 GHz-days/day together) and the new process only takes 0-1% CPU.
Still, there are some small effects when the graphics lags a bit, but nothing major. It only tells me that finally my CPU isn't the weakest link.

So, you are saying that my card isn't very good on sieving, what type of work would use it to it's fullest potential?

... and when is this version cleared for production runs?

Btw, I have run a thousands small factoring jobs and compared it with the last stable version and it all matched up.

Göran

As I'm extending the GPU-sieve for the other kernels, mfakto will be able to utilize your card much better. I don't know of any other GPU work for your card, if you want to stay with GIMPS. Unfortunately there is no P-1 nor LL test implemented in OpenCL yet.

I currently don't have a lot of time for programming, so the progress is slower than I had hoped. Until I can release it, there' s still a lot to do. Sorry, no date yet.

But thanks a lot for your tests (and all others), as this indicates that the implementation is sound now.

[kracker]

Originally Posted by pinhodecarlos

Can I help? Maybe I need to upgrade the drivers...I am new to GPU crunching.
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/04/18/4sp.png

Looks like that is 12.1(2?). You might want to upgrade to the latest stable, 13.1 and see how it goes.

EDIT: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...w_vista64.aspx

[Bdot]

Originally Posted by pinhodecarlos

Can I help? Maybe I need to upgrade the drivers...I am new to GPU crunching.
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/04/18/4sp.png

If you have some AMD driver (they call it Catalyst) and run either Linux x64 or Windows, then your card should be ready to go. Get mfakto 0.12, sign on to GPU72 and get some work . Your card should be able to output ~50-60 GHzdays/day (you may need to run two instances of the program in parallel to get to that).

There are useful tools available to help you fetching work and reporting results, like MISFIT.

[TheJudger]

Originally Posted by Bdot

I currently don't have a lot of time for programming, so the progress is slower than I had hoped. Until I can release it, there' s still a lot to do. Sorry, no date yet.

Better safe than sorry. Take the time you need!

Oliver

[pinhodecarlos]

Originally Posted by Bdot

If you have some AMD driver (they call it Catalyst) and run either Linux x64 or Windows, then your card should be ready to go. Get mfakto 0.12, sign on to GPU72 and get some work . Your card should be able to output ~50-60 GHzdays/day (you may need to run two instances of the program in parallel to get to that).

There are useful tools available to help you fetching work and reporting results, like MISFIT.

I tested mfakto on the current drivers and everything goes well despite the fact that I still didn't get how to work with MISFIT so I can check the progress bar.
I think for newbies like me it is a must to have a step by step installation of all tools.
My GPU is from a Toshiba laptop and I am afraid of updating the drivers.
Anyway, thank you for your help.

Carlos

[Aramis Wyler]

Misfit will keep all your programs (like mfacto) going for you so they always have work and are reporting results. But it is good to have a basic working knowledge of how your stuff actually works, so I'd run it manually for at least a couple days before you tried clamping misfit down on top of it. What misfit or the work fetcher or the submission spider does will make a lot more sense once you've done it manually a few times.

[Bdot]

just a brief update on the GPU-sieve progress:
today's check-in comment was "all 6 32-bit kernels working properly (all 68k test cases successful)"

There are 6 more kernels I'd like to switch to the GPU sieve, then I'll start another beta. I' getting faster with this move ...

[kladner]

Originally Posted by pinhodecarlos

I tested mfakto on the current drivers and everything goes well despite the fact that I still didn't get how to work with MISFIT so I can check the progress bar.
I think for newbies like me it is a must to have a step by step installation of all tools.

Carlos

I suspect that the source your difficulty is probably somewhere on this tab (attached) of the Configuration Editor of MISFIT. Make sure the paths are correct. Make sure the Process name at the bottom matches the file name of the mfakto executable exactly as it appears in your mfakto directory, (without the extension.)

Also, to use auto-fetch and notifications, make sure that your usernames, passwords, and email info are correctly entered on the Security tab.

EDIT:
Here is a sample batch file for starting mfaktc/o, which you can modify with your details such as path.

@ echo off
e:
cd E:\mfaktc_2.0\mfaktc_a
start /high /min mfaktc.exe -d 0

Of course, there is more to configure on the Fetch page.

[pinhodecarlos]

kladner, thank you for the explanations. I will stay away ffrom mfakto until someone decides to make an OpenCL version to help the FermatSearch project, that I prefer to help. I don't have the skills to do it so I must wait....

Carlos