First steps in GPU GIMPS

[Jurzal]

First 10 assignments at default settings are running atm. TF ETA calculation says that one task should take approximately 40 minutes. Will see.
Test info says that the GPU is running around 2900-3100 GHzDays/Day speed.

How do I pause/continue the work if needed?
With GUI in p95 is easy, how it is here? There are commands for that?

In case I wanna play a game and pause the calculations, then resume after I am done gaming.

Thanks a lot for help!

[LaurV]

CTRL+C (only once!)
wait for the window to close (it will write a checkpoint file on your disk)
next time start again, it will resume properly by itself

if you close from the red X button, or use CTRL+C multiple times (two or more), it will abort immediately, without writing checkpoint file, and next time it will resume from the last saved checkpoint, and not from where it was interrupted

checkpoint files are saved regularly, like every 30 minutes or so (customizable in options/ini file/command line, depends on the program you use), so it will not be a big loss if you accidentally close it or the electricity decides to go around your computer, instead of through it

If you do TF and windows, we highly recommend MISFIT - once properly set this will take care of all assignments, work organizing, reports, etc, it is graphic, bah blah, extremely useful especially when you have many GPUs, possibly spread over multiple computers (but not easy to set when you start - there are some tutorials around, read about, ask here, etc).

welcome to the fray!

[kriesel]

Originally Posted by Jurzal

How do I pause/continue the work if needed?

I think there are at least 3 methods to choose from. One implies planning ahead. (Are there more methods?)
1) launch the batch job with lower Windows priority than normal interactive use. (Start /BELOWNORMAL cmd /k batchfile)
2) Ctrl-c in the mfaktc command prompt window. Relaunch later will resume from last saved checkpoint file.
3) Select some characters in the mfaktc command prompt window. Leave them selected during the desired pause period. Unselect them afterward.

Over time you may find #3 is easy to initiate accidentally. And resume in either method 2 or 3 too easy to forget to do. Some GIMPS software has an interactive key command input option. Mfaktc appears not to.
But hey, we're all volunteers here. Nobody will get fired from the project for forgetting to run a GIMPS app nearly continuously.

Re LaurV's post, whether the window closes in response to Ctrl-C depends on whether it was launched cmd /k, cmd /c, or bare mfaktc. /k will stick around for the user to read error messages, and provides a place to relaunch conveniently (already in the working directory etc. Usually my relaunches are just an up-arrow or two, then enter.)
Ctrl-c once tells mfaktc to finish the current factor class before writing a checkpoint file and terminating. Depending on GPU card speed and assignment that can take very little time, seconds or less. In unusual extreme cases (high bit levels on quite large exponents, say 92 bits on OBD) a single class can take half an hour or more. Following is from a log for 91-92 bits on M3,321,928,373 on an RTX 2080 Super, showing ~101. minutes per class.

Jan 17 13:11 | 2416  52.5% | 6061.3  31d23h |   2241.55    82485    n.a.%
checking for "worktodo.add"... not found
Jan 17 14:52 | 2427  52.6% | 6063.5  31d22h |   2240.71    82485    n.a.%

At the other extreme, several classes may complete per second or per minute.
Following is ~200M 74-75 bit on a ~120GHD/day old GPU. Timings would be ~30 times faster on a modern GPU, so 2+ classes per second.

Date    Time | class   Pct |   time     ETA | GHz-d/day    Sieve     Wait
Jan 13 15:49 | 4431  95.9% | 13.636   8m52s |    119.77    82485    n.a.%
Jan 13 15:49 | 4440  96.0% | 13.645   8m39s |    119.69    82485    n.a.%
Jan 13 15:50 | 4443  96.1% | 13.639   8m25s |    119.74    82485    n.a.%
Jan 13 15:50 | 4448  96.3% | 13.641   8m11s |    119.73    82485    n.a.%
Jan 13 15:50 | 4451  96.4% | 13.641   7m57s |    119.73    82485    n.a.%
Jan 13 15:50 | 4455  96.5% | 13.638   7m44s |    119.75    82485    n.a.%
Jan 13 15:50 | 4463  96.6% | 13.636   7m30s |    119.77    82485    n.a.%
Jan 13 15:51 | 4464  96.7% | 13.643   7m17s |    119.71    82485    n.a.%

[Jurzal]

Thanks, both of you!

Will try your suggestions, will peek that that MISFIT soft for management.

Cheers!

[Jurzal]

Originally Posted by LaurV

CTRL+C (only once!)

If you do TF and windows, we highly recommend MISFIT - once properly set this will take care of all assignments, work organizing, reports, etc, it is graphic, bah blah, extremely useful especially when you have many GPUs, possibly spread over multiple computers (but not easy to set when you start - there are some tutorials around, read about, ask here, etc).

welcome to the fray!

Since you suggested, do you mind helping out with the automation of MISFIT?
I downloaded 2.11.0 MISFIT version, but it fails to connect with website to fetch or upload any assignments or results. Do you have an idea, what would be the issue?

Thanks!

[Mark Rose]

Originally Posted by Jurzal

Since you suggested, do you mind helping out with the automation of MISFIT?
I downloaded 2.11.0 MISFIT version, but it fails to connect with website to fetch or upload any assignments or results. Do you have an idea, what would be the issue?

Thanks!

If you're looking to do TF, it's probably trying to fetch assignments from GPU72. You'll need to create an account there as well: https://www.gpu72.com/signup/

GPU72 coordinates just-in-time Trial Factoring effort.

[Jurzal]

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

If you're looking to do TF, it's probably trying to fetch assignments from GPU72. You'll need to create an account there as well: https://www.gpu72.com/signup/

GPU72 coordinates just-in-time Trial Factoring effort.

Trying to register, but I am not receiving authorization email. Wrote to support, maybe I will hear back something.

Thanks!

[Jurzal]

Hi, some updates! :)

I have managed to successfully run TF assignments using MISFIT 2.11.0 and link with GPU72 site that automatically fetches assignments for me. So far have done 295 assignments worth 21,481.357 GHz-days.

So far so good. I am trying to solve the issue with auto-uploading the results. Currently MISFIT has some error with uploading the results and whenever scheduler triggers auto-upload, it just fails and does nothing, saying that underlying connection has failed. I tried the spider from GPU72, that did nothing too, don't know how to adjust their LINUX code to Windows 10 platform. Any ideas?

Thanks for reading and advices!

[Mark Rose]

If Misfit is having trouble sending results it's likely a problem with your PrimeNet/mersenne.org credentials.

[Jurzal]

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

If Misfit is having trouble sending results it's likely a problem with your PrimeNet/mersenne.org credentials.

Right, you may be right. I remade all credentials very carefully and it worked out, upload was auto-sent.
I did before 3 times and sometimes was not working correctly, so I may have sleepwalked that Caps lock or something.

Thanks! Will test how it goes.

[Jurzal]

Originally Posted by Mark Rose

If Misfit is having trouble sending results it's likely a problem with your PrimeNet/mersenne.org credentials.

Well, seems like upload did not take and same result as before. Posted a screenshot.
Where is the issue? Something is blocking it, can't imagine what.