Boinc was originally written by PAID Programmers that due to funding cuts NOW do it on a Volunteer basis, it wasn't until a few years ago that they lost their funding, the original paper for the idea of Boinc has long ago been met and even surpassed. Several places provided funding over the years but now no place with the money is interested in keeping it going, they have other new and fresh ideas to fund. Boinc isn't going to make someone a Billion or even a Million dollars while other ideas might so the funding just isn't there. Even projects that run thru Universities have to fight to keep the budget they have let alone get increases every year.

So they're stuck with the programmers who aren't good enough to get a real job.

the problem is each project has it's own agenda and thinking about attracting new users, some just don't have the funding to upgrade the hardware if a hundred thousand new people show up tomorrow to crunch their tasks, while others seem to be able to handle it without so much as breathing heavy.

The key is to use SSDs....

A post from the admin of Universe@Home:

"Currently we have nearly 600'000 WU's in progress and you finish 300'000 WU's daily!
I've never seen these numbers on our project :)
Very big THANK YOU for your support for our project :)
BTW, our server is not killed by this quantity of tasks mainly because of switching to SSDs."

.... Do you have a line in your cc_config.xml file to 'use all gpu's' in Boinc? If not it won't use both of them unless you put them in different pc's.

I'm sure Peter knows that very secret trick !

It's not required, the default is to use all of them.

But, I think (as far as I'm able), that that isn't the problem ...
So, I'm also sure the more knowledgeable crunchers will explain ...

Nobody can explain Boinc. It isn't a program, it's an animal. Like a Mac, no common sense.

Boinc was originally written by PAID Programmers that due to funding cuts NOW do it on a Volunteer basis, it wasn't until a few years ago that they lost their funding, the original paper for the idea of Boinc has long ago been met and even surpassed. Several places provided funding over the years but now no place with the money is interested in keeping it going, they have other new and fresh ideas to fund. Boinc isn't going to make someone a Billion or even a Million dollars while other ideas might so the funding just isn't there. Even projects that run thru Universities have to fight to keep the budget they have let alone get increases every year.

So they're stuck with the programmers who aren't good enough to get a real job.

It's all a pity, but that's how the todays world works ...

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

So they're stuck with the programmers who aren't good enough to get a real job.

It's all a pity, but that's how the todays world works ...

Or doesn't work :-) Almost every day you think "how can someone have done that, that's so stupid!"

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

My emphasis was on "mix" (different models from the same manufacturer).
Maybe that is the difference ...

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

This is what the user guide says:
"<use_all_gpus>0|1</use_all_gpus>
If 1, use all GPUs (otherwise only the most capable ones are used). Requires a client restart."
So which is the default ?

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

This is what the user guide says:
"<use_all_gpus>0|1</use_all_gpus>
If 1, use all GPUs (otherwise only the most capable ones are used). Requires a client restart."
So which is the default ?

1 is the default. They're "otherwise" is if you turn it off to 0. I think they changed the default in some Boinc version or other. If you have an installation that started with an older one, maybe you have a different default.

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

My emphasis was on "mix" (different models from the same manufacturer).
Maybe that is the difference ...

I have different models too. They all run unless I say otherwise.

The Boinc Programmers never even thought

That's accurate if you just leave the sentence there.

about using a gpu to crunch with in the beginning, over several version of Boinc, both the Client and Server side, gpu crunching was enabled but even then it was 'who in their right mind wants to use more than one gaming gpu to crunch with' thinking. Do you have a line in your cc_config.xml file to 'use all gpu's' in Boinc? If not it won't use both of them unless you put them in different pc's.

I have it set to only let gravity run on one, and only gamma on another. I think I'll try taking that complication out and see what happens.... you fixed it! Sort of. If you specify gamma not to go onto device 1, and gravity not to go onto device 0, it's too complicated for Boinc and virtually nothing gets downloaded, only 1 or 2 tasks at a time. So I've compromised and just said no gravity on device 1 (as it can't do them). I wanted to save the few gamma that appeared for the other card, but it seems I cannot. I'll put that onto Milkway.

https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/issues/4738

WOO HOO!!!

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

My emphasis was on "mix" (different models from the same manufacturer).
Maybe that is the difference ...

You can also exclude gpu's by make, ie AMD or Nvidia, but not by model within them, but Peter does not seem to be doing or needing that.

If you think Boinc is bad, try Folding@Home. I booted up a computer which has 4 graphic cards. But I forgot to plug one in. Folding immediately decided there were 3 cards and 4 tasks, so it deleted a task. I rebooted, connecting the graphics card, and the work was lost. It also has no mechanism for sending a sensible amount of work. It thinks a 4 core 13 year old DDR2 spec CPU can do almost as much work as an i5 8600K with 6 cores, because well it has 4 cores, right? Two thirds of the speed? It thinks my dual Xeon X5650s from a decade ago are as fast as my Ryzen 9 3900XT, because they both have 24 cores, even though the Ryzen is 3.3 times faster. If you dare to suggest any of these things should be changed, admins lose their temper and ban you.

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

This is what the user guide says:
"<use_all_gpus>0|1</use_all_gpus>
If 1, use all GPUs (otherwise only the most capable ones are used). Requires a client restart."
So which is the default ?

1 is the default. They're "otherwise" is if you turn it off to 0. I think they changed the default in some Boinc version or other. If you have an installation that started with an older one, maybe you have a different default.

I'm somewhat baffled.
I just tested running E@H gammaray tasks (they are GPU ones).
I have two way different models of NVIDIA GPUs in the rig.
I deleted the cc_config in the BOINC ProgramData file.
Started BOINC + requested new tasks for E@H.
Nothing else running.
RESULT: only one GPU is being used.
A second tasks is waiting to be run !!

OK, great - then I added my cc_config with use_all_gpus set to 1.
Restarted BOINC and immediately the second task started using the second GPU !

Tested this several times in order to "waste" my precious Sunday spare time ...
So what gives ?

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

This is what the user guide says:
"<use_all_gpus>0|1</use_all_gpus>
If 1, use all GPUs (otherwise only the most capable ones are used). Requires a client restart."
So which is the default ?

1 is the default. They're "otherwise" is if you turn it off to 0. I think they changed the default in some Boinc version or other. If you have an installation that started with an older one, maybe you have a different default.

I'm somewhat baffled.
I just tested running E@H gammaray tasks (they are GPU ones).
I have two way different models of NVIDIA GPUs in the rig.
I deleted the cc_config in the BOINC ProgramData file.
Started BOINC + requested new tasks for E@H.
Nothing else running.
RESULT: only one GPU is being used.
A second tasks is waiting to be run !!

OK, great - then I added my cc_config with use_all_gpus set to 1.
Restarted BOINC and immediately the second task started using the second GPU !

Tested this several times in order to "waste" my precious Sunday spare time ...
So what gives ?

It means without the file Boinc will use the 'best' gpu it finds in the system but with the file it will use all gpu's that that project thinks can crunch. Some projects have excluded certain gpu's because they are below the bar and won't finish a task within the deadline or can't handle the memory loads the tasks require. MOST projects now require a gpu with at least 1gb of onboard memory but prefer 2gb and above.

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

This is what the user guide says:
"<use_all_gpus>0|1</use_all_gpus>
If 1, use all GPUs (otherwise only the most capable ones are used). Requires a client restart."
So which is the default ?

1 is the default. They're "otherwise" is if you turn it off to 0. I think they changed the default in some Boinc version or other. If you have an installation that started with an older one, maybe you have a different default.

I'm somewhat baffled.
I just tested running E@H gammaray tasks (they are GPU ones).
I have two way different models of NVIDIA GPUs in the rig.
I deleted the cc_config in the BOINC ProgramData file.
Started BOINC + requested new tasks for E@H.
Nothing else running.
RESULT: only one GPU is being used.
A second tasks is waiting to be run !!

OK, great - then I added my cc_config with use_all_gpus set to 1.
Restarted BOINC and immediately the second task started using the second GPU !

Tested this several times in order to "waste" my precious Sunday spare time ...
So what gives ?

It means without the file Boinc will use the 'best' gpu it finds in the system but with the file it will use all gpu's that that project thinks can crunch. Some projects have excluded certain gpu's because they are below the bar and won't finish a task within the deadline or can't handle the memory loads the tasks require. MOST projects now require a gpu with at least 1gb of onboard memory but prefer 2gb and above.

That is the way I also understood it.
With the file you mean with "use_all_gpus" set to 1 ?
So that would mean the default is 0 ?

[quote] ... It's not required, the default is to use all of them. ...[quote]
I'm not so sure about that.
I had to set it to "one" to get my mix of GPUs to work.

If you mean:

<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>

That is the default. It's set that way in all my config files and I never had to put it there. I have a computer with 4 Tahiti GPUs running perfectly. That does a lot of milkyway, one every 9 seconds.

This is what the user guide says:
"<use_all_gpus>0|1</use_all_gpus>
If 1, use all GPUs (otherwise only the most capable ones are used). Requires a client restart."
So which is the default ?

1 is the default. They're "otherwise" is if you turn it off to 0. I think they changed the default in some Boinc version or other. If you have an installation that started with an older one, maybe you have a different default.

I'm somewhat baffled.
I just tested running E@H gammaray tasks (they are GPU ones).
I have two way different models of NVIDIA GPUs in the rig.
I deleted the cc_config in the BOINC ProgramData file.
Started BOINC + requested new tasks for E@H.
Nothing else running.
RESULT: only one GPU is being used.
A second tasks is waiting to be run !!

OK, great - then I added my cc_config with use_all_gpus set to 1.
Restarted BOINC and immediately the second task started using the second GPU !

Tested this several times in order to "waste" my precious Sunday spare time ...
So what gives ?

It means without the file Boinc will use the 'best' gpu it finds in the system but with the file it will use all gpu's that that project thinks can crunch. Some projects have excluded certain gpu's because they are below the bar and won't finish a task within the deadline or can't handle the memory loads the tasks require. MOST projects now require a gpu with at least 1gb of onboard memory but prefer 2gb and above.

That is the way I also understood it.
With the file you mean with "use_all_gpus" set to 1 ?
So that would mean the default is 0 ?

Yes with no file the default is zero. According to Peter though if you haven't upgraded from past versions the 'new' default is one but since I have just installed the latest version over the top of the old ones he says I won't see that.

...
Yes with no file the default is zero. According to Peter though if you haven't upgraded from past versions the 'new' default is one but since I have just installed the latest version over the top of the old ones he says I won't see that.

I have another "stupid" question:
What is ment by newest version ?
Version of what ?
I have BM 7.16.20
If something else is ment, then how can I get it ?
... cheers

I'm somewhat baffled.
I just tested running E@H gammaray tasks (they are GPU ones).
I have two way different models of NVIDIA GPUs in the rig.
I deleted the cc_config in the BOINC ProgramData file.
Started BOINC + requested new tasks for E@H.
Nothing else running.
RESULT: only one GPU is being used.
A second tasks is waiting to be run !!

OK, great - then I added my cc_config with use_all_gpus set to 1.
Restarted BOINC and immediately the second task started using the second GPU !

Tested this several times in order to "waste" my precious Sunday spare time ...
So what gives ?

I think the ingrained default is 0. The default that's in the file which should always be there and appears when you install it is 1 (or has been in recent times - perhaps they changed the default by adding a 1 to the file placed there when you install it). The only computer I have with no file is one that got corrupted somehow. Now that uses all 4 GPUs, but they're identical GPUs. I might remember to come here and tell you what happens when I move a different one over to it later.