Mac OS X - GPU not being used

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Brian Frey

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Message 27844 - Posted: 9 Oct 2009, 15:09:36 UTC

I am trying to run BOINC with the new GPU features on my MacBook Pro. This doesn't seem to be working. BOINC runs but it is not taking advantage of the GPU.

I receive the following message in the logs:
Can't load library libcudart

Im on MacBook Pro, Mac OS X 10.6.1
I have a NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (512MB)
BOINC Version: 6.6.36

I successfully installed the CUDA Driver 2.3.1a via (http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html)
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Profile Jord
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Message 27846 - Posted: 9 Oct 2009, 15:20:29 UTC - in response to Message 27844.  

Are there any projects at this time which use the GPU on a Mac? As far as I know, there aren't. Most are only Windows, some offer Linux as well. So it wouldn't help you even if you did manage to get it working.

But for the sake of debugging, can you please post your complete startup messages?
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Brian Frey

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Message 27850 - Posted: 9 Oct 2009, 18:59:35 UTC - in response to Message 27846.  

Based on my understanding of this page - http://boinc.berkeley.edu/gpu.php - SETI@Home is supporting the GPU computation.

Here are the startup messages:

Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Starting BOINC client version 6.6.36 for x86_64-apple-darwin
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 log flags: task, file_xfer, sched_ops
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Libraries: libcurl/7.19.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7l zlib/1.2.3 c-ares/1.6.0
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Data directory: /Library/Application Support/BOINC Data
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Processor: 2 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9800 @ 2.93GHz [x86 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 10]
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Processor features: FPU VME DE PSE TSC MSR PAE MCE CX8 APIC SEP MTRR PGE MCA CMOV PAT PSE36 CLFSH DS ACPI MMX FXSR SSE SSE2 SS HTT TM SSE3 MON DSCPL VMX SMX EST TM2 SSSE3 CX16 TPR PDCM SSE4.1
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 OS: Darwin: 10.0.0
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Memory: 4.00 GB physical, 239.70 GB virtual
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Disk: 297.77 GB total, 239.45 GB free
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Local time is UTC -6 hours
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Can't load library libcudart
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 No coprocessors
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Not using a proxy
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 SETI@home URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID: 5114745; location: (none); project prefs: default
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 No general preferences found - using BOINC defaults
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Reading preferences override file
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Preferences limit memory usage when active to 2048.00MB
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Preferences limit memory usage when idle to 3686.40MB
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Preferences limit disk usage to 10.00GB
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 SETI@home Restarting task 02se09aa.12972.22971.10.10.166_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 603
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Profile Gundolf Jahn

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Message 27851 - Posted: 9 Oct 2009, 19:50:35 UTC - in response to Message 27850.  
Last modified: 9 Oct 2009, 19:51:46 UTC

Based on my understanding of this page - http://boinc.berkeley.edu/gpu.php - SETI@Home is supporting the GPU computation.

Here are the startup messages:
...
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 OS: Darwin: 10.0.0
...
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Can't load library libcudart
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 No coprocessors
Fri Oct 9 09:00:43 2009 Not using a proxy
...

I made the link active.

What Ageless said is that SETI doesn't have a CUDA application for the Mac.

And BOINC doesn't recognize your Nvidia card, probably because it "Can't load library libcudart".

Gruß,
Gundolf
Computer sind nicht alles im Leben. (Kleiner Scherz)
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Brian Frey

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Message 27854 - Posted: 9 Oct 2009, 21:19:32 UTC - in response to Message 27851.  

Thanks for making this explicitly clear. I guess I needed it spelled out for me.

Sorry ET, I just can't seem to help ;)
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Nicolas

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Message 27898 - Posted: 12 Oct 2009, 0:35:47 UTC - in response to Message 27844.  
Last modified: 12 Oct 2009, 0:35:59 UTC

Until nVidia makes a 64-bit CUDA driver for Mac, there won't be support. Or so I heard.
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Bernd

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Message 27899 - Posted: 12 Oct 2009, 1:53:13 UTC - in response to Message 27898.  

The new drivers are in OSX 10.6.x and have been out for around 1 month. I have asked on seti and been told that the GPU programers have no experience coding on OSX (They only know CUDA). Also all GPU programing for both ATI and NVIDIA are accessed though the OpenCL API extension. The beta Open CL Windows/Linux for NVIDIA is http://developer.nvidia.com/object/opencl-download.html it also has sample code and SDK stuff for OSX/Windows/Linux. In theory once ATI has it's kit out it will be posable to write the code once and have it work on both GPU types and all OSs. OpenCL is the compute standard put out by the group that publishes the OpenGL standard for graphics. Now the science apps need to be rewritten for OpenCL and people need to use OpenCL final when released for windows.

The only problem I have is that none of my Macs have a GPU that would be usable, but I am watching the progress made because I hope my next one will.
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Nicolas

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Message 27942 - Posted: 12 Oct 2009, 21:28:19 UTC - in response to Message 27899.  

The new drivers are in OSX 10.6.x and have been out for around 1 month. I have asked on seti and been told that the GPU programers have no experience coding on OSX (They only know CUDA). Also all GPU programing for both ATI and NVIDIA are accessed though the OpenCL API extension. The beta Open CL Windows/Linux for NVIDIA is http://developer.nvidia.com/object/opencl-download.html it also has sample code and SDK stuff for OSX/Windows/Linux. In theory once ATI has it's kit out it will be posable to write the code once and have it work on both GPU types and all OSs. OpenCL is the compute standard put out by the group that publishes the OpenGL standard for graphics. Now the science apps need to be rewritten for OpenCL and people need to use OpenCL final when released for windows.

OpenCL is to program the science apps. BOINC just needs to detect if there is a GPU on the computer, and what model it is. Since BOINC on Mac is 64-bit, it needs a 64-bit library to get that information.

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Bernd

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Message 27950 - Posted: 13 Oct 2009, 2:25:46 UTC - in response to Message 27942.  

Yes and the version of OSX 10.6.x has the new drivers and supports GPU crunching both with ATI and Nvidia GPUs. Now Looking at SETI I talked to some of the GPU opti app folks and they told me the problem now is finding people who know how to program and compile a new science app for OSX that uses the GPU. Now the supported way on OSX to access the GPU is to use the OpenCL API. Looking at what I have seen on various BOINC project boards is that BOINC 6.10.xx for OSX has the GPU detection ability and now just needs the science apps.
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Message boards : Questions and problems : Mac OS X - GPU not being used

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