Is there a way to turn off GPU?

[RMouse]

Because mY Gpu folding slows down mY CPU folding dramatically, I always pause my GPU. This greatly increases my points as my CPU can then fold without being dragged down controlling my GPU. I'm folding on a simple Dell laptop.

Is there a way that I can make it so that my GPU is turned off forever and never requests a new work unit? Sometimes it ends up requesting a unit before I can pause it. I'd rather I not take on a WU that I will not try to complete.

Thanks!!

[P5-133XL]

Yes, start the advanced Control and click Configure then go to the slots tab and select the GPU slot then click remove and save.

That being said, it may be worth your while (if you have a hyper-threading CPU) to simply manually allocate one less core to the CPU so as to give the GPU the CPU core it needs rather than remove the GPU. Hyper-threaded cores are not particularly productive for the CPU so you'll likely lose little from your CPU folding.

[RMouse]

I have an Intel Core2Duo. Not sure if that meets your criteria.

[P5-133XL]

Core2Duo is a brand that includes a lot of different processors from Intel so that doesn't really tell me enough about its characteristics. All these processors were originally released as Core2Duo though later Intel re-branded some as Core2Solo, Core2Quad or Core2Extreme.

[bruce]

The Core2Duo is not hyperthreaded so you either need to run the GPU together with a single core CPU slot or you need to run a CPU:2 slot without the GPU. A lot will depend on the speed of your GPU, and we don't know what that is. If you post the first page of the log or you copy the text from the SYSTEM tab of the Advanced Client we can comment on your exact hardware.

Without that information, there's a pretty good chance that you've already made the right choice, to suspend processing on your GPU.

[GreyWhiskers]

What would be good to do is for you to experiment on which gives you more ppd - all GPU, all CPU/SMP, or a mix (e.g., dedicate one CPU core to the GPU, and then run a Uniprocessor slot to the other core). Depending on your particular GPU, GPU-only may well produce many more points per day than the CPU in SMP mode.

As bruce was alluding to, there are so many combos that it is impossible a priori to give firm advice. Trying the three choices above for a couple of hours each should let you see from the FAH Control GUI what your composite ppd will be.

Or, in other words, ymmv.

[RMouse]

I get more PPD just running my CPU. Once i turn on the GPU I get at most 250 ppd. That is why I want to have it turned off forever.

With my GPU turned off I get way beyond 250 ppd. Sometimes as high as 900!

[P5-133XL]

The instructions on how to turn off your GPU was given above.

[AndyE]

With my GPU turned off I get way beyond 250 ppd. Sometimes as high as 900!

What is the ppd rate for the GPU when the CPU does not fold?

[7im]

Doesn't matter. GPU folding on laptops is problematic if not because the GPU is usually low performance it also generates a lot of heat.

[bruce]

Possibilities (assuming you have a Core2Duo and one GPU).
A) 2-CPU cores plus 1 GPU.
B) 1-CPU core plus 1 GPU.
C) 0-CPU plus 1 GPU.
D) 2-CPU cores plus no GPUs.
E) 1-CPU core plus no GPUs.
F) 0-CPU plus no GPUs.

Obviously A and F do not give the most PPD. B and D are possibilities that you'll need to test. C and E should be considered only if your system is overheating.

The one combination that's almost never right is A when you use an OpenCL GPU core (Core_17 or Core_16). Folding with one core instead of both (B) will IMPROVE your points because (apparently) your GPU needs one CPU core and SMP does not perform well when it doesn't have (almost) exclusive of all of the CPUs that it's set for. As 7im suggests,

[RMouse]

There's a lot to digest in this thread. Much more than I can understand. Long ago in a different thread I was told that my GPU was killing my performance because it was so weak. I dont know how many PPD the GPU can generate. It is an NVIDEA Quatro NVS 160M. If I remember right running both GPU and CPU give me between 100-200 ppd. Now when I run just the CPU, I get double the performance, up to 400ppd. That extremely high level is not there all the time, sometimes it drops to 220 ppd or around that level. Since I dont want to kill my performance and go back to 100 ppd, I never use the GPU but it pulls in a WU sometimes because I cannot pause it fast enough and so that is why I wanted to turn it off forever.

[bruce]

You wouldn't have to pause it if the slot was deleted permanently or if you kept the slot but added the setting <pause-on-start v='true'/> in the slot.

Depending on you settings, deleting the GPU slot might not be permanent. V7 may be set to automatically recreate it. Setting <gpu v='false'/> will prevent a new one from being created.

[RMouse]

Is 300 ppd a reasonable amount for a 2.4 ghz Core2Duo?

[7im]

If you are folding using both CPU cores and folding 24/7, then you should be getting closer to 2000 PPD. If you only fold a few hours a day, then 300 PPD is not bad. Just make sure you fold enough hours a day to make the deadlines.