Hi crunchers,


Yes, we did it! We solved the case and are now running a server edition, crunching data with the GPU ;)

And a test confirms it, we are running headless no kbd, no mouse and no monitor ;)
Just needs UPS to hurry up! My second GT640 card for this system hasn't arrived yet. We can't confirm it running multiple GPU's headless before. Well, I do have a Zotac GT610 brand new and I hasn't got any plans for that one ;) Maybe I can test it using that card. Should run on the same config I guess.

Actually Guy said something very clever some time ago:

Does the following file exist?
/etc/X11/xorg.conf

This was one of the issues ;)

Here's the proof. BoincTasks showing the remotely controlled CLI based servers is running Boinc:



The next and third test system. Using 4 GPU's.:

Intel i5-3470K
Industrial 2U Cooler from JAC
Industrial 2U PSU ATX300W
Asus Maximus VI Extreme Z87 Haswell
8Gb Kingston HyperX Genesis X2 Grey S.
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16

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Project Headless CLI Linux Multiple GPU Boinc Servers
Ubuntu Server 14.04.1 64bit
Kernel 3.13.0-32-generic
CPU's i5-4690K
GPU's GT640/GTX750TI
Nvidia v.340.29
BOINC v.7.2.42

Hi,


And running multiple GPU's on a headless CLI based system (Ubuntu Server) also works now:

# nvidia-smi -a |grep Gpu
Gpu : N/A
Gpu : 59 C
Gpu : N/A
Gpu : 44 C



Happy days ;)

---

Project Headless CLI Linux Multiple GPU Boinc Servers
Ubuntu Server 14.04.1 64bit
Kernel 3.13.0-32-generic
CPU's i5-4690K
GPU's GT640/GTX750TI
Nvidia v.340.29
BOINC v.7.2.42

Ooops...

The next and third test system. Using 4 GPU's.:

Intel i5-4670K <-- Has to be the right CPU of course ;)
Industrial 2U Cooler from JAC
Industrial 2U PSU ATX300W
Asus Maximus VI Extreme Z87 Haswell
8Gb Kingston HyperX Genesis X2 Grey S.
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16

---

Project Headless CLI Linux Multiple GPU Boinc Servers
Ubuntu Server 14.04.1 64bit
Kernel 3.13.0-32-generic
CPU's i5-4690K
GPU's GT640/GTX750TI
Nvidia v.340.29
BOINC v.7.2.42

The next and third test system. Using 4 GPU's.:

Intel i5-4670K
Industrial 2U Cooler from JAC
Industrial 2U PSU ATX300W
Asus Maximus VI Extreme Z87 Haswell
8Gb Kingston HyperX Genesis X2 Grey S.
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16
Asus GT640-1GD3-L PCIe 3.0 x16




Which CPU and why?
Well, It's easy just to buy the best one. Then again, what's to gain? If you buy an i7-4770K CPU in Denmark you'll pay 50% more (in US a 100US$) than if you choose the i-5-4670K CPU. Both are Haswell and socket 1150 which should fit the motherboard of choice just fine ;)
Here's a graph showing the difference in the 2 CPU's. This is why I choose the i5 processor instead of the i7. There's not much to gain. The i7 has 4 cores and 8 threads - the i5 has 4 cores and 4 threads. But there's not much to gain by the double number of threads. All it will do, is run twice the number of jobs at half the speed I guess!!
Here's a comparison of the CPU I chose for test system 3 and the i7-4770K CPU:



Intel Core i7-4770K advantages:

In single-threaded programs, the microprocessor has 3% higher performance.
In multi-threaded tasks, the processor has 19% better performance.
Memory performance of the Intel i7-4770K microprocessor is better.

3%! That's it. You could even safe a lot more, choosing the i5-3570K which I'm using in test system 2 "halifax". But this will not be able to do the trick in this new test.

A American guy asked me, "...why are you choosing those slow GPU's..?" He's referring to the Asus GT640! I told him, because these are the fastest Low Profile cards I can find. And one of the cards which endures heat better than most. (thanks to Mr. Zalster, Mr. Guy and Mr. Bil for teaching me about these matters)
I am trying to build a semi professional system with 5-10 crunchers, which is not so pricey, doesn't use to much power and at the same time can be fitted in the corner of the room, behind a door. All power used is used for crunching. The systems are headless, without the use of mouse/kbd and monitors. This is why the industrial 2U ATX300W PSU I chose, should be able to supply both CPU and GPU's without any problems. Up until this point, I'm running 1CPU and 2 GPU's at this PSU. The 3 test will show if I'm right.

Test system 1 "wellington" will now be installed the same way as test system 2 "halifax", but with Ubuntu the 12.04.4 update. The Nvidia site tells us that since the 12.04.4 update, .deb package/cuda doesn't work any more. Let's see about that.
.

---

Project Headless CLI Linux Multiple GPU Boinc Servers
Ubuntu Server 14.04.1 64bit
Kernel 3.13.0-32-generic
CPU's i5-4690K
GPU's GT640/GTX750TI
Nvidia v.340.29
BOINC v.7.2.42