AMD A10-5700 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics

Questions and Answers : Windows : AMD A10-5700 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
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Message 1547534 - Posted: 25 Jul 2014, 18:22:49 UTC

Last week I ran across a re-furbished A10-5700 that was price "just right." So I bought it. Got it setup and running Wednesday night.

It has 4 GB of the slower ram (16000) installed so it has more than enough room to run Seti on all 4 cpus and on the Gpu.

And this one has Windows 8 installed which has been updated to 8.1

But it has one idiosyncrasy I don't understand. For the first 24+ hours the task manager reported the cpu was running about 60-72% busy. I downloaded the TThermal app and checked to see if it was over-heating and self throttling. Apparently the cpu is not getting hot enough for that.

The GPU is consistently showing 96-99% busy using the Gpu app that is widely mentioned.

Now after a while it started running 99% cpu for no particular reason that I can determine.

Yes, it suffers from Driver halt/crashes. No, setting the parm to fix that hasn't worked. So it reached the point where Bonic/Seti was no longer reading the app_config.xml file. So I set it to not take any more downloads, then "reset" the project. Then cleared the project from Bonic. Un-installed Bonic and then re-installed Boinc. Registered pc with Seti and so it is running Seti again.

Now this is as stock as you can get it. No app_config.xml or "anything". So it is running 1 gpu process which is showing 99% busy. But remember our old friend "60-70%" busy on the cpu(s)? It is back again.

The load is mostly astropulse for both the gpu and the cpu.

I have not "yet" caught the video driver crashing. Yet.

Here is the event log that most everyone wants to see:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | cc_config.xml not found - using defaults
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Starting BOINC client version 7.2.42 for windows_x86_64
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Libraries: libcurl/7.25.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.6
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Running under account USER
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | CAL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 7500/7600/8500/8600 series (Devastator) (CAL version 1.4.1848, 768MB, 736MB available, 1620 GFLOPS peak)
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 7500/7600/8500/8600 series (Devastator) (driver version 1268.1 (VM), device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1268.1), 768MB, 736MB available, 1620 GFLOPS peak)
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | OpenCL CPU: AMD A10-6700 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics (OpenCL driver vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., driver version 1268.1 (sse2,avx,fma4), device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1268.1))
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Host name: GC-WRKSTA-01
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Processor: 4 AuthenticAMD AMD A10-6700 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics [Family 21 Model 19 Stepping 1]
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 htt pni ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes syscall nx lm svm sse4a osvw ibs xop skinit wdt lwp fma4 tce tbm topx page1gb rdtscp
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1: Professional x64 Edition, (06.03.9600.00)
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Memory: 3.18 GB physical, 4.49 GB virtual
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Disk: 916.35 GB total, 890.58 GB free
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Local time is UTC -5 hours
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | SETI@home | URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 7345398; resource share 100
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | SETI@home | General prefs: from SETI@home (last modified 19-Jul-2014 00:15:43)
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | SETI@home | Computer location: home
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | SETI@home | General prefs: no separate prefs for home; using your defaults
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Reading preferences override file
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Preferences:
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | max memory usage when active: 1626.57MB
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | max memory usage when idle: 2927.82MB
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | max disk usage: 824.72GB
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | don't use GPU while active
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25%
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
7/25/2014 12:57:30 PM | | Not using a proxy
------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyone got any ideas about what might be making this pc run at less than 99% on the cpus? I really would like some kind of cause/effect...

Thanks,
Tom
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Message 1547568 - Posted: 25 Jul 2014, 19:44:30 UTC

I will confess. I wasn't expecting Windows 8.1 to learn (apparently) from Windows 8. Its now pegging the tasks manager at near 100% with the cpu speed at the top rate it seems to be able to do.

It is clear that I could spend $50 on 4 GB of the faster ram and get some kind of through put boost.

There are 2 files that allow you to set parameters for both Astropulse and for MultiBeam while running on the GPU side of things.

There are about 80 other systems with this same brand/model# according to the best CPU list. I would dearly love to hear from you.

I am looking for the parameters you have used to maximize through put on the GPU while avoiding un-desirable symptoms of Driver halt/re-start.

I have already found a thread on Windows 8/8.1 that publicizes a Registry change to fix the Driver halt/re-start. I might try that if the problem raises its head again. Here is that thread:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=74843

Right now I am running pure stock Seti with freshly re-ginned (sp) BIN files after the OS found a Video driver update.

I am purposely running a single GPU task right now. I am running without an app_config.xml file. Right now it is claiming it is using 0.265 CPU to feed 1 GPU.

It looks like it is going to take nearly 8 hours to process the: opend_ati_cat132 data file (on the gpu). Since this Video card claims to be a Radeon HD 8670D there is probably a way to speed it up?

What parameters are making your mid-range Radeon card snap through stuff the way my GTX 750 Ti is snapping through Cuda 52's (about once every 20 minutes or so)?

Thank you.

Tom
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Message 1547669 - Posted: 25 Jul 2014, 23:30:36 UTC

Now let us consider Astropulse 6.xx running on the cpu.

On a Xeon running about 3.2Ghz it is taking about 28 hours.

On a A-10 5700 running at about 3.8+Ghz it is taking about 48 hours.

Furthermore the Xeon runs about 3,021 Whetstones (floating point) and 9,340 Dhrystones (integers) per second/cpu.

This A-10 5700 runs about 2,975 Whetstones and 10,220 Dhrystones.

So what gives?

My only speculations are: 1) Apparently the A-10 shares its floating point chip with 2 cores so it has basically half the raw processing power of the equivalent Intel core.
2) Does the size of the cpu cache make a difference?
3) Does the speed of the ram in main memory make a difference?

Yes, so far the basic Seti work units seem to be running slower than they do on either the Xeon or Intel Duo Core cpus.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Tom
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Message 1547671 - Posted: 25 Jul 2014, 23:34:16 UTC

If you are running a mid-range Radeon video card what parms are you using in your mb_cmdline_etc_txt file? And in your ap_cmline_etc.txt file?

While I am interested what other A10-5700 owners are setup as, it seems to me that there "oughta" be some commonalty between my mid-range built-in Radeon card and the discrete cards. Right/Wrong/Who you talking to? :)

Thanks,
Tom
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Message 1547789 - Posted: 26 Jul 2014, 3:43:34 UTC

I won't say this makes any sense but I finally "rolled back" the video driver and a higher version # promptly appeared.

Then the task manager's usual (lately) behavior of going to 63% went away and it started pegging 99% again. And last but not least the Gpu reporting program now shows my gpu to be "teethy" [that is what the graph looks like](doesn't stay completely pegged at 99% most of the time) even with playing with the amount of cpu devoted to feeding it.

This is with the mb_cmdline_xxxx.txt files empty. But I haven't gotten around to deleting the registry patch for allowing longer ddriver delays.

Am I bemused? You betcha!

Later,
Tom
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Message 1550542 - Posted: 31 Jul 2014, 16:24:05 UTC

I have further research here: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=75272

It is clear it is not the OS but an interaction between the design of the hardware and the application programs.

Tom
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Message 1559171 - Posted: 19 Aug 2014, 22:19:26 UTC

Well I am running Windows 8 again. In both windows 7/8 when the GPU gets busy the cpus slow down to about half speed.

This basically means from a "production" point of view for Seti and other similar intense calculations you can either run pure cpu calculations, pure gpu calculations or the usual mixed load.

I suspect that with pure cpu calculations the elasped time goes down 15-20% from the mixed cpu/gpu setup.

I suspect that the pure GPU calculations run faster when the cpus are idling. But the gpu running at full-tilt doesn't process as many work units as the four cpus do at full-tilt.

So I am still running a mixed cpu/gpu load looking for that "sweet" spot compromise.

I am running on a locked down motherboard which means I can't put faster ram on there which should make a difference.

In summary, you are likely to get more pure production out of any similar system where the video card is not part of the motherboard.

I am waiting for someone with an unlocked motherboard and the highest speedlevel ram to report some really fast productivity on an A-10 based system. But I am not holding my breath.

Tom
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Message 1559826 - Posted: 21 Aug 2014, 1:41:26 UTC

Most GPU tasks only need a fraction of a CPU to feed the GPU. The GPU typically runs much faster than the CPU. So, BOINC runs the CPU portion of GPU tasks at a slightly higher priority than the CPU tasks. This means that the GPU tasks are supposed to get the time that they need. You probably do not lose much GPU time, but the CPUs get some less time when the GPUs are running.

There are some GPU tasks that take an entire CPU to feed them.


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Message 1560362 - Posted: 22 Aug 2014, 0:13:54 UTC - in response to Message 1559826.  

I see you are also running one of the Amd A-X series.

If you run the resource monitor off the performance tab in the task manager is it showing the cpus running at or near 100% in the "Maximum Frequency" item or are they running 50-60%?

Another way to get at that is with something called "openhardwaremonitor". It will show you the cpu frequency as well as the "maximum" cpu load.

My experience across 2 OS's (Win7, 8, and 8.1) has been that as soon as I start running the GPU at anything near full load the cpus frequency drops to about half speed. The task manager may or maynot show them running at 100%. So basically they are fully committed at 100% but the frequency they execute at is half speed or so.

Could you post your app_config.xml file for the A-6? I want to see if you are doing something I have either tried and forgotten or what.... :)

Thanks,
Tom
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Message 1569188 - Posted: 8 Sep 2014, 15:25:44 UTC
Last modified: 8 Sep 2014, 15:34:56 UTC

Do I understand right that you see partial CPU load though all CPU cores should be busy with CPU app instances?

And I would recommed to use mostly OpenCL AP GPU app on your device if it gets enough of AP work to keep it busy.

Also, on GPU use -cpu_lock param, it helps a lot with GPU load:
http://lunatics.kwsn.net/1-discussion-forum/astropulse-v7-performance-illustration.0.html

To avoid driver restarts with ATi MB app try to set higher value for -period_iterations_num and use -sbs 256 param.
iteration of 1 (default) time to time too high even for HD6950 I use, APU can be too laggy with defaults.
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Questions and Answers : Windows : AMD A10-5700 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics


 
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