Gridcoin - CPU vs GPU work units.

Boinc - Gridcoin - CPU vs GPU

With Boinc projects there are sometimes the option to decide to use CPU or GPU to process different WUs ( work units ) from different projects. 

Some projects only have CPU, some are designed for GPU and some are specifically for ASiC processors ( like bitcoin utopia ). 

In a previous page we discussed how to pick projects overall when setting up boinc to research for Gridcoin, but we did not go into specifics for CPU vs GPU tasks. 

What is the difference between the two processors when it comes to Boinc and Gridcoin? The major difference is how much more work can be done with a GPU. If given the chance to use your GPU, it is usually a great idea. 

Moo!Wrapper is our example. That project can deliver both CPU, or GPU specific tasks. In tests on my own machine, there was a significant improvement using the GPU only and excluding the CPU projects from Moo!

CPU - Average Processing Rate 3.23 GFLOPS, GPU (ati14_app13) Average Processing Rate 142.49 GFLOPS

As you can see from the image above from the Moo! project, the average processing rate for GPU was significantly higher. In this case with this project, if you want a high magnitude with Gridcoin, then I would only want to run GPU WUs from this project. 

How do you select GPU or CPU at the different projects?

Most of the Boinc type projects you will use with Gridcoin use similar software on their websites to give the user the ability to make adjustments. In this case, you would go to the project, log into your account, then look for the preferences on the account page. 

In the image above you can see " Moo! Wrapper preference " next to " Preference for the project. This is the same or similar in most Boinc projects you will use when researching for Gridcoin. Select " Moo! Wrapper preference and you will next see. . . 

.... this or something similar to this above. The important things to notice here are the check boxes to select " Use CPU, Use ATI GPU, or USE NVIDIA GPU " listed as options. In this case I have the Use CPU box unchecked, as well as the Use NVIDIA GPU box, as my machine only has an ATI GPU. 

To manipulate the check boxes, you may have to find and select an 'allow edit' box, usually someone near the bottom of the options. 

Last is to finish up!

Finally now that you have made your choices on what hardware you want to use when the project sends work to your Boinc, all that is required is going back to your Boinc manager, clicking the Projects Tab, selecting the specific project from the list, and finally, clicking the Update Command on the left of the manager. 

Soon your project will start downloading only the specific type of project you have selected. 

Cheer!!

Brewsmithy