Question about multi-GPU System

[Nicnac]

I have never had a multi-GPU system so I am wondering how different cards can run folding in the same rig when you can only install the drivers for one of them? How can you even have an AMD and NVIDIA card in the same system when only one can have drivers installed? 

As always, thanks in advance for your help!

[DiamondShark286]

only one card will work at a time unless you use a virtual machine os like kvm or unraid then one will be assigned to each vm you can watch linus's video on 2/7/8 gamers one cpu for more info on this.

[Nicnac]

If I use 3x the same card will it work and can I just add GPU slots in F@H?

[DiamondShark286]

2 minutes ago, Nicnac said:

If I use 3x the same card will it work and can I just add GPU slots in F@H?

if you use the same type brand and model then you could sli them together and use them with one system 

[Nicnac]

1 minute ago, Tb428 said:

if you use the same type brand and model then you could sli them together and use them with one system 

I dont want to sli though...

[DiamondShark286]

Just now, Nicnac said:

I dont want to sli though...

why not F@H will benefit from the extra horsepower of the SLIed gpus otherwise there is no way I know of to run them on the same os.

[Nicnac]

40 minutes ago, Tb428 said:

why not F@H will benefit from the extra horsepower of the SLIed gpus otherwise there is no way I know of to run them on the same os.

I want to run 3-4 750 tis because they are low wattage and I can get them on the cheap. However, they are not sli- capable

[DiamondShark286]

1 minute ago, Nicnac said:

I want to run 3-4 750 tis because they are low wattage and I can get them on the cheap. However, they are not sli- capable

then there is no way i know of to use all the cards with one system but there may be a way

[Nicnac]

1 minute ago, Tb428 said:

then there is no way i know of to use all the cards with one system but there may be a way

I remeber a video on LTT about a folding machine where they used different brand gpus in one system. Did they virtualise each of them?

[DiamondShark286]

if this is the video your talking about im not sure how they did it but it does seem possible. 

 

[Nicnac]

6 minutes ago, Tb428 said:

if this is the video your talking about im not sure how they did it but it does seem possible. 

 

Yeah that's the one

[TheRoyalDoyle]

I would check out FAH's site. Here is a snippet  about multiple GPU's and how FAH utilizes them. Link included at bottom.

 

What about multi-GPU support?

Yes, both cards can be utilized for Folding@home. Each GPU card will be given a separate Work Unit to process. In the older v6 client, adding the “-gpu N” flag (N starts at 0) would tell the client which GPU to use for folding. In the newer V7 client, the installer should automatically detect a multi-GPU setup and will configure itself to use them. Sometimes it has difficulties with mixed brands of GPUs. When this happens, our Guide pages may be helpful.

To adjust the configuration, change V7 to advanced mode using the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner, then under Configure -> Slots, edit the GPU slot and adjust the indicies. If you need help, consider posting in our Folding Support Forum.

https://folding.stanford.edu/home/faq/faq-nvidia/#ntoc16

[BleakMaker]

3 hours ago, Tb428 said:

why not F@H will benefit from the extra horsepower of the SLIed gpus otherwise there is no way I know of to run them on the same os.

You can't use folding at home in sli mode the newest version will just assign a work unit to each graphics card.

you do not have to run your graphics card in sli tough there are more setups where one of the gpu renders one half of the screen and another the other half and there is a third option too but I don't know how that works.

 

[Imakuni]

10 hours ago, Tb428 said:

only one card will work at a time unless you use a virtual machine os like kvm or unraid then one will be assigned to each vm you can watch linus's video on 2/7/8 gamers one cpu for more info on this.

This is so wrong... this is just SO wrong.... You can have as many GPUs as you want in the system; so long as each card is supported individually, the F@H client will give each and every one of them a WU to crunch. Even if they are AMD + Nvidia cards.

 

9 hours ago, Tb428 said:

why not F@H will benefit from the extra horsepower of the SLIed gpus otherwise there is no way I know of to run them on the same os.

F@H does not benefit from SLI/CF. They benefit from more GPUs, that's true, but it'll do so regardless of a SLI or CF being enabled.

 

 

9 hours ago, Nicnac said:

I want to run 3-4 750 tis because they are low wattage and I can get them on the cheap. However, they are not sli- capable

That's not a very good way to go about it. If you do the math, you'll realize that a single, stronger GPU (say, a 1060 or perhaps a used 970) will do better in the PPD and PPW department when compared to multiple 750tis.

 

8 hours ago, Tb428 said:

if this is the video your talking about im not sure how they did it but it does seem possible. 

 

8 hours ago, Nicnac said:

Yeah that's the one

Reminder that this video is pretty bad...

[Ithanul]

^ Agree with above.

 

I never did the mixing of AMD and Nivida, but I have run several different Nivida cards in the same rig and had them all folding.  Plus, first thing that usually gets said on folding forum sections: turn the blasted SLI/CF off and make darn sure maximum performance power delivery is selected in the driver options.

[kleines Filmroellchen]

I can confirm that multiple GPUs work just fine. I'm running an old modded GTX 750 and my main RTX 3060. The biggest issue is installing the drivers (GeForce Experience and Windows will battle over which driver/graphics card to use) but once both work, you'll have to restart the system and ensure you have one of the newest versions of F@H. If you didn't use an advanced setup, the client should create 3 cores, one for the CPU and one for the GPUs each. It's much more clear in the Advanced Control than in the web control. Happy folding

[RollinLower]

On 9/11/2021 at 2:44 PM, kleines Filmroellchen said:

I can confirm that multiple GPUs work just fine. I'm running an old modded GTX 750 and my main RTX 3060. The biggest issue is installing the drivers (GeForce Experience and Windows will battle over which driver/graphics card to use) but once both work, you'll have to restart the system and ensure you have one of the newest versions of F@H. If you didn't use an advanced setup, the client should create 3 cores, one for the CPU and one for the GPUs each. It's much more clear in the Advanced Control than in the web control. Happy folding

whoa, now that's a thread necro if i've ever seen one!