NavJack's Totally Insane Research Thread

[NavJack27]

I'm going to start this thread out with me testing my theory about GPU folding and program thread affinity.

 

Program Thread Affinity Effect On Folding@Home GPU Folding

 

System Info:

 

Programs running are:

* HFM.NET

* Process Hacker (2 windows, main window & ‘fahcore_22.exe properties’)

* Notepad.exe

* Timertool set to 0.5ms

 

Hardware Specs:

* 8700k 5ghz core 4.4ghz cache

* 2070 Super with a tiny overclock on both the memory and core and a static 100% fan speed

 

Let Me Explain:

Manual program thread affinity is basically me giving the program thread of FAHCORE_22 that uses the most CPU its own processor to work with. This is processor 10 of 11 on my 8700K. I also give the rest of the program threads their own affinity by deselecting processors 10 and 11.

 

Work Unit:

P16434 (R168, C0, G14)

 

The Results:

 

Manual Affinity (idle priority everything but the main program thread which is on highest priority)

 

06% - 00:01:46

07% - 00:01:43

08% - 00:01:44

09% - 00:01:45

10% - 00:01:43

 

Auto Affinity (normal priority)

 

11% - 00:01:45

12% - 00:01:44

13% - 00:01:45

14% - 00:01:43

15% - 00:01:45

 

Manual Affinity (Normal Priority Everything)

 

16% - 00:01:44

17% - 00:01:46

18% - 00:01:43

19% - 00:01:43

20% - 00:01:44

 

Manual Affinity (everything on one processor a la task manager and high priority)

 

21% - 00:01:47

22% - 00:01:44

23% - 00:01:45

24% - 00:01:44

25% - 00:01:48

 

Auto affinity retest (I paused the work unit and started it back up and kept everything running)

 

30% - 00:01:43

31% - 00:01:43

32% - 00:01:43

33% - 00:01:46

34% - 00:01:43

 

Observed Testing Issues:

Once I set affinity for a program thread that program thread then has what is called an ideal processor. This is a very sticky thing that is hard to break and have it just randomly pick a new processor to use. Some of the results might not be totally indicative of real world due to this and other factors like other things running at the same time. But it would be unfair to have a set of tests be ran without those things running that were running in other sets of tests.

 

Manual Affinity Retest (paused the work unit and closed everything except hfm.net and notepad once I set affinity)

 

37% - 00:01:46

38% - 00:01:43

39% - 00:01:43

40% - 00:01:43

41% - 00:01:46

 

Auto Affinity Retest (paused the work unit and closed everything except hfm.net and notepad)

 

44% - 00:01:42

45% - 00:01:45

46% - 00:01:42

47% - 00:01:42

48% - 00:01:43

 

Thoughts and Conclusions:

Well, my theory either was correct at one time and Stanford updated things a bit or it was never right to begin with or the last time I messed with this I was on Maxwell and Pascal based GPUs and maybe the drivers work different… Any number of things. But at least my testing results show that leaving things on auto and not changing a damn thing with the affinity nets the best results on a totally idle computer.

[ENTERPRISE]

Interesting results, but ultimately for those folding on non idle or dedicated, I would assume you could see better results by setting the affinity yourself ?

[NavJack27]

That could definitely be true. But that brings up further complication in terms of using something like process lasso to get foreground applications to avoid the dedicated cores/threads for a totally optimal setup.

[ENTERPRISE]

That could definitely be true. But that brings up further complication in terms of using something like process lasso to get foreground applications to avoid the dedicated cores/threads for a totally optimal setup.

 

Hmmm, I wish that there was a one for all tool where you could adjust what program uses what and it gets listened to by all other apps and Windows. I have seen some of the tools but they either do not work as they should or they are convoluted. I will take a look at process hacker though as I have used it.

[NavJack27]

Process Hacker is the only thing I'm aware of that allows you to adjust the program or process threads of a thing that is running. Not sure why other utilities don't do this.

[ENTERPRISE]

Process Hacker is the only thing I'm aware of that allows you to adjust the program or process threads of a thing that is running. Not sure why other utilities don't do this.

 

Fair enough. Is it something you have to keep applying on every boot or can you create a profile to be loaded so you do not have to keep plumbing in your preferences ?

[NavJack27]

annoyingly, if you want to adjust THESE right here, you need to do it every work unit.

if you are just doing the overall priority and selected cores, you can automate that with some utilities.

 

[ENTERPRISE]

Wow for every WU ! Blimey that would take silly amounts of time, that would be a job by itself right there lol.