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Message boards : Number crunching : What future GPUGrid?

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Message 43468 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 9:32:48 UTC
Last modified: 21 May 2016 | 9:48:25 UTC

With the inevitable rush to mobile devices in the home and discarding of desktops how will this project maintain its already small active participant base?

Given that mobile GPU's aren't powerfull enough I think this question needs thinking about.

Avid gamers might be the answer but how do you recruit them and stop them from very high overclocking because a game can cope with a few errors but GPUGrid can't.

If this project is to continue you will need to incentivise users to join, participate and stay.

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Message 43472 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 10:20:47 UTC

Currently, GPUgrid is the only reason I'm thinking on upgrading my notebook with GT740M to a gaming notebook or to switch to a desktop system.

Even newer notebooks are being made thinner, so they can't dissipate the heat produced by those projects. I had to mod my notebook, so that I can run Boinc without burning. Most users won't even try or think about this.

I think most GPUgrid users know the thing they're doing and will continue the job as long as possible. Otherwise there is no need for most of those people to switch to GTX980's or upcoming 1080's etc. Because cheaper cards can do the same things with some less performance. These contributors are buying expensive graphic cards to run the project, paying high electricity bills; these are already really a small percent of people.

But eventually mobile platforms seem to overcome PC business and then developers will need to look at mobile possibilities. Maybe adapting works to devices with mobile GPUs on ARM CPU's. Many other CPU projects already make use of ARM CPU's on mobile phones etc. However, just mobile phones are not good enough for these projects yet. Not only processing power but also they are being hot, and this puts them in danger of degredation and even battery explosions. I ran Boinc with different projects on mobile phones, and saw CPU temperatures up to 90 degrees. But with time mobile CPU performances will increase and if they can run cooler it may be more possible to run Boinc jobs on mobiles. Also PC business is developing too, newer CPU's and newer GPU's; we'll see what'll happen in the future.

But sometimes I can't even get jobs from the project, sometimes due to amount of jobs, sometimes due to high processing needs of jobs. I think project already can't feed all the GPU's contributing the project.

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Message 43473 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 10:30:05 UTC - in response to Message 43472.

Hopefully, WU famine will be resolved in coming weeks. A new PHD students starts in June and another at the end of year.

You make very good points in the rest of your post.

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Message 43480 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 14:42:43 UTC - in response to Message 43473.

Hopefully, WU famine will be resolved in coming weeks. A new PHD students starts in June and another at the end of year.


So I'm not the only one who hasn't got any work in the past couple of days?

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Message 43481 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 14:54:10 UTC - in response to Message 43480.

Hopefully, WU famine will be resolved in coming weeks. A new PHD students starts in June and another at the end of year.


So I'm not the only one who hasn't got any work in the past couple of days?


Absolutely NOT. Hang on in there.

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Message 43482 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 15:29:09 UTC

I don't think mobile platforms are the answer, at least not for another decade, they just cannot come close to coping yet, My 980ti weighs nearly as much as a laptop and will quite easily raise the temperature of an entire room 5-10 degrees. Similar to bit coin miners I wonder if dedicated crunching boxes are an option?

I do think gamers are the best option. I intentionally build my PC to be overkill just for the sake of it, and I started crunching as a sort of benchmark, I feel like it would be easy to convince a lot of people with super machines to contribute.

If feasible I do think perhaps the top/consistant crunchers could occasionally get some free hardware. I'm thinking of building a second machine just for crunching.

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Message 43484 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 15:58:01 UTC - in response to Message 43481.

Hopefully, WU famine will be resolved in coming weeks. A new PHD students starts in June and another at the end of year.


So I'm not the only one who hasn't got any work in the past couple of days?


Absolutely NOT. Hang on in there.


I'm hanging in there. I was steady on those long WU that takes 12 hours or so but then I quit getting them. I didn't know if my pausing them to play games caused me to quit getting them.

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Message 43486 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 16:46:29 UTC - in response to Message 43484.
Last modified: 21 May 2016 | 18:01:18 UTC

While the number of people using mobile devices is growing the number of people using desktops is also growing, but just more slowly. The development of desktops has slowed down but hasn't stopped and more people game now than ever.
I prefer to sit down at my desk, in a comfortable chair using an Ergo keyboard and trackball while looking at multiple screens when I work, browse the Internet or just watch something on-line. Hunched uncomfortably over a small keyboard stuck to a small screen isn't my thing. Neither is holding a mobile phone up 2' from my face with one hand and poking it with a finger from the other hand. For me a laptop and mobile only expand where I can use technology. It doesn't improve it in any way:
1 small screen with average resolution vs 3 big screens with 1080p resolution
small, awkward keyboard vs ergo keyboard which I can type fast on
horrid touch pad vs ergo trackball
poor built in speakers vs decent quality sound
limited CPU vs quad core
limited GPU vs high end
slower disk drive vs faster
slow RAM vs faster RAM
limited ports vs as many as I want
limited upgrade possibilities vs most things can be upgraded
mostly unrepairable vs easy to fix/replace anything that breaks

The life expectancy of a modern PC has grown to >5years and it's probably not worth replacing a 3year old computer any more - it can be upgraded and the life extended. Laptop and phone use and functionality can't readily be upgraded and while many will last years, many components come with built in obsolescence! Then there is that push by some big businesses for everyone to put their everything in the cloud. You don't have to buy into it.
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Message 43488 - Posted: 21 May 2016 | 18:24:14 UTC

VR is also going to probably revive the desktop as well.

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Message boards : Number crunching : What future GPUGrid?

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