I have experimented with Windows XP Pro X64, Ubuntu 8.10 x64 and Suse 11.1 x64 and the best combination with Gpugrid and cuda is Suse 11.1 by a factor of 2 times.
I have an AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ [Family 15 Model 67 Stepping 2] with 4 gigs of memory and an EVGA GTX 260 video card. Gpugrid and Boinc would fail with computation errors under Ubuntu 8.1 x64. It would run well under Windows XP Pro X64 but any attempt to overclock the video card would either freeze the system or cause computation errors. Still XP Pro x64 would still crank out a Gpugrid result in 10 to 14 hours.
Suse 11.1 x64 running Nvclock 0.8 beta will turn out the same Gpugrid result in 5 to 6 hours with no computation errors.
Here is what I did:
- Install Suse 11.1 x64 with Gnome desktop.
- Add the Nvidia repository to the via
Yast
Sofware Repositories
The Nvidia repository url is:
http://download.nvidia.com/opensuse/11.1/
Install the lastest Nvidia driver via Yast rather than use the Nvidia installation script. The Yast version is 180.22.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO INSTALL THE CUDA SDK SOFTWARE FROM NVIDIA.
Cuda support is provided with the driver. - Use Yast - Sofware Management to install nvclock-gtk with the graphical interface.
- Start the Nvclock-gtk program. Turn the fan speed up to maximum. I set the GPU clock to maximum and did not alter the memory clock setting. I set the settings manually when I start up but you can do an automatic setting via a command line in cron.
- Download and install the x64 Boinc client and manager version 6.4.5 from Seti@home. This client is Cuda enabled. There is a rpm version but I have not tried it.
- Use the Boinc manager to connect to GPUGRID and set up an account.
Start computing with Gpugrid and other Boinc projects
Have fun.