Cannot achieve kernel concurrency

Hi,

I cannot achieve kernel concurrency with the code below (don’t mind if the code actually does not do anything smart - this is just a test). I have compiled with the --default-stream per-thread option, which basically sets a default stream for each host thread - feature available in CUDA 7. I have confirmed in Visual Profiler that indeed a CUDA stream is created for each host thread, but still cannot get kernels running concurrently - they seem to be serialized. I am using 16 host threads. Can anyone see the problem?

global void matoperation(unsigned char *s1, unsigned char *s2, unsigned char *d, int rows, int cols, int pitch)
{
int r = blockIdx.x * blockDim.x + threadIdx.x;
int c = blockIdx.y * blockDim.y + threadIdx.y;
for (int i = 1; i < 100000; i++)
if ((r < rows) && (c < cols))
d[r * pitch + c] = (((s1[r * pitch + c] / 3 + s2[r * pitch + c] / 3) / 7 + s2[r * pitch + c]
- s1[r * pitch + c]) * s1[r * pitch + c]) / s2[r * pitch + c];
}

void DummyOperation(unsigned char *Src1, unsigned char *Src2, unsigned char *Dst, int rows, int cols, int pitch)
{
matoperation<<<1, 1>>>(Src1, Src2, Dst, rows, cols, pitch);
cudaStreamSynchronize(0);
}

// Thread function (implemented using boost library)
void Process(int ThreadID)
{

// Here set rows, cols and pitch
// Here allocate memory for Src1GPU, Src2GPU, DstGPU at the device using cudaMallocPitch
// to make sure that memory at the device is allocated only once when this thread starts

try
{
while(1)
{
boost::this_thread::interruption_point();

// Here fetch new matrix from somewhere in the RAM
// copy matrix to the device (NOT using async copy)

DummyOperation(Src1GPU, Src2GPU, DstGPU, rows, cols, pitch);

// here copy result from device into host matrix (NOT using async copy)
//do something with this copy…
}
} catch (boost::thread_interrupted&)
{
printf(“Process thread interrupted\n”);
}
}

“I am using 16 host threads”

host threads used :: cpu cores available :: properties[cudaStreamSynchronize(0)]

proposition: depending on the attributes/ properties of your cudaStreamSynchronize(0) implemented, if said cudaStreamSynchronize(0) is set to busy-wait, you may experience mild to severe host thread contention, manifesting as a serialization of stream activity

solution: what goes up must come down, but let it go up first
separate the launching of kernels, and the synchronization of kernels, such that all kernels are launched first, before threads start to wait on kernels, and/ or set the appropriate synchronization flags, to relieve host contention