New Rig - CUDA Compatibility?

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Programming and Performance
#1

Greetings all, first post here!

I just ordered a new workstation with hopes of experimenting with some of the CUDA apps on the side.

Dell T3400
8Gb Ram
2.5GHz Quad
Quadro FX1700 w/512megs ram.
2x 20" LCD panels

I will be running the new Ubuntu 8.10 on this box. As there seems to be a “work-around” for CUDA on 8.04, can I expect to be able to get it to work with 8.10?

Is the FX1700 single precision only?

With 512 megs of ram, will it be able to drive both 20" panels as well as do some useful work with some CUDA apps?

Again, just getting started with GPU work, so any help is appreciated.

My “day job” is a Sr. Administrator for a Top500 Linux Cluster, so I have some scientific computing background.

Thanks all!

-Jeff

#2

Wow! Over 100 views and no responses.

I’m not sure what to make of that. I certainly hope this isn’t typical of the forum.

#3

Just because a lot of people read your post doesn’t mean they know the answers!

Ubuntu 8.10 is not on our list of official supported Linux distributions (it might be in CUDA 2.1), but if you’re experienced with Linux you should be able to make it work by installing the correct versions of gcc etc.

QuadroFX1700 is based on the G84GL chip so yes, it is single precision only.

512Megs should be plenty to run two displays and some CUDA apps (the framebuffers don’t take that much memory).

#4

Ubuntu 8.10 will not be supported in CUDA_2.1, as Ubuntu-8.10 was released last week, and the cut off for qualifying a Linux distribution for CUDA_2.1 was several months ago. Ubuntu-8.10 will be supported for CUDA_2.2.

#5

My appreciation to Simon Green and netllama for their responses ;)

I apologize for my previous dismay and offer thanks for the information provided.

Cheers,

-Jeff

#6

Greetings and happy new years all!

I just loaded up my new workstation with Ubuntu 8.04 and am about to make an attempt at installing CUDA.

However, it looks as if the NVIDIA drivers in the repositories were old:
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: Quadro FX 1700/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 169.12

I guess I will need to install the 180 series drivers?

Also, in one of the threads I noticed something about needing gcc 4.1.x? Ubuntu 8.04 installs 4.2.4 by default.
Will this need to be changed? I also have access to the Intel 10.1 compiler suite. Preferences?

BTW, this system is installed with x86_64 Ubuntu and libs.

Thanks!

#7

Remove the drivers from the Ubuntu repository, install 180.22 or whatever the newest Linux driver is, and gcc 4.2.4 is fine.

#8

So, I now have NVIDIA 180.22 loaded and running smoothly…

I have also downloaded the appropriate CUDA software:
jpummil@stealth:~/Desktop/CUDA-2.1$ ls
cuda-linux64-rel-nightly-2.1.1635-3065709.run
cuda-sdk-linux-2.10.1126.1520-3141441.run

I have seen some discussion on various additional GL packages required before CUDA installation. Can someone comment on this? I have a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.04 and NVIDIA 180.22 drivers. Also, gcc, g++, and gfortran (all v4.2.4) installed as well as build-essential. Will I need additional packages like libglut3-dev, etc?

I am looking at the following installation How-To at the moment:
Cuda Development in Ubuntu

Once installed, I want to compile a simple example and run it. Again, just for proof of concept and operation.