x11/nvidia-driver-340 and OpenCL

[Arto Pekkanen]

On 2.9.2017 0:07, Jan Beich wrote:
> Arto Pekkanen <isoa at kapsi.fi> writes:
>> If the GPU driver is implemented properly there will be no stutter or
>> other problems even when running OpenCL jobs.
>>
>> In Windows there is no problem running OpenCL jobs on the same device
>> that operates your display. Like running a crypto currency miner while
>> browsing the web. Playing games won't work well, but basic stuff you can do.
> 
> Did you try on Linux? Most FreeBSD graphics drivers are ported from Linux.
> If prioritizing certain GPU workloads (e.g., OpenGL) isn't supported on
> Linux then I don't think FreeBSD can manage to do better.

Probably the problem is with the upstream Linux driver codebase. But it
is of no concern really, whoever makes the driver work on FreeBSD
without stuttering on varied workloads shall be praised.

As for trying OpenCL on Linux, I don't have any Linux installations
right now. I used to have some extra medium-tier hardware around (nVidia
GPUs, Intel Core2 etc), but I had to give that away to some of my
friends who had no money to even buy a computer. Ironically, right now I
don't have money to buy extra hardware.

I've been thinking of repurposing one crappy Acer (nVidia GPU) laptop
for Linux use, but I've postponed this project because I am currently
perpetually depressed and and thus lazy.

>> TL;DR when the FreeBSD GPU driver and all the userland bits are up to
>> date, I'd expect there to be no issues with stuttering.
> 
> What about NVIDIA? OpenGL stutters if CUDA (via linuxulator) is used at
> the same time. I've tested on nvidia-driver-375.66 as CUDA apps crash on
> nvidia-driver-384.59.
> 

This would imply that the problem could be in the Unix/Linux version of
the nVidia driver or in the FreeBSD specific integration for it. Because
like I said, the Windows version of the nVidia driver on my main rig has
no problem running OpenCL tasks with low-to-medium VRAM requirements
while doing basic day-to-day stuff on the side.

One thing that just came to mind is that maybe these stuttering issues
might also be dependent on the specific graphics board. Maybe some
boards don't offer proper scheduling and/or asynchronous data transfer
primitives, which would make it very hard to implement a driver with
task prioritization.

-- 
Arto Pekkanen

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