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Re: nVidia Optumus prevents using CUDA?

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg122590] Re: nVidia Optumus prevents using CUDA?
  • From: "Oleksandr Rasputinov" <oleksandr_rasputinov at hmamail.com>
  • Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2011 06:23:01 -0500 (EST)
  • Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
  • References: <j8nuj1$ee5$1@smc.vnet.net>

On Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:03:29 -0000, DmitryG <einschlag at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Being interested in GPU computations, I have bought a new powerful
> laptop Lenovo Y570 ($1080) that has, according to my test today, a
> 1.05 Mathematica 8.0.4 benchmark, under Windows 7 64 bit.
>
> The main reason to buy this laptop was that it has nVidia Geforce 555M
> graphic card that is one of the best in the consumer range and has 96
> CUDA cores.
>
> I have got the new Mathematica 8.0.4 activated today and the first
> thing was to try out CUDA. To my disappointment, it appears that
> Mathematica does not see the nVidia GPU at all, and all that it sees
> is the integrated Intel HD graphics. Thus CUDAInformation[] command
> outputs "CUDAInformation::invdevnm: "CUDA is not supported on device \!
> \(\"Intel(R) HD Graphics Family\"\)."
>
> I know that there is nVidia Optimus manager that tries to redistribute
> the load between the integrated HD graphics and the nVidia GPU. Also
> there is a hardware switch in my laptop to activate or deactivate the
> GPU. Thus I have GPU activated per this switch and also in the "Manage
> 3D settings -> Global settings" of the nVidia control panel I have
> checked nVidia as the preferred graphic processor (other options are
> Automatic and integrated HD graphics). However, this did not bring
> anything to the way Mathematica works with CUDA.
>
> I do not know if the above is related to another disappointment. I
> have installed Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 express, as on my previous
> Win 7 64 bit laptop (that has a too old nVidia card, though) and it
> turned out that it does not work with Mathematica. Even the command
> CCompilers[Full] does not say that Microsoft Visual can be installed
> on my system, there are only Intel Compiler and a generic C compiler
> in the list. I don't know why there is such a difference with my
> previous laptop. I have checked Windows SDK and it is installed. What
> else?
>
> It seems that there is some relation between CUDa and C compiler,
> maybe a C compiler is a prerequisite for CUDA?
>
> It appears I have serious problems with Mathematica on my new laptop,
> and any advice will be appreciated.
>
> Dmitry
>

I won't comment on the CUDA issue as it's not something that I'm familiar  
with. However, I have had Visual C++ 2010 working with Mathematica (8.0.1;  
I haven't got 8.0.4 yet) without difficulty. The installation is slightly  
convoluted; here are my notes on the matter:


Minimal installation of Microsoft Visual C++ 10.0 (2010) SP1

Note that this installation does not include the Visual Studio IDE, help,  
tools, etc. Only the build system, compilers, headers, and libraries will  
be installed.

1. Get the Microsoft Windows SDK 7.1 for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4:

    http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8442

2. From the SDK, install at least the headers and libraries, but do not  
install the compilers. The headers and libraries will be installed for the  
x86, x64, and IA64 platforms. To keep the installation self-contained, and  
for for consistency with Visual Studio, one may install to  
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\SDK rather than the  
default location.

3. Get the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Service Pack 1 Compiler Update for  
the Windows SDK 7.1:

    http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=4422

4. Install the Compiler Update. This will install x86, x64, and IA64  
compilers.

5. If support for the IA64 platform is not required, one can remove the  
IA64 compiler via Add/Remove Programs (if present there) and then simply  
delete all of the directories installed by either the SDK or the Compiler  
Update that contain IA64-specific files. (Note that the Compiler Update  
will install the x86-hosted IA64 cross-compiler along with the x86  
compiler even if the IA64 compiler itself is not installed.) The  
directories to delete can easily be identified since they all have "IA64"  
as part of the name. This saves about 200MB of space. Note that apart from  
the main installation directory, some (small) files are also installed  
into %ProgramFiles(x86)%\MSBuild, including some for IA64 in  
MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\Platforms\IA64.

5. After installing, it is recommended to run Microsoft Update in case any  
patches are required.


As you see, this does not involve Visual Studio Express, which I  
deliberately avoided since it does not include the 64-bit compilers  
necessary for operation with Mathematica. Personally, I use MinGW-w64 GCC  
4.6.1 rather than Visual C++; this works perfectly well also but does  
require modifications to Mathematica which I will not discuss here other  
than to say that it would be nice if this compiler could be supported  
without need of modifications in a future release.



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