Linux & OpenCL

[art3mis]

I ran two different simulations for exactly 15 minutes on the exact same hardware and simply tracked the number of frames reached, repeating several times

i7 6900 k

64 gb RAM

Titan XP GPU

Indie v 15.5.673 Linux - 15.5.632 Windows

 

Windows

Simulation 1

OpenCL on -140 frames
OpenCL off -138 frames

Simulation 2

OpenCL on -53 frames
OpenCL off -49 frames

 

Linux(Ubuntu)

Simulation 1

OpenCL on -169-170 frames
OpenCL off -160-165 frames

Simulation 2

OpenCL on -61 frames
OpenCL off -51 frames

 

The hip for Simulation 2 attached. Its from the H15 workflow enhancements webinar. I used default cache settings (attached)

Also I think that the Open CL comparisons might not be 100% accurate since AFAIK there is no global on-off switch for OpenCL and I only toggled the single Use OpenCL switch on the FlipSolver node.

CompressedFlip_benchmark.hiplc

Edited December 27, 2016 by art3mis

[shawn_kearney]

Mind uploading your hip?

[art3mis]

Shawn, please see my edited post. The hip for Simulation 2 is from the H15 workflow enhancements webinar. The only edit I made was to remove the whitewater nodes.

Edited December 24, 2016 by art3mis

[shawn_kearney]

Cool, I'll check it out. Like you I've seen improvements on Linux I had not seen previously using Windows, but in my experience it was pretty substantial. While your core speed is faster, I do have more threads (I think FLIP is multi-threaded?) and your GPU should be substantially faster than my M4000, so I'm a little surprised you're not seeing the openCL performance that I am. It will be interesting to see how Quadro compares against high-end GTX for FLIP.

Does anyone know if FLIP is calculated at single or double-point precision?

Edited December 24, 2016 by shawn_kearney

[LukeLetellier]

I want to go Linux if only for the memory improvements; it's miserable on windows. 

 

At the same time, I always get rather frustrated with Linux. I just want to double click something to install a program, not enter lines of code. I have anough technical things to learn in Houdini & other 3D programs that are directly related to earning a living; I don't want to have to learn a whole new OS

 

 

[shawn_kearney]

As a student I kind of feel liek I have to learn linux, at least as an end-user. So I went in head first and deleted my windows partion completely so I wouldn't fall back on it. I think that's the only way to really learn it, otherwise I'd just boot back into Windows when it get tough. But if I weren't learning, I doubt I'd switch at all.

And #$%&ing pulseaudio! I really wish that they'd just use jack instead. It's SO much more robust and reliable and doesn't get in the way of everything.

[edward]

Did I read that right, that the tests are being run with caching to disk? If that's the case, the performance of Windows NTFS might be a bottleneck and then you're not really benchmarking compute work at all.

[Mandrake0]

i think you can test all day long and the end result for usage would be always:

LINUX -> Production in a 24x7 Environment (Example: CG Movies)

WINDOWS -> Mix Production Setup (Example: Games, Small Studio)

Mac OSX -> Small Production / Learning

[art3mis]

edward, yes perhaps. Please feel free to do your own testing with the attached .hip and share your results.

Regarding OpenCL, perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can explain why there doesn't seem to be any sort of global override 'Use Open CL' switch? If you allow editing of contents on the FlipSolver node there are easily a couple dozen nested nodes, each with their own 'Use Open CL' toggle. Puzzling.

Edited December 27, 2016 by art3mis

[Guest tar]

On 25/12/2016 at 6:58 AM, shawn_kearney said:

As a student I kind of feel liek I have to learn linux, at least as an end-user. So I went in head first and deleted my windows partion completely so I wouldn't fall back on it. I think that's the only way to really learn it, otherwise I'd just boot back into Windows when it get tough. But if I weren't learning, I doubt I'd switch at all.

Another option is to use virtual machine to learn/keep your Linux skills up to date. Linux is all fun until it breaks, i.e. you update and upon the restart you are left in Grub! That gets boring real quick when all you really want to do is vfx... With a VM you can also try all flavours of Linux, and, even BSD.

Re: OsX I don't recommend it but it can and does work too in a pinch, but, booting the same machine into Linux is like getting a car tuned.

[Guest tar]

3 hours ago, art3mis said:

Regarding OpenCL, perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can explain why there doesn't seem to be any sort of global override 'Use Open CL' switch? If you allow editing of contents on the FlipSolver node there are easily a couple dozen nested nodes, each with their own 'Use Open CL' toggle. Puzzling.

OpenCL isn't a panacea for speed. It requires memory to be laid out differently.