Multiple CPU devices

[marmaduke_w_]

I'm using the Intel OpenCL driver on a Debian 7 64-bit, dual E5-2670 machine, programming with the PyOpenCL interface to OpenCL.

When I query available devices on the Intel platform, I see one device named 'Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2670 0 @ 2.60GHz'. Using this single OpenCL device, with a large work group size, I see that only one physical CPU is being used.

When I start a second program using the same device, I see that they compete for CPU time instead of being distributed, one on each CPU.

Is this a known limitation of the Intel OpenCL driver, or is there a workaround to use both CPUs?

[Robert_I_Intel]

Hi,

Which OpenCL driver are you using? Have you tried our latest driver https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/opencl-drivers#core_xeon ​?

Do you see the same issue there? Thanks!

[marmaduke_w_]

The machine in question is on a cluster and currently unavailable, but I was able to test the latest driver on a dual E5606 machine, and as before I see a single OpenCL device on the Intel platform, however no "0"  in the name, and it appears computation is distributed across both CPUs (2 x 4 cores, no HT, process shows 800% CPU in top).

Is this the intended behavior of Intel's OpenCL driver, in the presence of multiple CPUs, to present them as a single device, and automatically manage distribution of work groups?

I'm not complaining, that makes the programming easier, I'd just like to be sure.

Thanks for the information.

[Robert_I_Intel]

Correct, all CPUs should appear as a single device and all of them should be utilized.

For the machine where you experience the problem would be great if you could provide a reproducer. And let us know whether you use numactl, what the workgroup size is and the total number of work items.

Thanks!