OpenCL for Xeon E5

[Jan_Hardenbergh]

If I am reading the 14.1 release notes correctly, the Xeon E5 should be able to run the GPU without a display driver installed. If I had an E3, it would be CPU only. Is that correct? And If, how do I get to it. After the release notes, I have what I am getting.

https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/opencl-runtime-release-notes

Supported Hardware

This runtime is tested on the following processors:

• Intel Xeon® Processor E5 Product Family
• ...

The OpenCL Runtime 14.1 provides only OpenCL CPU device support on the following processors:

• Intel Xeon Processor E3 Family

To enable GPU device support on the aforementioned processors, install the Intel Graphics driver.

-

I'm trying to see how OpenCL rendering would work on a server. We have a Dell t5610 with a Xeon E5, which should be similar to the server chips.
The processor string is: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2609 v2 @ 2.50GHz

I cannot get a GPU from the Intel OpenCL platform.

What I get is:
OpenGL version 4.3.0 - NVIDIA Corporation - Quadro K2000/PCIe/SSE2
Platform idx 0 id = 04F26C20 name = NVIDIA CUDA V.1.1 nGPUdevices 1 CPU 0 All 1
Platform idx 1 id = 03695BE8 name = Intel(R) OpenCL V.1.2 nGPUdevices 0 CPU 1 All 1

When I run the same thing on my laptop with a Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3120M

I get:
OpenGL version 4.0.0 - Build 10.18.10.3621 - Intel - Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
Platform idx 0 id = 027EA068 name = Intel(R) OpenCL V.1.2 nGPUdevices 1 CPU 1 All 2
Device id = 03E1401C name = Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 - Intel(R) Corporation OpenCL 1.2  10.18.10.3621

Thanks for any help! -Jan

[Yuri_K_Intel]

Hi Jan,

Jan Hardenbergh wrote:

If I am reading the 14.1 release notes correctly, the Xeon E5 should be able to run the GPU without a display driver installed. If I had an E3, it would be CPU only. Is that correct?

No, that's not correct.

First of all the CPU should have embedded processor graphics. The one you're using (Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2609 v2) doesn't have it.

For the CPUs with processor graphics: "To enable GPU device support on the aforementioned processors, install the Intel Graphics driver".

Thanks,

Yuri

[Jan_Hardenbergh]

Hi Yuri,

Thank you for getting back to me. I get the impression that the ES-2609 v2 does have the Ivy Bridge engine on chip, but it is not considered processor graphics. This article from Tom's Hardware "Intel Xeon E5-2600 v2: More Cores, Cache, And Better Efficiency" even mentions OpenCL. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xeon-e5-2600-v2-ivy-bridge-ep-benchmarks,3714.html

My real question is how can I test and benchmark OpenCL on an Ivy Bridge Xeon server chip? What chips are out now and how do I get OpenCL to run on them.

Thank you for any breadcrumbs.

Jan

[Yuri_K_Intel]

Jan Hardenbergh wrote:

My real question is how can I test and benchmark OpenCL on an Ivy Bridge Xeon server chip? What chips are out now and how do I get OpenCL to run on them.

For the processors without integrated GPU (like Intel Xeon E5-2609 v2) you should install OpenCL runtime for Intel CPU. I think you already did that because you have Intel platform and CPU device listed in the output of your program. So, obviously, in this case you may run OpenCL applications only on CPU device (on Intel OpenCL platform).

Please, tell me if that answers your question.

Thanks,

Yuri

[Jan_Hardenbergh]

Thank you Yuri,

After looking more carefully at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Xeon_microprocessors#Ivy_Bridge-based_Xeons I can see that not all Ivy Bridge Xeons have the GPU feature. The was new info to a newbie like me. I thought Ivy Bridge implied it had a GPU. Live and - hopefully - learn. It looks like I need a Xeon E3-1??{4,5,6}.

It there any way to tell from __cpuid() whether the GPU is there? Or some other good way - better than using the Processor Brand String and a table?

Thank you. -Jan

[Yuri_K_Intel]

I'm not sure if that's what you're asking for, but anyway. There is a utility called Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-031726.htm I see that it detects/displays Graphics Information, there are both GUI and command-line versions and it has source code available, so you may examine it to find the relevant code. Thanks, Yuri