Is Matlab/ Simulink supporting Nvidia external GPU Systems/Thunderbold 3 for Machine Learning and Deep Learning projects including embedded systems like Jetson TX2?

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Hi there,
we are planning some research projects on machine learning (big data approaches, creating predictive models, deep learning with object recognition). We plan to use GPU computing for this.
To make the GPU easily available for different users (with their laptops) we thought of buying an "external GPU" case (equiped with i.e. Nvidia Geforce 1080Ti) in combination with Thunderbold 3 interfaces. Different users could prepare their tasks and alternately connect the eGPU only for training of their networks.
Does MATLAB/Simulink support this setup?
Does anybody use this hardware setup? (-in combination with the "GPU-Coder Add-on" and Nvidia Jetson TX2 embedded hardware?)
How are your experiences?
Thank you!
Marcus

Accepted Answer

Joss Knight
Joss Knight on 19 May 2018
Yes, it's supported. This isn't really a question of MATLAB's system requirements; if the CUDA driver can interact with your card then so can MATLAB. You will notice a considerable increase in latency due to the dramatically reduced bandwidth to get data on and off the card, so you need to minimize the amount of CPU/GPU communication.

More Answers (1)

Marcus Kreuzer
Marcus Kreuzer on 21 May 2018
Thank you for this information!
Since I'm a newbie to this topic: I asked myself what you mean with "considerable" increase in latency? Could you please give a rough estimation? Let's say, a comparison (same GPU for all) of:
(i) a desktop system with internal GPU (calculation needs 100min)
(ii) an eGPU system with optimized CPU/GPU communication (estimated calculation needs 100+x min)
(iii) an eGPU system with non-optimized CPU/GPU communication (estimated calculation needs 100+evenmorethan x min)
For example, a Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti GPU card is equipped with 11GB of V-RAM. So to reduce the CPU/GPU communication the aim is to fill this V-RAM with data, let the GPU do the calculations, and "bring back" the results to the CPU/PC, right? Or do CPU and GPU have to communicate continously and establish a kind of a data stream?
Thank you!
Marcus
  6 Comments
Marcus Kreuzer
Marcus Kreuzer on 20 Jun 2018
Edited: Walter Roberson on 20 Jun 2018
Hi!
I wanted to give some feedback:
We finally decided to buy a workstation, equipped with a Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti. The reason is simple: an external case is pricy, for a little more you get an Desktop PC, too. And laptops with Thunderbolt C interface are still rare. As soon as we bring this card to its limits (no one knows when...), we'll buy the "latest" GPU by then. The old one will be put into an external case to be used for "first experiments" and student's practices.
Another interesting source may be: https://egpu.io/build-guides/
This community did a lot of work for using external GPUs on Laptops (Tutorials, lists with working "constructions" etc...)
Thank you all for your help!
Marcus

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