Using your computer’s graphics card (Amd gpu) is one of the most efficient ways to train neural networks. Almost every major technology company uses GPUs to power their latest products.
By using an Nvidia or AMD GPU, you get improved performance because these chips have special hardware designed to perform complex mathematical algorithms quickly.
That’s why it’s common to see GPUs in use for deep learning. While not as popular as CPUs, they are becoming more prevalent due to their efficiency.
Here, we will discuss how to best utilize your gpu when training neural networks. This article will focus only on dlss such as convolutional neural network (CNN), recurrent neural network (RNN), and autoencoder. We will also talk about state-of-the-art architectures like ResNet and VGG.
Reminder! Before diving into specific tips and tricks, make sure to read our introductory article first. It contains important information such as the difference between CPU and GPU, what kind of cpu/gpu you should use, and some basic terminology.
Get a good quality webcam
Having an excellent computer camera is one of the most important things you will purchase for deep learning. You would want to make sure your cam has at least 1280 x 720 resolution, if not better!
Most laptops now have integrated cameras that are sufficient for most uses, but it is still important to have a good quality external one as well.
You should also look into whether or not it has an HDMI port so you can connect it directly to a monitor or TV. This makes setting up the computer much easier since you do not need to use a device such as Google hangouts or Skype to connect to a display.
Google chrome already comes with its own screen sharing software which can be used easily by just clicking “Screen share” under the tools menu. If you prefer using another browser then no problem! They all work similarly in terms of features.
Get an AMD GPU
In recent years, deep learning has become one of the most powerful tools in computer science. Neural networks have been adapted to many applications including image recognition, speech processing, and natural language understanding.
By adding more layers into neural network architectures, we are able to teach computers new tasks that they could not before. For instance, by using convolutional neural nets (convnets) you can apply them to various images to determine what categories each picture belongs to.
Because these networks learn to identify patterns in data, it is difficult to get trained effectively with limited examples. This means that if there were no pictures available of certain animals, or none with enough context to recognize say, a bear, then a convnet would need lots of training material to be effective.
Luckily, there are now GPUs which contain thousands to millions of relatively cheap RAM that can be used as extra memory during training. Since this additional memory is easily accessible, it does not cost very much!
With the right gpu, you will be able to train your AI system quickly and efficiently. There are several companies that offer gpu cards at discount prices so overall investing in one is a good idea.
Buy a power supply
A powerful GPU requires a strong power supply to run efficiently. Make sure your power source is of good quality, as poor quality can cause issues with slow performance or even damage to your device.
Most GPUs have two types of ports: one that supplies electricity directly to the GPU, and another that connects to the computer’s main board (the motherboard). The first type of port is referred to as an external graphics card port, while the second is usually labeled PCI-E x16 or PCIe x16.
A high quality GPU will typically have at least one internal 16 gigabyte (GB) data transfer port per each GPU chip, along with either a PCI-E x1 or PCI slot per chip. This allows for faster communication between the GPU and the rest of the computer.
Buy some hard drives
Having enough storage space is one of the most important things when it comes to using the AMD GPU you purchased effectively. If you do not have enough, you may run out of memory as your computer needs to store all of your neural network software and files such as pictures of yourself with a professional haircut looking very deep and/or having fun with an expression that says ‘Ouch’.
You should make sure you have at least 2TB of internal storage so that you are never low on space!
Another thing to keep in mind is how much RAM your computer has. The more ram you have the faster your machine will be because it can hold onto information longer before needing to be saved on disk or swapped out to free up room.
A good starting point would be buying 1GB of RAM which costs around $30-60 depending on the brand. You could also go up to 4GB if you need more speed but only budget allows for that right now.
Buy some memory chips
After you have your GPU, you will need to make sure that it has enough memory to properly store the neural networks as well as other programs such as Python or Linux.
GPUs come with very little onboard RAM, usually just 1-2GB of DDR3 which is not much when doing advanced computer science projects like deep learning.
Most people are also overestimating how much RAM their CPU uses, so they do not realize how much RAM their graphics card uses!
The more RAM that you have in your GPU the better since there can be lots of applications running at once and having extra space makes things run faster.
You should aim to buy at least 4 GB per channel (for example, an nVidia GTX 1080 has 2 channels) to ensure smooth performance during training and use.
Buy some surface mount components
When it comes down to it, you don’t need a beefy GPU in order to train your neural networks! In fact, most of the state-of-the-art architectures use embedded GPUs that have very limited RAM and computational resources.
Most of these chips are manufactured using VLSI (very large scale integration) technology which means they are expensive to buy individually. Fortunately, there are many online vendors who sell preassembled graphics cards or gpu rigs in bulk at heavily discounted prices.
By buying several of these together, you can get yourself an excellent performing machine cost effectively. Make sure to research different manufacturers and see what people have to say about them before investing money in any one specific brand.
For example, if you are looking to start off with just a few layers then AMD Vega series graphics cards will almost always be much more affordable than NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti class graphics cards.
Practice assembling your GPU
Now that you have your computer, internet connection, and software installed, it’s time to practice using your new GPU! As mentioned before, having a solid understanding of GPUs is very important when experimenting with deep learning.
There are several ways to use your GPU for DL. One way is through NVIDIA’s dedicated AI developer platform known as Ansel. This tool allows users to easily install pre-packaged neural networks and apply them to images or videos.
Another method is via TensorFlow Layers which allow users to add in additional layers to their models by simply downloading the files needed and dropping them into the appropriate place within the model architecture.
Yet another option is to use Caffe2, an open source framework designed specifically for developing state-of-the-art image recognition models. With this toolset, users can develop and train their own models without any limitations!
To effectively experiment with these different tools, you must first assemble your GPU. This process varies slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but overall works similarly.
Mostly what you will need to do is go onto each site listed above and purchase one or more graphics cards (GPUs). These can be expensive depending on how much usage you have planned!
That being said, there are many sites that offer great services like free graphics card downloads or limited access accounts so that you don’t have to spend too much money immediately.
Read tutorials on deep learning
One of the most important things when it comes to achieving success with any career is education. With the explosion of technology, there are new skills constantly being created and added onto your repertoire. Technology has us mesmerized as we add more gadgets to our hands every day!
By educating yourself about different technologies, you will be one step ahead in the game. This article will talk about some ways to learn more about the gpu (general purpose computing unit) that many computer graphics applications depend on. The gpu can go beyond just helping display images on screen- it’s an extremely powerful processing tool that engineers use to run computer algorithms quickly.
There are several types of gpus depending on what they do, but all work similarly by taking information in, performing calculations on them, and then outputting the results. Because computers already have these components inside of them, creating a gpu that does the same thing is pretty easy!
A gpu can easily perform complex math equations at lightning speed which makes them great for running large amounts of machine learning software. Software like Photoshop uses this technology to manipulate photos, so if you want to take digital painting or designing seriously, you should know how to use an amd radeon gpu for that.
