Performance of GPU & CPU during deep learning

Hello,

I need to know the role of both the GPU and CPU during deep learning. i.e. what each of them does during training?

Also, is it possible to measure the overhead time required for transferring data between memory and GPU?

Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

[David Willingham]

Hi Ali Al-Saegh,

For training, you can use either the CPU or the GPU. For certain Deep Learning problems which can a long time to train on a CPU, such Image Classification, training on the GPU is orders of magnitude faster. In general, if you have access to a reasonably powerful GPU use it for training. CPU can help when you need to scale up and run parallel jobs to utlize multiple cores on a machine that doesn't have access to multiple GPU's. An example, running an experiment to tune hyperparameters by training multiple networks at once in parallel using the Experiment Manager.

For inference (calling a trained model), CPU is generally sufficient. As an example for image classiciation you can get ~30 predictions / second on a CPU. However if you require very high frame rates or need to run a batch job, using a GPU will help you achieve faster results.

On overhead time of transferring data, here is a post which discusses it. It shows a few ways you can use various time functions for measuring execution time on a gpu. However I don't see data transfer time being a deciding factor between CPU / GPU.

My recommendation:

Training a single model

If you have access to a GPU, either locally or through a cloud platform, create a test to check if your training converges quicker or not. Good news is this is easy to do. Simply:

1. Set the 'ExecutionEnvironment' setting to 'cpu' in your trainingoptions.
2. Start training your model and monitor the training progress plot. Make note of how long each epoch takes to train.
3. Stop the training.
4. Set the 'ExecutionEnvironment' setting to 'gpu' in your trainingoptions.
5. Start training your model and monitor the training progress plot. Make note of how long each epoch takes to train.
6. Stop the training.

In most cases you'll observer the GPU is faster.

Hopefully this helps answer your question.

Regards,

David Willingham - Deep Learning Product Manager - MathWorks

[Ali Al-Saegh]

Thanks David Willingham, I really appreciate your help.

I am still wondering about the job of the CPU during the training of a deep network using a GPU.

[David Willingham]

Hi Ali,

Can I ask what you're looking to find out? The GPU will be doing the training, all other operations will be handled by the CPU, I.e. updating the training progress plots etc.

David

[Ali Al-Saegh]

Hello David,

Thank you very much for your effort and interest.

Actually, I have been asked, for my research work, to train a deep CNN on a heterogeneous system. Hence, I wanted to train my network on the GPU + CPU. I do not know if my idea is reasonable and applicable. I hope you help further.

Regards,

Ali

[David Willingham]

Hi Ali,

It doesn't seem unreasonable at all. My suggestion is to look at what workflows are best served on each, I.e. CPU and GPU. CPU's are better suited for parallel workflows that surround the training, GPU's for training an individual network. MATLAB has out of the box support for both of these when using common networks.

However, if you really want to tinker around and build your own training routine that combines them both, I suggest you look to build your own custom training loop. Here's an example of using this for parallel computing using custom training loops you could get started with.

David