GPU3 (NVIDIA) open beta test update

The GPU3 open beta test for NVIDIA GPUs is going well.  There have been a few issues uncovered and our team is working on it.  However, there haven't been any major show stoppers so far, which is good news.

Here's what lies ahead.  We will continue QA in an open beta format for a little while longer until we can resolve the remaining most significant issues.  Then, the new client will replace the existing GPU client.  However, the science/WS switch over will take much longer.  In general for FAH, science calculations that were started with one core (eg core11) will need to be completed with it.  New NVIDIA GPU projects will start up with core15 (although there may be a few projects already in the pipeline that will use still core11), but this switchover to using only core15 could take a while, easily 3 to 6 months, or maybe longer depending on how long we need to complete the existing core11 projects.

Since Fermi boards must run core15, we are prioritizing core15 assigns to Fermi (with only a few core15 projects, we would run out of Fermi work unless we do this).  So, donors without Fermi cards will likely see mostly core11 WUs short term.  This will change as more core15 project come on line in the coming months.

However, there is still a major benefit for GPU donors to run the new client.  As we switch over, more and more WUs will be running in core15, so running the old client would eventually lead to WU shortages, etc.  There is no need to switch over immediately as there will be plenty of core11 WUs for quite a while (eg on the weeks to months timescale).

We are also making a major push for OpenCL on ATI and NVIDIA.  We are working closely with NVIDIA and ATI on this and together we are making progress, although this new core does still seem to be some time out.