How To Find The Best GPU For Deep Learning [2024]

October 4, 2023 acecloud

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) play a crucial role in deep learning, as they are designed to perform complex mathematical calculations necessary for training deep neural networks. Compared to traditional Central Processing Units (CPUs), GPUs can execute these calculations at significantly faster speeds, making them an indispensable component for running large-scale deep learning models.

Deep learning models involve multiple matrix operations, which can be parallelized and executed more efficiently on GPUs than CPUs. Moreover, major deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Caffe have incorporated GPU acceleration, making it easier for developers to utilize GPUs for deep learning tasks.

In essence, GPUs are indispensable for deep learning because they offer the computational power and speed required to train large deep neural networks, enabling faster and more precise outcomes.

In this article, we will provide insights into how to find the best cloud GPU for deep learning and machine learning workloads, ensuring that you can leverage the most advanced computational power available. So let’s dive in!

What is the Best GPU for Deep Learning and ML?

Here are a few GPUs that work best for large-scale AI projects:

NVIDIA Tesla V100

The Tesla V100 is the latest and most powerful GPU from NVIDIA, designed for deep learning and scientific computing workloads. It boasts the latest Volta architecture, NVLink 2.0 interconnect, and supports up to 16 GB or 32 GB of HBM2 memory with a memory bandwidth of up to 900 GB/s. With 5,120 CUDA cores and a base clock speed of 1,380 MHz, it delivers exceptional performance for AI and HPC workloads.

Technical Features:

• Architecture: Volta
• CUDA Cores: 5,120
• Base Clock Speed: 1,380 MHz
• Memory: 16 GB or 32 GB HBM2
• Memory Bandwidth: 900 GB/s
• Interconnect: NVLink 2.0

NVIDIA Tesla K80

The Tesla K80 is a powerful GPU designed for scientific computing and machine learning. It features two GK210 GPUs with a total of 4,992 CUDA cores and a base clock speed of 562 MHz. It supports up to 24 GB of GDDR5 memory with a memory bandwidth of up to 480 GB/s. It is an excellent choice for data center workloads and scientific computing applications.

Technical Features:

• Architecture: Kepler
• CUDA Cores: 4,992
• Base Clock Speed: 562 MHz
• Memory: 24 GB GDDR5
• Memory Bandwidth: 480 GB/s
• Interconnect: PCI Express 3.0

NVIDIA Tesla A100

The Tesla A100 is the latest and greatest GPU from NVIDIA, designed specifically for AI and scientific computing workloads. It features the Ampere architecture, NVLink 3.0 interconnect, and supports up to 40 GB or 80 GB of HBM2 memory with a memory bandwidth of up to 1.6 TB/s. With 6,912 CUDA cores and a base clock speed of 1,405 MHz, it offers unparalleled performance for AI and HPC workloads.

Technical Features:

• Architecture: Ampere
• CUDA Cores: 6,912
• Base Clock Speed: 1,405 MHz
• Memory: 40 GB or 80 GB HBM2
• Memory Bandwidth: 1.6 TB/s
• Interconnect: NVLink 3.0

Google TPU

The Google TPU is a custom-built ASIC designed for machine learning workloads. It features a high-speed matrix multiply unit (MXU) and up to 128 GB of on-chip memory. It is optimized for use with Google Cloud Machine Learning Engine and supports TensorFlow and other popular machine learning frameworks.

With up to 50x higher performance than traditional CPUs and GPUs for certain workloads, it is an excellent choice for large-scale machine learning workloads.

Technical Features:

• Architecture: Custom ASIC
• Matrix Multiply Units: High-speed
• Memory: Up to 128 GB on-chip
• Interconnect: Google Cloud Machine Learning Engine

NVIDIA Tesla P100

The Tesla P100 is a powerful GPU designed for scientific computing and machine learning. It features the Pascal architecture, NVLink interconnect, and supports up to 16 GB or 12 GB of HBM2 memory with a memory bandwidth of up to 732 GB/s.

With 3,584 CUDA cores and a base clock speed of 1,328 MHz, it is an excellent choice for data center workloads and scientific computing applications.

Technical Features:

• Architecture: Pascal
• CUDA Cores: 3,584
• Base Clock Speed: 1,328 MHz
• Memory: 16 GB or 12 GB HBM2
• Memory Bandwidth: 732 GB/s
• Interconnect: NVLink 1.0

When selecting a GPU for deep learning and machine learning, it is important to consider factors such as performance, memory capacity, power consumption, and price. It is also important to ensure that the GPU is compatible with the deep learning framework or library you plan to use.

What Are the Types of GPU Processing Cores Use for Deep Learning?

Deep learning requires specialized processing cores that can perform complex matrix operations required by neural networks.

Here are some of the types of GPU processing cores that are optimized for deep learning:

1. Tensor Cores: Tensor Cores are specialized processing units that accelerate matrix multiplication and other tensor operations, which are commonly used in deep learning applications. Tensor Cores are particularly useful for applications that rely heavily on large-scale matrix operations, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs).
2. CUDA Cores: CUDA Cores are general-purpose processing cores that are optimized for parallel computing, making them well-suited for deep learning applications. These cores are designed to work with the CUDA programming language and are commonly used in conjunction with Tensor Cores to achieve high-performance computing for deep learning workloads.

Choosing the right GPU processing cores for deep learning depends on your specific needs and application requirements. It is important to evaluate the performance, cost, and power consumption of each option to determine which one is best suited for your use case.

Why Should You Use GPU for Deep Learning?

GPUs enable faster and more efficient training of deep neural networks due to their ability to handle millions of parallel calculations, high memory bandwidth, and deep learning framework support.

GPUs also have much higher memory bandwidth than CPUs, meaning that they can handle much larger datasets at a faster pace. This makes them ideal for processing image and video data, which are commonly used in deep learning applications.

Moreover, many popular deep learning frameworks, such as TensorFlow and PyTorch, have built-in support for GPU acceleration, making it easy for developers to use GPUs for deep learning tasks without requiring specialized programming skills.

Helpful Read: Why GPUs for Deep Learning? A Complete Explanation

Factors to Consider to Find The Best GPU for Machine Learning

Here are a few things that you need to consider to find the best GPU cloud server for deep learning:

Licensing

Licensing requirements for different GPUs are also different. For instance, as per the NVIDIA guidelines, some chips are prohibited for use in the data centers. As per the updates of licensing, for the use of consumers, CUDA software has certain limitations. Also, these licensing requirements require transition to the GPUs supported by production.

Interconnection of GPUs

The scalability of any project is highly dependent on the interconnecting GPUs. In addition, the interconnected GPUs decide whether or not more than one GPU and distribution strategies can be utilized. Interconnecting GPUs do not support consumer GPUs. For example, Infiniband connects various GPUs to different servers while NVlink connects multiple GPUs within a single server.

Memory Usage

GPU usage is also affected by the training data memory requirements. To give an example, the algorithms having any medical imagery or long videos as their training data set need GPUs with more memory. In comparison, the basic training data sets will work efficiently with cloud GPUs having less memory.

Machine Learning Libraries

One needs to be aware of the different libraries used by various GPUs, and specific Machine Learning Libraries are supportive of some specific GPUs only. Thus, the choice of GPU highly depends on the Machine Learning Libraries in use. The NVIDIA GPU supports almost all the basic frameworks and MLLs like PyTorch and TensorFlow.

Performance of GPU

The model’s performance is also a factor looked for in selecting a GPU like the basic GPUs are utilized for debugging and development purposes. On the other hand, strong GPUs are utilized to speed up the training time and reduce the number of waiting hours.

Data Parallelism

GPU selection also depends on the size of data being used for processing. If the data set is vast, the GPU should be capable of working on multiple GPU training. In case the data set is more extensive than usual, the GPU should be able to enable distributed training, and it is so because, in this case, servers are required by the data sets for effective and speedy communication.

CUDA cores vs Tensor cores

CUDA cores and Tensor cores are specialized processors designed for different types of workloads. CUDA cores are optimized for general-purpose parallel computing tasks, while Tensor cores are specifically designed for deep learning and AI workloads. When choosing a GPU for AI and deep learning, it is important to consider whether the GPU has Tensor cores, which are specialized for deep learning workloads.

Read: CUDA Cores vs Tensor Cores

Single precision vs. Double precision

Single precision and double precision refer to the precision of the floating-point calculations that a GPU can perform. Single precision is faster and uses less memory, but it is less accurate than double precision. Double precision is slower and uses more memory, but it is more accurate. When choosing a GPU for deep learning, it is important to consider whether the accuracy of double precision is needed for the specific task.

Power Consumption

Power consumption is another important factor to consider when choosing a GPU for deep learning. GPUs can consume a lot of power, especially when training large deep neural networks. It is important to consider the power consumption of the GPU and how it will impact the overall power usage and cost.

Price

The price of a GPU is also an important factor to consider when choosing a GPU for deep learning. High-end GPUs can be very expensive and may not be necessary for all deep learning tasks. It is important to balance the cost of the GPU with the specific needs of the deep learning task.

When choosing a cloud GPU for deep learning, it is important to consider above-mentioned factors. All these factors will help you to determine the best GPU for the specific deep learning task and budget.

How to Optimize GPU Performance for Deep Learning

Here are few tips and tricks to optimize your cloud GPU server for high computing performance.

• Setting the correct CUDA version: When running deep learning tasks on a GPU, it is important to ensure that the correct version of CUDA is installed and being used. Different versions of CUDA can have different performance characteristics and may not be compatible with certain deep learning frameworks. To ensure optimal GPU performance, it is important to check the version of CUDA being used and make sure it is the correct version for the specific deep learning task.
• Using GPU-enabled libraries: Many deep learning frameworks, such as TensorFlow and PyTorch, have built-in support for GPU acceleration. When using these frameworks, it is important to use the GPU-enabled version of the library in order to take advantage of the GPU’s computational power. Additionally, there are libraries like CUDA and cuDNN which are specifically optimized for GPU computation.
• Minimizing data transfer between CPU and GPU: Transferring data between the CPU and GPU can be time-consuming and slow down the training process. To minimize data transfer, it is important to ensure that the data being used is stored on the GPU memory. This can be achieved by using libraries like CuPy that copy the data to the GPU memory before computation.
• Batch size: The batch size is the number of samples used in one iteration of training. Increasing the batch size can improve the performance of the GPU. It is important to experiment with different batch sizes to find the optimal value for the specific deep learning task.
• Regularly monitoring GPU utilization: Monitoring the GPU utilization during training can help identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the deep learning process. This can be done using tools like Nvidia-smi that provide detailed information about GPU utilization, memory usage, and other performance metrics.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, choosing the best GPU for deep learning is an important step in ensuring that deep learning tasks are performed efficiently and effectively.

The progress of deep learning operations requires high computational power, and when compared with CPUs, GPUs deliver better processing power, parallelism, and memory bandwidth. Hence, GPUs are ideal for machine learning and deep learning tasks.

To find the best GPU for deep learning, it is recommended to consider the specific needs of the deep learning task, such as memory capacity, precision requirements and power consumption. Additionally, it is important to consider the cost of the GPU and to experiment with different GPUs to find the one that offers the best performance for the specific deep learning task.

FAQs

What should I consider when choosing a GPU for deep learning?

Consider factors such as memory, memory bandwidth, processing power, and compatibility with your existing hardware and software.

Should I choose a GPU with a high number of CUDA cores for deep learning?

Yes, a high number of CUDA cores can provide more processing power for deep learning tasks.

What is the minimum memory requirement for a GPU for deep learning?

It depends on the size and complexity of your deep learning models, but a GPU with at least 8GB of memory is recommended.

Is it important to choose a GPU with a high memory bandwidth for deep learning?

Yes, high memory bandwidth can improve the speed and efficiency of your deep learning workloads.

Can I use a consumer-grade GPU for deep learning or do I need a workstation GPU?

Consumer-grade GPUs can work for deep learning, but workstation GPUs are optimized for demanding applications and may provide better performance and reliability.

What are the most popular GPU brands for deep learning?

NVIDIA and AMD are popular GPU for deep learning, with NVIDIA being the market leader in this field.

People Also Reading:

• What Are GPUs and How Can You Afford One?
• GPU vs. CPU for Data Analytics Tasks – Which One is Best?
• GPU vs. CPU for Image Processing: Which One is Better?