Software for Excel to compute using GPU

[Mathman]

Is anybody aware of any software that would allow Excel to use the GPU for computations?


I'm currently working on a project and even when trying to optimize the sheets they will simply take too long to calculate.


If you have any info I would greatly appreciate your comments.


Thank you
MM​

 

[Logit]

.
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-make-Excel-use-more-than-25-of-my-CPU

 

[Mathman]

Thanks for the link but I can't seem to find any specific mention as to how Excel can use GPU for calculations, Am I missing it?..........

 

[Logit]

.
I misread your post (need my glasses). I thought it referred to CPU.

After surfing the Net and reviewing a number of websites concerning a Graphics Processing Unit speeding up Excel .... my findings indicate
the GPU isn't going to help at all. Seems like everyone is in agreement that the total amount of RAM you are using will determine how well
Excel functions. Several sites spoke of their users having 8 / 16 / 32 / 64 gb of RAM and no one was using anywhere near 8 gb. One site
said their users have 8 gb of RAM and they were only utilizing max o 3 gb with Excel.

My personal experience has shown using Win10/64bit improved Excel performance. My machine has 32 gb of RAM. My CPU is a quad-core
and is set to utilize all four as much as possible. There is a setting in Excel's options for this was well. I run Excel 2007 and the setting
is located in ADVANCED / FORMULAS.

Here is a link to one site where the members discussed the topic at length. I include this because it has a variety of input from the members
which pretty much encapsulates what is to be found on any number of other sites.

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/801613-would-adding-a-video-card-help-excel?page=2

Hopefully others here on the Forum can add their experiences as well.

 

[lrobbo314]

I searched the internet as well and it seems like it really isn't an option. I did find a Korean website that claimed to have an add-in that could leverage GPU for Excel, but it isn't available for purchase from their website and doesn't have pricing available. It seems like it could technically be possible by writing dlls, but it would be a pretty involved process and might not work anyway because of the way that Excel works. Even writing your own program and leveraging GPU is pretty complicated. I would imagine that if you have that massive of an Excel file, that Excel is probably not the right platform for the job. Maybe using Access in conjunction with Excel. Although, Access has its own limitations as well. Might be time to upgrade to using a SQL server.

 

[Mathman]

I'm not too sure about RAM and find it a little hard to truly understand it's relationship with Excel. I have 2 computers, an 7700K with 32G RAM and a 8700K with 16G RAM. I ran 20 instances of a workbook all at the same time, max out my CPU 100% and the RAM on the 7700K pushed 25G then the same test on the 8700K. I thought I would max out the RAM since I only had 16G but it never touched 16G but got close hitting 15G. These workbooks were massive, 200,000KB with intricate macros and running 20 of them all at the same time and still didn't use all the RAM available. I really have no idea how or why but just interesting overall.


I reached out to the Korean company mentioned and will let you know if anything comes of it. ​

 

[TylerWhieler]

.
I misread your post (need my glasses). I thought it referred to CPU.

After surfing the Net and reviewing a number of websites concerning a Graphics Processing Unit speeding up Excel .... my findings indicate
the GPU isn't going to help at all. Seems like everyone is in agreement that the total amount of RAM you are using will determine how well
Excel functions. Several sites spoke of their users having 8 / 16 / 32 / 64 gb of RAM and no one was using anywhere near 8 gb. One site
said their users have 8 gb of RAM and they were only utilizing max o 3 gb with Excel.

My personal experience has shown using Win10/64bit improved Excel performance. My machine has 32 gb of RAM. My CPU is a quad-core
and is set to utilize all four as much as possible. There is a setting in Excel's options for this was well. I run Excel 2007 and the setting
is located in ADVANCED / FORMULAS.

Here is a link to one site where the members discussed the topic at length. I include this because it has a variety of input from the members
which pretty much encapsulates what is to be found on any number of other sites.

Would adding a video card help Excel?

Hopefully others here on the Forum can add their experiences as well.

I'm reaching 20+GB of RAM usage, needed to upgrade from 16GB to 32 and now my sheets load 400% faster

 

[marious]

How to Use GPU in VBA/Excel This article shows how to compile and execute OpenCL code from VBA. www.codeproject.com