Using more GPUs and increasing batch size makes training slower in DistributedDataParallel

Fireman: <p>My code works well when I am just using single GPU to do the training. I would like to speed up the training by utlilizing 8 GPUs by using DistributedDataParallel. However, I noticed that using more GPUs does not speed up the training for me at all. Instead, using more GPUs makes the training slower.</p>
<p>I also tried to modify the batch size and I noticed that batch size = 8 trains the model fastest. Increasing the batch size will makes the training significantly slower.</p>
<p>I tried to measure the time for each epoch and found the training time is significantly longer every 4 epochs.</p>
<pre><code class="lang-auto">EP0_elapsed_time: 3.3021082878112793 sec
EP1_elapsed_time: 0.8542821407318115 sec
EP2_elapsed_time: 0.7720010280609131 sec
EP3_elapsed_time: 7.11009407043457 sec
EP4_elapsed_time: 0.7670211791992188 sec
EP5_elapsed_time: 0.7623276710510254 sec
EP6_elapsed_time: 0.7690849304199219 sec
EP7_elapsed_time: 7.0614259243011475 sec
EP8_elapsed_time: 0.7806422710418701 sec
EP9_elapsed_time: 0.7751979827880859 sec
EP10_elapsed_time: 0.7685496807098389 sec
EP11_elapsed_time: 7.09734845161438 sec
EP12_elapsed_time: 0.7923364639282227 sec
EP13_elapsed_time: 0.7789566516876221 sec
EP14_elapsed_time: 0.7974681854248047 sec
EP15_elapsed_time: 7.120237350463867 sec
</code></pre>
<p>I notice a similar problem in the forum and it has not been solved.<br>
<a href="https://discuss.pytorch.org/t/no-speedup-doing-multi-gpu-training-with-distributeddataparallel-vs-single-gpu/33633">No speedup doing multi GPU training with DistributedDataParallel vs. single GPU</a></p>
<p>How can I solve this issue?</p>
<p>main()</p>
<pre><code class="lang-auto">def main():
  parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
  
  parser.add_argument('-n', '--nodes', default=1, type=int, metavar='N')
  parser.add_argument('-g', '--gpus', default=1, type=int, help='number of gpus per node')
  parser.add_argument('-nr', '--nr', default=0, type=int, help='ranking/index within the nodes')
  parser.add_argument('--epochs', default=400, type=int, metavar='N', help='number of total epochs to run')
  parser.add_argument('--model_dir', default='stylegan2ada_002', type=str, help='model dir name')
  parser.add_argument('--train_img_dir_path', default='./GAN/clean_2', type=str, help='training images dir path')
  parser.add_argument('--img_size', default=64, type=int, help='target image size')
  parser.add_argument('--batch_size', default=32, type=int, help='batch size')
  parser.add_argument('--g_latent_dim', default=512, type=int, help='dim of generator noise z and w')
  parser.add_argument('--mn_num_layers', default=8, type=int, help='number of layers in the mapping network (8 according to paper)')
  parser.add_argument('--g_lr', default=1e-3, type=float, help='generator learning rate')
  parser.add_argument('--d_lr', default=1e-3, type=float, help='discriminator learning rate')
  parser.add_argument('--mn_lr', default=1e-5, type=float, help='mapping network learning rate')
  parser.add_argument('--adam_betas', default=(0.0, 0.99), type=tuple, help='betas of adam optimizers')
  parser.add_argument('--gradient_accumulate_steps', default=1, type=int, help='gradient accumulate steps')
  parser.add_argument('--lazy_gradient_penalty_interval', default=4, type=int, help='lazy gradient penalty interval')
  parser.add_argument('--lazy_path_penalty_after', default=5000, type=int, help='the point that starts to apply lazy path penalty')
  parser.add_argument('--lazy_path_penalty_interval', default=32, type=int, help='lazy path penalty interval')
  parser.add_argument('--gradient_penalty_coefficient', default=10., type=float, help='gradient penalty coefficient')
  parser.add_argument('--style_mixing_prob', default=0.9, type=float, help='style mixing prob')
  parser.add_argument('--generate_img_interval', default=100, type=int, help='generate images every x epochs')
  parser.add_argument('--generate_img_after_percent', default=0.4, type=float, help='generate images after y% of the total epochs')

  args = parser.parse_args()

  args.world_size = args.gpus * args.nodes
  args.distributed = True
  args.dist_backend = 'nccl'
  args.dist_url = 'env://'

  os.environ['MASTER_ADDR'] = 'localhost'
  os.environ['MASTER_PORT'] = '7788'

  mp.spawn(train, nprocs=args.gpus, args=(args,))
</code></pre>
<p>train()</p>
<pre><code class="lang-auto">def train(gpu, args):

  rank = args.nr * args.gpus + gpu

  torch.cuda.set_device(gpu)

  dist.init_process_group(
    backend=args.dist_backend,
    init_method=args.dist_url,
    world_size=args.world_size,
    rank=rank,
  )

  dist.barrier()

  # Measure time
  start_init = time.time()
  
  # Make dirs
  ### Create model dir if not existed
  model_dir_path = f'./{args.model_dir}'
  if not (os.path.exists(model_dir_path)):
    try:
      os.makedirs(model_dir_path)
    except:
      pass

  ### Create 'images' dir if not existed
  img_dir_path = f'./{args.model_dir}/images'
  if not (os.path.exists(img_dir_path)):
    try:
      os.makedirs(img_dir_path)
    except:
      pass

  ### Create 'checkpoints' dir if not existed
  ckpt_dir_path = f'./{args.model_dir}/checkpoints'
  if not (os.path.exists(ckpt_dir_path)):
    try:
      os.makedirs(ckpt_dir_path)
    except:
      pass
  
  # Dataset and Dataloader
  ### Create the dataset
  dataset = ImageDataset(path=args.train_img_dir_path, image_size=args.img_size)
  sampler = torch.utils.data.distributed.DistributedSampler(
    dataset,
    num_replicas=args.world_size,
    rank=rank,
  )
  ### Create the dataloader
  dataloader = torch.utils.data.DataLoader(
    dataset,
    batch_size=args.batch_size,
    num_workers=0,
    shuffle=False,
    drop_last=True,
    pin_memory=True,
    sampler=sampler,
  )


  # Initialization
  ### Setup gpu device
  device = torch.device('cuda', rank)
  ### Get log2 of the target image size
  log_resolution = log2(args.img_size)
  ### Create discriminator
  discriminator = Discriminator(log_resolution)
  ### Put the discriminator to the device
  discriminator.to(device)
  ### Apply DDP
  discriminator = nn.parallel.DistributedDataParallel(discriminator, device_ids=[gpu])
  ### Create discriminator loss
  discriminator_loss = DiscriminatorLoss().to(device)
  ### Create discriminator optimizer
  discriminator_optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(
    discriminator.parameters(),
    lr = args.d_lr,
    betas = args.adam_betas,
  )
  ### Create gradient penalty (gp) loss
  gradient_penalty = GradientPenalty()

  ### Create generator
  generator = Generator(device, log_resolution, args.g_latent_dim, args.style_mixing_prob)
  ### Put the generator to the device
  generator.to(device)
  ### Apply DDP
  generator = nn.parallel.DistributedDataParallel(generator, device_ids=[gpu])
  ### Create generator loss
  generator_loss = GeneratorLoss().to(device)
  ### Create generator optimizer
  generator_optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(
    generator.parameters(),
    lr = args.g_lr,
    betas = args.adam_betas,
  )
  ### Create path length penalty (PLP) loss
  path_length_penalty = PathLengthPenalty(0.99).to(device)

  ### Create mapping network
  mapping_network = MappingNetwork(args.g_latent_dim, args.mn_num_layers)
  ### Put the mapping network to the device
  mapping_network.to(device)
  ### Apply DDP
  mapping_network = nn.parallel.DistributedDataParallel(mapping_network, device_ids=[gpu])
  ### Create mapping network optimizer
  mapping_network_optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(
    mapping_network.parameters(),
    lr = args.mn_lr,
    betas = args.adam_betas,
  )

  generate_img_after = int(args.epochs * args.generate_img_after_percent)

  # Measure time
  torch.cuda.synchronize()
  end_init = time.time()
  init_time = end_init - start_init

  print(f'Init_time: {init_time} sec')

  # Training steps and losses tracking
  disc_loss_y = []
  gen_loss_y = []

  # Measure time
  times = []

  for i in range(args.epochs):
    start_epoch = time.time()

    disc_loss, gen_loss = step(
      i,
      device,
      args.batch_size,
      dataloader,
      args.gradient_accumulate_steps,
      args.style_mixing_prob,
      discriminator,
      discriminator_loss,
      discriminator_optimizer,
      gradient_penalty,
      args.gradient_penalty_coefficient,
      args.lazy_gradient_penalty_interval,
      generator,
      generator_loss,
      generator_optimizer,
      path_length_penalty,
      args.g_latent_dim,
      args.lazy_path_penalty_after,
      args.lazy_path_penalty_interval,
      mapping_network,
      mapping_network_optimizer,
      args.model_dir,
      args.generate_img_interval,
      generate_img_after,
    )

    # Measure time
    torch.cuda.synchronize()
    end_epoch = time.time()
    elapsed = end_epoch - start_epoch
    times.append(elapsed)

    print(f'EP{i}_elapsed_time: {elapsed} sec')

    ### Append losses of each step into the lists
    disc_loss_y.append(disc_loss)
    gen_loss_y.append(gen_loss)

  # Measure time
  avg_time = sum(times)/args.epochs
  print(f'avg_time: {avg_time} sec')

  ### Plot the losses
  epoch_x = np.linspace(1, args.epochs, args.epochs).astype(int)
  plt.plot(epoch_x, disc_loss_y, label='disc_loss')
  plt.plot(epoch_x, gen_loss_y, label='gen_loss')
  plt.legend()
  plt.savefig(f'{img_dir_path}/loss.png')
</code></pre>

eqy: <p>If an entire epoch finishes on the order of seconds, it could very well be that the data loading time is bottlenecking training. I would first try increasing the number of workers e.g., set <code>num_workers</code> to larger values and seeing if that speeds things up. If the ratio between communication time (loading data + reducing gradients) and computation time (forward + backward on the model) is high, it could well be that increasing the number of GPUs simply adds overhead without speeding things up.</p>

Fireman: <p>Thanks for your advice! I have done some experiments and try to figure out how the number of workers and batch size affect the training time. Here are the results:</p>
<p><div class="lightbox-wrapper"><a class="lightbox" href="https://discuss.pytorch.org/uploads/default/original/3X/1/e/1e3dbd75cb5380cf3428b65879ac61371fbd8d00.png" data-download-href="https://discuss.pytorch.org/uploads/default/1e3dbd75cb5380cf3428b65879ac61371fbd8d00" title="image"><img src="https://discuss.pytorch.org/uploads/default/original/3X/1/e/1e3dbd75cb5380cf3428b65879ac61371fbd8d00.png" alt="image" data-base62-sha1="4jwBiDlAcc1yVPwg3q85ChW2fCw" width="690" height="456" data-dominant-color="EFF3F7"><div class="meta"><svg class="fa d-icon d-icon-far-image svg-icon" aria-hidden="true"><use href="#far-image"></use></svg><span class="filename">image</span><span class="informations">823×545 11 KB</span><svg class="fa d-icon d-icon-discourse-expand svg-icon" aria-hidden="true"><use href="#discourse-expand"></use></svg></div></a></div></p>
<p>I think what do you suggested totally make sense to me, but somehow the training time increases with the number of workers and batch size. (All the training are using 8 GPUs) Do you have any idea of this results?</p>

eqy: <aside class="quote no-group" data-username="Fireman" data-post="1" data-topic="147711">
<div class="title">
<div class="quote-controls"></div>
<img loading="lazy" alt="" width="24" height="24" src="https://discuss.pytorch.org/user_avatar/discuss.pytorch.org/fireman/48/46603_2.png" class="avatar"> Fireman:</div>
<blockquote>
<p><code>DistributedSampler</code></p>
</blockquote>
</aside>
<p>Could you share more details about the setup? How many GPUs are used here and what is the topology (e.g., <span class="hashtag-raw">#Nodes</span>, <span class="hashtag-raw">#Total</span> GPUs, <span class="hashtag-raw">#GPUs</span>/node, interconnect)? If there is just a single node for these experiments I am not sure a distributed sampler is necessary.</p>

Fireman: <aside class="quote no-group" data-username="eqy" data-post="4" data-topic="147711">
<div class="title">
<div class="quote-controls"></div>
<img loading="lazy" alt="" width="24" height="24" src="https://discuss.pytorch.org/user_avatar/discuss.pytorch.org/eqy/48/46233_2.png" class="avatar"> eqy:</div>
<blockquote>
<p>Could you share more details about the setup? How many GPUs are used here and what is the topology (e.g., <span class="hashtag-raw">#Nodes</span>, <span class="hashtag-raw">#Total</span> GPUs, <span class="hashtag-raw">#GPUs</span>/node, interconnect)?</p>
</blockquote>
</aside>
<p>Sure, I am now using a computing cluster, and my setup is as follows: (I am not sure about the interconnect)</p>
<p>#Nodes=1<br>
<span class="hashtag-raw">#Total</span> GPUs=8<br>
<span class="hashtag-raw">#GPUs</span>/node=8<br>
<span class="hashtag-raw">#CPUs</span>/node=8<br>
memory=100G</p>
<aside class="quote no-group" data-username="eqy" data-post="4" data-topic="147711">
<div class="title">
<div class="quote-controls"></div>
<img loading="lazy" alt="" width="24" height="24" src="https://discuss.pytorch.org/user_avatar/discuss.pytorch.org/eqy/48/46233_2.png" class="avatar"> eqy:</div>
<blockquote>
<p>If there is just a single node for these experiments I am not sure a distributed sampler is necessary.</p>
</blockquote>
</aside>
<p>Yes, I am using single node for the experiments. However, isn’t DDP requires DistributedSampler to distribute data to each GPUs? Will DistributedSampler makes training slower in a single-node scenerio?</p>

ptrblck: <p><code>DistributedSampler</code> will split the data into chunks and feed each process the corresponding and exclusive part so that no data samples will be repeated in a DDP setup. It can be used on a single node, too.<br>
The overhead should be minimal.</p>
<p>Based on your previous results it seems that you are hitting a performance drop if you increase the data loading pressure either via more workers or a larger batch size.<br>
Where do you store your data and how fast is the access to it?<br>
E.g. if you are loading it from a network mount, I would expect to see a major bottleneck there.</p>

Fireman: <aside class="quote no-group" data-username="ptrblck" data-post="6" data-topic="147711">
<div class="title">
<div class="quote-controls"></div>
<img loading="lazy" alt="" width="24" height="24" src="https://discuss.pytorch.org/user_avatar/discuss.pytorch.org/ptrblck/48/1823_2.png" class="avatar"> ptrblck:</div>
<blockquote>
<p>Where do you store your data and how fast is the access to it?<br>
E.g. if you are loading it from a network mount, I would expect to see a major bottleneck there.</p>
</blockquote>
</aside>
<p>Thanks for suggestion! I am using a high performance computing (HPC) platform and I store my data there. Other users of this platform also uses it to train their models so I think the access is not slow.</p>
<p>Btw, I have tried to put my data in RAM with the following codes but the training is still very slow.</p>
<pre><code class="lang-auto">class ImageDataset(torch.utils.data.Dataset):

  def __init__(self, path: str, image_size: int):

    super().__init__()

    ### Get all images' paths as a list

    image_paths = [p for p in Path(path).glob(f'**/*.png')]

    self.images = [PIL.Image.open(path).copy() for path in image_paths]

    self.transform = torchvision.transforms.Compose([

      torchvision.transforms.Resize(image_size),

      torchvision.transforms.ToTensor(),

    ])

  def __len__(self):

    return len(self.images)

  def __getitem__(self, index):

    img = self.images[index]

    return self.transform(img)
</code></pre>
<p>I also set ‘pin_memory=True’ in the dataloader and it also does not seem to help.</p>
<pre><code class="lang-auto">  ### Create the dataloader
  dataloader = torch.utils.data.DataLoader(
    dataset,
    batch_size=32,
    num_workers=4,
    shuffle=False,
    drop_last=True,
    pin_memory=True,
    sampler=sampler,
  )
</code></pre>
<p>How can I check what causes the bottleneck and solve this issue?</p>

ptrblck: <p>You could profile your workload with the PyTorch profiler or e.g Nsight Systems and check the timeline to isolate the bottlenecks further.</p>

Fireman: <p>Sorry for the late reply. I have used a profiler to check which part of the code consumes the most time. I found that it is not the data-loading part. In fact, the data-loading only uses a short time. The most time-consuming part is the training epochs (which makes much sense).</p>
<p>On average, each training epoch uses 2.8 seconds if I use 8 GPUs and a batch size of 32. It is much longer than 0.5 seconds when  I use 1 GPU and a batch size of 8.</p>
<p>I am using a tiny dataset (660 images, image size = 64 x 64). Thus, I suspect this tiny dataset causes this issue. Since the dataset is too small, the overhead caused by the multi-GPUs training is much more significant than the speed up it brings. What do you think about this hypothesis? Is it possible? Thank you.</p>

ptrblck: <p>Thanks for the follow up!<br>
I don’t the DDP creates this expected overhead. Tiny images or generally small workloads would not utilize the GPUs fully, but are not slowing down your code. The kernel launches etc. would be relatively more expensive compared to the actual compute kernels, but this should also be visible on the timeline.</p>
<p>Could you post the profiling timeline or 2 or 3 iterations here, please?</p>