Password recovery, forensic, forensics, system and security software from ElcomSoft : recover or reset lost or forgotten password, remove protection, unlock system

GPU Acceleration Frequently Asked Questions




General

Multiple GPUs

EDPR-specific


General

Q1: What Elcomsoft products support GPU acceleration of password recovery?

A1: Following Elcomsoft products can use GPU to accelerate password recovery:
Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery,
Advanced PDF Password Recovery Professional Edition,
Elcomsoft Wireless Password Auditor,
Lightning Hash Cracker,
Elcomsoft iPhone Password Breaker.

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Q2: What hardware do I need to use GPU acceleration?

A2: You can use NVIDIA Tesla, GeForce 8-, 9-, 200-series or Quadro cards. Full list of supported NVIDIA devices can be found here. You should also get latest driver from NVIDIA site.

You can also use AMD/ATI cards with Elcomsoft Wireless Password Auditor. In this case you will need Radeon HD 4000- or HD 5000-series card, as well as the latest ATI Catalyst drivers (10.2 or later).

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Q3: Is GPU acceleration available for all file and password types?

A3: No. Right now, GPU acceleration is available for Office 2007 files, Adobe PDF (with 256-bit encryption), WPA/WPA2, Windows logon passwords and some other formats; more details here.

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Q4: What versions of Windows are supported?

A4: GPU acceleration is supported on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are supported. However, we can recommend using multi-GPU configurations only on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (because of better performance and reliability of video drivers for these systems).

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Q5: Does the amount of onboard video memory affect performance?

A5: No, given that you have at least 256MB video memory.

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Q6: Does PCI-Express speed or generation matters?

A6: Not really. Generally, the faster is better, but for password recovery applications difference will be negligible.

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Multiple GPUs

Q1: I have more than one compatible device in my computer. Can I use all of them for even faster password audit/recovery?

A1: Yes.

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Q2: I have more than one compatible device in my computer. Is it possible to use not all of them for password audit/recovery?

A2: Yes. You can select which GPUs you would like to use in program’s options. For EDPR you need to run stand-alone GPU Manager which you will find in EDPR installation directory.

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Q3: I’m running Windows Vista and I can’t see/use all my compatible devices.

A3: This is known issue with Vista and happens if your desktop is not extended on all devices. Go to Display Settings and extend desktop on every device you’d like to use (you may need to connect monitor to each device to be able to do so).

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Q4: My cards are in SLI or CrossFire mode and your program cannot use all of them.

A4: You have to disable SLI or CrossFire in order to be able to use all devices. You can do this via NVIDIA or ATI management software or by removing physical bridge connecting cards.

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Q5: I have more than one compatible device in my computer but EDPR uses not all of them.

A5: This may happen if your devices performance varies a lot. For example, if you have GeForce 9600GT and GeForce GTX 280 installed in same computer EDPR will use GTX 280 only. However, if you have different cards but with comparable performance (such as GTX 260 and GTX 280 or 8800GT and 8800GTX) then EDPR will use all devices.

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Q6: What is the maximum supported number of GPU devices per computer?

A6: This is determined by your motherboard. In theory, up to 8 devices can be installed (4x PCI-Express slots on motherboard, each with double-GPU device such as 9800GX2 or GTX295 or HD4870x2). Our products should not have problems supporting such configurations.

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EDPR-specific

Q1: I have more than one compatible device in my computer but EDPR uses not all of them.

A1: This may happen if your devices performance varies a lot. For example, if you have GeForce 9600GT and GeForce GTX 280 installed in same computer EDPR will use GTX 280 only. However, if you have different cards but with comparable performance (such as GTX 260 and GTX 280 or 8800GT and 8800GTX) then EDPR will use all devices.

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Q2: Can EDPR use CPU and GPU at the same time?

A2: Current version of EDPR does not support simultaneous use of GPU and CPU.

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Q3: I have more than one compatible device in my computer but EDPR uses not all of them.

A3: We recommend that number of CPU cores to be not less than number of GPU devices (double cards like 9800GX2 and GTX295 counts as two devices).

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