Does WarpX require GPU?

[erny123]

Wondering if WarpX requires a GPU? If so, are there any particular instructions that need to be followed during installation to disable GPUS usage?
Would love to try some of the mesh refinement and benchmark between a gpu enabled and disabled WarpX.

Sorry, I couldn't find the answer anywhere.

[ax3l]

Hi @erny123,

Great question! No, WarpX does not require a GPU to run. WarpX can in fact be run on either CPUs, or three kind of different GPU vendors (Nvidia, AMD, Intel).

To run on CPUs, just change during compilation the flag WarpX_COMPUTE to read OMP (OpenMP, our default to use multiple CPU cores) or NOACC (fully CPU serial, not really recommended unless OpenMP causes issues).

rm -rf build
cmake -S . -B build -DWarpX_COMPUTE=OMP
cmake --build build -j 8

We also provide pre-compiled CPU packages, e.g., via conda.

So yes, you can run WarpX on CPU systems such as laptops, desktops or CPU clusters.

Let us know if you have any further questions! :)