Matlab multiple cores

Question

I'm running an algorithm that's taking a lot of resources, and maxes out the CPU.

The problem is that it's only using one CPU.

How can i make MATLAB multithread the computations and use more than 1 CPU ?

you need an environment suited to multi core and MATLAB isn't very suited — David Heffernan, Jan 15 '11 at 17:06
I know it IS possible , the documentation does say that it is, but i couldn't find actually HOW to do it. — Yochai Timmer, Jan 15 '11 at 17:07

EmeryBerger · Answer 1 · 2011-01-15T17:36:35.623

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Unless you specifically use parallel constructs -- that is, using explicit parallelism -- or use built-in functions that have already been parallelized for you -- Matlab will not run faster on a multicore machine. This post has a list of built-in functions that have been parallelized and so will take advantage of multiple cores:

http://www.walkingrandomly.com/?p=1894

Here's an example of using a parallel construct to roll your own parallelism:

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/13775

edited Jan 15 '11 at 17:36

answered Jan 15 '11 at 17:12

EmeryBerger

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That's just no true. It will run faster on parallel machines. – Yochai Timmer Jan 15 '11 at 17:33
@Yochai - edited to clarify (it runs faster if you use already-parallelized functions, otherwise, not). – EmeryBerger Jan 15 '11 at 17:37
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+1 Right, but MATLAB itself parallelisese even basic matrix operations (multiplication, MIN,MAX,INV,SQRT,POW). For matrices that are larger than 40K elements. BUT you did give a nice example on how to parallelize your own functions. – Yochai Timmer Jan 15 '11 at 17:46

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 22 '11 at 10:46

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The settings are at:

File>Preferences>General>Multithreading in R2007a or newer

Affected functions are described at:

Which MATLAB functions benefit from multithreading

answered Jan 22 '11 at 10:46

Yochai Timmer

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Matlab multiple cores

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