Argh! This is impossible for my spare cycles!
21 Jul 2006 11:45:21 UTC
Topic 191600
(moderation:
I really do not have time to read through a maze of threads -- but from what little I gather there are big problems with the S5 units.
In my case, over two weeks ago I was assigned one of those LONG units, one which I estimate takes more than double the time of previous ones; I've just simply aborted, since I'm already over two days overdue. Oh, BOINC reports that these units would take nearly 30 hours to complete, but the actual progress indicates half of that -- this is irrelevant, since I cannot spare the very HOT cycles for the time being -- and as I complain below.
A small explanation:
Some months ago, my machine had been crunching one unit per day or so, and later about 1.5 per day. But then again came HOT weather, and I've been trying to keep my processor cool since I have bad air conditioning, and my processor is not top of the line (Athlon XP 1800) and I also need it to do OTHER stuff!
So, my throughput suffered, and it suffered badly in the last couple of months. At first I could only run a result in three or four days, then a week, then ten or 12 days...
Suddenly though, I am assigned a large S5 unit, which is impossible for me to finish in two weeks given my usage of the CPU and the HOT weather and now I am forced to abort -- only to get an equally large slice of a WU in return!
I am sorry, I don't have time to sift through a ton of information, I just need to be assigned smaller units -- much smaller units. And NO, I haven't tweaked with anything, I just run what einstein@home sends, with whatever application it sends to do the job -- i.e. I do not touch BOINC at all. My client is 5.2.13 in case this helps.
Hopefully this is the correct forum...
Argh! This is impossible for my spare cycles!
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Hi,
I don't think i can answer your question, but i can tell you something about the temperature of your processor. Although it's quite hot lately, your processor should be able to deal with it. In my room it is about 30 degrees celcius, and my processor (Athlon 64 x2 4800) is about 60 degrees celcius when using 100%. This might seem hot, but it's treshold lies at 100 degrees.
Maybe you can try using a motherboard monitor to check your processors temperature. But i wouldn't worry about it.
Happy crunching!!
I wouldn't dream of letting
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I wouldn't dream of letting my CPU get to 100ºC. If it gets above 50ºC I start worrying; above 60 and I’m yanking the plug. I thought Athlon 64s max temp were anywhere from 59ºC to 70ºC, where have you read 100?
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. - Richard Feynman
@Beta: actually it's more
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@Beta: actually it's more like 72°C for an Athlon 64. The Athlon XP had the threshold temp a bit higher, I think it was almost 80°C.
@Gilardo: you may want to do some simple steps to improve your computers cooling. First, you could clean your CPU cooler from dust. but be careful with the mounting, if you don't have experience with this. Then you might want to add a case fan, if your case features a mounting point. They don't cost much, you just have to make sure it's the right size (80mm, 92mm or newer: 120mm) and that it doesn't spin too high (too noisy). With that you could easily get 10°C lower CPU temps and you should be back to normal levels.
I think einstein implemented a scheme to send short WUs to weak hosts. I'm not sure why it doesn't kick in for your PC - your CPU is definitely not weak, but BOINC should realize that it doesn't get much CPU time ( and in the client_state.xml).
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
@ExtraTerrestialApes: You are
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@ExtraTerrestialApes: You are right. I just checked my settings on the motherboard and probe. My processors threshold is at 72/78 degrees.
I made a mistake when i mentioned the 100 degrees threshold. This is the threshold from my videocard. When it reaches it, its slows down by 50%.
My apologies for the mistake ..
Thanks for the
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Thanks for the replies.
Oh, and lest I forget, the application BOINC is running for these large WUs is einstein_S5R1 4.02 .
My motherboard is an ASUS A7N266-VM; one of the software goodies it came with is ASUS Probe which let's me monitor my system -- that's how I know the temperature of my CPU. Also, every now and again I (gently) blow away some of the dust from the CPU cooler. I could let the CPU run hotter when it processes an intensive application, but I would still prefer it to be less than 60 C -- I've been letting it run no hotter than 55 C, but then I may be a bit paranoid about it.
Still, the main problem has been that the number of hours when I can let my CPU go has been reduced from essentially all day in winter, to around 8 hours per day now that it's summer (currently I am in El Paso, TX, for anybody familiar with the weather here). Part of the problem is the room where I have the computer currently, which is one of the warmest in the house (in summer, in winter it's one of the coldest), but I have no choice in the matter -- I can't move my computer elsewhere for now.
OK, so the number of hours I can push my CPU is limited for now, but the other half of the problem is that recently I have been running some video and audio processing applications -- and these are very CPU intensive. This really leaves even less time for einstein@home.
OK, I'll allow my CPU run hotter, but I will probably pull the plug on anything close to 60 C -- I can't afford to buy another computer for the time, so I want to extend my CPU's lifetime as much as possible.
You might want to consider
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You might want to consider switching to a project with shorter WUs until it cools off this fall.
You can even try BoincStudio
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You can even try BoincStudio as your core client, there’s a good Tutorial on installing it here. It allows you to set the maximum CPU usage for your computer, so you can set it to 50% during the day when it’s hot, and 100% at night when it cools off.
You can also think about getting a better heatsink, a good one with a 120mm fan can drop your load temperatures up to 10ºC.
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. - Richard Feynman
I agree with Dan: the easiest
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I agree with Dan: the easiest way to get around this problem would be to add a second project. Then you can set Einstein to "no new work" until you can run it again. You might want to take a look a predictor, they have fairly short WUs, or at Rosetta where you can specify yourself, how long your PC should work on one WU.
Although they currently have a one week deadline because of the CASP 7 competition.
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002