Powermac G4 1.25Ghz dual MDD too slow for this?

Matevz Markovic
Matevz Markovic
Joined: 4 Feb 11
Posts: 9
Credit: 1664147
RAC: 0
Topic 195625

Hy!

Along with the PrimeGrid project I joined your project too. The problem is, that since the einstein application started, some 20 minutes ago, only 0,2% has been completed, while both primegrid applications are stuck under 5% after 8 hours of work.
I am worried, that I am not going to complete everything by deadline...
The deadline for primegrid is 11th of february, while for einstein it is 18th of february.

The thing is, I tried to optimize the preferences as much as possible. I checked the My computer will be up 24/7, just for those two projects, but it seems that it is too slow.

When I checked the "common questions" web page here on einstein, and I tried to minimize workload for my computer.
What bothers me is that when I open the activity monitor app, I see that both cpus are almost 100% utilized, but 85% of time is spent nice-ing the processes. When I was computing gaussian integers on my own, with my C application, I got almost 99% user and <1% nice, while now it is 10% user, 85%nice, 5% system.

Please help! I really want to participate!

p.s. my configuration: OS X 10.4.11 server, 2 x 1.25Ghz PowerPC G4, 512MB ram, 1024/256 ADSL internet.

mikey
mikey
Joined: 22 Jan 05
Posts: 12512
Credit: 1838556393
RAC: 3651

Powermac G4 1.25Ghz dual MDD too slow for this?

Quote:

Hy!

Along with the PrimeGrid project I joined your project too. The problem is, that since the einstein application started, some 20 minutes ago, only 0,2% has been completed, while both primegrid applications are stuck under 5% after 8 hours of work.
I am worried, that I am not going to complete everything by deadline...
The deadline for primegrid is 11th of february, while for einstein it is 18th of february.

The thing is, I tried to optimize the preferences as much as possible. I checked the My computer will be up 24/7, just for those two projects, but it seems that it is too slow.

When I checked the "common questions" web page here on einstein, and I tried to minimize workload for my computer.
What bothers me is that when I open the activity monitor app, I see that both cpus are almost 100% utilized, but 85% of time is spent nice-ing the processes. When I was computing gaussian integers on my own, with my C application, I got almost 99% user and <1% nice, while now it is 10% user, 85%nice, 5% system.

Please help! I really want to participate!

p.s. my configuration: OS X 10.4.11 server, 2 x 1.25Ghz PowerPC G4, 512MB ram, 1024/256 ADSL internet.

A major problem is your amount of ram, at only 512mb you are swapping to the hard drive all the time, and we all know the hard drive is painfully slower than ram. If you could upgrade the ram to say 2gb you would see a dramatic improvement in your ability to contribute. Now at 1.25ghz speed you will not be the fastest, but it should be adequate.

Matevz Markovic
Matevz Markovic
Joined: 4 Feb 11
Posts: 9
Credit: 1664147
RAC: 0

The thing is, I have a spare

The thing is, I have a spare PC with 1.5GB RAM. If I could swap 1GB into my PowerMac, would that be sufficient? Powermac uses PC-2700, while my PC has PC-3200. Would that be a problem? I know that PC-3200 will slow itself down to PC-2700, but are there any other consciences?

I am thinking somewhat along this lines - if I leave my Powermac with 512MB of RAM, and use it just for the Einstein@home, while at the same time I use my PC with 1.5GB ram for Einstein@home / PrimeGrid, would that be OK?

That would leave me with one spare CPU in the Powermac for CPU-intensive calculations, while at the same time I would not have to swap memories between computers. 512MB was enough for me, while my PC with 1.5GB ram was idle.

Matevz Markovic
Matevz Markovic
Joined: 4 Feb 11
Posts: 9
Credit: 1664147
RAC: 0

Well, I will stick at least

Well, I will stick at least another 512MB in my powermac. Then I will look for another 1GB, so that I will max RAM to 2GB. That should be more than enough.

mikey
mikey
Joined: 22 Jan 05
Posts: 12512
Credit: 1838556393
RAC: 3651

RE: Well, I will stick at

Quote:
Well, I will stick at least another 512MB in my powermac. Then I will look for another 1GB, so that I will max RAM to 2GB. That should be more than enough.

That is the best idea yet.

TJ
TJ
Joined: 11 Feb 05
Posts: 178
Credit: 21041858
RAC: 0

RE: you are swapping to the

Quote:
you are swapping to the hard drive all the time, and we all know the hard drive is painfully slower than ram.

Unless the harddisk is an SSD.

Greetings from
TJ

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