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Upwards and Onwards (May 28 2009)
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Andy Williams Send message Joined: 11 May 01 Posts: 187 Credit: 112,464,820 RAC: 0 |
Presently, it really reduces to this: the project default is handing out APs to people that do not want them, when there are not enough for the people that do want them. Backwards. -- Classic 82353 WU / 400979 h |
DJStarfox Send message Joined: 23 May 01 Posts: 1066 Credit: 1,226,053 RAC: 2 |
The active user base going up may be due to the SETI anniversary buzz. Perhaps you should do a count of users with MB vs AP selected? select count(ap), count(mb) from user_preferences where rac >= 0.1 I'm curious just to see what the numbers are. The ratio between the two counts should give you a guideline for how fast each splitter should run. |
Josh C78 Send message Joined: 29 May 09 Posts: 14 Credit: 626 RAC: 0 |
Nice thread I actually learned a lot about *Needs. My concern was my gpu is a bit older, a retail Asus Overclocked Nvidia 8500GT. So i aborted the MB.? And finished my AP, then now work was available so i re-enabled cuda/gpu, and by that time got more ap and 1 MB :) My thoughts to myself are; I have good AP/Processing power, and less MB/Gpu power, so it made sense to do only AP (Am i using/understanding these AP/MB terms correctly?*EDIT can someone explain these to me, here or via pm?thanks). After looking through this thread, it reassured me in my decision of turning MB/gpu back on. I would like to see some more information on GPU posted to a FAQ. Is there much difference between a low end cuda capable GPU vs higher end? (To me the obviouos answers of processing power again weighed heavily on my thoughts.) About users seeing the eta to completion (wether it is my settings or not, unsure). I am finishing tasks in less than half (about 1/3rd) the time of the initial eta to completion. I appreciate feedback :) thanks My Video Card Details: ASUS EN8500GT TOP/HTP/256M GeForce 8500 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Core Clock 600MHz Stream Processors 16 Memory Clock 1400MHz (700MHz DDR3) DirectX 10 (unfortunately DX10 is not available in xp.. *rant) OpenGL 2.0 RAMDAC 400MHz 37% faster than generic GeForce 8500GT Superior Cooling Efficiency - 18°C cooler than reference design boards NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology NVIDIA Quantum Technology [Xp Pro x64 5.2.3790 SP2] [Amd Phenom II X3 720] |
Cosmic_Ocean Send message Joined: 23 Dec 00 Posts: 3027 Credit: 13,516,867 RAC: 13 |
Mark, have you looked at the server status page recently? I don't believe it has much to do with people preferring one application over another. The real reason is that there are approximately 200,000 MBs that can be made out of one tape, and significantly less than that for AP out of the same tape. The feeder queue (what supplies the scheduler with tasks when your client asks for work) has been keeping the queue at 50/50, so less MBs were handed out than optimal. The feeder queue needs to be balanced to approximately the same ratio of MB:AP WUs that can be made from a single tape. Once the B3_P1 issue is behind us, and the data recorder down at Arecibo comes back online, things should start running fairly smoothly, and if you prefer only AP, there shouldn't be any meaningful work shortages. Also perhaps instead of setting all 4 AP splitters to work on one tape, it could be split up like MB is? Linux laptop: record uptime: 1511d 20h 19m (ended due to the power brick giving-up) |
Sutaru Tsureku Send message Joined: 6 Apr 07 Posts: 7105 Credit: 147,663,825 RAC: 5 |
... No? I think there are lot of people out there which crunch AP ONLY because of the 'better' Cr/h. Look to the top_host_list.. if CPU only PCs (or with 'small/less' GPUs).. AP hunter.. ;-) I guess since AP better Cr/h than MB, much people out there disabled MB in their preferences. O.K., it have nothing to do with less AP work than MB creation ratio.. but it's a fact.. :-) If I would be also a AP hunter.. I guess I will have soon ~ 32,000 - 34,000 RAC only with MB.. if my GPUs would be CPUs.. this would mean ~ 70,000 RAC with AP.. But I don't crunch AP because I can't and I don't want.. |
Sutaru Tsureku Send message Joined: 6 Apr 07 Posts: 7105 Credit: 147,663,825 RAC: 5 |
@ Josh C78 Have a look in the NC forum.. http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_forum.php?id=10 There we can talk about crunching speed and so on.. Small answer.. yes.. GTX2xx would give the highest crunching performance. OCed GTX260 Core216 ~ 8,000 RAC. Stock maybe ~ 7,000 RAC. A 98xx would have the half RAC. So, more shader cores and more shader speed.. more power. |
-= Vyper =- Send message Joined: 5 Sep 99 Posts: 1652 Credit: 1,065,191,981 RAC: 2,537 |
For some months ago i thought of the same thing as you are writing now. That new users which want to try out Seti@home gets an AP wu with perhaps their laptop 2ghz core2 and thinks cool, i got a realtively fast machine, i can contribute and then finds out that it would take more than 24 hours to process one and aborts and uninstall seti.. I agree with the people that says that new users should have AP unticked as default because the original app simply takes so long that there is a risk that people gets "bored" of not getting a credit ticker that moves up.. The psycological factor is to high there, and if they manage to get an AP result ready and sends it in they would perhaps also notice that credit doesn't get higher at all perhaps for a week and also gets fed of it because their credit wasn't given "in time".. Many people which are novice doesn't know how this things work, they don't care plunging into forums diging out what and why isn't my credit increasing though i let my computer work for more than a day 24/7.. MB work has a realtively short turnaround (from when you deliver and get awarded) .. Lets start with letting people get their credit ticker roling and when they dig further into our forums they'll discover AP (hey why don't let the server be responsible of knowing when new users first login to the website by displaying a greeting message and then simple guidance of contributing in Astropulse but letting them know that due to the longer WU's it also takes longer until their WU gets validated. And perhaps telling of optimised clients but inform that it requires some dedication and skills.) Well to summarize it.. AP = off for new users .. Let them discover it thorughout the webserver or forums or their options first and let them tick it for themselves. Then we'll see more people that wishes to stay with s@h instead of leaving because of not knowing the technology enough behind it. My 2 cents ppl.. Kind regards Vyper _________________________________________________________________________ Addicted to SETI crunching! Founder of GPU Users Group |
Richard Haselgrove Send message Joined: 4 Jul 99 Posts: 14653 Credit: 200,643,578 RAC: 874 |
.... Don't forget that the first AP task that user will get will be with the stock app (so ~80 hours for that machine), but it will be estimated by BOINC at DCF=1.0, rather than the DCF=~0.4 typical for stock AP. So the estimate in BOINC Manager will say something like 200 hours, deadline 30 days - that's a big committment. Makes your point even more strongly. |
FalconFly Send message Joined: 5 Oct 99 Posts: 394 Credit: 18,053,892 RAC: 0 |
Do I understand correctly that they do have a NTPCKR machine already available ? (I didn't see the mentioned Webcast and it's still posted as required hardware in the Hardware/Case Donation Thread) |
ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20331 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20 |
Do I understand correctly that they do have a NTPCKR machine already available ? ... Ahhh... But more of a question is whether the db can take the extra load... Happy fast crunchin', Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) |
FalconFly Send message Joined: 5 Oct 99 Posts: 394 Credit: 18,053,892 RAC: 0 |
Do I understand correctly that they do have a NTPCKR machine already available ? ... Does "Ahhh..." mean "Yes" ? |
Virtual Boss* Send message Joined: 4 May 08 Posts: 417 Credit: 6,440,287 RAC: 0 |
Does "Ahhh..." mean "Yes" ? IMHO . . . Yes and No Yes: There is apparently a NTPCKR running for testing, but whether it is running on it's proper hardware is unknown. No: The public access page to NTPKR is offline. |
FalconFly Send message Joined: 5 Oct 99 Posts: 394 Credit: 18,053,892 RAC: 0 |
I see from the latest Technical News that intel donated six machines, my best guess is that one will serve as NTPCKR. |
Nicolas Send message Joined: 30 Mar 05 Posts: 161 Credit: 12,985 RAC: 0 |
Perhaps you should do a count of users with MB vs AP selected? Due to non-normalized database layout (user preferences are in a XML blob), it's not that easy to know what users selected what apps. Contribute to the Wiki! |
Nicolas Send message Joined: 30 Mar 05 Posts: 161 Credit: 12,985 RAC: 0 |
Don't forget that the first AP task that user will get will be with the stock app (so ~80 hours for that machine), but it will be estimated by BOINC at DCF=1.0, rather than the DCF=~0.4 typical for stock AP. If stock apps don't have DCF=~1, it means the run time estimate is WRONG, and the admins should fix it. Contribute to the Wiki! |
KWSN THE Holy Hand Grenade! Send message Joined: 20 Dec 05 Posts: 3187 Credit: 57,163,290 RAC: 0 |
Don't forget that the first AP task that user will get will be with the stock app (so ~80 hours for that machine), but it will be estimated by BOINC at DCF=1.0, rather than the DCF=~0.4 typical for stock AP. To be fair, I don't think that DCF has changed since the start of BOINC, when HT P4's were the cutting edge of state-of-the-art. . Hello, from Albany, CA!... |
1mp0£173 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 8423 Credit: 356,897 RAC: 0 |
Don't forget that the first AP task that user will get will be with the stock app (so ~80 hours for that machine), but it will be estimated by BOINC at DCF=1.0, rather than the DCF=~0.4 typical for stock AP. Actually, while I agree that DCF should be around 1.0, there is an advantage: A brand-new computer defaults to 1.0, which means the first work requests will be small, and grow as DCF converges on the right number. |
W-K 666 Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 19075 Credit: 40,757,560 RAC: 67 |
Don't forget that the first AP task that user will get will be with the stock app (so ~80 hours for that machine), but it will be estimated by BOINC at DCF=1.0, rather than the DCF=~0.4 typical for stock AP. Agreed, but with some concern about AP tasks. A new host would see the AP tasks at about 2.5 times the actual time. As the tasks are long to start with this could lead the owner who only wants to do a limited number of hours to assume it is more time than they wish to contribute within the deadline limit. |
1mp0£173 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 8423 Credit: 356,897 RAC: 0 |
I don't have a solution to that, and I can't argue it either. I don't do CPDN because they take so damned long to run. Sometimes I think BOINC is just too informative. |
AlphaLaser Send message Joined: 6 Jul 03 Posts: 262 Credit: 4,430,487 RAC: 0 |
Don't forget that the first AP task that user will get will be with the stock app (so ~80 hours for that machine), but it will be estimated by BOINC at DCF=1.0, rather than the DCF=~0.4 typical for stock AP. I have to agree with Nicolas. Most new users aren't gonna know about the existence of DCF among other things and it is reasonable for them to expect for the initial estimates to be nearly correct from the get-go. For SETI the runtimes are generally predictable ahead of time and in the worse case your tasks end sooner rather than later (-9 overflows and such). Keeping in mind this is a "first impressions" moment, users ought to get intuitive feedback from the client with minimal surprises. Using the DCF to deal with overfetch from new and "untrusted" users sounds like a kludge when we should be thinking about maybe using some other dedicated mechanisms for handling it. |
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