I am running several computers crunching SETI WUs using both CPU and GPU. When looking on some of the stats web sites I have noticed that similar CPUs are getting vastly more credit. For example my i7 gets an average of 5.5k credit a day, but thwere are some out there that rercord 20, 30 or even 50k.

The question is how is this done, and what do I need to do to get results like that?

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Simple. You need to crunch on projects that have a higher credit basis than SAH.

Alinator

first thing to do, is keep the computers running 24 hours a day, or at least as much as you can. the computer obviously cant crunch work units when its off, or sleeping.

next, some people like myself overclock computers.

i for example, i have in one of my computers, an e5200 dual core cpu. it runs at 2.5ghz stock, on an 800fsb using 800fsb memory and relatively lax memory timings.i have it overclocked to around 3.35ghz and i am using an fsb of 1300 and pc8500 ddr2 memory with pretty tight timings as far as ddr2 goes. since seti does not record overclocked speeds, my e5200 shows up as running at 2.5ghz on my seti page. however, i assure you it's nowhere near stock speed. :P

another thing you can do is overclock video card. my 9500gt came stock with 800mhz ram. its overclocked to 1600mhz. the video card core is overclocked from 450mhz to 760mhz. the shaders are overclocked from 1250mhz to 1850mhz. this greatly increases cuda speed. again seti does not record overclocked speeds, so my video card shows up as stock like every other one out there.

the last thing to do is run optimized applications. the lunatics unified installer works wonders at bumping up rac. it should at least double the rac of an average computer, if not more.

those are the 4 main things to do for increasing work unit output. there are other minor ways to increase output, but everything else is minimal.

basically,
1. make sure computer runs 24/7
2. overclock cpu
3. overclock video (even if you don't have cuda card, overclocking video will make 3d applications, flash videos, games etc work more smoothly and offload some cpu stress)
4. lunatics optimized applications.

oh yeah, if you dont have a cuda card, consider buying one. they greatly add to the rac. a lot more then a cpu does. if you dont have cuda and wont or cant buy one. then overclock whatever is in there like i said earlier.

i made the list generic, not directed specifically at OP, this way others can use the list to help their rac. i realise OP has cuda card, he said so. also my list is not in any order of importance.

and if you are running a project other than Seti make sure you check to see if they also have optimized apps. several do have opt apps.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

If you look at Richard's account, you will see that he is crunching mostly Seti, with a little Cosmology thrown in. And all of his rigs are sporting at least a modest GPU.

So........
I would first check out the Lunatics auto installer to make sure that they are all running optimized apps.

Make sure the nvidia 2.3 dll's are installed for a big speedup on the GPUs. Some of the rigs may need a GPU driver update to run them.

Turn off HT on the 2 i7 rigs to better feed the Cuda cards.

Play with OCing the CPUs and GPUs if technically comfortable with doing so.

His 2 i7 rigs appear to be underperforming, but as the database feature allowing inquiry of results is turned off right now, it is not possible to check what he is running for apps.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

crunching seti isnt, gawd forbid, the way to get the best bang for the GPU/CPU. Other projects do grant better credit if only temporarily.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

crunching seti isnt, gawd forbid, the way to get the best bang for the GPU/CPU. Other projects do grant better credit if only temporarily.

Nobody said that it was.......
But of course, I would like to help him optimize the Seti work he is already doing.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Agreed, it looks like there should be more to be had out of his rig, even if the hardware is run stock and only crunches SAH.

However, it would be easier to tell how much might be left on the table if they would turn host task detail back on. ;-)

Alinator

Agreed, it looks like there should be more to be had out of his rig, even if the hardware is run stock and only crunches SAH.

However, it would be easier to tell how much might be left on the table if they would turn host task detail back on. ;-)

Alinator

Hopefully before the weekend at least.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Hi, one host, a QX9650 CPU @ 3.4GHz (now), an ASUS X38 MoBo , a 9800GTX+ and a 650Watt PSU.
It does about 10K. In terms off RAC per CPU/hour, it's by far, the fastest of my host's.
Those 2 Q6600 CPU's and a HP LT (T2400 C2D)
OC'ing, the right MoBo, CPU, GPU and a some 'feeling', to build it and tune it.
And NOT to forget, the use of optimized applications availlable HERE

BTW, I'm VERY care with OC'ing an CUDA-Card, cause of failures and faults and other misery.

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@Fred
My 2core AMD5200 with GTS250 is touching 10k too.
It's running almost at stock speed!2700 Mhz.
Of course running Lunatics opt apps!
It is my best producing machine for Seti by far.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=5049263

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You must be already running 24/7 or you wouldn't be asking this, but that i7 920 with the GTX 275 should be capable of at least 13,000 RAC assuming you aren't doing a lot of other things on the machine.

I'm guessing that you aren't using optimized apps. From stock they generally double or more the CPU speed. It won't do much for GPU, but a 275 should do 4500 - 5500 per day and the i7 can do at least 8000.

The other thing you need to run is the latest rescheduler which can move VHARs and VLARs away from the GPU to the CPU since the GPU slows down a lot when running them.

Optimized apps and re-schedulers do require more work on your part, they do not auto update etc so you have to keep them working yourself.

Raz

I'm guessing that you aren't using optimized apps. From stock they generally double or more the CPU speed. It won't do much for GPU, but a 275 should do 4500 - 5500 per day and the i7 can do at least 8000.

I'd say those numbers sound low to me, I have a Q9450 w/a GTX 260 (core 216), the CPU is OC'd but the GPU is running stock speed, and it's getting around 15K RAC. I'd think an i7 with a better GPU could definitely beat that number.
(using optimized apps, of course...)

-Dave

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Keep in mind that with any changes you make, because of the way RAC is calculated combined with the longer deadlines for Work Units, that it will take at least 6 weeks for your RAC to reach it's new general, approximate level.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Back to the title question..........

It's easy.........

Lay all hands down, pay every cent you got for any possible upgrade on the hardware.
And then you tweak it.
Then, you shit yourself silly any time something goes wrong and you can't see whe the rig is not producing optimum output.

Twark again.

Then, you wake up in the middle of the night wondering why the cadence of the cooling fans had changed.......so you get up and remount to frickin' cooller.

Don't know why, you just do it.......

Then you fall back to sleep for a half an hour, and you hear one of the cooling fan bearings in one of your 8 rigs going out.......of course, you always have spares, but that's another hour of sleep undone.

But you tweak again.

And then you get involved with trading PMs with a bloke who just doen't have aclue, even though you wanna help him
and then your almost blind right eye starts to go altogether.....making raading the monitor screen a real blitz.

Tweak again.

And then you hear this bang......and you realize the PSU has gone away in rig number 5.......so that's anoter few hours of sleep......
And then you have to re tweak THAT rig........

Oh....tweak again.

You settle down.........look at the Killawatt on your prize crunching rig.......WTF? It's only drawing 450 watts instead of the usual 600, so you know something's wrong.......reseat, reboot, recheck.......

By now you have lost over 12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour day with 10 hours of work scheduled.

Opps, how long has it been since I last tried to up the OC on rig 2?

Tweak again.

You do the freakin' math. If you can stay awake between reboots.

So.....sometimes I have to laugh or even get sarcastic when somebody asks me how I do it............sometimes it turns to anger.......

But I don't mean a word of it.......you dudes can ask me anything, anytime.

I may have the answers, I may not have a clue.

But I am here.......about 14 painful hours out 24 when I gotta go to work.

Forgive me that........or send me a freaking support check so I can be on your dang beck and call 24/7.....geez.

Tweak again.


Oh, crap........somebody sent me a PM.......LOL

I love you all...really. Would not have it any other way.
And I mean that.

Happy to help......but based up the simple question asked in the thread title......now you have me really laughing silly......

And THAT is priceless.

Mark.......

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

In short;
It's easy.........tweak it.
shit yourself silly....Twark again.
remount frickin' cooller....tweak again.
doesn't have aclue...Tweak again.....re tweak........
Oh....tweak again........WTF?.......reseat, reboot, recheck.......
scheduled Opps, up the OC on rig 2......Tweak again.
do the freakin' math between reboots.
So.....laugh or get sarcastic........turns to anger.......
I not have a clue..go to work........
or send a freaking support check.....geez.
Tweak again...crap........LOL
.....now have me really silly laughing......
And that IS priceless.

Mark.......

How about a coffeebreak?
Don't forget to feed the kitty's....!

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How about a coffeebreak?
Don't forget to feed the kitty's....!

Always have to take time out for the kitties!
When things get too frustrating, taking a break to pet the kitties is a good stress reliever for me, and they love it too.

And sometimes you just gotta walk away from it...
More than once, I have woken up in the middle of the night realizing that a problem I was having was due to something silly that I had forgotten to set correctly.
My sleep habits are terrible sometimes.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Thanks to everyone that has responded to this thread. Big thanks to Msattler and his cats.

Loaded lunatics Auto installer and nVidia's 2.3 dlls like you suggested. This worked well with the i7 and GTX 275 combo increased from 8k to 13k within a couple of days. The i7 GT9800 combo didn't do so well, not that I expected it to, but it didn't make a big difference.

When I installed Lunatica A.I. I was expecting a program that could be launched, or does it just work in the background once installed?

My hard disk fried on the i7 - GTX 275, hope this is just a coincidence. So I am installing a new HDD, and doing this all over again.

I will pluck up the courage to OC my CPU, but not sure how to OC a GPU.

An idiots guide would be good, if your not to busy.

Chers folks.

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When I installed Lunatica A.I. I was expecting a program that could be launched, or does it just work in the background once installed?

The Lunatics Unified Installer (U.I.?) does not come with a "control program" that can be launched. All it does is makes the appropriate app_info.xml file for you based upon the apps you want to install (that's the basic idea anyway).

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I have update 3 computers with Lunatic's U.I. and the nVidia 2.3 DLLs, and the has ben improved performance in all three, some more than others.

However, when I first did this there were a lot of Coputation Errors with the CUDA WUs, then this settled and the remaining CUDA Units were completed in record time, great. But now Berkley will not send new Units for my GPUs on these three machines and does on all the rest.

What has gone wrong, or what am I doing wrong and how do I fix this.

Cheers folks.

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