GPU/CPU Usage

Questions and Answers : GPU applications : GPU/CPU Usage
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Jmarcelo

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Message 1050473 - Posted: 23 Nov 2010, 3:26:02 UTC

Although this is not for SETI@home it still is using the GPU for the PrimeGrid@home so I guess its the same cup of tea. When I use Cpu/Gpu computation it says some thing like: Running(.57CPUs+1.00GPUs. Why the heck am I not using my whole CPU? Am I not looking at it correctly?
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Profile Gundolf Jahn

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Message 1050538 - Posted: 23 Nov 2010, 9:26:36 UTC - in response to Message 1050473.  
Last modified: 23 Nov 2010, 9:27:11 UTC

Yes, you are not. ;-)

Most projects distribute tasks that use either the GPU or the CPU. For such GPU tasks the CPU is only used to feed the GPU.

So, if one project only offers GPU tasks, you need to look for an additional project that has CPU tasks if you don't want your CPU idle.

Gruß,
Gundolf
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Jmarcelo

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Message 1050605 - Posted: 23 Nov 2010, 19:56:13 UTC - in response to Message 1050538.  

Cool.I glad I can do other tasks. I guess ill just use primegrid and rosetta until seti gets back on its feet.
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Message 1050727 - Posted: 24 Nov 2010, 3:57:30 UTC - in response to Message 1050605.  

you may want to try milkyway, collatz and Dnetc which give very good credit from your GPU. Other projects run on the GPU but those 3 give the biggest bang for your buck.


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Tom Sundstrom W2XQ

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Message 1056407 - Posted: 15 Dec 2010, 20:51:58 UTC

A few days ago I noticed breakup on some streaming audio. To make a long story short, I determined that the BOINC manager app thread was the culprit. CPU usage was and continues to bounce every 1-2 seconds between 20 and 60% (I throttle the CPU usage so as not to overheat this laptop) no matter if I am using other apps or all apps are closed (browser, Adobe Photoshop/Acrobat et al) or if I change screensavers. If I suspend BOINC on the laptop CPU, everything returns to normal. I'm running Vista on a 2 MHz 3GB Sony VAIO, all MS updates applied, virus-checked, cleaned registry file, a minimum of temp and cached files and less than 1% fragmented. (I make it a point to keep the PC cleaned up.)

I thought for a while it might be the dataset causing the problem, but there has been an upload (and points credited) and work is being done on a new dataset. A few days ago I also noticed that the SETI@athome screensaver logo and the project changed to Astropulse 505 v5.05 without any action by me.

My question is: has something changed with BOINC in early-to-mid Dec 2010? Is there any solution to the CPU usage oscillation?

Thanks.

Tom W2XQ
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Message 1056418 - Posted: 15 Dec 2010, 21:37:36 UTC - in response to Message 1056407.  

The "CPU usage oscillation" is how CPU throttling works in BOINC. If you want 50%, BOINC runs the CPU for 1 second at 100%, then pauses for 1 second, averaging 50% usage to reduce heat. 25% would be run for 1 second at 100%, pause for 3 seconds. There is no way to change this, but you can look into using TThrottle instead (google it) or you can turn off the CPU throttling function.

I would also like to state that something must be kinda screwy with your system since the science application uses Window's lowest priority process, meaning that all user-related functions take priority. In no way should BOINC ever interfere with the overall performance of the machine unless something is else is wrong.

It may appear that by killing BOINC the problem goes away, but BOINC is a great stress-test to discover problems with the performance of a machine. So if killing BOINC makes it go away, then some other stressful app is also going to show problems as well.
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Message 1056467 - Posted: 16 Dec 2010, 1:01:14 UTC - in response to Message 1056407.  


On the HOME page under ABOUT there are links:
About SETI@home
About Astropulse

At the bottom of this page are the settings to choose which of them to run:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/prefs.php?subset=project

Mind the last setting:
If no work for selected applications is available, accept work from other applications? yes/no


 


- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 
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Tom Sundstrom W2XQ

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Message 1056565 - Posted: 16 Dec 2010, 7:33:01 UTC - in response to Message 1056418.  

Well, while BOINC might be a good stress tester, and I do recognize CPU activity varies, it was the abnormal behavior that attracted my attention. I cannot accept your theory that something is "screwy" with the laptop. I've been working with microcomputers since 1979 or so, including Web site design, leading database and spreadsheet user groups, rehabbing more than 2000 PCs used in State Government and writing for several management publications. Unless my upgrades to Adobe Acrobat X and Photoshop CS5 and Skype affected something, there is little else... certainly no IE8 with Active X, no MS Office or other office apps as I use cloud computing. Being retired, the choice of Websites is pretty much limited to a brokerage site and a handful of research amd newsletter Anyway, it appears this is a no-win discussion as with all the tools in some high-end programs give no indication of anmy performance problems. If the silly usage oscillation continues, I'll have to dig further. But the bottom line is my retirement investments come first; I'm usually am streaming video from a number of financial sources while growing the portfolio at 8x the rate of S&P500. I looked at the BOINC settings again, so let's see what happens. (For some reason the CPU useage is behaving correctly as I type this, and I have CBNC's Far East service running at the same time;
==
Tom
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Message 1056577 - Posted: 16 Dec 2010, 9:18:48 UTC - in response to Message 1056565.  

If the silly usage oscillation continues, I'll have to dig further.

That silly oscillation will continue as long as you throttle the CPU usage (as "So Done" has explained already).

For TThrottle look also at this thread at the BOINC dev boards.

Check also for the "Suspend work if CPU usage is above __%" setting in your Computing preferences.

Gruß,
Gundolf
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Message 1056627 - Posted: 16 Dec 2010, 15:35:40 UTC - in response to Message 1056565.  


Which .exe shows this (big) CPU usage oscillation (in Windows Task Manager)?

It is normal for the science app's .exe CPU usage to fluctuate if you selected:
Use at most 50% of CPU time

As the process runs at low priority you can't "feel" this CPU usage, can you?

OTOH, it's not normal for boinc*.exe to use more than 1-5% CPU if you happen to see this regularly.


 


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Message 1056726 - Posted: 16 Dec 2010, 20:27:27 UTC - in response to Message 1056565.  
Last modified: 16 Dec 2010, 20:46:18 UTC

Well, while BOINC might be a good stress tester, and I do recognize CPU activity varies, it was the abnormal behavior that attracted my attention. I cannot accept your theory that something is "screwy" with the laptop. I've been working with microcomputers since 1979 or so, including Web site design, leading database and spreadsheet user groups, rehabbing more than 2000 PCs used in State Government and writing for several management publications.


I've been working with computers for 20 years, and having been in the industry long enough, I know that many of the techs can miss things easily, especially if it's something they don't know how to troubleshoot - even if they've been in the business since the late 60's.

I'm currently on a team rolling out over 10,000 new machines for a major corporation who is upgrading their entire user-base to Windows 7, and I'm responsible for testing and designing solutions to their existing software base and it's compatibility with the new OS. I am responsible for ensuring that each machine's hard drive is fully encrypted to Government standards because of the amount of sensitive data they handle. The company that is doing this moves more cash in a day than most banks do in week.

What does that all have to do with troubleshooting BOINC? About as much as database and spreadsheet user groups and rehabbing computers for the government: absolutely nothing.

Usually the only reason why people start posting their achievements is because they have become offended thinking that someone just told them they don't know what they're doing. This has nothing to do with your qualifications and everything to do with the fact that I've been supporting BOINC specifically on this web site for 7 years and I know the software well.

If the silly usage oscillation continues, I'll have to dig further.


I've ready explained the oscillation. That is the way the CPU throttling works on BOINC. If you run allow the science app to run at 25%, then BOINC will run the CPU at 100% for 1 second, then pause the program for 3 seconds (0%), so in task manager it will look like your CPU is "oscillating" all over the place. Task Manager will show spikes displaying the CPU being used at 100% for one second, then nothing for 3.

Again, this is BOINC doing it. However, BOINC runs the science app at the lowest priority supported by Windows, making it so that it does not interfere with other programs unless another program is also running at the lowest priority, then the two threads will fight each other and give performance issues. Any higher-priority app will not be affected.

But the bottom line is my retirement investments come first; I'm usually am streaming video from a number of financial sources while growing the portfolio at 8x the rate of S&P500. I looked at the BOINC settings again, so let's see what happens. (For some reason the CPU useage is behaving correctly as I type this, and I have CBNC's Far East service running at the same time;
==
Tom


Absolutely. Your everyday programs should come first. I simply want to help you get to the bottom of this, and having used BOINC for 7 years, I know the program's expected behavior and what it's capable of. If you want help, and you came here for help, that's what I'm attempting to do.

All I can tell you at the start is that the low-priority oscillation does not interfere with other programs. I've used the CPU throttling feature on many machines that are heat-sensitive and it's never caused any performance issues unless there was another low-priority app that was fighting for CPU cycles. All higher-end cycles are not affected.
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Message 1057964 - Posted: 20 Dec 2010, 0:03:54 UTC
Last modified: 20 Dec 2010, 0:06:32 UTC

I would really like this time to say cant we all be friends, lol. Seriously the goverment has more computing power than we can even begin to deal with. Lets all be happy we are all still here and able to talk about it, lol. Seriously, would u like to be in N Korea where all the internet traffic is scanned, and someone show up at your house for a post u made while having to many drinks. Relax everyone, seti is back up and running. And when i say lol, i mean laugh out loud, drop your petty beefs and carry on with real life, its way to short to begin with.

I thought I had better add this, I have no computer expertise what so ever. So if you want to keep scabling about whatever you are scabling about, I wish u both the best. But still life is to short.
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Questions and Answers : GPU applications : GPU/CPU Usage


 
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