I'm a newb to SETI@HOME, running the BOINC on my i7 950 CPU overclocked to 4.2Ghz. It seemed to me that CPU crunching brings very low PPD. It runs almost 24 hours in a day but highest PPD i got was 800. Maybe it's because i've just started, maybe it'll get higher just like Fold@Home but i doubt it gets any higher than this.

My current GPU is 6870 so using it is out of question.

My question is. How much difference is there between an i7 950 and i7 2600K in terms of PPD. I know 2600K clocks higher like 4.5 - 4.8Ghz but i'm not talking about that. When they are at same clocks speeds which one is faster? Do architectural differences make 2600K better chice than 950 in terms of PPD?

Another question i'd like to ask is how does GPU computing compare to CPU computing. How fast is a GTX 580 in SETI@@HOME? Twice more PPD than i7 950? Four times? :D

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You won't get anywhere near your top RAC in just a week, it takes a couple of months before that will happen (you should be a great deal higher by then).

BTW are you running 4 work units at a time or 8 (hyperthreading off or on), or do you have any other power saving options turned on?

Cheers.

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You won't get anywhere near your top RAC in just a week, it takes a couple of months before that will happen (you should be a great deal higher by then).

BTW are you running 4 work units at a time or 8 (hyperthreading off or on), or do you have any other power saving options turned on?

Cheers.

I have enabled Dynamic Vcore in the bios. EIST, C1,C2 states are enabled as well. So when the CPU is idle, the clock speed and Vcore drops to a minimum level. HT is enabled so i have 8 threads.

In the control panel, under the Power options "High performance" is enabled. So i'm pretty sure BOINC uses all available CPU resources.

You guys use the term "RAC". What does it mean? II guess it's equal to PPD (points per day). I'm a long time Fold@Home user and we call it PPD.

So you're basically saying the longer i run SETI@HOME the higher my "RAC" gets?

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i7-950 at 4.2 GHz can give u, roughly, 9-12K RAC(recent average credit, yes, per day) if u install optimized clients. To reach this level, u need to run SETI for some time, lets say a month, to level up your RAC. Thats bcs tasks need to be validated, which can take some time - until your wingman(second host receives same task and has to calculate it, for comparison) finishes given task too. Until then your task waits and you won't get any credit for it, its in pending state and the credits for it dont add up to your RAC yet.

Your 6870 can crunch SETI, there is ATI applications. Browse forums to find out how to run SETI on it.
Optimized clients for CPU and NVIDIA GPU for your operating system can be found here.

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i7-950 at 4.2 GHz can give u, roughly, 9-12K RAC(recent average credit, yes, per day). To reach this level, u need to run SETI for some time, lets say a month, to level up your RAC. Thats bcs tasks need to be validated, which can take some time - until your wingman(second host receives same task and has to calculate it, for comparison) finishes given task too. Until then your task waits and you won't get any credit for it, its in pending state.

Your 6870 can crunch SETI. Browse forums to find out how to run SETI on it.

OK thanks.

When you said Wingman it reminds me of Howard Wolowitz from the Big Bang Theory lol. He used to call Raj his "wingman" when they went to bars to grab chicks.

Anybody can answer my question about GTX 580 and i7 2600K performance compared to i7 950 please?

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580 can do 2+ times more RAC than your 950(i mean your, bcs it is overclocked and with HT on).
I edited my previous post, read last paragraph.
Ah, yes. 2600K is around 10-15% faster than 950 with same clock speed and lot less power hungry.

And u reminded me about Orhan Pamuk, who I met here in Sofia occasionally, two-three weeks ago :)

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580 can do 2+ times more RAC than your 950(i mean your, bcs it is overclocked and with HT on).
I edited my previous post, read last paragraph.
Ah, yes. 2600K is around 10-15% faster than 950 with same clock speed and lot less power hungry.

And u reminded me about Orhan Pamuk, who I met here in Sofia occasionally, two-three weeks ago :)

Setting up ATI GPU client for SETI@HOME is so hard. :/

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Setting up ATI GPU client for SETI@HOME is so hard. :/

Hey, I managed to do it for quad HD 5550s, it can't be that hard. The only tricky part is editing your app_info.xml, and I managed to do that OK. So there's hope!

Be not faint of heart. Just be careful!

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You guys use the term "RAC". What does it mean? II guess it's equal to PPD (points per day). I'm a long time Fold@Home user and we call it PPD.

So you're basically saying the longer i run SETI@HOME the higher my "RAC" gets?

RAC is "Recent Average Credit". Its a long term rolling average. It should smooth out the daily lumps and bumps to give a fairly constant value after a couple of months. Even after that long most people find, provided their crunching habits, or the hardware, or the software, don't change there are variations of +/-10% due to the data being processed - sometimes there are batches the "pay" better/worse than average, this is normal behaviour so don't worry about it too much.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

580 can do 2+ times more RAC than your 950(i mean your, bcs it is overclocked and with HT on).
I edited my previous post, read last paragraph.
Ah, yes. 2600K is around 10-15% faster than 950 with same clock speed and lot less power hungry.

And u reminded me about Orhan Pamuk, who I met here in Sofia occasionally, two-three weeks ago :)

Setting up ATI GPU client for SETI@HOME is so hard. :/

Next Lunatics installer release will include ATI apps, so you won't have to manually edit app_info and take care of file downloads and locations but just tick a few boxes for a basic running setup. [unless I horribly mess up on the master version of app_info]

ATI apps will still have the option of tweaking cmdline parameters.

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Carola
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I'm multilingual - I can misunderstand people in several languages!

580 can do 2+ times more RAC than your 950(i mean your, bcs it is overclocked and with HT on).
I edited my previous post, read last paragraph.
Ah, yes. 2600K is around 10-15% faster than 950 with same clock speed and lot less power hungry.

And u reminded me about Orhan Pamuk, who I met here in Sofia occasionally, two-three weeks ago :)

Setting up ATI GPU client for SETI@HOME is so hard. :/

Next Lunatics installer release will include ATI apps, so you won't have to manually edit app_info and take care of file downloads and locations but just tick a few boxes for a basic running setup. [unless I horribly mess up on the master version of app_info]

ATI apps will still have the option of tweaking cmdline parameters.

I would love to use my GPU for seti@home , I have ATI HD4670 Video card , 1 gig DDR3 ram.
What would I have to do when the New Version of "Lunatics installer release"
Comes out ? I don't even Know what that is ( I'm Really NEWBIE Here ... 8-) )

Lunatics are our Primo, number one optimizers. They have done some fantastic things for us. Their installer package is a simple easy way to optimize your rig for SETI. It asks you a few simple questions and then installs exactly what your machine needs to run at it's best. Unfortunately, the latest public installer, v0.37 is only for Nvidia GPUs. ATI GPUs can be set up by modifying the app_info file the installer puts on your system but it takes a bit of work. There are a number of threads here in number crunching that explain what has to be done but if you ask I'm sure someone with an ATI card will be happy to explain it to you.


PS: if you don't feel up to making the changes just wait a little while for the new installer. It should have everything needed for your ATI card and will be simple to install.

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PROUD MEMBER OF Team Starfire World BOINC

Since you are using AMD CPU you could easily run my appinfo.xml.

You only have to copy needed files to your boinc data directory.

If you are interested let me know.

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.