Tips on how to get/keep your box running smooth....

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Pascal, K G
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Message 49580 - Posted: 27 Nov 2004, 20:07:57 UTC
Last modified: 29 Nov 2004, 18:17:46 UTC

********WARNING USE AT YOUR OWN RISK*********
Just a few things you can do to help your boxes run better..
I start here
PCPitstop


This is a longshot but you could try stresstesting your CPU to see if the lockups/crashes are heat related (bad application of thermal paste can cause lockups/crashes even if temp seems ok). Download
Prime95
and run the Torture test for 30 minutes to make sure it can take the heat produced. Before doing this, please read the notes below carefully.

NOTE1: Make sure you MONITOR YOUR CPU TEMPERATURE using a motherboard monitor program while you run Prime95 and make sure you have set the Shutdown temperature to a maximum of 158F in the BIOS before trying this. Prime95 will push your CPU to its limits and make it very hot. Prime95 is a tool used by many hardware enthusiasts and overclockers to verify that their systems are stable (CPU and RAM)

NOTE2: If you don't feel comfortable doing this or know how to change things in the BIOS settings, DON'T TRY IT (goes for everybody).

If you find that Prime95 outputs an error while testing or hangs your computer and you don't want to reapply thermal paste (can be troublesome and difficult if you're not used to doing it), you can try underclocking your CPU. This means running it at a lower clock speed than intended and is safe to do.
Underclocking will make the CPU run cooler and may solve instability issues. To do this you have to change some settings in the BIOS. I won't go further into that unless you have tried Prime95 and found instabilities with it


If you have concerns about the 100% performance of your system's memory, you can download and run memtest86. You may want to run a thorough test over night and check in the morning.
memtest86


For best performance please update your video drivers from the manufacturers web site.

Video Cards

Nvidia:

WinXP/2000


Win98ME/98



ATI:


WinXP


Win2000


WinME/98



When you install Windows Service Pack 2, a large number of the chipset specific motherboard drivers are overwritten with Microsoft's own generic (non chipset specific) drivers. you should go to the site for your chipset and reinstall those drivers.
Motherboard Drivers

Nvidia Chipsets



WinXP


Win2000


Win98se



Via Chipsets



WinXP


Win2000


WinMe


Win98se



If you have a motherboard with an Intel chipset, and don't know which one, you can go here first and download the chipset identification utility:

Intel



Once you have identified it, or if you already know which one is in your computer, you can go here to download the proper INF utility.

Intel

As far as BOINC I upgrade to the newest CC as soon as I hear about it......
Procedure I use is to:
1. Suspend BOINC
2. Exit BOINC
3.Unistall old verison, which leaves all the files in the BOINC folder.
4. Re-install new ver of BOINC.....
5.Start crunching.


Prefernces are set to the following:

Do work while computer is running on batteries? (matters only for portable computers) no
Do work while computer is in use? yes
Do work only between the hours of (no restriction)
Leave applications in memory while preempted? (suspended applications will consume swap space if 'yes') yes
Switch between applications every (recommended: 60 minutes) 60 minutes
Confirm before connecting to Internet? (matters only if you use a modem) no
Disconnect when done? (matters only if you use a modem) no
Connect to network about every 1 days
On multiprocessors, use at most 2 processors
Write to disk at most every 1200 seconds
Limits on disk space and memory used by BOINC:
Use no more than 2 GB
Leave at least 0.01 GB
Use no more than 80% of total space
Use no more than 80% of total virtual memory
Limits on network bandwidth used by BOINC:
Maximum download rate: no limit
Maximum upload rate: no limit


*****************************************************




Semper Eadem
So long Paul, it has been a hell of a ride.

Park your ego's, fire up the computers, Science YES, Credits No.
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Profile 1202 Program Alarm
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Message 49584 - Posted: 27 Nov 2004, 20:20:51 UTC

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Pascal, K G
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Message 49587 - Posted: 27 Nov 2004, 20:52:05 UTC - in response to Message 49584.  

>
> Tweak your XP SP2 PC
> for maximum performance

>
>
>
> BOINC.org.uk
> Visit Seti.org.uk
> SETI News Mailing List
> S@h
> Berkeley's Staff Friends Club ©

>
>

Excellent site, BV is cool and understands Windows....
Semper Eadem
So long Paul, it has been a hell of a ride.

Park your ego's, fire up the computers, Science YES, Credits No.
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Terry
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Message 49591 - Posted: 27 Nov 2004, 21:14:39 UTC

This is also a cool site.
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Message 49628 - Posted: 28 Nov 2004, 2:01:16 UTC - in response to Message 49580.  

********WARNING USE AT YOUR OWN RISK*********
This is a very interesting post! :-)

Take a look at:
http://www.pureperformance.com/
http://www.tweakxp.com/


Pls read following articles:
********WARNING USE AT YOUR OWN RISK*********
http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1497
http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=157
http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=158
********WARNING USE AT YOUR OWN RISK*********


Happy crunching


Happy crunching
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Profile Thierry Van Driessche
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Message 49696 - Posted: 28 Nov 2004, 13:55:32 UTC
Last modified: 28 Nov 2004, 13:55:52 UTC

If using broadband, there is a very handy freeware called "TCP Optimizer" from speedguide.net.

It can be downloaded from here.
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Profile Captain Avatar
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Message 52258 - Posted: 8 Dec 2004, 20:23:13 UTC - in response to Message 49580.  
Last modified: 8 Dec 2004, 20:27:07 UTC

Hi all.

Must say your sig's look rather nice. Maybe some of you could tell how one can make there own personal sig. tips & tricks link's would be nice :-)

Regards Laryea

See Custom Sigs
http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah/forum_thread.php?id=6925




This thread needs some updating For new Tips and Tricks as
suggested from other thread,

Timmy

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Profile Paul D. Buck
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Message 52470 - Posted: 9 Dec 2004, 20:06:54 UTC

Anyoldmouse,

Can you send (e-mail: p.d.buck@comcast.net) me the source for your post?

I will add it to my FAQ's ...

Thanks!
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Message boards : Number crunching : Tips on how to get/keep your box running smooth....


 
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