Message boards :
Number crunching :
Tips on how to get/keep your box running smooth....
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Pascal, K G Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 2343 Credit: 150,491 RAC: 0 |
********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. |
1202 Program Alarm Send message Joined: 16 Jun 99 Posts: 239 Credit: 19,164,944 RAC: 38 |
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Pascal, K G Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 2343 Credit: 150,491 RAC: 0 |
> > 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. |
Terry Send message Joined: 17 Sep 00 Posts: 153 Credit: 1,805,202 RAC: 0 |
This is also a cool site. |
PT Send message Joined: 19 May 99 Posts: 231 Credit: 902,910 RAC: 0 |
********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 |
Thierry Van Driessche Send message Joined: 20 Aug 02 Posts: 3083 Credit: 150,096 RAC: 0 |
If using broadband, there is a very handy freeware called "TCP Optimizer" from speedguide.net. It can be downloaded from here. |
Captain Avatar Send message Joined: 17 May 99 Posts: 15133 Credit: 529,088 RAC: 0 |
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 |
Paul D. Buck Send message Joined: 19 Jul 00 Posts: 3898 Credit: 1,158,042 RAC: 0 |
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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