When I started SETI a few days ago I was sent 7 Astropulse tasks with estimated completion time of 44 hours each.

Now each is showing an elapsed time of 28 hours and remaining estimated time of 18 hours, however the progress is only at 50% complete.

Something doesn't seem to add up. Should I assume the remaining 50% will also take 28 hours not 18 hours. Or is there some reason why the second half of the task will run faster than the first half?

When you first start, you are given an estimate as Seti doesn't have a good idea of how long it would take. The reason being that with all the different set ups of computers there is no way for it to know exactly how long it will take on your machine. So you are given an estimate. After about 10 or 11 work units of each type of work unit, it will have a better idea of how fast your computer will crunch and the estimate time will change appropriately. Since it took 28 hours for the first half, it wouldn't be a huge stretch to say that will take 28 for the remainder. Welcome and

Happy Crunching...

Zalster

When you first start, you are given an estimate as Seti doesn't have a good idea of how long it would take. The reason being that with all the different set ups of computers there is no way for it to know exactly how long it will take on your machine. So you are given an estimate. After about 10 or 11 work units of each type of work unit, it will have a better idea of how fast your computer will crunch and the estimate time will change appropriately. Since it took 28 hours for the first half, it wouldn't be a huge stretch to say that will take 28 for the remainder. Welcome and

Happy Crunching...

Zalster

It is the BOINC client that is doing the time estimate. Since some many projects do not have linear estimates, the client uses a formula that takes into account the original estimate, and the current time and the fraction done. The initial estimate is supposed to improve the more tasks are completed.

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BOINC WIKI

Okay thanks. I see one of my wingmen completing these tasks in about 10 hours so I feel a bit puny LOL.

If you give link we may check if he uses optimized apps

Or you may see by yourself if he uses 'Anonymous platform'
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=1481107605

It is my task in the above link which say:
'AstroPulse v6
Anonymous platform (ATI GPU)'

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

Ah I hadn't heard about optimised apps before. I can see that my wingmen use different apps and one of them is Anonymous but the fastest ones seem to be using 'AstroPulse v6 v6.04 (opencl_nvidia_100)'. What's that?
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=1553105179

I'm using the standard 6.01 version and it seems to be the slowest of them all!

... the fastest ones seem to be using 'AstroPulse v6 v6.04 (opencl_nvidia_100)'. What's that?
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/workunit.php?wuid=1553105179

'opencl_nvidia_100' obviously means it runs on NVIDIA GPU using OpenCL - in this case on GeForce GTX 550 Ti
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/result.php?resultid=3651226890

I don't know why your ATI AMD GPUs still didn't receive any AstroPulse tasks
The best use/effectiveness of ATI GPUs is for OpenCL AstroPulse (probably 1.5 h 'Run time' on your ATI GPU)

Yes, the "standard 6.01 version" (stock CPU application) is the slowest - it uses only FPU, not SSE

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

Thanks. I'm slowly starting to get my head around what all these different applications mean.

I thought the Nvidia reference would mean he is running on his GPU but then I got confused because his CPU time is almost as much as his total runtime.

I'm also confused why I got no AP GPU tasks. I am getting lots of MB GPU stuff.

My Astropulse 6.01 tasks still seem to be on track for about 56 hours total runtime. The estimated time remains stubbornly over-optimistic! :)

I have done some looking into the optimised apps but unsure which option to select. The BOINC log says that my processor supports SSE, SSE2, SSSE3, SSE4.1 and SSE4.2. Is there an obvious best choice or would I need to run benchmark tests to find out?

1) [Subscribe] to this thread (to be notified when new version is posted, optimized applications do not automatically update):
Optimised Applications and Other Binaries
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=71867

2) The last post shows the new Lunatics Windows Installer v0.42 just came out today:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=75391

Screenshots from the installer:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=75391&postid=1555127#1555127

I got confused because his CPU time is almost as much as his total runtime.

The new Windows (> XP) + new drivers (last ~2 years) use much CPU to support ('feed') the GPU, you need a free cores (less CPU tasks run) for GPU to be utilized better

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

Thanks, you've been really helpful!

I notice that Richard says 'the installer will pre-select recommended application versions for your CPU' so I guess I don't need to worry about that!

Cheers

I ran the installer and I think it's got BOINC a bit confused!

I had one Astropulse task when I installed. The estimated time for that AP task shot up to 273 hours. As a consequence I am not being given any new AP tasks, even though my tasks seem to be running faster now.

Is this normal? How long will it take for BOINC to realise its mistake?

I ran the installer and I think it's got BOINC a bit confused!

I had one Astropulse task when I installed. The estimated time for that AP task shot up to 273 hours. As a consequence I am not being given any new AP tasks, even though my tasks seem to be running faster now.

Is this normal? How long will it take for BOINC to realise its mistake?

It can take a while. Each of the tasks will be estimated initially at 73 hours until you have a verified (the correction of the initial estimate now occurs at the server). The current task will have to get a fair portion complete before BOINC realizes the magnitude of the error in its original estimate. If the estimate is high, the time remaining will drop faster than 1 minute to 1 minute...

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BOINC WIKI

Thanks for the reply. I've had a few tasks validated now but new tasks are still arriving with the same hugely inflated time estimates. Any idea how long until the server figures out that the estimates need correcting?

You need to have had 11(?) "average", fault-free tasks astropulse tasks validated to start to get a sensible estimate, currently it looks as if you've only got a couple done so a bit more of a wait I'm afraid.

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

Thanks. Actually I haven't completed any optimized Astropulse tasks yet. I've only now received one new Astropulse task since installing the optimizer (I was running 7 at once before).

Maybe the server doesn't want to send me AP tasks since it thinks I'm too slow now? If that's the case then it's going to be hard to convince it otherwise!

I'll keep crunching and see what happens.[/url]

It is quite likely that your cache is full - it works by seeing how long you take to process a task, and if that total time is "full" then you won't get a pile of new task....

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

Right thanks. I checked my preferences which I've never changed so they were on default settings of keep the computer busy for 0.1 days and for an additional 0.5 days.

I've now tweaked these to
Maintain enough tasks to keep busy for at least (max 10 days) 3 days
... and up to an additional 0.1 days

Then I did an Update and it downloaded more of the same - short tasks, 13k - 77k GFLOPs.

Can you recommend which settings to increase the chance of getting AP tasks?

Can you recommend which settings to increase the chance of getting AP tasks?

SETI@home Enhanced: no
SETI@home v7: no
AstroPulse v6: yes
If no work for selected applications is available, accept work from other applications? yes

SETI@home preferences

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

Thanks I tried that but I don't think it helps.

I'm still not getting many astropulse tasks, just one or two occasionally, sometimes none. If I deselect the 'accept work from other applications' option that doesn't help either, I simply get nothing.

Maybe there simply isn't much astropulse work to give me?

It's just odd because prior to installing the optimised app I was given seven AP tasks simultaneously so I assumed there was lots of AP work to do. Ironically now I can run them much faster I'm hardly getting any.

It does work, but there are only ever a limited number of Astropulse tasks available, and they only appear when a new batch of tapes have been loaded for splitting.

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