Statistical question?

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Message 1586989 - Posted: 15 Oct 2014, 6:03:13 UTC
Last modified: 15 Oct 2014, 6:46:05 UTC

I have been browsing the stats especially in regard to the average credit for various rigs. I think that my rig specs are fairly good but my average credit is pathetic. I have been trying to run 24/7 but late at night I have caught my computer having a "nap". Not power computer power settings and not BOINC computer Computing Preferences, which I have checked and double checked.

The BOINC Manager screen simply says "processing suspended" or similar. I click the mouse any where, just once and away it goes again.

So my question is ... do I have a computer setup or hardware problem that can be solved? Or am I just confused? If so I plead "old age". My internet connection speed is >16mbs.
Cheers, Mac
Perth WA
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Message 1587032 - Posted: 15 Oct 2014, 8:01:40 UTC - in response to Message 1586989.  

Couple of things to try. If these are not computers that you use all the time and they only do Seti, then you could change under the activity tab to "run always" and "Use GPU always" that way it is always working. Next check your power setting on your system. type power in search, go change power saving options. It will probably show you 2 settings. To the bottom of this page, there is a show additional plans, click on that. Select High Performance. Lastly, you have to change your setting for your hard drive (if you have a HD as opposed to SSD) The computer will attempt to put the hard drive to sleep when it notices no activity by the user. When you are in the setting for High Performance, click change settings for the plan:High Performance. It should bring up another page, click on change advanced power settings. Another pop should appear. Click the + next to hard disk. Click +Turn off hard disk after. move setting to never (it is before the value of 1) click ok. Save all your settings. It should now be high performance without going to sleep. You should also check your setting for the screen saver if you use that. I have mine set to never blank my screen but my computers are hooked up to a TV and I just turn off the TV when I"m not looking at it. Keeps it from freezing when switching between running task and running the screensaver. Hope this helps.


Happy Crunching....


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Message 1587051 - Posted: 15 Oct 2014, 9:09:09 UTC - in response to Message 1587032.  

Many thanks Zalster,

I do have an SSD for the C:\ but switched to "High Performance" and told the rig to stay awake all the time. This has been worse than sitting up with a sick baby. LOL Perhaps I will get a good nights sleep tonight. Oh the trials we all endure for the elusive ETI. I hope it appreciates our efforts.
Cheers, Mac
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Message 1587075 - Posted: 15 Oct 2014, 9:57:40 UTC - in response to Message 1587051.  

You have a setting enabled in your preferences that reads:

"Suspend work if no mouse/keyboard activity in last X"

Where X is the number of minutes BOINC will watch for keyboard/mouse activity, and if there is none, it will turn off all computing. This is preferred for people who want to make sure they are not crunching when their computer goes into standby. Before this option was available, when the OS would put the computer into standby, it would corrupt the current workunit(s) progress and cause a lot of errors.

If you don't use standby and wish to leave your computer crunching, change this option to blank to remove the setting and BOINC will not suspend crunching after X minutes of inactivity.
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Message 1587090 - Posted: 15 Oct 2014, 10:52:49 UTC - in response to Message 1587032.  

Zalster, please try to use paragraphs and other forms of making the text more readable.
(I don't know for other people but I refuse to read more than 3 lines of 'raw' text - too hard to follow, I become nervous/uncomfortable)
 


- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 
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Message 1587599 - Posted: 16 Oct 2014, 4:00:12 UTC - in response to Message 1587075.  

I have not been able to find this setting. I followed the track Tools --> Computing Preferences --> Processor Usage. I have both "While computer is in use" and "Use GPU while computer is in use" checked. My BIONC version is 7.4.42 (x64)

But having said that, I think Zalster pinged it as my "crunching" did not appear to pause last night. This may be reflected by a jump in credits this morning albeit only to a very low number, <10,000.

Many thanks also for your help.
Cheers, Mac
Perth WA
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Message 1587618 - Posted: 16 Oct 2014, 5:14:16 UTC - in response to Message 1587599.  

Arismac,

Glad to hear that it did well overnight. The next thing I would suggest if you want a higher RAC is installation of Lunatics. I have both 780s and 750s in my machines and found a good increase in RAC with lunatics. For your systems with 750 and 780, you should choose the cuda 50s.

When you feel more adventurous, you can look to run more than 1 AP or Multibeam per graphic card. For the 780 I run 3 APs or 3 MBs per GPU. For the 750, I run 2 APs or 2 MB per GPU. That should give you a good bump in RAC, along with louder fan noise and heat generated, lol.

I hope you are using Precision X or so other app to monitor and regulate temperatures on those cards. If you need help, let us know.


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Message 1587839 - Posted: 16 Oct 2014, 16:18:07 UTC - in response to Message 1587599.  
Last modified: 16 Oct 2014, 16:19:19 UTC

 
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Preferences#Processor_usage

Suspend work if no mouse/keyboard activity in last X Minutes
          Allows the computer to enter sleep/standby/hibernation mode. (Note 1)
NB: This option only exists on the Website Device Profiles / Computing Preferences

Computing preferences

 
 


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Message 1588242 - Posted: 17 Oct 2014, 10:45:01 UTC - in response to Message 1587618.  
Last modified: 17 Oct 2014, 10:46:23 UTC

Zalster, I am sad to say, that at this moment, all I have learned is how little I know. All I have ever done is download BOINC, hooked myself up with a Seti Team (PEST) and sat back and hoped that I might find ETI.

Is there a "book" out there titled "Seti for Great Big Dummies"? I need a copy.

I am very ready to learn, so if you can point me towards a knowledge base concerning "Lunatics" for a start that would be great.
Cheers, Mac
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Message 1588289 - Posted: 17 Oct 2014, 13:31:07 UTC - in response to Message 1588242.  

... knowledge base concerning "Lunatics" for a start ...

Lunatics Windows Installer v0.43 Release Notes
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=75863&postid=1586215#1586215

More general (where the news are first posted):
Optimised Applications and Other Binaries
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=71867
 


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Message 1588292 - Posted: 17 Oct 2014, 13:57:24 UTC - in response to Message 1588242.  

Arismac,

It's ok. It took me several months of reading a lot of threads to figure out that running stock was ok, but if I wanted to maximize my machine I needed the optimized applications. Now, you don't need to use them, but it helps.

The guys that write the lunatics also contribute to the standard applications here at Seti. I would point you to Number Crunching thread to read through some of those threads (postings). That area gets higher volume of users reading and answering questions. Dealing with a variety of questions on optimizing your computer or questions on problems.

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_forum.php?id=10

Once you feel comfortable with the subject then you can look at adding Lunatics. I looked at it for 4 months before I felt comfortable with adding it.

I needed to learn what kind of operating system was I using. 32 bit or 64 bit. What kind of computer chip I had. Did it have Hyperthreading on it or not. Was it an AVX chip? What kind of Graphic cards did I have.

The first time I installed Lunatics, it confused the heck out of me. So much so I removed it. After more reading I gave it a try again and understood better what I needed to do.

You need to decide, are you going to use both the CPU and Graphic Cards (GPU) for crunching? You currently do.

When you install Lunatics, each "page" has different options for installation. The first is do you want to crunch multibeams (MB also called setiathome v7) and/or Astropulses (AP) on the CPU.

Next, do you want to crunch MB and/or APs on your GPU. Again I would say yes.

So as you go through each page you click options on those pages. First page is using the CPU to crunch astopulses. You have to tell it that you do want to crunch Astropulses. Next is deciding what versions of Astropulses (the program defaults to a specific type so if you aren't sure let it decide on which one)

The next page deals with ATI graphic cards, you can just push next and move on to the Nvidia graphic cards.

After the ATI graphic card page is the Nvidia Graphic cards. Make sure that the Astropulse button is click. Next is selecting which cuda version. You should click the cuda 50, it defaults to cuda 32 so you need to change that.

After that it is just letting it finish the installation. After it finishes and restarts, your time to completion of task are going to be WAY off but those will come down to normal after sometime.

This last part is the hardest if you have never done any modifying of the programs before. I usually tell people to skip this part if you are not familiar with doing it. It allows you to run more than 1 task per GPU. I would recommend just letting Lunatics run for a few weeks and see how much it improves your RAC. Then we can talk about adding either a app_config or modifying the app_info files. That is what I did until I understood more about what those did and how to modify them.

Once you feel comfortable with all the above then you can look to download the installer from here

http://lunatics.kwsn.net/index.php?module=Downloads;catd=9

I know the temptation to download right away but I would suggest reviewing all the above first before jumping headlong into the lunatics installer. If you have questions, just ask.


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Message 1588482 - Posted: 17 Oct 2014, 21:01:34 UTC - in response to Message 1588292.  

When you install Lunatics, each "page" has different options for installation.

Here are the screenshots I made from the previous installer:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=75391&postid=1555127#1555127
 


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Message 1588530 - Posted: 17 Oct 2014, 23:40:05 UTC - in response to Message 1588292.  

Arismac,

I know the temptation to download right away but I would suggest reviewing all the above first before jumping headlong into the lunatics installer. If you have questions, just ask.

Zalster


Thank you heaps for all your advice. I will resist temptation and spend a few days studying before attempting to install. Also thank you to both my "mentors" here for the links. Again I shall take the time to study.

I will report back, probably with questions ...
Cheers, Mac
Perth WA
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Message 1588627 - Posted: 18 Oct 2014, 8:10:14 UTC - in response to Message 1588530.  
Last modified: 18 Oct 2014, 8:14:35 UTC

I will resist temptation and spend a few days studying before attempting to install.

The install is only committed on the 'last' page (when it asks for directory - defaults to the right place but you may change it to some 'test' directory)
No changes to BOINC/SETI@home are made before that (so you may exit it early safely)
http://prikachi.com/images/819/7531819a.png
 


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