So long seti. I can't crunch numbers anymore. You slow my computer down to much.

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SETI is only a program that runs intense calculations on your CPU. It is a great stress-tester to show the weaknesses in your hardware. Any program that does that same will also slow down your computer if your system is having issues.

Technically, SETI runs at the lowest priority supported by the OS so that other tasks get CPU time over SETI.

There are lots of scenarios that could give someone the conclusion that SETI is causing slow-downs.


- Running CUDA will cause graphics performance issues in games and in Windows Vista/7's Aero interface.

- Dust build-up in your case can prevent heat from being dissipated from your case, causing temperatures to rise and kicking in the CPU's thermal protection.

- High ambient temperature in the room can have the same affect as above.

- Other processes running at low priority can cause conflicts with SETI, such as using the Windows Media Streaming feature.

- A failing piece of hardware such as RAM or the Power Supply Unit (PSU).

- Recently I have found that if you run SETI on Windows XP and do not reboot for several days, Windows XP slows to a crawl (the issue is caused by a slow memory leak in XP).


A well designed, well managed, and well kept system will not show signs of performance degradation. I have run SETI on well over 30+ computers varying in specs from an old Pentium Classic up to an AMD Phenom II X4 1100T without issue.

Please ask yourself before you leave, if everyone else is able to run SETI without the issues I'm having, what are the differentials between their system and mine? If you care enough to find the answer, I'm sure you'll find that it can be fixed.

SETI is only a program that runs intense calculations on your CPU. It is a great stress-tester to show the weaknesses in your hardware. Any program that does that same will also slow down your computer if your system is having issues.

Technically, SETI runs at the lowest priority supported by the OS so that other tasks get CPU time over SETI.

There are lots of scenarios that could give someone the conclusion that SETI is causing slow-downs.


- Running CUDA will cause graphics performance issues in games and in Windows Vista/7's Aero interface.

- Dust build-up in your case can prevent heat from being dissipated from your case, causing temperatures to rise and kicking in the CPU's thermal protection.

- High ambient temperature in the room can have the same affect as above.

- Other processes running at low priority can cause conflicts with SETI, such as using the Windows Media Streaming feature.

- A failing piece of hardware such as RAM or the Power Supply Unit (PSU).

- Recently I have found that if you run SETI on Windows XP and do not reboot for several days, Windows XP slows to a crawl (the issue is caused by a slow memory leak in XP).


A well designed, well managed, and well kept system will not show signs of performance degradation. I have run SETI on well over 30+ computers varying in specs from an old Pentium Classic up to an AMD Phenom II X4 1100T without issue.

Please ask yourself before you leave, if everyone else is able to run SETI without the issues I'm having, what are the differentials between their system and mine? If you care enough to find the answer, I'm sure you'll find that it can be fixed.

With the 2 exceptions of Laptops that may have intrinsic cooling problems, ant some graphics cards that cannot do both GPU work for the projects AND processing for the display.

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BOINC WIKI

sounds like you need to tweak your settings so that it only runs while your computer is idle. also, unless attended, i dont recommend using laptops at all for running boinc projects, i know it SOUNDS like a good idea, but the thermal output could literally change the heat dissipation on your cpu, especially if you're running a cuda enabled gpu, like say the 260m. its on my profile; feel free to take a look. anyway, i dont recommend it because of the heat issue.
and no, a good laptop cooler isn't a good laptop cooler; its actually much more efficient to go internal and improve the thermal conductive substance of your choice, say with, as example, artic silver 7, or some such, than it is to spend 50 bucks (none of the ones under that price seem worth it - to ME -) on a cooler that just blows air at the bottom of your laptop.
hope you at least finished your tasks before you quit.
see ya.

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sounds like you need to tweak your settings so that it only runs while your computer is idle. also, unless attended, i dont recommend using laptops at all for running boinc projects, i know it SOUNDS like a good idea, but the thermal output could literally change the heat dissipation on your cpu, especially if you're running a cuda enabled gpu, like say the 260m. its on my profile; feel free to take a look. anyway, i dont recommend it because of the heat issue.
and no, a good laptop cooler isn't a good laptop cooler; its actually much more efficient to go internal and improve the thermal conductive substance of your choice, say with, as example, artic silver 7, or some such, than it is to spend 50 bucks (none of the ones under that price seem worth it - to ME -) on a cooler that just blows air at the bottom of your laptop.
hope you at least finished your tasks before you quit.
see ya.

Some laptops do OK, but you are right they are more problematical.

A laptop cooler works by allowing faster heat transfer from the CPU to the surface of the heat sink (the case) by keeping the surface of the case cooler. It helps, but you are right that arctic silver would help a great deal as well.

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BOINC WIKI

I run on a laptop and don't have any problem. I know XP needs rebooting from time to time by experience to improve performance while running BOINC. Apart from that Windows 7 on my small dual core laptop is fine and isn't showing any performance issues running the program.

If I keep getting Astropulse's to run I'll be saying goodbye also.
Al

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If I keep getting Astropulse's to run I'll be saying goodbye also.
Al

Why? What is it about AstroPulse that makes you upset? And you know you can turn off AstroPulse workunits in your preferences too, right?

No, I'm sorry, I didn't know I could turn off Astropulse. Does everyone get an equal share of A..P..'s to run?
I'm running XP and seems like it locks up on AP and not SETI@home units.
Al

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AstroPulse is handed out randomly when the BOINC client asks for more work.

I'm curious as to why AstroPulse locks up your machine when MultiBeam (both AP and MB are SETI@Home workunit types) doesn't. Both applications are designed with the same principals of system resource usage. Your Pentium 4 1.6GHz does seem right on the minimum spec side, but I haven't seen it lock up any of my systems thus far.

At any rate, you can turn AP off by going to your Project Preferences, and under the options "Run only the selected applications" make sure to uncheck AstroPulse v5 and AstroPulse v505. Then under "If no work for selected applications is available, accept work from other applications" and uncheck that box too.

Be sure to save your preferences. Then the next time your BOINC client contacts the SETI servers, it will automatically download the new preferences and start adhering to them right away.

I'm curious as to why AstroPulse locks up your machine when MultiBeam (both AP and MB are SETI@Home workunit types) doesn't.

I think that by "seems like it locks up on AP and not SETI@home units"
Alvin Hooper meant "seems like it gets/downloads only AP and not SETI@home units"?

Or does he refer to longer running times?

Hard to guess by only this short note.

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

I'm curious as to why AstroPulse locks up your machine when MultiBeam (both AP and MB are SETI@Home workunit types) doesn't.

I think that by "seems like it locks up on AP and not SETI@home units"
Alvin Hooper meant "seems like it gets/downloads only AP and not SETI@home units"?

Or does he refer to longer running times?

Hard to guess by only this short note.

Based upon his statement:

I'm running XP and seems like it locks up on AP and not SETI@home units.

I'm guessing that he indeed gets SETI@Home workunits as well as AstroPulse. It is quite possible that due to the longer runtime required for AstroPulse (especially longer on his P4 1.6GHz), perhaps he thinks it isn't making any progress and thus is "locked up". I don't know. He didn't clarify if it locked up his entire machine or if he thought the workunit itself was locked up.