Talking about average credits again

Questions and Answers : Preferences : Talking about average credits again
Message board moderation

To post messages, you must log in.

AuthorMessage
Stephen D. Smith

Send message
Joined: 12 Jul 99
Posts: 16
Credit: 2,585,797
RAC: 6
United States
Message 1788789 - Posted: 19 May 2016, 20:51:31 UTC

It's been almost 5 months since my last post about average credits and my credits have gone up a paltry couple of hundred. I'd like to think I was contributing but this doesn't seem to show it. In fact when I look at the list of top performers, it appears that I've fallen so far behind that I don't even show up on the list anymore.

Thinking about this it almost seems like my computer has somehow been identified or targeted as a "verification machine". Meaning it's spending all of it's time verifying other peoples work and not getting any original work to get credit for. If this is the case, please un-target my computer. It's not what I signed up for all those years ago.
ID: 1788789 · Report as offensive
Profile Jord
Volunteer tester
Avatar

Send message
Joined: 9 Jun 99
Posts: 15184
Credit: 4,362,181
RAC: 3
Netherlands
Message 1788823 - Posted: 19 May 2016, 22:27:18 UTC - in response to Message 1788789.  

Best chat with everyone else on that subject in https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=79418. Or read through that thread. Lots of info in it.
ID: 1788823 · Report as offensive
Profile Stubbles
Volunteer tester
Avatar

Send message
Joined: 29 Nov 99
Posts: 358
Credit: 5,909,255
RAC: 0
Canada
Message 1788867 - Posted: 20 May 2016, 0:39:06 UTC - in response to Message 1788789.  

Hello Stephen,
Yesterday, I happen to have read your January post and I now feel somewhat comfortable in trying to answer your concerns after a few months of trying to understand how things work myself.

It's been almost 5 months since my last post about average credits and my credits have gone up a paltry couple of hundred. I'd like to think I was contributing but this doesn't seem to show it.

Take a look at your personal stats on BOINCstats: http://boincstats.com/en/stats/0/user/detail/7787803/charts
The 2nd chart shows your productivity has increased since December as compared to before.
The 6th chart shows that since December your have gone from below average to above average contributor for SETI@home. Bravo!
The 4th chart shows that your computer is working at a steady pace, which is a good thing.

In fact when I look at the list of top performers, it appears that I've fallen so far behind that I don't even show up on the list anymore.

From what I can gather of your PC (see https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/hosts_user.php?userid=7787803 ),
it's just an average one that is ±5 yrs old.
I think the issue might be that you`re comparing your old Honda Civic to the top performers with Telsa and Ferrari models fresh-off-the-lot.
You're still in the top 25% in productivity as per your badge: https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/show_user.php?userid=7787803

Thinking about this it almost seems like my computer has somehow been identified or targeted as a "verification machine". Meaning it's spending all of it's time verifying other peoples work and not getting any original work to get credit for. If this is the case, please un-target my computer. It's not what I signed up for all those years ago.

All of our tasks get verified by someone else`s computer; it`s the only way to be certain that computers don`t make mistakes.

If you'd like to boost your productivity, I noticed your video card is likely too old to get any work unit. So you could get your hands on a second hand video card and that could double your productivity.

Cheers,
Rob
ID: 1788867 · Report as offensive
Stephen D. Smith

Send message
Joined: 12 Jul 99
Posts: 16
Credit: 2,585,797
RAC: 6
United States
Message 1794109 - Posted: 6 Jun 2016, 23:12:39 UTC - in response to Message 1788867.  

Hi Rob. Thanks for the reply. I think I'm probably beating a dead horse here and I freely admit I have no idea about any of the performance goods and bads ( or so so's) with regards to my computer. What I do know is that for quite a few years I had an old boat anchor for a computer that did whatever it did. I bought a new (to me) computer that was much faster (than my old one. Not necessarily fast by today's standards) and I was looking forward to seeing my productivity jump. So I was specifically watching my numbers climb every day and in the course of only about a month or so, climbed into the top 25%. But that's where things seem to have come to a screeching halt. Where I was previously seeing an increase of 50 to 100 per week, now I have only seen about 250 in the last 5 months. That's what I don't understand. It's the same machine. The "only" thing it does is crunch Seti info. It doesn't get used for anything else. I want to say that things went bad when I did the latest upgrade. Could the latest version of Seti be too much for my computer ? Does the latest version require some setting changes on my computer that I haven't done ? Is the fact that it's now using GPU instead of CPU (which also only changed with the last update) be part of the problem ? I'm at a loss. All I know is that when I first hooked up the new computer, my numbers were flying. now they're crawling. I don't think anyone can tell me this kind of progress over 5 (now close to 6 months) is normal.
ID: 1794109 · Report as offensive
Stephen D. Smith

Send message
Joined: 12 Jul 99
Posts: 16
Credit: 2,585,797
RAC: 6
United States
Message 1794112 - Posted: 6 Jun 2016, 23:24:53 UTC - in response to Message 1794109.  

So re-reading my older posts, my rac has only increased about 150 in 5 months. Sorry, but it just seems wrong. I'll start watching my actual credits instead. don't anticipate seeing anything different to be honest.
ID: 1794112 · Report as offensive
Profile Bernie Vine
Volunteer moderator
Volunteer tester
Avatar

Send message
Joined: 26 May 99
Posts: 9954
Credit: 103,452,613
RAC: 328
United Kingdom
Message 1794132 - Posted: 7 Jun 2016, 0:18:36 UTC

A couple of things to note, the workunits from Greenbank Telescope take longer to crunch so your RAC may not seem to be moving.

However you are not crunching on your GPU at all.

All the units currently being worked on are CPU.

Unfortunately I don't know a lot about the AMD cards. Yours may need a different driver.

Hopefully someone may see this post, however you could try asking your question in the Number Crunching forum as most of the people in the know hang out there.
ID: 1794132 · Report as offensive

Questions and Answers : Preferences : Talking about average credits again


 
©2024 University of California
 
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.