I need help understanding the relationship between the BOINC Screensaver and the BOINC Manager.

If I am running the Seti@Home project on both the Screensaver and Manager on the same Windows computer at the same time, does this mean I am processing more Seti@Home data than if I run only the Screensaver or only the Manager by itself?

This has become a concern because after upgrading one of my machines to Windows 10, the Seti@Home Screensaver on that machine now runs poorly. The Screensaver display now flickers very badly, to the point where I get a headache if I'm in the same room with it! If I disable the Screensaver and run only the BOINC Manager, will I still be processing a worthwhile amount of Seti@Home data on this computer?

Thanks -- Jeff

It will depend on how you have your system set up to process work, but the fact is more processing is done if you don't use the screensaver, as the CPU/ Video card resources needed to provide the screen saver images can be put towards processing the Work Unit.
So disabling the screen saver, and just having BOINC running in the background will actually result in more work being done.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I know this is the song you always sang about this, but really that was good advice back in the days of the Pentium processors and the Core 2 Duo's.

With present day multicore CPUs this is negligent. Just as is the advice that one shouldn't run the screen saver together with GPU tasks, because other projects have been showing for the past ten years and more that it doesn't impact much.

And plus, if you give advice like this do it on a personal title,as in "I don't run it because...".
It's bad enough that the volunteer project developers have removed graphics capabilities from the GPU apps only because they thought everyone would want that - without asking anyone. Not everyone is after the same multibillion credits/RAC goal that you may be. Some do still run it for the pretty pictures.

@TS, the flickering is caused by Windows 10 poor OpenGL support. They in their infinite wisdom are phasing out OpenGL support. Best disable the BOINC screen saver completely on that system. It doesn't add any extra calculations.

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In this day and age of LCD,LED or OLED monitors, why do we even need "screen savers"? No chance of burning in an image in the phosphor from a static screen. Best to just have the monitor go into low power mode and save some dollars in power costs.

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Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

In this day and age of LCD,LED or OLED monitors, why do we even need "screen savers"? No chance of burning in an image in the phosphor from a static screen. Best to just have the monitor go into low power mode and save some dollars in power costs.

OLED monitors are susceptible to screen burn in:

Ultimately, the dilemma is this: All organic light-emitting diode screens can burn-in, and from everything we know, they're more susceptible than standard liquid crystal displays, including QLED models from Samsung and others. But those same OLED screens produce better image quality than LCDs.

So if the fear of the mere possibility of burn-in is your primary concern, the decision is simple: buy an LCD-based display instead. But know that you're sacrificing the best picture quality that money can buy. Here are some points to keep in mind:

- Burn-in is possible with OLED, but not likely with normal use.
- Most "burn-in" is actually image retention, which goes away after a few minutes.
- You'll almost certainly see image retention long before it becomes permanent burn-in.
- Generally speaking, burn-in is something to be aware of, but not worry about.

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So disabling the screen saver, and just having BOINC running in the background will actually result in more work being done.

Thanks. That's what I needed to know regarding the machine with the misbehaving screen saver. I'll just run BOINC Manager on that one.

I'll probably continue with the screensaver on another, faster, machine. I derive some pleasure from seeing the fancy graphics when they're not flickering to the point of inflicting brain damage.

- Jeff