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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Support
Forum: BOINC Agent Support
Thread: 100% CPU = best results? |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 17
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Is it best to leave whatever computers with multicore cpus that are seldom used run at 100% cpu for the fastest results or is it best to leave the defaults.
Also what settings should I change to what to get the best results out of a computer? |
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Powhatan
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Oct 20, 2009 Post Count: 58 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Just as long as you have good cooling for the computer and good ventilation for the space. I've run at 100% for several weeks, even months on a few occasions.
I don't like the high cooling fan noise and heat when Spring and Summer rolls around, so I crank down the device preferences to run the CPUs at 50%. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Oh ok, I was just going to leave it at the default 60% if there wasn't really a distinct advantage because of the cooling and fan noise + it probably wears down the system.
What are the best settings for best performance other than the cpu percentage? What about memory and disk access? Tasks checkpoint? I have mine at 600 seconds Memory I have at 80-90% on computers that are not used and 75% on others. Anything else I should change? |
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Falconet
Master Cruncher Portugal Joined: Mar 9, 2009 Post Count: 3295 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Chaz0426,
----------------------------------------having the CPU running all cores at 100% means a lot more work units get done.But it makes a bit more noise and you should watch out for the CPU temperatures. AMD Ryzen 5 1600AF 6C/12T 3.2 GHz - 85W AMD Ryzen 5 2500U 4C/8T 2.0 GHz - 28W AMD Ryzen 7 7730U 8C/16T 3.0 GHz |
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Coleslaw
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Mar 29, 2007 Post Count: 1343 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I recommend checking the box for leaving applications in memory. Otherwise, when BOINC pauses for whatever reason, it doesn't start over at the last check point again. I also leave my CPU's/cores at 100% unless it is getting too hot. I typically reduce laptops down to about 60% because they tend to run a lot hotter then desktops. When not in use, there shouldn't be any reason to not set ram settings to 100%. If the computer does something else while idling such as a file server, then you may want to leave a bit extra for that. Otherwise, use the ram for what it is for.
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z2000
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Feb 27, 2011 Post Count: 116 Status: Offline |
I have just now reduced my setting from 100% cpu to 60%. It's too early, but up to this point it looks like the work units will complete in approximately the same amount of time. At the moment I'm running only HCC tasks.
----------------------------------------I had my BIOS main fan turned up to the first notch while I ran them at 100%cpu. Now that I have set the boinc to 60%cpu I notice that the computer is cooler. Next I will try to use some settings so that I don't have to have the main fan running that fast. The fan's fast, even at the first notch, when I set it with BIOS at start-up, but without having done that, the computer's air felt feverish to the touch. Another thing I found was some pc2-3200 memories mixed in with some pc2-4200. When I removed the old memories, the system info at BIOS start-up now tells me that that pc has its memory banks running at 522MHz instead of 400MHz.  |
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z2000
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Feb 27, 2011 Post Count: 116 Status: Offline |
I should point out that I don't really have two CPUs per computer, the second CPU is only a simulated one. I don't know if that makes a difference.
----------------------------------------The first task with my new setting of 60% instead of 100% just now completed... in practically the same amount of time. |
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kateiacy
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Jan 23, 2010 Post Count: 1027 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Be aware that the CPU time used will not be affected by reducing the CPU usage to 60%, but the amount of actual wallclock time that it takes to accrue that much CPU time does because the CPU isn't being used continuously.
----------------------------------------For example, if a WU needs 6 hrs of CPU time, it will take about 6 hrs of actual runtime if the CPU usage is 100% and about 10 hours of actual runtime if the CPU usage is 60%.  |
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Coleslaw
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Mar 29, 2007 Post Count: 1343 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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The reason your rams clock speed changed in the BIOS is because the system will always run at the slowest ram speed when using mixed sticks. So, keep this in mind when getting memory upgrades. If you want the faster clock speeds, get all of the sticks at that speed.
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z2000
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Feb 27, 2011 Post Count: 116 Status: Offline |
Ohh :(
----------------------------------------In other words the counter called "Elapsed" is simply ticking slower? Now that it's mentioned, I think it is slower, than time in the real world! I may raise it back towards 100% then. |
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