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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Support
Forum: Suggestions / Feedback
Thread: Thread Sleep/Background Mode to save overheating CPU |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 14
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Since this software is consuming 100% usage constantly, it's not healthy to run all the time and so it will typically only be running during times when the user isn't at their PC (or care that their CPU is being drained.)
Instead of limiting the amount of time people can use this software, why not simply insert a "Thread::Sleep(1);" in the calculation loop so that some cpu cycles are left over for other apps and your CPU fan isn't running flat out the entire time -- if you can do that then people would run the thing all day long, albeit marginally slower, but it's worth it and should only take you 10 seconds to implement (make it a context menu option in the tray called "Background Mode" or something.) - Si |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I agree. I stopped running these projects on my recently-purchased computer because it is just too noisy to have my CPU fan going at full speed all the time. I wish there were a configuration option where I could say "target x percent CPU utilization."
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I have been running this same agent at grid.org 24/7 for over 3 years now without a single problem - keep your cooling fins clean and all is fine
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Again, I totally agree. Certain machines are prone to generating a lot of heat, and therefore *noise*, which would discourage many people from running the software.
Why not have a slider control that lets you specify the maximum amount (%) of CPU power that can by used by the process? I think that for this software to be successful in general, something has to be done about this issue as it is now an important issue for many computer users, especially with computers often "always on". Also, what about laptops? You would only want to activate the software if the laptop was running off mains electricity, not the batteries, as this would drain valuable energy. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Also, what about laptops? You would only want to activate the software if the laptop was running off mains electricity, not the batteries, as this would drain valuable energy. Already the case. My laptop shows a 'snoozing to conserve energy' message when unplugged. That said, it might be nice to be able to over-ride that feature on some computers. My previous laptop could run four hours straight unplugged without a problem and I only ever used it that way for an hour at a time... so having this running in the background should have been no problem. My current machine is another story, it barely lasts an hour on batteries on a good day. I left it running last night and even though it maxes out at 50% CPU usage (program only seems to utilize one of the two processors) it was burning up this morning. Have to agree with what others have said about adjustable CPU usage being a good idea. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Why not have a slider control that lets you specify the maximum amount (%) of CPU power that can by used by the process? There isn't really any need for a slider per se, it may interest you to know that just a 1 or 2ms sleep within the loop of calculations is more than enough for your task manager to report your CPU usage basically as "idle", so it more or less appears to run in the "background" without you really being able to tell that the process is even doing anything -- but the presentation layer (graphs/numbers/whatnot) should have that job. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
There isn't really any need for a slider per se, it may interest you to know that just a 1 or 2ms sleep within the loop of calculations is more than enough for your task manager to report your CPU usage basically as "idle", so it more or less appears to run in the "background" without you really being able to tell that the process is even doing anything -- but the presentation layer (graphs/numbers/whatnot) should have that job. And still does nothing to address the heat problem. Here's a thought - use the profile to set a 'time out' in the middle of the night to cool down. Doesn't help people who want to run 24/7, but if the time options were improved you could set up multiple 'cool down' periods throughout the day and there are always manual 'snooze' periods when you are on the machine. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Cool down and heat up can be very bad for your motherboard and RAM memory circuits, especially on average computers with no special cooling.
So, it would still be better to have the process run at a max speed, or "in the background" so to speak. It is not enough that it has a low process priority. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
"have the process run at a max speed"
I mean, at a max speed that you specify, for example max 50% of full speed. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Why don't we ask to put a CPU temperature contol instead, ie the software will not run when CPU is above x degree C, run when below x degree? but I suppose it is much more difficult to implement
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