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Category: Support
Forum: BOINC Agent Support
Thread: Upgrading CPU with tasks running? |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 5
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RMau
Cruncher Joined: Feb 6, 2008 Post Count: 44 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I have an opportunity to upgrade my CPU from a dual core to a quad core. I have tasks running on this machine, and tasks in the queue. Has anyone done this before? Should I let the work clear first? Or will the tasks on the machine already just pick up and carry on with the new CPU in place?
----------------------------------------Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences.  |
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katoda
Senior Cruncher Poland Joined: Apr 28, 2007 Post Count: 172 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I did it several times in the past (in both ways - quad core <==> dual core) without any problems. BOINC always detects number of processors during startup and starts equivalent number of tasks, so if it detects more processors/cores than before shutdown, it will simply start more tasks.
---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by katoda at Aug 21, 2009 9:13:56 PM] |
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mikey
Veteran Cruncher Joined: May 10, 2009 Post Count: 826 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I have an opportunity to upgrade my CPU from a dual core to a quad core. I have tasks running on this machine, and tasks in the queue. Has anyone done this before? Should I let the work clear first? Or will the tasks on the machine already just pick up and carry on with the new CPU in place? Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Ideally you will let the cache clear and when you have no workunits left you will then do the upgrade. That is the ideal situation, but since it does work both ways, ideal is if you have the time. Sometimes the upgrade process loses everything and you have to reload Windows and the whole pc, most of the time it goes without a hitch. That is why if you have the time do it the ideal way. The amount of time to do the upgrade is probably around an hour, so the time lost crunching is minimal at best and then to come back with twice as many processors means you will make up any lost ground in no time! Good luck in your upgrade!! You pc will definitely be faster, both by the way it responds and the way it crunches!! Just make sure you give it enough ram too, 1 gig is not enough these days, 2 gig is considered the new minimum and 4 gig is even better. If you have a 64 bit OS then 6 gig is better. I am speaking about an everyday use machine now, not a dedicated cruncher. I still have several dedicated crunchers on 1 gig of ram and they do just fine.   |
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RMau
Cruncher Joined: Feb 6, 2008 Post Count: 44 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Thanks for the thoughts, ideas and encouragement. The deed is done. WCG is running on an AMD Phenom X4 9650. Win7 and 8GB of RAM. All four cores are crunching.
----------------------------------------I suspended work in the queue and let active tasks complete before I shut down to make the swap. The system wanted a couple of restarts after loading drivers, but that was it. Now to see what difference it makes for WCG! |
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KerSamson
Master Cruncher Switzerland Joined: Jan 29, 2007 Post Count: 1684 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Hi,
----------------------------------------I fully agree with mikey159b's statement, it is safer for the work in progress to finish the tasks without starting new one. Afterward you can upgrade the system. Regarding the memory need for dedicated crunching machines, here are some typical and reasonable value:
Good luck, Yves |
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