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Hardnews
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Core enquiry

I built an i5 2500K quad core pooter. It's running stock speeds at the moment, 3.4 Ghz in an Intel board. The cpu will turbo up to 3.7Ghz, I think, if it needs it.

Extensive testing watching Youtube videos while playing Far Cry reveals I can BOINC along on four cores runnning at 50% with no impact on my, er, important research activities. I can also run BOINC at 100% on two cores, and still run my life on the machine without it knowing I'm there.

The question is, which does more WGC work: 2 cores at 100% or four cores at 50%? And which consumes the most wall-socket juice? And how do you drive the jeep away from the mercenaries in Far Cry without getting shot?

Bring out your brains, these are important questions and we need answers.
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[Edit 3 times, last edit by Hardnews at Sep 29, 2011 3:50:19 PM]
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krakatuk
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Re: Core enquiry

Have you tried 4 cores 100%?
I'm running WCG on my i7 2600K with 8 threads 100% all the time but never seen it impacting any of my applications or games.
Since Boinc always runs with the lowest windows priority it only takes what is free after all the others take what they need...
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Re: Core enquiry

Looks like Far Cry is getting to you. ;-)

Interested in saving microwatts? Not sure if a 2500K or any of the Sandy Bridges have this feature of putting unused cores to sleep and if you can control that at individual core basis. Thing is, BOINC sciences run at the lowest priority possible, so when a CPU is set to go to sleep, will it only do the truly idle or also scale down the cycles if not sleep induce the 2 cores that BOINC is using?

What's your objective... max crunch when not gaming with a machine on 24/7 or only crunch when the machine needs to be on for Far Cry etc? BOINC can be set to go to sleep completely whilst more than an X percent of CPU power is used for other matters, so then when when briefly taking a brake from the joystick, to let BOINC go back to run max on all cores.

You might be a candidate for using "Process Lasso", which allows the assignment of processes to specific cores. Then you truly have exclusivity over the other 2 to game on and let the OS do it's work (think the OS is now smart enough to concentrate it's processes to let the other cores do the sleepy stuff, but as said, don't know if the SB's do that.

--//--

P.S. 2 cores 100% or 4 cores at 50%... the experts would have to speak up if this is worth pondering over. From a heat perspective, I'd rather run 50% on all for an even division and more balanced heat dissipation, less differential stress, but that'd be pure guess.
[Sep 29, 2011 4:10:23 PM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
Hardnews
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Re: Core enquiry

Ok thanks guys. (Hey! I got the jeep!) It's a kind of little end/ big end query, I know. The i5 doesn't hyperthread, which I found out two minutes ago, so my addled mind is going to go with four cores at 50%, as this as you suggest, might spread the heat load around the cores. Then again it might conjure up green fairies for all I know. (Yay!)

There's little impact on performance for my vital work; net surfing, Skyping my mother, that kind of thing, so I'll leave it ticking over on four cylinders. I sit at the confounded machine most of the day, so I leave BOINC to run all the time, rather than have it hide when it sees me coming.
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[Edit 1 times, last edit by Hardnews at Sep 29, 2011 4:36:19 PM]
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sk..
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Re: Core enquiry

Two cores at 100% might be better, and without stipulating core affinity - let the CPU work out what is fastest, it's what it does. In fact 75% would work wonders.

I have said this before, but it clearly need saying again, Boinc really need to be able to reduce the core usage when the system is in use, rather than just hitting the off switch.
When the system is not in use 100% is fine, but when it is being used we only have the choice of 0% usage or standard usage. We need to be able to specify, use 25%, 50% or 75% of the cores for crunching when the system is in use.

Think someone (a cruncher) wrote a script to do this a while back, but it should be introduced into Boinc asap, it's not like we all have single core systems anymore; the i5-2500K is a third/fourth generation quad core CPU, and prior to that there was additional HT and dual-core generations. Quads are now the norm and 8threads will become the norm with high end systems moving from 12threads to 16threads within 6months.
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[Edit 2 times, last edit by skgiven at Oct 5, 2011 4:25:16 PM]
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Hardnews
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Re: Core enquiry

Thanks, I've run the machine at 4 x 50% for the last couple of days, today I'll run it at 2 x 100% and report back.

The computer suffered choppy graphics- I was running GPUgrid under BOINC at the simultaneously, but I've pulled that to give WGC the most resources.

With two cores at 100% the CPU has shoved itself into 'turbo' mode and is running at 3.5 ghz, with no intervention from me. The only downside is that CPU temp is now 70C, up from 55C at 4 x 50% .
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[Edit 3 times, last edit by Hardnews at Oct 2, 2011 6:49:02 AM]
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Re: Core enquiry

Do you have the standard cpu fan that came with the cpu?

My intel icore 7 950 with liquid cooling hovers at 60c going full blast with the gigabyte g1 guerrilla overclocking button being hit.
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Hardnews
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Re: Core enquiry

"Do you have the standard cpu fan that came with the cpu?"

Indeed. The little fan whizzes around like it's on steriods. In fact, my queries are more to do with curiosity than the need to push the machine to its limits. I even bought an Intel H61 mobo, which is about as unimaginative as one can get, but the upside is the machine is in a small microATX case, and I need quiet more than I need speed. The Intel mobo utils take care of speeds and temps pretty well

I shoved in a couple of Sharkoon Silent Eagle fans, and they walk the walk, but don't talk the talk; the power supply fan is now controlled by the motherboard, and as a covert crunsher, it's doing rather well. I don't leave it running 24/7 because of the fire risk, I've seen a couple of desktop psu's smoke out over the years.

The WCG crunsh-factor is way up from the i3-2100 which the i5 has replaced, in the same mobo.
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Re: Core enquiry

You can still have quiet and speed. Mine only makes noise when reading a dvd-rom for a game i am installing for example.

With six fans the reaction I get from people is they wonder if the pc is even on when it is doing heavy intensive work. It's that quiet you put your head up against the fans and you cannot hear them at all. Admittedly the case is big and people think it is a speaker and wonder where the pc is.

"because of the fire risk, I've seen a couple of desktop psu's smoke out over the years."

Sounds like they were either incredibly cheap or not enough spare watts for the task they were needed to do. Even at mininum over time the psu will wear down. Best to get a psu a hundred or two or more over the mininum recommendation.

My case I can put in a bigger power supply no problem. I only need one or two hard drives in the case after all not four. Well probably do this in a year or two. 700 to 1000 is what I am thinking.

If you have multiple case fans do you have an equal number of intake and exhaust fans?
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Hardnews
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Re: Core enquiry

"Sounds like they were either incredibly cheap or not enough spare watts "

No, quite the reverse. Over years under a desk on the dealing-room floor, dust build up in the PSU started to smoulder, and the resultant heat set fire to a desk.

The sprinklers caught most of it, with only a million quids worth of water damage. The other one was a home pc shoved up against curtains. no air-flow, so it set the curtains on fire, which destroyed most of the upstairs floor.

If you crunch 24/7, get smoke alarms.
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