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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Community
Forum: Hardware Chat Room
Thread: surprisingly fast Raspberry Pi spotted |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 36
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andreba57
Cruncher Italy Joined: Apr 14, 2020 Post Count: 5 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I had originally set up the Pi4 to run Rosetta@home, but even with 4 Gb of RAM I was only able to run three tasks at a time - the Boinc client started with four tasks running, but after a few minutes one task was kicked out. It also used a good deal of swap space, and the 64bit hack could have caused compatibility and update problems, so in the end I installed Raspbian Lite, took my business to WCD and have been happy ever since :)
----------------------------------------[Edit 1 times, last edit by andreba57 at May 27, 2020 5:15:16 PM] |
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poppinfresh99
Cruncher Joined: Feb 29, 2020 Post Count: 49 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I got my microSD-to-USB adapter! Time to experiment with 64-bit! I'm still on my Pi 3B (no throttling or swap).
----------------------------------------I upgraded Stretch to Buster, giving me a new BOINC version... Raspbian Stretch: 7.6.33 Raspbian Buster: 7.14.2 I enabled the 64-bit kernel... https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=257767 You are free to quickly switch back and forth from 32-bit to 64-bit, so why not try it? As was 100% expected, the following commands still returned 32-bit (1) file /usr/bin/boinc (2) file /var/lib/boinc/projects/www.worldcommunitygrid.org/wcgrid_opn1_autodock_7.17_arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf Just to be sure, I ran 3 tasks at a time taking between 18.5 and 19.8 hours (CPU time). No big difference from my initial 32-bit setup (slightly slower if anything). I then installed 64-bit Ubuntu Server (instead of Raspbian). https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi BOINC version is now 7.16.6. I didn't need to install a desktop because the boincmgr command is a great GUI (`ssh -Y` activates required trusted X11 forwarding)! /usr/bin/boinc is now 64-bit! But, when trying to even download the 2nd executable in list above, I get the following notice from WCG... "This project doesn't support computers of type aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu" What the heck! Why can't it just download the 32-bit version since I know WCG has a working 32-bit version! Seems like a bug! Oh, looks like this is a known issue... https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread_thread,42424 [Edit 2 times, last edit by poppinfresh99 at May 27, 2020 7:41:19 PM] |
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hchc
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Aug 15, 2006 Post Count: 865 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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This may be helpful to people here who don't want to boot directly off Micro SD card.
----------------------------------------How to Boot Raspberry Pi 4 From a USB SSD or Flash Drive New beta firmware. Hope this gets promoted to production soon and becomes the new bootloader.
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poppinfresh99
Cruncher Joined: Feb 29, 2020 Post Count: 49 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I have some more complete and updated info to add to this old thread...
CPU Times on my 3B with RaspiOS (no throttling or swap): • 1 task at a time: 14.7 hours (0.07 tasks per hour) • 2 tasks at a time: 14.4 hours and 17.5 hours (0.125 tasks per hour) • 3 tasks at a time: between 16.5 and 18.5 hours (0.17 tasks per hour) • 4 tasks at a time: between 18 and 21 hours (0.20 tasks per hour) For the 3B, there are diminishing returns when going from 3 to 4 cores, especially considering that the Elapsed Time is 20 minutes more than CPU Time when using 4 cores compared to basically 0 more when using 3 cores (not included in above numbers), and I can only prevent throttling in the winter when it's colder. Also, I must set BOINC's RAM usage to 70% (of the 1 GiB on the 3B) to run 4 cores. Note that a 64-bit version of RaspiOS can now be found here (search for arm64)... https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/ But there is no performance difference between the 32-bit version. For the 64-bit version, you must do the following... https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=11411 |
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BobbyB
Veteran Cruncher Canada Joined: Apr 25, 2020 Post Count: 638 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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The title "surprisingly fast Raspberry Pi spotted" caught my eye, because the last Raspberry Pi thread I participated in, Aug. 24 2020, convinced me it was not worth my while to get into it. I don't have any Pi's so for me it would be a total purchase: board, case, heatsink, fan, really good USB stick, and whatever else is needed. Bet I could get a used Lenovo T400 for less or same amount.
https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewpostinthread?post=637575 If you read the thread, one person said he gets 5000-6000 points per day for each raspberry Pi 4 and this is what my old dust collecting Lenovo T400 does: Processor: 2 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz [Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 10] So what does this "surprisingly fast Raspberry Pi" do to convince me? |
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poppinfresh99
Cruncher Joined: Feb 29, 2020 Post Count: 49 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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A 4B was surprising because it was 2x faster than my 3B...
----------------------------------------The 4B has a Cortex-A72 at 1.5 GHz, whereas my 3B has a Cortex-A53 at 1.2 GHz. Anyway, the Pi 4 isn't expensive... - $50 for a Pi 4B (with heatsink and power supply included) https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-4-basic-kit.html - 32-GiB SD card is very cheap ($5) https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Center-Class-Memory-Adapter/dp/B07K81Z6DF/ Do not get a case (prevents heat from leaving), but a fan *might* be nice if you want to run all 4 cores (not just 3) without throttling. I'm not sure what your Lenovo has to do with anything. The Pi is ARM (not Intel like your Lenovo), so a Pi 4 gets a lot of points per watt. I bet the new M1 chip will rule the world of BOINC once it is supported because it is 5 nm!! [Edit 1 times, last edit by poppinfresh99 at Nov 28, 2020 12:54:10 AM] |
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BobbyB
Veteran Cruncher Canada Joined: Apr 25, 2020 Post Count: 638 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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The Lenovo was just a point of reference for amount of absolute work done. It's old and just a piece of junk really. Was lying around.
No case? So where would I put it? Just loose lying on a table. The idea is still up in the air. Am keeping my eye open for older motherboards that I could use to replace a PC which is just 2 and one half times better than the Lenovo. |
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poppinfresh99
Cruncher Joined: Feb 29, 2020 Post Count: 49 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I like simplicity, so I just had mine on a desk for about a year (on its side for better convection in a way that lets air rise vertically between fins of heat sink). Then, I got smart and dangled it over the side of my desk by its power cord (with a bit of duct tape connecting cord to desk). It's been in a chaotic high-school classroom the whole time (except for summers) and has never been damaged. BTW, it shouldn't be touched, especially while running (hot and electrostatic discharge)!
----------------------------------------If you get a fan to run that 4th core, a case works just fine, but the case and fan just cost more money and take up room. I'd personally only get a case if that case allowed for several Pis and provided a shared fan. [Edit 2 times, last edit by poppinfresh99 at Nov 30, 2020 3:45:46 PM] |
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BobbyB
Veteran Cruncher Canada Joined: Apr 25, 2020 Post Count: 638 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I've seen open frame cases which allows a stack of Pi's. Even some with a fan for each. Yes more $$
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=raspberry+pi+case+stack Still, a high end AMD would be better in my case. Replace the mobo of my phenom X4 with something better but not just 2x. Same power but more work done. |
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BobbyB
Veteran Cruncher Canada Joined: Apr 25, 2020 Post Count: 638 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Seems the gods have heard you about using the 4th core.
NEW Official Case Fan will help keep your kit cool $5 USD https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-case-fan/ |
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