returning to SETi but... [Archive]

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Dragonprince

05-16-09, 03:20 PM

I have some questions since BOINC is fairly new to me... the vast majority of my work units were done under the SETi classic program back in the 2002-05 time frame.

I'm running a Q9650 and also have 2 4850's in Crossfire per my sig...OS is Vista 64 or Win7 64 on a dual boot setup.

Should I run CPU or GPU or is GPU even an option ? Which would complete the most work ? I read the sticky on optimizing BOINC but it's relatively old...is the info still current for the 6.6.2 version of BOINC ? or has Berk included the optimizations on their own by now ? Is there a 64 bit optimized version or strictly 32 bit ?

Thanks from an old cruncher...

:beer:

nzaneb

05-16-09, 03:56 PM

Dragonprince

05-16-09, 04:25 PM

Welcome back :beer:

ATi GPU's are not currently supported, so you would be limited to your Quad (Which can definitely crank out the WU's)
Go Here http://lunatics.kwsn.net/index.php?module=Downloads;catd=9
grab the optimized app that corresponds to your system (my suggestion would be: 02 - Windows 32 bit AstroPulse -Transitional v5.00 (r103) & v5.03 SSE3 (r112) (http://lunatics.kwsn.net/index.php?module=Downloads;sa=dlview;id=166)

Running Astropulse on that RIG will get you around 10000 RAC!

Just make sure you're crunching for our team ;)

Thanks for the reply. I followed the link and looked around a bit...downloaded the file also. Not sure what to do with it...got some reading to do apparently.

I have the 6.6.2 BOINC manager running the astropulse v5 5.03 application...looks like its running 4 files, one on each core for the last 8 hrs or so....25% complete. Looks like everything is stable with the hottest core at 60c...

What is "RAC" vs. the old style work unit form SETi classic ?

One last bit...I have access to an unused 8800GTS (the 320 meg version) with a stock GPU clock of 580Mhz...how would that compare to the Quad running BOINC ? Sorry for so many questions....

nzaneb

05-16-09, 05:44 PM

Thanks for the reply. I followed the link and looked around a bit...downloaded the file also. Not sure what to do with it...got some reading to do apparently.

I have the 6.6.2 BOINC manager running the astropulse v5 5.03 application...looks like its running 4 files, one on each core for the last 8 hrs or so....25% complete. Looks like everything is stable with the hottest core at 60c...

What is "RAC" vs. the old style work unit form SETi classic ?

One last bit...I have access to an unused 8800GTS (the 320 meg version) with a stock GPU clock of 580Mhz...how would that compare to the Quad running BOINC ? Sorry for so many questions....

Sorry, I didn't explain it better, I was on my way out the door to pick up my daughter.
First close Boinc and make sure it's not running in the background.
The file that I linked should contain a folder called Files to Install. Open that folder and copy all of its contents. Navigate to your Seti@home data folder... it looks like you're running the same OS that I am... so unless you installed it in a special folder you'll need to navigate to one of two places. If you installed Boinc on just YOUR user account, then it is located in C: Users/User Name/Application Data/Boinc/Projects/setiathome.berkley.edu, if installed for All Users, just substitute All Users instead of your User name in the above address. Once you are inside the setiathome.berkley.edu folder you'll simply paste all the items that you copied from the download. I always create a special BoincData folder, so I'm trying to direct you there from memory... I might be a little off :-/
Once the files are in that folder, simply start up Boinc. Switch to the messages tab, and it should say Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform about 6 lines down. As long as no Errors pop up you'll be using the optimized app. You should see a BIG difference in computation times. My AMD 720 usually does an AstroPulse v5 WU between 12-14 hours (GPU slows them down a bit), used to be around 10, when I wasn't running a GPU alongside it.
You'll be running an Astropulse unit on each core (so 4 instances) If you have HT capabilities enable it (it will double your cores, so 8 at once:))
Let us know if you have any questions or hit any snags.
RAC stands for Recently Averaged Credit.
EDIT: just looked up your chip and noticed it does have HyperThreading capabilities, so you should have a nice producer there, 8 WU's at once! :)

QuietIce

05-17-09, 01:59 AM

Thanks for the reply. I followed the link and looked around a bit...downloaded the file also. Not sure what to do with it...got some reading to do apparently.

I have the 6.6.2 BOINC manager running the astropulse v5 5.03 application...looks like its running 4 files, one on each core for the last 8 hrs or so....25% complete. Looks like everything is stable with the hottest core at 60c...

What is "RAC" vs. the old style work unit form SETi classic ?

One last bit...I have access to an unused 8800GTS (the 320 meg version) with a stock GPU clock of 580Mhz...how would that compare to the Quad running BOINC ? Sorry for so many questions.... :welcome: back to http://home.roadrunner.com/~rm23u2nd76g12/OC_SETI1.PNG

You can run both AP on the CPU and MB (Multi-Beam, which is the "standard" work unit) on your 8800. The GPU does take up a small amount of CPU time but not much for what it does so it's well worth crunching with it as well if you can arrange it. If you happen to have a second machine around (anything that can use the 8800 will do) you could use the card on that rig since the CPU doesn't matter much when crunching with a GPU. :)

Running CUDA (nVidia's name for GPU computing) is a little more complicated than the plug-in optimizers but not too much. The thread below covers CUDA and how to implement it.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=602066

Oh - and do be sure to join the team if you haven't already! If you have your original SETI name and password I think you can add those units to your total. Contact eaglescouter (http://www.ocforums.com/member.php?u=24985) for that information, he'll know what you need to do.

Happy Crunching - it's good to have you back ...! :):thup: