TC, could I pick at your brain for a sec?

[klear]

Seeing as you are 2nd best on the team (unless benz really is fake, therefor making you nuba 1!) I was just wondering if you have any advice for us to help crunch faster, overclock better according to what seti needs, etc.. any information you have would be exellent..

Another thing could you give me a list of the machines you have that give you your esteem 22.6 ghz ?

Thanks TC,, see ya...

 

[Cary]

Just joined the team and I would also be very interested in hearing some of TC's secrets. I have a system that seems to be very similar to the one that TC has at the top of the benchmark chart. But my results are about 20% longer than TC's time (3.2 hrs @ 2.2G as opposed to 2.65 hrs). Even at 2.6G, I can't match his time.

TC, any guidance you can provided would be greatly appreciated.

 

[chawken]

I'm not TC, of course, but I can offer a few suggestions.

I have one box that is an Epox 8K7A with an AMD MP [email protected] and it turns .4xx AR's in 3.25hrs.

Hardware wise, OC your rig to the highest stable fsb setting that you can. In the case of my [email protected] it is at 164x9 (default multiplier). Also set your memory timings as agressively as possible - on my Epox using Corsair PC2400 DDR, they are at 8/8/8/2/2/2/2. Make sure that all power saving settings in BIOS are turned off.

System config wise:

Run the CLC version of the Seti@home prog.

Turn off all power saving settings, except monitor (if you like your monitor to power down - I personally just physically turn it off.)

If you run Microsoft office, disable Find Fast, located in the Control Panel.

If you have AntiVirus software, exclude the folder that seti resides in.

Optimize your swap file on the hard disk - this can be accomplished with Norton Speed Disk or Nuts and Bolts. Have the swap file moved to the front of the disk.

Run minimal background tasks. Turn off all unnecessary apps.

If you have a graphics program, such as Corel, make sure all file indexers are disabled.

Hopefully these items will help - and I am sure that TC will have more to add to this list - especially the hardware part, as I only run AMD rigs.

Happy Crunching.

 

[TC]

Well I don't believe I have any great secrets. What Chawken has already suggested for improving your times is about as complete as it gets. My output simply comes from the number of systems I have running. On the AMD side that is 8 XP 1500+ boxes overclocked to roughly 1700MHz (2000+ rating). 4 are on 8KHA+'s and 4 8K7A's, and 1 dual XP1500+ using a Tiger MP. Over in Intel land I have 1P3S box overclocked to 1580, 1 2.2A P4 overclocked to 2.75GHz, 1 dual 2GHz Xeon box, 1 1.8A overclocked to 2400, and finally I guess the cat is out of the bag so to speak, but I was lucky enough to run a benchmark using a 2.2A ES on a sample board running PC 4200 ram. That's all I'll say about that, and please don't bug me about it because I can't violate NDA's.

 

[chawken]

Well I don't believe I have any great secrets. What Chawken has already suggested for improving your times is about as complete as it gets. My output simply comes from the number of systems I have running. On the AMD side that is 8 XP 1500+ boxes overclocked to roughly 1700MHz (2000+ rating). 4 are on 8KHA+'s and 4 8K7A's, and 1 dual XP1500+ using a Tiger MP. Over in Intel land I have 1P3S box overclocked to 1580, 1 2.2A P4 overclocked to 2.75GHz, 1 dual 2GHz Xeon box, 1 1.8A overclocked to 2400, and finally I guess the cat is out of the bag so to speak, but I was lucky enough to run a benchmark using a 2.2A ES on a sample board running PC 4200 ram. That's all I'll say about that, and please don't bug me about it because I can't violate NDA's.

Sorry guys, our NDA's only allow us to disclose the very basics. If we disclose any more, we would have to kill you and confiscate your crunchers

Hey TC, you have to give me the link to purchasing that PC4200 Ram. Too many limitations with this slow PC2400 Ram.

 

[TC]

Sorry guys, our NDA's only allow us to disclose the very basics. If we disclose any more, we would have to kill you and confiscate your crunchers

Hey TC, you have to give me the link to purchasing that PC4200 Ram. Too many limitations with this slow PC2400 Ram.

LOL - this is PC4200 rdram, not DDR. It's looking like it may never go into production, but it's obvious that the P4 needs gobs of memory bandwidth to really shine. I probably shouldn't have submitted that benchmark, but I found it hard to resist. I just don't want people asking me for sandra benchmarks etc. I share the enthusiasm, but I flat can't do it.

 

[JigPu]

One INSANLY DRASTIC thing you could try is a format...

Call me crazy, but ever since I've reinstalled Windows and gotten rid of the junk programs I don't use, my average CpF has plummeted from 7 to 5! My average of 18 hours/WU has dropped to around 15 or 16 (Cele 466)... Just something to think of if you are truly crazy...

Of course, your milage may vary...
JigPu

 

[klear]

How do you overclock that much? I can only get a duron 750 to 950 and my Tbird 1000 to 1310...

Any overclocking tips?

 

[Yodums]

How do you overclock that much? I can only get a duron 750 to 950 and my Tbird 1000 to 1310...

Any overclocking tips?

Unlock, turn the multiplier down to say 5, crank the FSB as high as you can then adjust the multiplier up again to whatever becomes stable. Seti loves the high FSB and ram timings.

 

[TC]

How do you overclock that much? I can only get a duron 750 to 950 and my Tbird 1000 to 1310...

Any overclocking tips?

Just about all of the XP 1500's will hit 1650-1700MHz with decent air cooling and a modest voltage boost. The thunderbird core topped out at about 1600 for the last stepping. Most would not go much beyond 1500 without water cooling and/or voltage mods. The 1500's are in my opinion about the best deal as far as XP's go. I built a couple systems with an 1800+ and a 2000+, and neither of those chips would reach beyond 1750MHz, so it's not hard to see why the 2100+ is the end of the line for the palomino core.

As for general tips, there are a lot of factors of course. It's possible that any number of other components is holding you back when your cpu could go higher. The best way to figure out if you have a problem area is to unlock the multiplier and raise the fsb while keeping the cpu close to its stock speed. When you start having problems you know it's something other than the cpu at that fsb. Then you can try to narrow it down to ram, video, nic, hard drive, etc. If you can figure out where the problem is and fix it, or just decide to stay below that problem speed, then you can turn around and bump the multiplier up. When you start having problems again you can be fairly certain it's the cpu at that point. Following this procedure gives you a good feeling for how well each of your components is handling the overclock and what to expect from your system as you push it higher.