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BOINC Setup

M

Mr. Pedantic

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
1,707
I've got a free laptop here, seeing as I don't have my laptop on enough for it to finish SMP WUs on deadline, and I was curious about doing a BOINC project for a change.

Back in the day I used to donate for SETI@home, but that was quite a minor contribution and I was busy with other stuff so it was very much a 'set and forget' sort of thing, and I didn't really know where my points went in regards to teams and such.

However, now, since I have a team to contribute for (you guys, obviously...), I want to know how to set up the BOINC client more comprehensively; so how do I do it so that I can choose the team, and the username I contribute under, and so forth? I thought maybe the DC project of the month would be a good place to start, it's Monte Carlo this month, right?

So yeah. Any help would be good! Thanks!
 
well the advantage with boinc is that the deadlines for some projects are really long.. with a laptop thats not on 24 hours a day.. you want to try and choose the shortest ones.. theres a few out there but i havent been running a lot of them in a while so its hard to remember which ones they are.. im sure some one will suggest some after i post..

but to keep heat down on the laptop id suggest setting the CPU usage to 85 or 90%.. but other then that ya boinc pretty much set and forget..
 
The setup for BOINC is fairly easy to setup compared to Stanford's "high-performance" clients. BOINC walks you through the basic setup and choosing projects. Never looked at a setup guide for it.

After that, the only thing I had to tweak was the CPU usage criteria and disable the BOINC screensaver. The default threshold was too low for my laptop, kept on suspending work.

A small but effective [H]orde is currently pushing for the top 100 and beyond for the QMC project. Join in. :)
 
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If the laptop is not on 24/7, then join something like CPDN. They give you a year to turn in the work units. Also, what graphics does the laptop have? If it has CUDA or has a new enough ATI card then you have options there, but I would recommend Collatz for laptops becasue Collatz don't seem to run as hot.

As far as joining teams, that can be done from the individual project pages.

Edit: The other good thing about CPDN is that when it check points, it also updates with CPDN and gives you points as you go. That way you get some credit whether you finish or not.
Edit2: You will also find that the latest install of BOINC have more options then older versions. One big difference is by default a setting is checked so that if your PC needs more then 20 or 25% CPU then it pauses BOINC work. Everything else is pretty strait forward.
 
I'm running boinc on my laptop right now. It comes with a Radeon 3450 so I can also beast through collatz conjecture while using the cpu on other projects like WCG and seti, for example.

You definitely need to adjust the cpu usage down a bit. I currently run mine at 65% and see temperatures of about 65 degrees Celsius on a p8700, well under the tj. max of 105. Have coretemp running and if you want to be extra careful, theres a problem called tthrottle I believe that you can download which will throttle your cpu usage once it gets above a certain temperature.
 
No, my laptop doesn't have a very good GPU; it's one of the GMA HD ones that comes with the Arrandales. It's better than Intel's other integrated graphics, but I still doubt that it does very well in this sort of thing.

I'm not really worried about throttling CPU usage, though. Even running the SMP client of Folding@home the max it got up to was 67C, so I'm not too worried about that.

EDIT: Okay, I joined the Collatz conjecture, how come I've only got one task? It's using only 25% of my CPU..

EDIT2: Never mind, I've got 4 tasks for my laptop now. Temps stable at 65/60C Core 0/1.
 
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The thing with collatz conjecture is, gpu's will blaze through it while cpu's take ages. What I do is disable cpu usage for collatz conjecture and use my gpu only, since my ati gpu only works on that one. I then devote my cpu to WCG, rosetta seti etc. GPU's have a comparative advantage in any project where they can be utilized while cpu's have a comparative advantage in non-gpu projects.

Kinda rambled on there...what I'm trying to say is that I think your CPU would be better used on other projects, it's a matter of efficiency, unless you'd really really like to see that conjecture solved.
 
Yeah...I focus mostly on WCG and use my CUDA card for Collatz, SETI, and Einstein. ATI cards will also work with Milkyway, but those WU's work the GPU a little harder then Collatz. In my opinion, focus the CPU's towards sciences that have more realistic applications to them rather then just crunching numbers or chess piece combos etc...
 
Oh, ok then. I'll probably finish off these work units for Collatz and then start on something else. For some reason BAM doesn't recognize when I connect to WCG, so are there any other good BOINC projects that only use CPU?
 
PLENTY!

here's a link to most of the projects that support GPU's (I say most because I notice some projects aren't up there yet like Einstein@home):

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/GPU_computing#Attach_to_projects_with_GPU_applications

Some of the projects I'm running that are not on that list:

WCG
Rosetta@home
LHCathome
QMC@home
QuantumFIRE Alpha

Got a good mix of biology plus my beloved physics and quantum chemistry projects.
 
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Mr. Pedantic said:
Ok, I'm running QMC at the moment. How long does it take for a task to finish?
Click to expand...


im not sure how long it does.. but it will take about 10-15 completed WU's for the estimated time to show the correct time.. usually starts off insanely high like 10 hours or what ever and then it will gradually go down..
 
Wecome Mr. Pedantic! Thanks for contributing!

The QMC WUs run time will vary a little but probably take anywhere from 6 to 12 hours or so depending on the CPU. I see you already have some points on the board. :)

If you have any other questions dont hesitate to ask!
 
The QMC WUs run time will vary a little but probably take anywhere from 6 to 12 hours or so depending on the CPU. I see you already have some points on the board.
Click to expand...

I'm not very familiar with BOINC. How do I tell what my points are?
 
Thanks for that guys!

I have something else I've been wondering about. My main rig has a 4870 in it, so...

What project's best suited for the 4870? Collatz, or Milkyway? I've heard both are really awesome for AMD GPUs, but which one is the best? And how do I set it up so that I don't get any CPU work for that project? And how much CPU do they use? I'm folding SMP2 WUs, which are quite sensitive to CPU cycles lost to other applications, so it is quite important.
 
Mr. Pedantic said:
Wait...so there are only 8 of us on the whole team that are doing something?
Click to expand...


pretty much.. last i remember before i left there was like 10-11 people in the [H] DC-vault group spread out over 30 different projects.. though from the looks of it they have gained a few more people..


Mr. Pedantic said:
Thanks for that guys!

I have something else I've been wondering about. My main rig has a 4870 in it, so...

What project's best suited for the 4870? Collatz, or Milkyway? I've heard both are really awesome for AMD GPUs, but which one is the best? And how do I set it up so that I don't get any CPU work for that project? And how much CPU do they use? I'm folding SMP2 WUs, which are quite sensitive to CPU cycles lost to other applications, so it is quite important.
Click to expand...


milkyway for sure.. easiest project to run and gains a shit load of points.. collatz is also another good one.. and yes both projects are insanely faster on ATI cards the nvidia cards.. they dont really use anything for cpu power.. maybe 1% when it loads the WU..
 
Ok, I've set it up for Milkyway. How come the tasks are so short...?

Also, how often does the client update? I've noticed that when a work unit finishes it doesn't automatically update. It's fine for QMC, where the units are hours long, but what about for Milkyway? I think maybe the idle time is longer than the load time...
 
Mr. Pedantic said:
Ok, I've set it up for Milkyway. How come the tasks are so short...?

Also, how often does the client update? I've noticed that when a work unit finishes it doesn't automatically update. It's fine for QMC, where the units are hours long, but what about for Milkyway? I think maybe the idle time is longer than the load time...
Click to expand...

because they are quite small and ATI cards just mow through the WU's.. they are the exact same size as the nvidia WU's yet nvidia cards take 30-40 minutes per WU..

in the settings the client by default is set to wait .3 days before communicating back to the boinc project server.. you can change this but its not really a big deal.. now if your sitting there having to wait for WU's.. in the boinc preferences (advanced/preferences) go to the network tab.. then under additional work buffer set it to 2 days.. default is 1 day even though it shows it at 0.00.. you can go up to 10 days..
 
in the settings the client by default is set to wait .3 days before communicating back to the boinc project server.
Click to expand...

Along these lines, is there a way to configure a client to finish/return the current WU without fetching another?

I need to take one of my BIONIC clients offline and want to make sure I finish what I started
 
CraftyOtter said:
Along these lines, is there a way to configure a client to finish/return the current WU without fetching another?

I need to take one of my BIONIC clients offline and want to make sure I finish what I started
Click to expand...


yep in the project tab select the project then click no new tasks.. after they finish you can click update and manually update it (send finished WU's) or it will manually update it on the next attempt that it connects to the project server..
 
Mr. Pedantic said:
Ok, I've set it up for Milkyway. How come the tasks are so short...?

Also, how often does the client update? I've noticed that when a work unit finishes it doesn't automatically update. It's fine for QMC, where the units are hours long, but what about for Milkyway? I think maybe the idle time is longer than the load time...
Click to expand...

Its a little bit of a strange concept for those coming from f@h but just let the client do its own thing. It will update when it needs too. :) I promise. The BOINC client tends to download a few WUs then proces most of them, then send all of them back to the server as its doing the last few units and download more. Eventually it will work it out so it updates more regularly.

Both MW and Collatz take very little CPU. Keep in mind that MW tends to run hotter and use more power than Collatz. Also MW tends to go down from time to time whereas Collatz is pretty rock solid. If MW servers has problems you can connect to Collatz or even connect to both full time if you want.
 
Hi all. just started on milkyway today. have it set to just used my gpu as my cpu i think, is too slow. a wu take about 1min 10 secs to 1min 25 sec to complete, is that normal ? running about 100% @ 78c. what other project other than Collatz conjecture can my 5870 be used for ? thanks for the info
 
coldstorm said:
Hi all. just started on milkyway today. have it set to just used my gpu as my cpu i think, is too slow. a wu take about 1min 10 secs to 1min 25 sec to complete, is that normal ? running about 100% @ 78c. what other project other than Collatz conjecture can my 5870 be used for ? thanks for the info
Click to expand...

im not sure on the exact times but that looks about right.. as far as i know milkyway and collatz are the 2 primary projects that support ATI cards.. though im sure more of them will move to supporting ATI soon seeing as how much faster they are then nvidia cards due to the cuda overhead..


metallicafan said:
Its a little bit of a strange concept for those coming from f@h but just let the client do its own thing. It will update when it needs too. :) I promise. The BOINC client tends to download a few WUs then proces most of them, then send all of them back to the server as its doing the last few units and download more. Eventually it will work it out so it updates more regularly.

Both MW and Collatz take very little CPU. Keep in mind that MW tends to run hotter and use more power than Collatz. Also MW tends to go down from time to time whereas Collatz is pretty rock solid. If MW servers has problems you can connect to Collatz or even connect to both full time if you want.
Click to expand...


to add to this.. you can run milkyway and collatz side by side.. the way the boinc client will work is that it will swap between projects.. so it will do a few MW work units then switch to collatz and do a few of those then switch back.. you can change how often it switches between projects as well by going to advanced/preferences/processor usage then at the bottom where it says switch between applications you can change how many minutes it runs each project before switching.. this is how most of us are able to run 5 or 6 cpu projects and 2 or 3 gpu projects all at the same time..
 
ok thanks. well i think i going to run milkyway for few days then add Collatz conjecture
 
Welcome coldstorm! Good to have you aboard! Those are some very quick times! My old 3870 that I have on MW is doing a WU in about 8 minutes. :) Just to put it in perspective for you. :D
 
coldstorm said:
Hi all. just started on milkyway today. have it set to just used my gpu as my cpu i think, is too slow. a wu take about 1min 10 secs to 1min 25 sec to complete, is that normal ? running about 100% @ 78c. what other project other than Collatz conjecture can my 5870 be used for ? thanks for the info
Click to expand...

Completely normal. Damn I wish I was you. You must be getting crazy points.
 
current stats total 123,500 avg 11,498.16 as of this morning from start yesturday. Is there anyway to force the gpu to only use 95% ? at 100% while aero and everything work fine playing videos does seem to give some trouble.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
yep in the project tab select the project then click no new tasks.. after they finish you can click update and manually update it (send finished WU's) or it will manually update it on the next attempt that it connects to the project server..
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Now why did they hide that option out in the open like that? . :D

I was fishing for it under the Advanced menu.
 
coldstorm said:
current stats total 123,500 avg 11,498.16 as of this morning from start yesturday. Is there anyway to force the gpu to only use 95% ? at 100% while aero and everything work fine playing videos does seem to give some trouble.
Click to expand...

sadly there is no way to force it to use a specific amount of the gpu.. though you could downclock your gpu and it should clear up any problems since its mostly only using the shaders and not really the gpu.. though running F@H for so long on overclocked gpu's ive gotten so use to turning F@H off and watching my movie and turning it back on that it doesnt bug me anymore when i have to do it with boinc..
 
@ Coldstorm,

I just switched part of my production over to MW@home as well. I don't see you in the team stats yet. did you get your team set to [H]ard or are you crunching for another team?
 
coldstorm said:
current stats total 123,500 avg 11,498.16 as of this morning from start yesturday. Is there anyway to force the gpu to only use 95% ? at 100% while aero and everything work fine playing videos does seem to give some trouble.
Click to expand...

HAHA you're already wayyyy ahead of me.
Damnit I can't wait to get a new GPU.
 
coldstorm said:
current stats total 123,500 avg 11,498.16 as of this morning from start yesturday. Is there anyway to force the gpu to only use 95% ? at 100% while aero and everything work fine playing videos does seem to give some trouble.
Click to expand...

Yeah as sirmonkey mentioned you cant limit the % of GPU utilization. I wish you could as well because at this time of year my single slot 4850 just gets too hot to run on even Collatz. I turn it on during some of the cooler nights buts its off during the day.

As far as it being choppy when your using the computer - What I usually do it if it gets to sluggish when I am using my machine I just click on the Projects tab then click on the Collatz project and hit the suspend button. This will stop it from running that project (you may have to do the same thing for MW if you are running both projects). Then when I am done watching a video, gaming, whatever other intensive task i was doing just go back and resume the project. I find that I dont have to do this often but its an easy way to free up resources when I need to.

The Doctor said:
HAHA you're already wayyyy ahead of me.
Damnit I can't wait to get a new GPU.
Click to expand...

x2 :D
 
flogge said:
@ Coldstorm,

I just switched part of my production over to MW@home as well. I don't see you in the team stats yet. did you get your team set to [H]ard or are you crunching for another team?
Click to expand...

Cold Storm - perhaps you didnt set your username to coldstorm on the preferences page for MW@home? I see a new user by the name of Anthony xxxxx. You can change that if you want. That is assuming thats is actually you.
 
opps signed up with my real name. just change it to coldstorm. take little while for server to update. while i understand no way currently to do i wish there was. as i have decoding set to cpu so it the gpu not really doing anything other than display the screen image. guess i live with those shortcoming for now. if i find a work around will let you know. now if standford would actually spend some time wirting a proper F@h core for ati they would get some cycles too.
 
If you don't want it to be choppy, you could always uncheck the use GPU while computer is in use. You could also try turning off hardware acceleration in your programs such as Media Players. That way it doesn't use much of the actual GPU.

There are in fact 2 other projects that ATI cards are supported on.

SETI@Home Beta is testing ATI WU's which will inevitably work its way to the primary SETI project at a later date. http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/beta/

DNETC@HOME also uses ATI cards which is just a wrapper for distributed.net. http://dnetc.net/
 
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