BOINC

Gilthanis said:
As an added benefit, (you can ask CaptainUnlikely about this) by having multiple projects on one system helps keep your cross project ID tied to all accounts so that your stats don't get split at stats sites between multiple accounts....
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Just in case that's not quite clear enough, that's annoying. Very annoying. And it took me weeks to fix. On the plus side it doesn't affect your actual output, it just makes trying to find your total stats all but impossible. As long as you don't run totally different projects on each system, this won't happen though, so adding WUProp (as it's NCI so won't affect other work) to every system should prevent this happening anyway.


For anyone interested in the situation with my gf's seizures, we had another neurologist appointment today, after trying these meds to see what happened. The upshot is that they now think she's having NON-epileptic seizures, and we're now to slowly come off the medication as it's causing migraines, weakness, and generally not ideal plus it won't help the seizures anyway.
It's not absolutely confirmed but we're pretty happy if they do turn out to be non-epileptic, as (hopefully) through some cognitive behaviour therapy she should be able to get through this and be seizure-free within a year or so. It'll be difficult as there is a lot to work through (she had an incredibly bad childhood, it could seriously be the plot of a movie) and there are questions as to funding for the psychologist, but we feel like we're making some progress at last.

Back to the BOINC side of things, I should be able to bring a few more systems online shortly - a low power E350, and a few Intel quads, possibly with GPUs. I just need some more cases, for now some of them may just have to sit on some shelves. Oh, and I'll have an Ivy Brdge i3 running soon, which will give me an opportunity to play with BOINC's fairly recent OpenCL support on Intel GPUs. Any idea what projects it would be best used on? I know the HD2500 is nowhere near as fast as the HD4000 on the higher end IB CPUs but it may as well be used as sit there idle. I was going to use the onboard AMD 880G graphics on this rig but it turns out I'd have to drop to a much older driver version which isn't ideal, not really worth it to add only 40 SPs when my 5770 and 5850 have 800 and 1440 respectively - as it's only SP capable I calculate it would do around 6K/day in Collatz, which added to roughly 120K from my 5770 isn't a huge improvement heh. Definitely not worth the potential headache in this system.

We nearly moved to a house my uncle was going to rent to us which would give me a lot more room for systems, but unfortunately we can't make it work financially while my gf is off work, and it would increase my travel time too much which also isn't good as I need to be home as much as possible to take care of her.
 
I think your only options right now for Intel is Einstein, Albert (being the test project for Einstein), and Collatz. I would have to double check on the HD2500 because for some reason I was thinking it had to be 3000 or higher...


Edit: I was wrong... http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/forum_thread.php?id=10215#125627
And that is great news about your GF. I will continue to keep her in our thoughts and prayers. :)
 
Yeah, I think the 3000, although a higher numbered part, is on the SB chips, and therefore doesn't support OpenCL. Confusing. Not sure how well the 2500 will perform as it only has 6 EUs but as it's basically free performance, it's worth trying. I might give it a run on Albert and Einstein first as I haven't run those projects before.
 
Don't forget that SETI Beta also has Intel OpenCL units as well. I don't think they're ready for prime time quite yet, but they run rather well on an HD4000, though the 2500 should run well as well. It's interesting that WUProp doesn't have Intel GPU's listed yet, even though there are quite a few projects supporting it. Well, enough at least to warrant some investigation by WUProp.

Captain! I'm really glad to hear that your Girlfriend's tough times are finally coming to some sort of resolution. It's wonderful when something can at least be explained. So now a valid treatment plan can actually be created. I'm really really happy for you guys. Listen, I will soon have a nonprofit that could help raise funds for you if you need them for treatment for her. That or indiegogo is a good resource in and of itself. You guys will be in my thoughts and prayers as well!
 
Interesting, I'll put SETI beta on the list to try as well once the system comes together.

Thanks guys, we appreciate it. I think as far as funding for the treatment goes, we will have to take it as it comes. I would hope that the NHS would cover it, after all that's exactly what they're there for and what I pay my taxes for! We won't really know until the referral comes through for her to start the course of therapy, I think they said that 6 sessions is generally all they can "prescribe" at first and the rest depends on funding, from where I'm not sure. So, we will have to see what happens once we have some more information, I'll update when we know a little more :)
 
Seems like before I started using BAM I could change resource share. Now for the life of me I can't figure out how to do it in BAM. :(
 
Log into Boincstats... on the top left under My BAM! menu click my projects....In the top middle will say resource share... just click the share you want to edit and it will change to and editable field. Click off of it on to another one to save it. I wish there was just a save option....lol
 
Gilthanis said:
Log into Boincstats... on the top left under My BAM! menu click my projects....In the top middle will say resource share... just click the share you want to edit and it will change to and editable field. Click off of it on to another one to save it. I wish there was just a save option....lol
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Thanks, I forgot about that site. I think it's where I changed the resource share before. I also noticed WCG wasn't attached to my projects. I fixed that. Is the team supposed to be showing up there? Or is that messed up because there're different team names depending on the project?
 
Yes the team shows up there. Just make sure it is HardOCP and NOT [H]ard|OCP for WCG. You can check to see if the team is showing by clicking on Teams under My BAM! Menu. You may have to associate it. It has been a while since I did it. I think you just select the check box and then click Change/join team. But I'm not sure if it auto associates when you connect the project or not. (I'm thinking it auto fills when adding new projects)

However, I'm not sure where you are referring to the team showing up specifically. There are a lot of links on BOINCStats.
 
Gilthanis said:
However, I'm not sure where you are referring to the team showing up specifically. There are a lot of links on BOINCStats.
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I'm running GPUGRID under team [H]ard|OCP, rosetta@home under team [H]ard|OCP and WCG under team HardOCP.

On the BOINCStats page, when I click on "Teams" on the left hand menu I get this:
"•When a number is showing instead of a team name then BAM! was unable to retrieve the team name from the project."

When I click on "My detailed stats", I see a bunch of stats but don't know what project or projects it represents. On that page it only shows my team as [H]ard|OCP.
 
ChelseaOilman said:
I'm running GPUGRID under team [H]ard|OCP, rosetta@home under team [H]ard|OCP and WCG under team HardOCP.

On the BOINCStats page, when I click on "Teams" on the left hand menu I get this:
"•When a number is showing instead of a team name then BAM! was unable to retrieve the team name from the project."

When I click on "My detailed stats", I see a bunch of stats but don't know what project or projects it represents. On that page it only shows my team as [H]ard|OCP.
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On that page, click Project list and it should show your points for all projects. Where you are seeing [H]ard|OCP is OK...mine does that too. :D

As far as WCG BETA's, make sure you have BETA's checked in your preferences. Under My contribution, look to the left where it says BETA testing and click it. Then make sure the check box is selected. This will allow you to receive them.

Edit: I also recommend manually updating periodically until you get your fill of BETA's or you give up. BOINC will keep backing off further and further unless you manually update.

The next part is where the leg work comes in. BETA's are WCG's rarest work units and their hardest badge to earn. They go quick, so you gotta jump quick. I would deselect all sub projects at WCG and de-select if no apps available send me work from other projects. That way you are only requesting BETA's. In your BOINC manager, I would set all the other projects to No New Work. Then raise your cache up so that it will continue to ask for work. With WCG as the only one active in your client, it will keep asking for work which at this point should be asking for BETA. WCG only lets you download one beta per CPU Thread/core. Once you have this limit, I would return my settings in the reverse order because work will probably run out before you request more...lol
 
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Ok, I set the page to beta WUs. On the My Projects page I deselected everything but it gave me a message that "•At least one project must be selected". Does that matter?

It seems it does matter. The page won't save unless I select something.

Then raise your cache up so that it will continue to ask for work. <--- No clue where I do that.

I should add, I'm on satellite internet with data caps so I only allow the client to up/download during the night when the data cap doesn't apply.
 
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Select the intermittent apps. There is any work for those right now anyways.
 
the cache setting is in the BOINC manager app.

From the advanced view, tools, computing preferences, network usage tab, change your minimum and maximum work buffer to something higher, click ok. You can find pictures in the BOINC installation guide here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1768558

I will warn you though that they may be done sending work by then. It is rare that the BETA's go for a prolonged time. You may get lucky though. Resends will also occur if some people have errors, or don't finish within deadlines. I would load up with at least 1 days cache in your case before changing settings so that you don't run out of work and have idle cpu's.
 
Chelsea,
You need to select at least one project other than beta, so select one of the intermittent projects. Say No to Schistosoma currently has no work, so you will get all beta if available.

In BOINC manager, select Tools>Computing Preferences>Network Usage Tab>Set Max additional work buffer higher (like 3 days). You can also control only nightime connections from that screen.

That said, I think they are out of betas right now. I got only one WU on one computer.

Edit: Gilthanis beat me to it.
 
I have pulled 53 but most of those were right when I first posted. These work units are great for old ancient systems or those really slow ones like Atom based netbooks. They may not get many points, but the RAC up run time for badges just the same. Only on BETA's that are insanely hard to get, they are better because they will run for long periods of time. :D And unlike most projects, WCG badges are based on run time not points.
 
I had the network usage already limited to 00:10 and 04:50. That's been working good. I was running out of work before the day was over, so thanks for the info on raising the cache. That should keep my clients going all day. I'll leave the client set up to try for beta tonight. If I don't get anything I'll return the settings tomorrow. I didn't change anything for the GPUGRID project since that runs on my two 560Ti cards.
 
Well..the problem with not changing GPU work in general is that you may pull more than you want. If BOINC isn't accurate on run times (which can take a while as it learns) you could cache too much work for the GPU's and not be able to complete on time. This can put the BOINC client into panic mode as it moves those tasks to High Priority. When this happens, it may start switching between work units causing all of them to miss their deadlines. So, keep an eye on it if you do this. Just an FYI.


Some people get around this by changing the setting labeled switch between apps every X minutes to a rediculously high amount. That way it finishes the work unit in high priority before moving to the next one. Since GPUGrid gives bonus points for returning work quickly, the timing is even more important.
 
If the new POEM OpenCL is similar to the old, the PPD may be crazy high. I was getting 500K PPD on a single HD7970 and an app_info to run four instances per GPU.
 
Yes, POEM is known for handing out points for the GPU app. CPU app not so much...sounds like FAH huh? LOL

I'm just hoping they are better at coping with the demand this time around. They couldn't feed donors quick enough and would run out of work for GPU's pretty quick. CPU work rarely ran short supply.
 
KMac said:
If the new POEM OpenCL is similar to the old, the PPD may be crazy high. I was getting 500K PPD on a single HD7970 and an app_info to run four instances per GPU.
Click to expand...

Is there a reason you are still using app_info? app_config is usually the better choice these days unless you are running apps on platforms the project doesn't officially support.... Check my last post here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1040552771#post1040552771
 
Gotcha...I highly recommend the switch if you do it again. app_info's required you to constantly modify them every time the app version changed. app_config's don't.
 
Random BOINC farm upgrade rambling for a Friday night:

So I was looking at the reviews of the upcoming AMD A10-7850K and thinking that might be a nice inexpensive BOINC chip - quad cores overclockable to 4.5GHZ with the whole A7 GPU overclockable to 1GHz, and at 95W TDP...Couple AMD 260X cards, some RAM and mobo, and one could make a good PPD box for about $500-600 (assuming other spare parts like PSU and case laying around, which I do have)... Add $100 and those R7-260X become R9-270s... Heck, <150W each for the cards, plus 100W for the CPU - seems like a 650 W PSU would run the whole thing with ease, or an 800-850W PSU would allow 3 cards, easily doable with a $125 A88X-Pro ASUS board...

Damn, I just need money and free power...
 
I was looking at that CPU yesterday and thinking along the same lines. The CPU is no faster than the last gen, but integrating an R7 GPU with 512 cores with that kind of TDP is a real achievement, could make a nice inexpensive power efficient rig on its own, or like you say, makes a good base for adding cards for GPU crunching too. A quad core 4.5GHz AMD is still not to be sniffed at either.
Does anyone know if the APUs taste for faster RAM helps in BOINC much? I know going from 1600-2133 or 2400MHz RAM helps a lot with some games, I guess it would help in projects that benefit from higher memory bandwidth just not sure which, if any, do. I know Milkyway doesn't, I have my 5850's memory clocked as low as possible as it makes no difference at all.
 
Jathanis said:
Damn, I just need money and free power...
Click to expand...

Power is my issue right now. For a cheaper up front cost and going the GPU route, those chips would probably be a good buy. Long term, probably better getting a more efficient chip. Time will tell.
 
Oooh, I've thought the same thing! I've got a GigaByte Brix Pro with the i5 and Iris pro and the Brix with an A8-5545 that I'm testing. I'm hoping that the Brix will be updated with Kaveri at some point too. Take a look at my computer pages for Einstein and Cosmology, they should be attached now. I'll try to swap out for higher clocked ram to see how the APU performs. Even though it's VLIW4 based, it's pretty quick! I'll let you guys know how it goes. Right now it's just under 140 watts at the wall with just those two running. (Over 1080 with everything).
 
Anyone know what happened?

au8e.jpg
 
The BOINC Manager doesn't always estimate times right. However, sometimes work units get screwy. A reboot sometimes corrects the issue.
 
reboot system couple times already, but no help.
Should I abort/reject them?
 
Sometimes they error out and sometimes they finish ok. I would ask in their forums in case it is a known problem.
 
BOINCStats officially added Chess960 to the retired list. Their website has been up for sale for a while.
 
Ouch, another one bites the dust.

sbinh - I would just abort those bad units, they either didn't download completely correctly or just error outed or something similar.
 
Just checked the forums there, and it seems there's a documented new application type on Linux that's causing error issues. And probably linked to you computing them 8 times over as well. I'll keep apprised of the situation to see if there's any fix. Hey, if it doesn't error out after 800% then I guess you've validated it yourself!
 
So dang, less than 3 days away from my 10M goal in Collatz, and their website goes down... So close!
 
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