Folding takes 50% while I game :(

Korgun

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Mar 9, 2000
Messages
6,619
I have the console version running as a system service. When i'm doing regular browsing/e-mail/word/music type stuff I rarely notice any slowdown, but I was playing a game and I noticed it was slugish, so i ran task manager moved it to my secondary monitor and ran the game, and sure enough the game (cod uo if it matters) and F@H were "fighting" over my cpu generally one would have 40ish and hte other 60ish.

I restarted and the same thing happened, i ended the folding process and the game ran fine.

I set all the settings as defaults, the only settings I changed were to put in my username, team and make it a service. What should I be looking for?
 
No idea what you should be looking for.

My games run totally fine.
 
What system are you running it on.

If its a P4 with hyperthreading then thats just a known downside of hyperthreading and Windozes.
As you have a real & a virtual CPU then Windozes leaves F@H running on one while it tries to game on the other.

Luck........... :D
 
I know some people like to just "pause" the console by shutting it down etc while they game (dont forget to turn it back on)

I tend to do that anyways if I am going to be gaming for more then say an hour or so on anything that uses alot of sys resources (HL2 - FarCry etc)
 
u could always write a bat file to kill F@H and then would open shortcut and instead of clicking on the shortcut to the game u would click on bat file to play

the only down side is u would have to remeber to restart folding after u were done playing

maybe if u only game for 2 hours u could do task manager to auto restart it or something or if u play at the same time everyday restart it at the same time

maybe if u set up task manager to restart it every 2 hours you could make another bat file to kill it and then shortcut key it so if u are in game notice it is taking cpu you would just hit ctrl alt p or something to kill it... not know if this would work but idea


 
I have batch files already made up... you just have to edit the path to make it where you have your F@H installed.... let me know if you need/want them... I can email/post them....


Keep on Folding!! For the [H]orde!!

 
Duster said:
u could always write a bat file to kill F@H and then would open shortcut and instead of clicking on the shortcut to the game u would click on bat file to play

the only down side is u would have to remeber to restart folding after u were done playing

I use the .bat file route and I find that it works quite well, and its an adequate solution in the absence of a pause in the console client. I just keep a start and a stop .bat on my desktop and it does the trick.


 
it is an easy batch file to make up

maybe you should post others might want it...

come share with ur other [H]ard brethern
:D

 
You asked for it... You have to have the complete service name as reported by Windows, you can find that in the Services management console, and is dependent on the path where you placed your console, mine is at C:\Program Files\F@H, so my bats are as such:

start.bat
Code:
net start "FAH@C:+Program Files+F@H+FAH502-Console.exe"

stop.bat
Code:
net stop "FAH@C:+Program Files+F@H+FAH502-Console.exe"

That's all there is to it. :D

 
Yup... easy stuff

net start "FAH@D:+Program Files+Folding@Home+FAH502-Console.exe"

net stop "FAH@D:+Program Files+Folding@Home+FAH502-Console.exe"

mine are in D:\Programs\Folding@Home...


Keep on Folding!! For the [H]orde!!

 
The sysem is a NF7-S Rev 2 1GB memory xp 3200+ 6800GT not overclocked.

The bat fileis a simple solution but it's also an annoying one :( When you guys run games what % does your folding take?

On a side note I am close to breaking the 1,000 ranking on [H] :D w00t 3 more days.

http://www.hardfolding.com/index.php?go=38&id=4000
 
My box, A64 3500+, F@H has always given up the amout of CPU that is being requested. I've never had it where it was taking CPU away from any program. By chance have you changed its priority to where it is higher than normal? That would cause it to not release the CPU time to other processes.

 
p[H]ant0m said:
My box, A64 3500+, F@H has always given up the amout of CPU that is being requested. I've never had it where it was taking CPU away from any program. By chance have you changed its priority to where it is higher than normal? That would cause it to not release the CPU time to other processes.



Nope, priority is set to idle... that was one of the first things I checked :(
 
The system in my sig is my main box which I use for what little gaming I do. Mostly it is just C&C Generals skirmish missions. I don't really have much trouble and haven't noticed any trouble with running folding at the same time. I know that folding does not keep any cycles from the game since when I exit the game, it takes a while for EMIII to catch up and when it shows the time for the next frame to finish, it's the normal frame time plus the time I was gaming. Thus, the game was using all the cycles and folding didn't really get anything. This is also with running bigpackets units.

I do get some slowdowns occasionally and I blame that on two things, my really old vid card (that I can't afford to upgrade) and that I only have 512 meg of RAM (something else I don't have the money to upgrade). Folding stealing CPU cycles from a game is not a problem for me.

 
Open task manager in Windows and right click on Fah and see what priority it is set as. I've never had any problem with running folding at the same time with high end games, something doesn't sound right....

 
I've never had a problem with gaming and folding... I don't turn the service off either.... just wrote those batch files for my brother since he insists on turning it off when he burns DVDs,etc...


Keep on Folding!! For the [H]orde!!

 
pageian said:
Open task manager in Windows and right click on Fah and see what priority it is set as. I've never had any problem with running folding at the same time with high end games, something doesn't sound right....

qft. something's up.

i have an a64 3000+ (or is it 3200? it's the 2.0GHz stock one (oc'd to 2.06)) and i regularly play CounterStrike and suffer no slowdown--when i'm playing FAH usually takes about 30%...



EDIT: also, check and see that you have all non-essential Windnoes services closed down..just a shot in the dark...

 
I have a similar issue when I play games; on my rig F@H (Graphical Version) will actually cause crashes if I game while folding. The easy solution is to just turn off F@H when gaming, and then start it back up when done!
 
DamienThorn said:
I have a similar issue when I play games; on my rig F@H (Graphical Version) will actually cause crashes if I game while folding. The easy solution is to just turn off F@H when gaming, and then start it back up when done!

That's a known issue with the graphical client and some video drivers.... the console is much better (production-wise and stability while doing other tasks)


Keep on Folding!! For the [H]orde!!

 
Yep the graphical client can cause problems while gaming. Try running the console version with a game and see if you have any slowdown. Probably won't and you won't have any crashes either. Only go graphical if you need the pretty pictures and you don't game.

 
this probably isn't an issue (you have 1gb ram) but on my UD system with 256, GW runs pretty bad. playable, but it loads slow and everything. of course, it is also just a 900 with a 9000 vs a 2.3 with a 9700... and 512. both my machines drop folding usage (ud and f@h) to 0% while games are running, unless the game is in menu or something (depends on the game for that)

i've never really had problems with F@H giving up CPU. memory, on the other hand... that can be a PITA.

just curious, but what OS are you running?
 
It almost seems, as someone said before, you have a Pentium with Hyperthreading. BTW--you should be running 2 instances of F@H in order to get max performance out of your P4 (assuming you have a P4).

I know I've tried running F@H while gaming, and I think I decided I had to shut down F@H entirely in order to free up my cpu for the games. I may have been able to run only 1 instance of it while playing, though.....hm........I will check on this tonight.

*doh* Nevermind, I missed the first time reading through that it was an AXP




 
I have heard that CoD is a resource hog. Most people find that it slows F@H down too much, and quit playing. This might be the best solution. As soon as disease is conquered, then we can go back to killing Germans ( or maybe the French?).
 
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