• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

A couple dumb questions about CLI SETI

J

jtusa

Diamond Member
First, why must I run a blank screensaver? Not a big deal, I turn the monitor off most of the time anyways, just curious.

Second, running the priority at IDLE means that SETI will take a backseat to everything else that runs correct? It's only using CPU that normally would fall under "system idle"?
 
first: turning off the monitor doesn't mean that you computer isn't still calculating stuff. Imagin turning off the monitor while you play a computer game. You can't see it, but it's still being worked on. That's what the blank sreensaver is for I guess.

second: Yip, that's right.
 
Not that I'm an expert on this, but running the blank screensaver or the CLI version actually speeds up the crunching process. I don't really know if it would affect the speed if you turn off the monitor, but I would imagine that the computer would still run the screensaver program even though the monitor is off, thereby taking processing power away from the actual program.

As for running at Idle priority,Yes, Seti will take a back seat to any other program requiring processor use. I run mine at Low priority without too much of an effect on what I do with the computer. Anything higher than that will really show when you try to use the computer for anything else.



Hi BMC

:beer:
 
Running a screensaver consumes processor power that could be better put to use to run SETI. My personal preference (and recommendation for others) is to set your system to use no screensaver at all, but instead set up the power saving options to shut down the monitor after 15 minutes or whatever. Also, be sure that your hard disks are set not to power down, because your distributed computing program needs to be able to access them.

Edit: Ok, I see some misunderstandings here... I'll try to clear things up.

Whether the monitor is on or off does not matter to the computer. Your graphics drivers use DDC to get info on screen size and supported resolutions when your OS goes into graphics mode for the first time, but other than that, AFAIK, communication between your computer and monitor is a one-way ordeal. Hence, having or not having a monitor connected and/or powered on does nothing to affect the speed of anything on your computer.

Running a blank screensaver won't make anything faster than it would be otherwise; all it will do is prevent background tasks (e.g. SETI) from being slowed down. Now, in the case of SETI, the CLI is much faster (or, more efficient) than the GUI, for reasons that are beyond my understanding. This does not necessarily hold true in all projects under all circumstances, but that could get confusing so I'll stop for now. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: ProviaFan
Running a screensaver consumes processor power that could be better put to use to run SETI. My personal preference (and recommendation for others) is to set your system to use no screensaver at all, but instead set up the power saving options to shut down the monitor after 15 minutes or whatever. Also, be sure that your hard disks are set not to power down, because your distributed computing program needs to be able to access them.
Click to expand...
edit: :laugh:'s at jleitchy's sig
 
Originally posted by: BlackMountainCow
first: turning off the monitor doesn't mean that you computer isn't still calculating stuff. Imagin turning off the monitor while you play a computer game. You can't see it, but it's still being worked on. That's what the blank sreensaver is for I guess.

second: Yip, that's right.
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah, I know. I guess I worded that wrong. I meant I turn the monitor off anyways so a screensaver is useless to me, I was just curious if there was a particular reason why you couldn't have a normal screensaver running while SETI is working.
 
Originally posted by: jtusa4
Haha, yeah, I know. I guess I worded that wrong. I meant I turn the monitor off anyways so a screensaver is useless to me, I was just curious if there was a particular reason why you couldn't have a normal screensaver running while SETI is working.
Click to expand...
I think the main issue is that you'll loose significant amounts of CPU power that SETI could be using if you instead use a graphics-intense screensaver. Since pretty much all of us (AFAIK) are tweaking freaks, we demand maximum performance from our systems, and hence the recommendation is given that no screensaver (or a blank screensaver, or whatever) is best. 😀
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top