A couple of SETI performance questions

[Logix]

I just dusted off my old eMachines PIII 500MHz and started it crunching SETI with the CLI and SETI Driver in Windows ME. My questions:

1. What times should I be getting for a Pentium III 500? From what I've seen, it looks like I'm getting a little under 12 hours per work unit. Is this typical?

2. Related to the above, is there anyway to overclock an eMachine? Obviously, it probably wouldn't o/c very far with its amazing 125W power supply, but if I could squeeze a few extra megahertz out of it, I'd like too. The BIOS isn't any help, and the motherboard is generic and small with no instruction manual.

3. I'm running Windows ME on it. Between ME, Windows 98, and Windows 95, which would be the fastest at crunching work units? I would like to put 2K or XP on it, but the above three OSes are the only options I currently have available.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Wiz]

Yes, 12 hours is normal for that.
I wouldn't think it would be worth it to make any changes unless you have other reasons.
You won't get any faster than 12 hours. But that is 2 WU per day

 

[IsOs]

My PIII 500 running Windows 2000 is about 11 Hrs 12 mins and that's a heavily use computer. Lots of spreadsheets, word processing, accounting, and graphics work during normal business hours.

Sorry, I don't know much about eMachines abilities

 

[Wiz]

emachines are generally not made of the "best stuff" no offense intended. That's why I advised not to push it.

 

[Logix]

Yeah, I had trouble booting it up at first after pulling it out of the closet. I swapped the two RAM chips and it booted up. Unfortunately, it has one of the worst power supplies I've ever encountered.

But, the price to performance ratio is hard to beat on eMachines. If you're just going to be word processing and using the internet, they're definitely worth it. In that case, they make good, cheap SETI crack boxes as well.

 

[Maggotry]

<< 2. Related to the above, is there anyway to overclock an eMachine? Obviously, it probably wouldn't o/c very far with its amazing 125W power supply, but if I could squeeze a few extra megahertz out of it, I'd like too. The BIOS isn't any help, and the motherboard is generic and small with no instruction manual. >>


eMachines, like so many other department store PC's, use proprietary mobo's. Most eMachines I've seen use Micro-ATX mobo's. There's nothing in the BIOS for adjusting the FSB? Can you change the memory timings? If you can't adjust the FSB, DRAM freq, or memory timings, then you have no oc'ing options left. Look at the mobo real close. If there's nothing in the BIOS to tweak, then the timings are probably set with old-school jumpers and dip switches. The jumpers and dip's are usually labeled on the mobo as to what they are. Some mobo's even have a tiny chart silk-screened onto the mobo that tell you what the dip settings do.

 

[Logix]

I looked pretty closely at the motherboard, but didn't see anything that stuck out. Truth be told, I've never overclocked via jumpers before, so I really don't know what to look for. Right now the computer is buried under my desk, but I'll take a closer look at it again sometime later today.

 

[Logix]

Thanks for the responses... anymore advice?