BOINC project good for slower CPUs?

[bluestrobe]

Been crunching only PrimeGrid for about two months now due to the small crunch times. I want to try something new but easier for slower computers. The fastest computers I have are a 4 year old 2.66ghz P4 (Northwood) and an AMD XP3000 (Barton). My web/ftp servers are of the P3 era. Whats the next best project for these systems? I change projects every couple of months so a short term project would be ok. Thanks!

 

[keeleysam]

Use an MMX/SSE SETI app, and you'll get pretty good times on those chips.

 

[bluestrobe]

I searched for threads on it and ran into a few. Is there a thread that goes into detail on this "special" app?

 

[bluestrobe]

http://lunatics.at/index.php?module=Downloads;catd=4

I have two servers running 500mhzX2 Slot P3 and 933mhzX2 P3 Coppermines and a smaller rig running 666mhzX1 P3.

I know they all have SSE and MMX but which app to use?

 

[Philippart]

SIMAP

 

[caferace]

Run CPUID (google it) and it'll tell you which version of SSE your PIII's support. My guess is "just" SSE. FWIW, I have some PIII's running PG as well, and two of them just topped the 20k mark recently. It's a great project for these older procs...

-jim

 

[bluestrobe]

I checked with CPUID before and I found SSE and MMX.

 

[keeleysam]

Use the SSE application.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

I run BOINC on a PIII 600 and no matter what project I throw at it, it just works fine. Only stuff like ClimatePrediction would take wayyyyy too long. I think it's not so much the CPU but also the RAM that is important, especially on the old ones. My PIII only has 160 MB, which is fine for Malaria, LHC or Leiden, but can be tricky with some Rosetta WUs.

In that respect, I'd suggest to take look at the memory footprint of some of your most liked projects and then deiced accordingly about you PIII.

 

[caferace]

Originally posted by: BlackMountainCowIn that respect, I'd suggest to take look at the memory footprint of some of your most liked projects and then deiced accordingly about you PIII.

I'm going to go against BMC's suggestion here, and instead offer the advice that if you really intend to run a DC project on your PIII's, you ice them well.



-jim

 

[bluestrobe]

I think 360MB (lowest memory system I have) can handle the norm.

Edit: As posted in another thread, this is what I have.

933mhz Dual CPU P3 Coppermine 1GB ECC RAM

0807 Whetstone
1032 Dhrystone

500mhz Dual CPU P3 560MB RAM

0439 Whetstone
0735 Dhrystone

667mhz P3 Coppermine with 360MB RAM

0599 Whetstone
1046 Dhrystone

The auto analyzer/installer on the SETI site crashes on all of these systems. I'll try the SSE app later on after I get up. Bed time for now.

 

[CupCak3]

i've got a couple 500's or so running rosetta and they're crunching like there's no tomarrow

 

[TC10284]

Originally posted by: BlackMountainCow
I run BOINC on a PIII 600 and no matter what project I throw at it, it just works fine. Only stuff like ClimatePrediction would take wayyyyy too long. I think it's not so much the CPU but also the RAM that is important, especially on the old ones. My PIII only has 160 MB, which is fine for Malaria, LHC or Leiden, but can be tricky with some Rosetta WUs.

In that respect, I'd suggest to take look at the memory footprint of some of your most liked projects and then deiced accordingly about you PIII.

I tend to agree with you.

I've been running BOINC and as many projects as I can on mostly PII 266MHz or 350MHz (128MB to 256MB respectively RAM) systems upstairs at school. Most of the projects I attach to process and have no problems with going over the deadline. I can't remember off the top of my head which few I have issues with going over the deadline, but I know Rosetta is one of them and of course the others like CPDN, BBC, and Seasonal. These systems were just sitting around, so I setup as many as I could to run BOINC on Fedora Core 4/5 and Ubuntu. I have about twenty of these going.

I have other systems downstairs at school that are in the PII 400MHz to dual PIII 550MHz range with 384MB to 512MB of RAM. I have one P4 2.0GHz running CPDN.

BTW, check out the second link in my sig. 1100 some Recent Added Credit comes from the systems mentioned above. The first link is of my three or so home systems running BOINC.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

:laugh: @ Jim!

 

[TC10284]

Some pics that you may find interesting:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tcurry1/images/Down%20Stairs%20-%20Hosts.JPG
http://home.earthlink.net/~tcurry1/images/Down%20Stairs%20-%20Projects.JPG
http://home.earthlink.net/~tcurry1/images/Down%20Stairs%20-%20Work.JPG
The FC5-4 System is a PIII 450MHz 256MB RAM. The Duron and "loaner" systems are Duron 700MHz CPUs. The Compaq is a K6-2 400 or 450MHz I think.

http://home.earthlink.net/~tcurry1/images/Up%20Stairs%20-%20Hosts.JPG
http://home.earthlink.net/~tcurry1/images/Up%20Stairs%20-%20Projects.JPG
http://home.earthlink.net/~tcurry1/images/Up%20Stairs%20-%20Work.JPG

Also OP, if you haven't already, you may want to post this question in the Boinc Synergy Forums at www.boincsynergy.com