DC Software + Threadmaster

[iotone]

I currently have a pretty old system with subpar cooling. I saw Threadmaster as an add-on to BOINC which could be used to limit how much processor percentage the program uses...

Does anyone have experience using this? The release on the BOINC site has it preset for SETI (I'm imagining for the non-BOINC SETI), but has instructions on using it with different programs.

I'm new to this DC thing, and I'd like to contribute what I can without having my system freeze/restart everytime my CPU starts to get too hot.

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Are you actually sure, that it will cause your PC to restart? I mean, if it has the standard cooling it was delivered with in the first place, then there isn't much to worry about in most cases. What kind of PC are we talking about here? Any ideas on the temps you really have? If not, either look into your BIOS or use motherboardmonitor (http://mbm.livewiredev.com/) to get some temps - if your board has a temp sensor.

Just give us some more info and specs of your PC and we will help you!

:beer:😀:beer:

 

[iotone]

it's a home built machine... thunderbird originally at 800 i think?? oc'd to 1 gig... running on an ABIT KT-7... the temps i'm reading from CoolMon are around 42-43C usually... when i start up BOINC or the distributed.net client, the temps climb to around 60C... sometimes it stays pretty stable, but sometimes it just freezes up...

as far as cooling, i have an old Taisol Heatsink/Fan combo (can't quite remember the model), CoolMon reports about 5300 RPM's from the fan...

i don't know what case i have, i bought a cheap one at a computer show when i built it... the comp is about 5 years old...

i've never really had to push my computer that hard before, that's probably why i never really noticed any overheating... hence, that's why i'm thinking about using Threadmaster to keep the processing level down...

as a side note: i currently have the dnet client run when going to screensaver, but i have it set up only to work on 1 packet and exit, which holds up about 80% (sometimes my screen stays dark and i have to restart)

anyways, thanks for the help! i'm trying to contribute what i can to the TeAm 🙂

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Now don't take this wrong, but if your PC crashes so often, are you sure you want to run a DC on it? Because, it's more than likely that the results you return are probably invalid and you won't get any credit for it. Honestly, if a computer crashes under load, that points to a more severe problem. Have you ever tried to run any stability test programes on it, like Prime95 for your CPU or memtest86+ for your memory? Did you eer reseat the heatsink/fan combo on your CPU? Sometimes, these things just tend to twist a bit and thus the contact isn'T good anymore --> lots of heat. Also, I'd suggest you grab some ArcticSilver5 (or 3) and replace the heatpad that connects CPU and heatsink with it. That'll give you some extra headspace temperature wise.

Please, don't take me wrong, your help is very much appreciated. But if the results returned are worthless, you don't get credit, TA as a team doesn't, the scientific purpose isn't served and you gonna get frustrated and have a high electricity bill in addition to that. So you really need to sort these problems out beforehand. Threadmaster is only a bandaid but not a remedy to your problems.

Please stay in touch and report back here so we can get you more help as needed!


Cheers!


:beer:😀:beer:

 

[iotone]

thanks! i'll try those and see what comes up... if anything, i'm sure the ArcticSilver will help... it may be a time for an upgrade anyways...

thanks again for the help!

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Hehe ... upgrade is always a good thing, 'cause then you gonna have two systems crunching DCs! 😛

 

[Coolkid]

Originally posted by: BlackMountainCow
Hehe ... upgrade is always a good thing, 'cause then you gonna have two systems crunching DCs! 😛

Exactly 😉