PC crashes when running 2 instances of Seti@home

[ThomS]

I have a P4C 2.6@3.25ghz on p4c800 e del. The fsb is set 1:1 250MGHZ FSB with 512 megs pc4000. I can run prime 95 all day every day, and only seem top have trouble when I run 2 instances of SETI@home. The sytem completly restarts, it will only run for about an hour. I have no trouble with extended gaming or anything else for that matter so I am curious if anyone would have any advice for me. Thanks

**by the way I have had one instance running for a couple of days now so it doesn't seem to be a problem with the software I think it must be the overclock?**

 

[paco83]

I would think that it would be a conflict of 2 instances of the software running at the same time. I don't use seti, but i would think there might be some sort of conflict of 2 instances of the software trying to use the same system resource at the same time. If you can run prime95 all day, i would doubt it's your overclock.

 

[Blooz1]

Well, running 2 iterations of SETI is actually very common, many people do this all the time. I run 2 iterations on each of my 2 systems 24/7 for the past 4-5 months without a problem. (I just want to point out that it's not the SETI program....)

 

[Doh!]

I would say your overclocking is at fault.

 

[IsOs]

You probably need to slow it down a little

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: IsOs
You probably need to slow it down a little

Or raise the voltage.

 

[ThomS]

what is an acceptable voltage for me to try. I am at 1.536

 

[ThomS]

Upped the voltage to 1.552. So far so good. I am kind of scared the asus board overvolts like a crazy. My vcore shoots up to 1.61, at times. This seems to happen particularly when the system is at idle.

 

[Sunny129]

has simultaneously running two intances of SETI proven to be faster or more efficient than running just one instance?

 

When the aliens are good and ready to contact us, I'm sure they will. Dont run SETI.

 

[RalfHutter]

Originally posted by: gorillaman
When the aliens are good and ready to contact us, I'm sure they will. Dont run SETI.

Not running SETI doesn't serve to address the fact that he's not stable under load. He should still try to correct that, aliens or not.

 

[canadianpsycho]

Originally posted by: ThomS
Upped the voltage to 1.552. So far so good. I am kind of scared the asus board overvolts like a crazy. My vcore shoots up to 1.61, at times. This seems to happen particularly when the system is at idle.

1.65-1.675 is usually safe. Don't crack 1.7.

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: Sunny129
has simultaneously running two intances of SETI proven to be faster or more efficient than running just one instance?

On HT enabled P4 systems only yes

Thoms
Is your rig stable now?

gorillaman
Don't you believe it

 

[chsh1ca]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

Originally posted by: Sunny129
has simultaneously running two intances of SETI proven to be faster or more efficient than running just one instance?

On HT enabled P4 systems only yes

What about DP systems? I imagine a dually rig would tear data units up faster than a solitary HT rig would.

 

[Assimilator1]

Yeah naturally Dualie units are better off with 2 instances too ,I don't know how a Dualie would compare to a P4 HT rig ,would depend on clock speed I guess..................mind you ,just imagine a Dualie P4 HT!:Q

 

[Greg03]

Just an unasked for opine - when I found out it cost me over $150/yr in electricity alone to run a 3.0ghz SETI puter, my interest in it waned

 

[Assimilator1]

Blimey you've got expensive electricity!:Q
Here in the UK it costs about £6/mth for 1 PC 24/7 (£72/yr)

Besides,you don't have to run it 24/7 (btw are you in Team Anandtech?)

 

[Mark R]

[/quote]Here in the UK it costs about £6/mth for 1 PC 24/7 (£72/yr)[/quote]

It depends on the PC. Something like a Duron or celeron system would use about £6/month 24/7 - but something like a P4 3.06 or an Athlon XP with multiple HDDs could easily double that (especially if it is running a compuational task).

 

[Assimilator1]

Nah ,it wouldn't double it.When I was thinking £6/mth that was for an Athlon rig or a high end PIII,a very high clocked Ath XP or P4 may add about 25% (ish) to that but it wouldn't double it ,unless perhaps you had dual CPUs.
As for multiple HDDs ,you only need 1 awake for the OS & SETI ,the other can go to sleep so saving a little power

Something like a hi end PIII PC would use about 100w whilst an Athlon XP might use about 125w ,& probably a little more for a top end Barton core or a P4.Thats total PC consumption ,not CPU consumption

 

[FPSguy]

Originally posted by: RalfHutter

Originally posted by: gorillaman
When the aliens are good and ready to contact us, I'm sure they will. Dont run SETI.

Not running SETI doesn't serve to address the fact that he's not stable under load. He should still try to correct that, aliens or not.

It depends on how you define stable. If it runs one instance of SETI and plays all his games just fine, and if he doesn't need to run two instances of SETI, then it doesn't really matter if the one thing it won't do is run two instances of SETI.

Reminds me of the old joke --

Patient: "Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I go like this. What should I do?"
Doctor: "Don't go like that."

 

[jhites]

I have a P4C 2.6@3.25ghz on p4c800 e del. The fsb is set 1:1 250MGHZ FSB with 512 megs pc4000. I can run prime 95 all day every day, and only seem top have trouble when I run 2 instances of SETI@home.

I have run 2 instances of seti on all of my P4C rigs and never had a problem unless they were unstable. If you are only running one instance of Prime95 then you are not comparing apples to apples. An HT cpu will only be using 50% of the resouces when running one instance but when running 2 it will use 100%.

The P4C800 seems to be picky about the ram, especially PC4000. My P4C800-Dlx with a 2.6C @ 3.4Ghz and HyperX PC3500 using 5:4 (CL2-2-2-5) is solid as a rock and can run 2 instances of anything I throw at her. There have been many reports with issues on this board and PC4000.

If you want to check your stability, I would suggest that you run MemTest86 thru at least the standard set of tests. Then run 2 instances of Prime95. Start the 2nd one from the command line like this with the -a2 switch:
"C:\Program Files\Prime95\Prime95.exe" -a2

You should get about 18-20 wu's a day running two instances of seti on that rig depending on the ar's.