SETI@Home Speed

[Corey0808]

I just got my Barton 2500+ on an ABIT NF7-S v2.0 Motherboard. When I run SETI it takes like 20 hours to do one packet. How come it takes so long? I hear of other people doing like 8 or 9 packets in a day. What am I doing wrong?

I have the CPU at stock speeds with a 1:1 ratio on the RAM. I believe it should be going a lot faster than this. Maybe there is a setting messed up?

Thanks....

 

[Soulkeeper]

is your cache disabled in the bios maybe ?

 

[Corey0808]

Which Cache? I know there is a few different options in the BIOS but I don't know where it is I know I should be doing packets faster than this. Any other ideas?

 

[mechBgon]

Are you using the slow screensaver-style S@H client? It's slower, although even that would not account for your 20-hour results, unless you got the granddaddy of low-angle-range work units or something.

Try the command-line-interface (CLI) version in combination with SETIDriver (follow the instructions here precisely, except use the 3.08 "i386-winnt-cmdline.exe" client from here). With a 2500+ you should now get results something like mine. As you can see, the results vary depending upon the work unit's AR (angle range).

 

[klaatu51]

Corey0808,
As someone mentioned, the CLI version is quicker, but if you wish to keep the screensaver
version you can click on control panel, then display, and then click on the screensaver
tab and set it to none. When I first started with S@H with a 300MHz Celeron the WU's
took about 130 hours. Switching the screensaver to none cut my times to 35-40 hours.
With my new box running a 2.4GHzB chip, but still running the screensaver, my times are
4-5 hours and I have completed 1702 to date. You can always use one of the add-on's
to keep up with things. Good luck.

klaatu51

 

[klaatu51]

Corey0808,
Forgot to mention you can check at the "Distributed Computing" board for an answer.

klaatu51

 

[Corey0808]

If I get the CLI version can I still let it run as a screensaver? If not how much will it effect my performance if I have it running all the time. I have 512Mb of RAM by the way.

 

[mechBgon]

The performance hit is essentially zero for an AthlonXP system. The main loss is that your S@H client will be using about 16MB of RAM that could otherwise be used for a game or something. If you want that 16MB of RAM freed up, you can shut down SETIDriver while gaming.

The CLI version is built for pure efficiency, and has no graphics associated with it at all. If you really want to use the CLI version but only while the computer is truly idle, you could set up a Windows Scheduled Task that runs the client when the computer has been idle for X number of minutes.

Bigger picture: SETI@Home is nearly over. It won't matter for much longer... a few months at the most.

 

[Corey0808]

Is there another type of program that I can run on my computer so it will do something useful like SETI@home does?
If so where can I get the efficient version of it?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Corey0808
Is there another type of program that I can run on my computer so it will do something useful like SETI@home does?
If so where can I get the efficient version of it?

Absolutely I wrote up some FAQs that detailed eight different projects, although there are many more: article introducing the new FAQs

Check over at the Distributed Computing section of this Forum for some more interesting ones

 

[Ronin]

There's a thread in the DC forum relating to someone with a similar problem (heck, might even have been yours, but I don't remember). You may want to check there and see if there are some helpful hints.

 

[rancherlee]

sometimes I get a REALLY long work unit, like 12 hours. I averaged 3H 5min with my 1600+@1750mhz. My New Mobile 2400+ barton is cranking ~2H and 30min a unit.

 

[pspada]

My 3000+ running at 11.5x200fsb does a work unit in about 2.5 hours. This is the CLI version, of course.