Hi,

Two queries.

1. Strategy for unattended hot running.

Summer time Down Under at the moment (you know shorts etc) & I would like to leave the tasks running when I go on holiday. However when the ambient gets up a bit, the CPU hovers around 60C. This isn\'t quite at throuttling temp for an old 3GHz P4, but two weeks away when it could be 30C+ outside could be interesting.
Options:
1. Forget about it and let the P4 throttle.
2. Forget about it and turn the air-con on (??).
3. Switch PC off.
4. Suspend 1 task for the duration. (From reading other posts; tell boinc \"no new tasks\" (does this toggle back on?), then suspend one task is the correct way to do this?) Which one?
5. In preferences, allow only 1 processor instead of the 2 currently running. (If those are the correct terms for an old hperthreading P4?)

What\'s the best advice? (I\'d actually like to get some of these finished!)

2. sec/TS speed.
Previously it\'s been suggested one of my models is running fairly slow. Currently running hadsm3 slab (result 6959366) at 3.9 sec/TS & hedcm3 coupled (result 6967836) at 6.0 sec/TS.
Are these about norm for this processor, or is there no such thing as a norm? (BTW, the PC has been completely rebuilt software wise, so it is as fast as it is going to get - there was a huge improvement in boottimes etc after the rebuild. No more mods to this PC as low energy replacement due sometime next year.) If not, would I be better off running one task only over 2 processors (or does that not work?) Can\'t see any way to speed things up.

Regards,

Martin
Computer ID 795814

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You forgot:
6. Set the prefs so that the computer only runs between the hours of:

So, use 5 & 6. Then the two models will alternate at the switch interval, (default: 60 minutes), and only during the cool hours, say 2am to 8am.


4. Yes, it\'s a toggle. The label changes when the button is clicked, as does the message against the project name.

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The HT P4s ARE slow running 2 models toegther, because of memory contention. But there is a time gain compared to running 2 models one after the other.
And also increased processor heat.

No, it\'s not possible to run one model across multiple processors.

And don\'t forget to Exit from BOINC and make a backup before making any changes.

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Backups: Here

Thanks Les,

I already use the time slot function (using local Boinc Manager preferences) to give a couple of other background programs a chance to do their thing, but hadn\'t considered it for this. Probably not necessary, as with 5) actioned the temperature drops anyway.

Interesting point about exiting Boinc before changing preferences. I hadn\'t realised until now that changing preferences stopped/suspended the tasks while the new change is actioned. As I allow \"leave applications in memory\" (in the local preferences) hopefully things continue where they were suspended. But there is no real way of knowing if local rather than global (web)preferences are in use, other than spotting the \"Reading preferences overide file\" line in the messages. Perhaps the nice BOINC people could put an indicator on the local preferences screen to show whether or not it is active.

Now the crucial question is, are some preference changes more volitile than others? So far I\'ve not screwed the model by making local preference changes, but they have only been things like time of day and allowing computing while computer in use. Reading between the lines of your reply, changing to only one processor may be a bit more problematical, but that said, there is no BOINC guidance on this that I can find.

So if I use local preferences to set the processor, I can only suspend the tasks not quit the process completely. To be safe I could stop and use the Global preferences, but if I had a multi PC setup, could I use the local preferences for this change? Recent backups are assumed in both cases.

Regards, Martin

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The \"Exit\" was to be considered with \"Backup\".
And I had in mind the server prefs, where you CAN Exit from BOINC.
I\'ve not used the local prefs, so I don\'t have advice about them.

Where there is a chance of Oops! I like to have a backup. AND the Network suspended. (New tasks is always No while running.)
On my quads, I start a shutdown by Suspending each model in turn as it goes past the checkpoint, and then also set BOINC for Suspend as well.

I don\'t think that changing to one processor will be a problem, but every situation is different. You should just get a message about the prefs being changed and/or the number of processors being changed.