I see a Thread from some time back saying Pentium 3 are not suitable for these models.
Since this model is estimated at 360 + hours computing I'd like to know if my 2 Pentiums are of an OK type.
They are described as in the SYSTEM display within CONTROL PANEL as follows:

CPU 2020M @ 2.4GHz
Installed RAM - 4Gbyte
64 Bit Operating System - X64 Based Processor

I wont let it start until I get an OK from someone who knows their stuff about Pentiums and HADCM3N

Thanks Mike Molson

Please reply direct to my email address viz
mike_molson@hotmail.com

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This page, http://climateapps2.oerc.ox.ac.uk/cpdnboinc/tech_faq_boinc.php

Gives the information about what is needed in processors. Any processor from Pentium4 days onwards will have the SSE2 instruction set which is the crucial bit. Being a bit out of date in my knowledge of CPU families I had to go here

http://www.speedtraq.com/

To work out that your cpu is an i3 which is the same series as my own which works fine.

Bottom line

Go ahead. It is worth making sure on a Windows machine that the boinc directories are excluded from virus checking scans which sometimes put a lock on files they are examining which can cause the task to crash.

Good crunching

Dave

HI Dave

Thanks for your help on this. From the Climateapp2 link you sent I can see I have enough grunts and RAM - but how do I know I have Pentium4 or later so that I know that SSE2 stuff is in my boxes?

Sorry to be a pain in the A mate - just want to be sure.

PS - I wasted 1.6 million CPU seconds on a MilkyWay model 2 weeks back and don't want something like that again.

Thanks again

Mike

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All pentium4 and later processors have SSE2 instructions. As yours is an I3 it will have them. Also if a processor is incapable of running a CPDN task it will crash straight away leaving you in no doubt that it won't work. Some tasks will crash because the model leads to an impossible climate, e.g. a negative barometric pressure. If this happens you still get credits for the crunching you have done and the information is still of value to the researchers. I know that some other projects only give credits for completed models, that is not the case here. The processors that don't work are all pre-2011/12 so unless you have an old machine you are unlikely to run into problems here. Even my netbook (which is currently awaiting a new hard disk) will run these tasks with an aging atom processor.

Hi Dave

Thanks again. My system is new this year so I feel OK now. Your other comments about crashes were good too - I was pissed off with the Milky Way 1.6 million seconds for which I got 0 credits (and incidentally no response of any kind to my telling them about it.

BTW where are you located - I'm in OZ.

Mike

NP.

I am on the other side of the world, Cambridge, UK

Hello Mike

Greetings vom Stuttgart, Germany

Your pentiums are just fine (if it's both times 2020M). As Dave said the only definite restriction is a command extension set called sse2. Now in reality, this is a real fossil of command extension set, introduced as early as 2001. Roughly 2005 or 2006 the last CPUs without sse2 were produced/delivered.

The characteristics of your computer are shown on the follwing INTEL-page:

http://ark.intel.com/de/products/71142/Intel-Pentium-Processor-2020M-2M-Cache-2_40-GHz

Your computer has sse4x. CPU's with that practically always include all lower versions of sse (sse2, sse3, ssse3).

More important than CPU is that you take care of your computer (probably a mobile computer anyway) in general. Treat your computer carefully, don't push it hard. There are a lot of harddisk-operations so make sure you don't mechanically stress your harddisk too much. Furtheron take care of heat generation in your laptop. Maybe clean it up before use to insure optimal air flow. Furtheron don't confuse your laptop with too many complex situations, say frequent change of other applications (outside Boinc/CPDN) and turning the computer off and on frequently. Best scenario is, having Boinc/CPDN as only application, then putting the computer on a table, starting the task an then letting it untouched for those 10-20 days.

Hi Waldmeister,

Thanks for this information and guidelines.

I have SSD 'hard disk' so no moving parts here. I run a temperature monitor called Throttle that displays the temp. in each of the Processors. The only thing is I don't really know is what the OK temp. range is - I watch it for big swings but it has always been in the range of low 60's to low 70's and I've had no issues with it.

I've settled in to running a mix (1 of each) of BOINC/CPDN and BOINC/GridRepublic projects (I'm keen to help with Cancer and Clean Energy as well as Climate Change). I'm always close to 100% on each of the CPU's for 24 hours a day. When I'm not doing surfing/email stuff for a few hours I dim the Display Panel and I run down the battery to (say) 10% on a daily basis to keep it healthy. Normally the system will run several days without being booted - to keep it healthy I run Norton Utilties daily to clean Registry, Temp. Files and the like. As well I run a Norton Internet Security scan each day to keep the nasties away and I've had no problems with virus etc. for many months.

Got any more advice regarding keeping my system healthy?

Thanks again


Mike

Do you have any advice on what temp. range my CPU's should maintain.

CPU-temperature is a science in itself, because all CPU have different levels of max. temp. and you always have to have knowledge about the exact read out process. Therefore I have to admit, I'm not the finest expert in the field of computer temperature settings, however it seems at the high end of the legal range. If you hadn't any problems up till now with those temperatures, then keep up the good work.

However I'm a little concerned about SSD. Now, SSD is generally a fine thing, great advance and alternate in technology. However it has one drawback, one disadvantage that doesn't usually show up in many other computer operations but may show up in BOINC/CPDN: Due to the relatively frequent file update operations with huge amounts of data you touch one field, where SSD is still disadvantageous to HDD, and that is the amount/count of writing operations on SSD. You may refer to that attribute by reading general remarks (e.g. wikipedia) on SSD.

That said, I personally have no practical experience with SSD on my own, so my remarks are purely hypothetical. However just by theoretical thinking, just by calculation of the amount of data-heavy writing operations on SDD those extremely long CPDN tasks on their own may use up a significant part if not the entire life span of an SDD.

SSD should usually be used in an environment where read operation significantly outnumber write operations; e.g. bootup-process of computer.

Also, please read the follwing interesting experience by Dave himself (lowest entry):
http://climateapps2.oerc.ox.ac.uk/cpdnboinc/forum_thread.php?id=7446&nowrap=true#44754

Therefore, concerning SSD, you may ask Dave, he may be a better "practical" expert running BOINC/CPDN on SSD.

[quote]
I run down the battery to (say) 10% on a daily basis to keep it healthy. Normally the system will run several days without being booted - to keep it healthy.

I am not so sure that running the battery down daily and then recharging it will �keep it healthy.� It is more likely to wear it out. The is a lithium ion battery not a Ni-Cad. They have a finite number of charge/recharge cycles.

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Instructions with my laptop suggest battery removal if the machine is to be run continuously -- days or weeks. And so I do.

Also, it is limited to three concurrent tasks, rather than four, to be kind to heat-sensitive components. (In addition, pill-bottle caps are placed under the machine's feet to allow more air-space under the thing. [Years ago, an early Mod. posted {on the old php boards} that his wooden desk-top split from laptop heat.])


No experience here with SSD either but, as Waldmeister writes, for all I've read, those units have a finite (read: short) write-life. Hence, I avoid them for this project.

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"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
Greetings from coastal Washington state, the scenic US Pacific Northwest.

I had a small 64GB ssd in my netbook which gave up the ghost after about 18 months. I assume because of running CPDN on it. I might be prepared to give it another go with an ssd but only if it is at least 512GB and then I would only run one of the two cores at a time. At present I haven't replaced the disk in it yet.

In another thread, someone tells me thy have been running an SSD for considerably longer without any problems but unless you have a decent sized one to spread out the read writes be careful.

Down to approx. 50% and no issues at all. Thanks to all of you for advices.

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More of an issue I think is memory than processor these days. I have because of no tasks in the pipeline cut down to using 50% of cores. this has led to quite a dramatic decrease in estimated time to completion of tasks. Makes me think that with memory being shared by graphics even though I don't do anything ntensive, maybe 4GB isn't enough to run at full speed.