I want to go faster in (SETI) - 2

[Maggi]

Thanx Jan !!!

Havn't checked it recently, but the prob was there with 2.0

[Rattledagger]

Maggi, I tested both cmd-2.0 and cmd-2.4 before my reply with and without a test-unit. (I didn't send any result out...)
If -stop_after_xfer does crunch the wu, you're either stumbled on another win9x-bug, or you're not using the i386-winnt-2.x-client, but something else to crunch with.

[Maggi]

this is really weird ... it did do that back when I was using 2.0

and yes, I'm using that winnt-cmd-line.exe

Thanx for feedback though !

Cheers,
Maggi

[Maggi]

this is really weird ... it did do that back when I was using 2.0

and yes, I'm using that winnt-cmd-line.exe under Win98SE (if that makes a diff)

Thanx for feedback though !

Cheers,
Maggi

[Kruse]

Just my two cents worth...

At work, where I generally don't have time to check up on Seti very often and I have numerous computers going on and off with different users, I use SetiQ.

I've set up SetiQ on my own machine at work. I installed it as a service using FireDaemon (can't remember where I got it, but could find out). I then install CLI Seti on all the computers I get permission for also as a service using FireDaemon. The Seti's are set up to use my machine as a proxy.

That way as long as my machine is running (and whether or not anyone is logged in), all the other machines can connect. SetiQ secretly caches results for 24 hours, and it has a WU cache that'll last for a few days if the servers go down.

I definitely recommend it. Only downside is you have to have administrator rights on a machine to install a service (and it only works on NT ofcourse).

[Assimilator1]

Unless I misread you ,SETIQ also works on Win 95 & 98

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I guess I won't recruit for my team here TA

[Swing]

After all of the help you have provided me, I have found something that may help others here.

Someone said that SETI@home can operate within a 1MB cache. This proves the importance of system RAM speed for those of us using CPUs with much less L-2 cache than 1MB.

I am using an early stepping PIII 600E at 800MHz (133MHz FSB). I have a 128MB stick of high quality PC133 SDRAM that is stable up to or beyond a FSB of 144MHz and RAM timing of 2,2,2 (that is as fast as I have been able to get the PIII).

The other stick of RAM is high quality PC100 that I have had for some time (two years or so). The PC100 runs at 133MHz, but I forgot that I had increased latency from 2,2,2 to 3,2,2.

I wanted to keep 256MB of RAM because of image work that I sometimes do and I cannot afford to buy another stick of high quality PC133 yet. Dropping the speed a little had no visible impact upon manipulating images.

However, SETI@home is greatly effected by RAM speed. This is what I did to permit me to keep the PC100 RAM and increase speed (drop the time to complete a WU.

As you advised, I switched from SETI@home for Windows to the command line version. This helped, but I was still averaging around 7 1/4 hours per WU.

This is the important part. Voltage I/O is 3.3 volts. If the VI/O is increased slightly to 3.65 volts, circuits that are pushed to the limits become more stable (including RAM).

I cut a section from an old OEM PII heat sink (tall), cleaned it up and used silver thermal epoxy to attach it to the clock generator on the motherboard. This provided effective cooling for high FSB. The next thing I did was to increase VI/O from 3.3 volts to 3.65 volts.

I then entered BIOS and reduced the system RAM timing from 3,2,2,5 to 2,2,2,5 (as fast as the BIOS allowed). After benchmarking, I found that the system, including RAM was very stable and faster with no increase in CPU speed.

Upon finishing the above I ran SETI@home. While crunching the next WU, I did a lot of other work, as I only have one computer. I completed the WU in 6 hours 2 minutes. The next WU was the first that I compledted in less than 6 hours, in fact my time was 5 hours 24 minutes. That WU was completed while I slept. The third WU was completed in 5 hours and 43 minutes (or somewhere in that area). The fourth WU was completed as I write this, time to complete was 5 hours and 39 minutes.

The first and third WU was performed while I wrote posts on the Internet, letters in MS Word, wrote e-mail and ran PhotoImpact. I used the computer during the fourth WU, but not as much as the first and third. If these times are now average for me, this is a great improvement.

I have not gone to Safe Mode to complete WUs... yet.

For those of you who are stuck with a RAM timing of 3,2,2 or higher (3,3,3), this is good news. In fact it is so good that I may repost this information in a new topic, because this one is getting so many posts, some people may not read all of them.

My motherboard is an ASUS P3V4X. The jumper location to change voltage I/O is located next to the CPU fan header. Cooling the clock generator by using a tall heatsink (or heatsink and fan) can help in overclocking the CPU, if the CPU can go faster than the motherboard is able.

I do not recommend using silver thermal epoxy unless you are expert at using it, use thermal epoxy instead. For those of you who do not know where to get thermal epoxy, one good source is here: www.chemtronics.com I now buy all of my heatsink (thermal) compounds from them.

Thanks again.

Swing




[This message has been edited by Swing (edited 03 July 2000).]

[Maggi]

Excellent findings, Swing !



Too bad I can't go any higher, because I 'm limited to 112MHz FSB and my RAM timings are already at 7ns (2/2/2) ...

Anyway, keep on crunching !

Cheers,
Maggi

[Swing]

Thanks Maggi.

Even at a FSB of only 112MHz, I bet that you are pushing your CPU hard to crunch WUs and not melt anything in the process!