Hey all!

I am currently using the SETI client/worker CLI 4.30 for 7400 CPUs, it runs with Boinc advanced GUI (4.35) on a G4/400 gigabit, OS 10.3.9.

Maybe I have had real bad luck with some workunits, but so far there is not an increase in speed, I even went down about one hour in crunch time.

I am just guessing: maybe it is because I am at the low end of processors? But if the optimisation went right, it should work for all types of 7400 CPUs, even if the advantage might be very small.....

Well, I would be glad to get some help with that!

Thank you very much.

Well, it looks like the problem only occurs when using the advanced GUI.
I tried the client with a command line BOINC, and results improved very much. Same results with the Menubar (simple GUI).

So it seems that advanced GUI changes some things about client handling, that slow down the optimised SETI client.

[Shaktai]

Originally Posted by Matt Slow

Well, it looks like the problem only occurs when using the advanced GUI.
I tried the client with a command line BOINC, and results improved very much. Same results with the Menubar (simple GUI).

So it seems that advanced GUI changes some things about client handling, that slow down the optimised SETI client.

Thanks for the feedback Matt. That is good to know. When you were running the advanced GUI, did you have the project manager window open or closed? I have found that on older machines, having it open seems to steal a lot of CPU cycles. Closing it give those cycles back to the CPU. Might be affected by the quality of the graphics card and amount of graphics memory as well (even though there are no project graphics displayed.

I always used advanced GUI with closed window, after having a short (important!) check with activity monitor (which uses resources as well.....!)

I think on my G4/400 with Rage 128 pro it really took alot of resources, could go up to 15 or 20 percent. I could imagine, even with newer Macs, there will be a significant loss.

btw: with windows machines it is not that much better (even if the GUI window will take less CPU usage). every background app like firewall or virusscan will slow down about 10%, at least what I checked on my old laptop. So if you can spare some of them without risking your security, it is worth a try.

[Todd Madson]

I never, ever, ever use a GUI version of a distributed computing client.
The cli versions are always the fastest in my experience, that goes for windows, linux and os_x.

[Shaktai]

Originally Posted by Todd Madson

I never, ever, ever use a GUI version of a distributed computing client.
The cli versions are always the fastest in my experience, that goes for windows, linux and os_x.

I agree that the CLI are almost always the most effecient. However, many of our members are not comfortable with the CLI and will only use GUI. Participation is fun for them and ease of use is more important then maximum output. It is important that we keep all of our options open and discuss them.