[Shaktai]

The following applies only to the Macintosh Advanced GUI for BOINC. I have not tested it under the Simple (menubar) GUI and it should not apply to the terminal. However, since many Mac users are not comfortable with the terminal, the Advanced GUI provides a Mac friendly interface that works just like the Windows GUI.

WARNING. The advanced GUI is "Developmental". If you are not the adventurous type, you may not want to use it. However I have been running it on my iBook 600 and my iMac G5 1600 without problems for more then a week. My findings below are while running "Tiger" 10.4.0. I suspect they would also apply to "Panther" 10.3.x.

The advanced GUI allows you to control the BOINC program from "BOINC Manager" just like the windows program. It is easy and user friendly, however there is a flaw. Many users are tempted to leave BOINC Manager open all the time, so they can monitor their performance at a glance. While convenient it does reduce performance. On Windows, leaving BOINC Manager window open will only provide a 0.1% to a maximum of a 2% performance penalty (depending on hardware and OS version.) However on the Macintosh, BOINC Manager strikes a much larger penalty. On my iBook 600, (with really weak graphics support) Having the BOINC Mgr Window open was using 20-23% of CPU power. Simply closing the window provides more power for actual crunching. You can reopen the manager to check status or make changes in under 2 seconds, even on an iBook 600. On my iBook G5 1600 with better graphics support, the BOINC Manager Window was only stealing from 8-9% of CPU power, but that is still significant.

So, if you are running the BOINC Advanced GUI, close the BOINC Manager window to maximize crunching performance. You can reopen it quickly from the Menu bar if you need to make changes, do a manual update or just see how how you are doing. Even with Windows machines (especially the older and slower ones), where the impact is minimal, it is useful to close the Mgr Window just to be sure you aren't wasting any CPU power.

Closing the BOINC Manager window also seems to improve general system responsiveness, especially on slower machines.

Happy Crunching.

[Shaktai]

Oh, and before I forget, you can also run mikkyo's optimized BOINC clients with the Advanced GUI. If anyone needs step by step instructions on how to replace the standard client with an optimized for the BOINC GUI, just ask.

NOTE: Running the Optimized BOINC client will not noticably improve your crunch times for most projects. However it will improve benchmarking and claimed credit to keep you par with the Optimized Linux clients and Windows clients.

Sorry, I can not recommend using the optimised client with advanced GUI. No clue why, but I had a more then significant loss in crunch time (between 1-2 hs), compared to the original unoptimised 4.02 client.
(See the other thread)

You should add the hint, that folks should finish their working WUs as well before switching, and will lose their cache too. That would be helpful.

Anyhow, for G4 400 there will be no gain, just a loss in performance.

[Shaktai]

Originally Posted by Matt Slow

Sorry, I can not recommend using the optimised client with advanced GUI. No clue why, but I had a more then significant loss in crunch time (between 1-2 hs), compared to the original unoptimised 4.02 client.
(See the other thread)

You should add the hint, that folks should finish their working WUs as well before switching, and will lose their cache too. That would be helpful.

Anyhow, for G4 400 there will be no gain, just a loss in performance.

My reference was to the BOINC core Client, not to the SETI Application. Different people have had different results with the optimized SETI app (Doesn't even seem to be downloadable right now), but remember that BOINC is many different projects, not just SETI. Team MacNN participates in almost all of them.

[zac4mac]

Shaktai -

I'm running Einstein on my 3 OS X Macs thru BOINC Menubar or some such(at work now, can't check) and it seems to only run on one processor. There is a set of fields that looks like I can load the project a second time to use the other processor, ie they're all blank for the second project. If I can get it to run on both, I should see a nice jump in output as 2 of the 3 are duallies.

TIA for any help/ideas
Zack

[Welnic]

If you go to your account at Einstein you should be able to edit your Boinc general preferences. In there you can set the maximum number of processors to use. As long as you have that set to 2 then it should automatically load two clients and work on two sets of data. You shouldn't have to run another project.

[Shaktai]

zac4mac, it looks like your dualies are running two instances. Open activity monitor and see if there are two instances of the Einstein application running, with each using approximately 50% of CPU. If so, they you are okay. The older dual isn't clear, if it is running two though, but the newer one appears to be. (nice RAC on that box). If the older one is only running one instance, quit and restart (don't reset) and see if activity monitor then shows two instances running. If not, then try the Full Advanced GUI or the CLI The BOINC Manager will clearly show if two instances are running or not. Remember to close the BOINC Manager window when you don't need it, as it does use a lot of CPU power, especially on older machines. If you already have the Advanced GUI, you only need to go to the menu bar and select BOINC Manger.

NOTE: If BOINC MANAGER is greyed out in the menu bar icon, click the BOINC icon in the tray to bring it to the front and try again. I sometimes find that the first attempt will be greyed out, but then letting go and trying again, it will be fine from then on. A minor bug perhaps. If you don't have BOINC Manager under the Menubar icon, then you don't have the Advanced GUI. Try upgrading to it.

[zac4mac]

Thanks Guys -

Didn't think to look at active processes in Activity Monitor, just looked at CPU load. Only running ~50% on each processor, figured one process was running and system was using the other processor. I'll be heading for home soon and will check; will try to optimize this weekend. Really tho, running light is not a bad idea with the mercury climbing lately.

Z

[zac4mac]

Well something's definitely different than the last time I looked. Both processors are running to the wall; Einstein is using 75-90% on each, two processes running. All is good in crunchland - let's get gravity figured out and somebody put together a working Unified Field Theory in my lifetime!

Z