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Scotttheking · Jan 14, 2002, 09:50 PM

I'm poking around on the Ars DC forum and I found something I thought you guys would like to see.

Damn MacNN is putting up some serious numbers, as are the other teams! Actually I think it is a stats spike but MacNN is still a major player now. Although to accomplish this they need 80 agents... Macs suck!

Let's show these guys who's boss by smashing them

doggkruse · Jan 14, 2002, 10:39 PM

I think this might help womp some serious butt.

I have been looking for ways to optimize ubero and I was digging around the sun sight and found this:

If you launch Ubero this way it goes a lot faster
go to the terminal and type
cd /Applications/Ubero
java -Xms300m -Xmx300m -XX:NewSize=100m -XX:MaxNewSize=100m -cp Agent.jar ubero.agent.Agent -text

this will improve your performance around 50% over the normal text mode assuming you have enough memory. I'm not sure exactly what it does but I know it is memory related. I am running on an iMac 333 with 512 MB and complete a unit around every 12 minutes, down from 24 min. you can adjust the values to suit your needs but the small value has to be around 1/3 of the big value. You don't want the values too big because the system will start using virtual memory, slowing down the system. You can tell this by typing top -d and pageins should be 0.

email me if you have any questions or if you want a double-clickable script to start ubero with no console or GUI. kruse@flatirons.org

Lets get a womp'n'!!!!

Geoff
doggkruse

Jan 14, 2002, 10:45 PM

Originally posted by doggkruse:
this will improve your performance around 50% over the normal text mode assuming you have enough memory.

Just to be picky, that's a 100% increase in the rate. Not bad.

Jan 14, 2002, 10:49 PM

Well i used to think i was good at math. Now I'm not so sure

kkneisley · Jan 14, 2002, 11:13 PM

I'm game to try this hack. I noticed the mem usage tripled from2-3% (of 1.3GB) to almost 9%! One thing being a mac user has taught me is if something is running too slow, throw RAM at it!

My G4/500 has been pushing an avg of 94 WUs per day. I 'll report my overnight results. Usually I have low 30's on it by work time.

Should be interesting, especialy if it works for the DP/800! Maybe we'll have respectable numbers!

Jan 14, 2002, 11:43 PM

I'm not so sure this is so great, my times aren't always so fast... but overall they are much faster... Its still worth a try for any one with extra ram. There is no harm in trying, it is just as stable and all. Don't forget powerlogix cache control. Speed is soooooooooo good. www.powerlogix.com.

The_Equivocator · Jan 15, 2002, 12:04 AM

Originally posted by doggkruse:
cd /Applications/Ubero
java -Xms300m -Xmx300m -XX:NewSize=100m -XX:MaxNewSize=100m -cp Agent.jar ubero.agent.Agent -text

Hmmm... I'll try this out and let you guys know if I see any speed increases... Hopefully it'll work nicely and we can show those guys at Ars Technica just who they're messing with.

Jan 15, 2002, 03:40 AM

Originally posted by doggkruse:
If you launch Ubero this way it goes a lot faster
go to the terminal and type
cd /Applications/Ubero
java -Xms300m -Xmx300m -XX:NewSize=100m -XX:MaxNewSize=100m -cp Agent.jar ubero.agent.Agent -text

heh. When in doubt there is alway man..

From the manpage:
-Xmsn Specifies the initial size of the mem-
ory allocation pool. This value must
be greater than 1000. To modify the
meaning of n, append either the letter
k for kilobytes or the letter m for
megabytes.

-Xmxn Specifies the maximum size of the mem-
ory allocation pool. This value must
be greater than 1000. To modify the
meaning of n, append either the letter
k for kilobytes or the letter m for
megabytes.

The XX options aren't listed but look like something similar perhaps for the applet itself?

kkneisley · Jan 15, 2002, 07:45 AM

Ok, I didn't get a 50-100% increase, but it did run faster. In fact my G4/500 put out the same number of units as one of the agents on my G4/800DP! 37 units in 5.5 hrs! That is up from low 30's, usually 32.

As mikkyo points out, this is memory we are playing with. Ya gotta have RAM to benefit out of htis tweak.

DOGGKRUSE - Have you changed anything else from before you tried this hack? How did you run it before - GUI, java in term, java in term with the nohup and text null tweak?

Here are my observations:

1. Run from term with nohup and text to null - this prevents the thread from getting unintentionally killed, and runs faster because it isn't "printing" text to a window.

2. Be sure to log out when not in use! It runs faster without the overhead of Finder, et al.

3. Run two instances if you have a DP machine.

4. Run at 100% if possible. Most apps don't care or need full CPU power, and you can kill it as needed if you need a Quake3 fix

5. Try this Memory tweak if you have the RAM to dedicate to it. Read the above post about -Xms and -Xmx so you don't cripple your machine. If it starts paging, you are toast.

Good Crunching!

doggkruse · Jan 15, 2002, 09:19 AM

I have been trying all kinds of tweaks from http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/PerformanceFAQ.html.
Others with more knowledge of Java Should look into some of these.
I have tried a few. One I know doesn't help is train Garbage Collection, it ends up slowing it down.

My typical setup until now has been running Ubero with the following script:
# !/bin/sh

cd /Applications/Ubero
java -cp Agent.jar ubero.agent.Agent -text > /dev/null &# !/bin/sh

remember I have an older machine that is under a heavy load with OS X anyway so I might get more from this than others.
Also we are not the only one with a trick up our sleeve, If you read the Ubero forum you will see that windows users can doanload Java 1.4b3 witch I hear is ~ 15% faster. We Need all the help we can get if we are going to take on the top two teams!!!

Geoff

cdhostage · Jan 15, 2002, 03:40 PM

Will future vesions of Ubero automatically use more RAM so that they operate at this higher speed? I've started using it on my iMac and noticed a much higher rate of crunching alreadyl.

cdhostage · Jan 15, 2002, 03:42 PM

If we get serious about this, matybe me should officiall challenge the Ass Technica people to a little game.

kkneisley · Jan 15, 2002, 04:05 PM

We need many more agents to challenge. There is a duel going on between Jdaw and Dyyryath�which is resulting in both of them pulling down around 1200 units PER DAY .

AND THEY ARE JUST RAMPING UP in the Ubero Cupcake Challenge.

I wouldn't challenge them right now as they alone are pulling 25% of our total day!

To make things interesting, we could do internal challenges.

kkneisley · Jan 15, 2002, 04:09 PM

Hey one more thing -

The memory tweak is A++ in my book.

My measily G4/500 is on pace to do 160 units today, up from around 105 the past two days.

WOW!

Great find!

legacyb4 · Jan 15, 2002, 06:01 PM

Logging out will leave the process running... I wish it was the same on Windows 2000! Will try it on my home Mac today to see if it helps.

Cheers.

Originally posted by kkneisley:
Here are my observations:

1. Run from term with nohup and text to null - this prevents the thread from getting unintentionally killed, and runs faster because it isn't "printing" text to a window.

2. Be sure to log out when not in use! It runs faster without the overhead of Finder, et al.

3. Run two instances if you have a DP machine.

4. Run at 100% if possible. Most apps don't care or need full CPU power, and you can kill it as needed if you need a Quake3 fix

5. Try this Memory tweak if you have the RAM to dedicate to it. Read the above post about -Xms and -Xmx so you don't cripple your machine. If it starts paging, you are toast.

Good Crunching!

SkiBikeSki · Jan 15, 2002, 11:55 PM

Let's be careful with the speed tips. These tips will also help any PC guys that stumble into our forums. However they should help about everyone on Team Macnn, so I guess we should keep 'em rollin'!

The_Equivocator · Jan 16, 2002, 01:48 AM

Well, the results for my G4/400/PCI with 384 megs of RAM are in. Before the performance boost described above, I used to rake in about 80 work units per day. Now I'm getting about 125 work units per day. If you have any RAM at all that you can spare, use the tip above!

kkneisley · Jan 16, 2002, 07:30 AM

Originally posted by SkiBikeSki:
Let's be careful with the speed tips. These tips will also help any PC guys that stumble into our forums. However they should help about everyone on Team Macnn, so I guess we should keep 'em rollin'!

I was thinking the same thing.

Maybe we should have a PRIVATE forum or email list for TeamNN tips and guides. This should include the optimizations found on the team.macnn.com web site.

Nebrie · Jan 16, 2002, 09:23 AM

Has anyone noticed if there are any noticible speed increase from logging out or is it more like one or two extra units a day?

doggkruse · Jan 16, 2002, 10:41 AM

It's only a matter of time before the PC guys find out about this one... They already have figured out that more memory is better, they are just doing it the hard not as fast way. They are using the same page as a reference as I did, they just didn't read far enough. But I think we should keep it a secret as long as possible, ya know give us a little boost. :o

Geoff

SkiBikeSki · Jan 16, 2002, 11:49 AM

I've got an easy enough way to keep these tips to ourselves. One format that all Macs can read and most PC's can't is PICT. So instead of posting a tip as regular text in a post, make a PICT and post it on the web and give us a link, or put the image into you post. It should come up with no problems for a Mac, but should be unreadable for a PC.

Scotttheking · Jan 16, 2002, 11:53 AM

I'd rather we not play this "keep our optimizations to ourselves" game.
We all learn from each other.
I got a good tip on how to speed up my Athlon farm from the ars people, so they might get a few tips on how to speed up their macs.
Why doesn't someone test if these speed tips even work on a PC?

Jan 16, 2002, 01:48 PM

The memory tip will work any any machine that runs Java, I got it from the Sun site. I think it is unfair to keep or hide it from them but I think we shouldn't outright tell them... yet, make them work for it, I had to. I would have kept it to myself if i didn't think the team needed help. I like passing people with my little lime 333.

Geoff

cdhostage · Jan 16, 2002, 02:01 PM

Well all this is fine and good, spreading info to the other side and all... BUT FIRST WE NEED TO TELL THEM THEY ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE!! WE NEED TO CHALLENGE THE INFIDELS!

Jan 17, 2002, 07:10 PM

hey guys, how's it going? I am posting this from a Mac right now! Just stoppping by to say hello!

Hehe... this one's gonna go the way of SETI... you don't stand a chance.

Oh yeah, your secret is no longer safe.

Well enough trash talk, I'm heading back to my forum.

Great to meet ya!

PS: In other projects that we are a part of there is a spirit of collaboration and unity between the teams, for instance we are good friends with many members of team [H] and also get visits from DSLR and DPC every once in a while. [H] really stands out in this regard, they put our top producer Norgs back on his feet after he got stymied by a firewall. Now he's on a third team... but that's the way it goes! Of course if you want to try to horde performence advantages that's fine too.

Jan 17, 2002, 07:14 PM

PPS: I am the one that Scotttheking quoted in the original post, I am a member of Ars Techinca.

See you around!

Jan 17, 2002, 08:48 PM

Yes, we are watching you...

Very attractive BBS you all heave here...

In the spirit of fairness, have a look at this:
http://home.nc.rr.com/mvang/ubero.html

I doubt you can use much of it, but if you can load up the SDK then the -server option is what you want...

Scotttheking · Jan 17, 2002, 09:49 PM

Originally posted by <Xyzzy>:
Yes, we are watching you...

Very attractive BBS you all heave here...

In the spirit of fairness, have a look at this:
http://home.nc.rr.com/mvang/ubero.html

I doubt you can use much of it, but if you can load up the SDK then the -server option is what you want...

Unfortunately I can't run command line on my windows comps

legacyb4 · Jan 20, 2002, 06:11 AM

So it isn't me only that finds this to be a major pain in the butt!!!

Log out and the agent stops... the best half-way solution I can figure out at this point when running it on a Windows server is to log in through Terminal Services, start the Agent under that session then just close it without logging out since processes continue to run. This way, the local login user isn't affected...

Cheers.

Originally posted by Scotttheking:


Unfortunately I can't run command line on my windows comps

Scotttheking · Jan 20, 2002, 12:04 PM

Originally posted by legacyb4:
So it isn't me only that finds this to be a major pain in the butt!!!

Log out and the agent stops... the best half-way solution I can figure out at this point when running it on a Windows server is to log in through Terminal Services, start the Agent under that session then just close it without logging out since processes continue to run. This way, the local login user isn't affected...

Cheers.

You could try making it a service and running it that way.
You might want to install the IBM JDK on your windows comps, it's a bit faster. Uninstall the Sun one, then install the IBM one.

legacyb4 · Jan 20, 2002, 06:13 PM

Scott,

Hate to keep buggin about the same subject, but how *exactly* do you configure the Agent to run as a service?

Command line instructions would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

Will switch a few clients over to the IBM Java package to see what the changes are.

Originally posted by Scotttheking:


You could try making it a service and running it that way.
You might want to install the IBM JDK on your windows comps, it's a bit faster. Uninstall the Sun one, then install the IBM one.

legacyb4 · Jan 20, 2002, 10:01 PM

Also, what's the Window equivalent of >/dev/null & on the command prompt?

The IBM JRE is crunching at a very, very nice pace but I can't close the window...

Cheers.

Originally posted by legacyb4:
Scott,

Hate to keep buggin about the same subject, but how *exactly* do you configure the Agent to run as a service?

Command line instructions would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

Will switch a few clients over to the IBM Java package to see what the changes are.

Scotttheking · Jan 21, 2002, 12:45 AM

Originally posted by legacyb4:
Also, what's the Window equivalent of >/dev/null & on the command prompt?

The IBM JRE is crunching at a very, very nice pace but I can't close the window...

Cheers.

Nope, no equivalent of that.
PC users are having the same problem, as am I.

Scotttheking · Jan 21, 2002, 07:03 PM

And another insult, this time from the guys at free-dc

BTW, in case you guys hadn't noticed, we probably both need to keep an eye on Team MacNN. They're not surpassing either of us yet, but they've got more members and agents than TCP and Free-DC combined and they're pretty close in daily production!

Good thing they're using Apples or we'd already be in trouble!

We can't let them get away with this.

GK · Jan 21, 2002, 07:47 PM

ok,

just joined the team.

[APi]TheMan · Jan 21, 2002, 08:07 PM

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
I'm poking around on the Ars DC forum and I found something I thought you guys would like to see.

Let's show these guys who's boss by smashing them

That pisses me off. I'm all up for smashing these bastards now. I was just chuggin' away on my little Pismo 400mhz (384 RAM) for my own self... Go, Team MacNN!

[APi]TheMan · Jan 21, 2002, 08:18 PM

Originally posted by [APi]TheMan:


That pisses me off. I'm all up for smashing these bastards now. I was just chuggin' away on my little Pismo 400mhz (384 RAM) for my own self... Go, Team MacNN!

Hmmm, I hate UBB code.

I was trying to improvise and make up the image code based on my knowledge of HTML tags... I failed. Well now I am on Team MacNN for Ubero, I just wish there were versions of Ubero for MacOS 9... I have a Blue and White G3 450 and an iMac, both with decent RAM and speed, just waiting to crunch some numbers. I had this Pismo and those other two running dnetc, but now I like Ubero and I wanna kill those PC morons.