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PatGmac · Nov 17, 2001, 03:18 PM

I'm new to RC5 so I don't fully understand the rating system yet. I keep hearing about people getting like 5Mkeys/sec which I'm assuming 1Mkey=1024kkey?

I'm only getting 686kkeys/sec overall (494 yesterday) and I''m running 24/7 on 3 computers, a G4/500SP, G4/400 and PIII/800, and an iBook 500 when it's not sleeping. I had one day that I got 2479Kkeys/sec, I don't know what I did to get that much higher than what I get every other day.

RC5 Stats for PatGmac

Am I reading this right? Or is my 1Mkey=1024Kkey assumtion wrong?

reader50 · Nov 17, 2001, 04:54 PM

For RC5, 1 Mk/sec = 1,000 Kk/sec. Something is definitely wrong. Here is what your production should be, assuming your computers work on nothing but RC5:

G4 400: 3.5 Mk/sec
G4 500: 4.3 Mk/sec
P3 800: 2.2 Mk/sec
iBook 500: 1.6 Mk/sec

Total: 10.0 - 11.6 Mk/sec, depending on if the iBook is awake.

There are several possibilities. Perhaps a different email address was entered on the G4s and the P3, leaving just the iBook crunching on your account. Also, your buffer size could be set to a very small value (like 0). If you are on dialup, that would kill your production by making your clients call in for each new unit.

SkiBikeSki · Nov 18, 2001, 02:58 PM

Double check that you gave RC5 the highest priority out of the four contests. Also make sure that the priority for OGR is set to 0. Also make sure there is plenty of buffer for the RC5 units. Let the client atuo-detect the best core to use. And keep an eye on each machine to make sure there doing there job. Other than that, I'm not sure what could be causing such poor performance.

slipjack · Nov 18, 2001, 09:06 PM

I'm getting about 1.2 Mk/sec on RC5 on my PB/400 Pismo, if that helps you gauge any.

Can't wait to try it out on my dual 450 at work tomorrah.

Question: Does running multiple RC5 crunchers under OS9 do any good? Or do I have to upgrade to X? Thanks

Scotttheking · Nov 18, 2001, 09:34 PM

Originally posted by slipjack:
I'm getting about 1.2 Mk/sec on RC5 on my PB/400 Pismo, if that helps you gauge any.

Can't wait to try it out on my dual 450 at work tomorrah.

Question: Does running multiple RC5 crunchers under OS9 do any good? Or do I have to upgrade to X? Thanks

Just run the app. It will use both procs.

PatGmac · Nov 19, 2001, 03:18 PM

I have RC5 set to the highest priority, I used the step-by-step instructions on team.macnn.com. I also run Seti on these computers
and that seems to be a resource hog, on my WinXP machine, it's using 98% of the CPU and dnetc is only using 1 or 2%. On my G4/400 here, Seti is using about 50% and dnetc is using about 30%. I'm gonna try running a couple days without Seti just to see what happens.

Scotttheking · Nov 19, 2001, 04:05 PM

Originally posted by PatGmac:
I have RC5 set to the highest priority, I used the step-by-step instructions on team.macnn.com. I also run Seti on these computers
and that seems to be a resource hog, on my WinXP machine, it's using 98% of the CPU and dnetc is only using 1 or 2%. On my G4/400 here, Seti is using about 50% and dnetc is using about 30%. I'm gonna try running a couple days without Seti just to see what happens.

Well there's your answer.
You aren't going to crunch as fast when it only gets 30% of your processor.

legacyb4 · Nov 20, 2001, 03:27 AM

I found that for the most part, running the command line client under OSX only bogs down when running many, many CPU intensive apps (ripping MP3s, etc.). However, if I'm just doing mail or casual surfing or even FTP, I get close to my max. rate (approx. 3.4 on a G4/400).

Cheers.

slipjack · Nov 20, 2001, 09:52 AM

I don't know, but I only got 2026kk's/sec yesterday even though I had at least 5 computers sending in data. I guess tomorrow should be better because I'll have had some of those machines running all night now.

PatGmac · Nov 23, 2001, 01:00 PM

I turned off Seti on a couple computers and got 3.5Mkeys/sec yesterday (which has been my best so far). I still think I should be getting that from each computer (atleast the Macs).

reader50 · Nov 23, 2001, 02:04 PM

PatGmac,

You never mentioned what OS version you are crunching under on the Macs. There is a bug in the OS 9 client, such that on G4s, the alitvec-enabled core is never selected. This bug does not affect the OS X client, and does not matter on G3 and earlier Macs.

You can download the previous OS 9 RC5 version here. It will select the altivec core on G4s, but it is not certified for the PPC 7450 CPU (G4s faster than 600 MHz). This client version might be just what you are looking for.

PatGmac · Nov 23, 2001, 02:48 PM

Originally posted by reader50:
PatGmac,

You never mentioned what OS version you are crunching under on the Macs. There is a bug in the OS 9 client, such that on G4s, the alitvec-enabled core is never selected. This bug does not affect the OS X client, and does not matter on G3 and earlier Macs.

You can download the previous OS 9 RC5 version here. It will select the altivec core on G4s, but it is not certified for the PPC 7450 CPU (G4s faster than 600 MHz). This client version might be just what you are looking for.

Sorry, running the OS X version on both. I was running Seti in CLI mode and screen saver, so that was really killing me

slipjack · Nov 23, 2001, 02:49 PM

Originally posted by reader50:
PatGmac,

You never mentioned what OS version you are crunching under on the Macs. There is a bug in the OS 9 client, such that on G4s, the alitvec-enabled core is never selected. This bug does not affect the OS X client, and does not matter on G3 and earlier Macs.

You can download the previous OS 9 RC5 version here. It will select the altivec core on G4s, but it is not certified for the PPC 7450 CPU (G4s faster than 600 MHz). This client version might be just what you are looking for.

Hmm... so maybe I've got the wrong version running on my Dual 450's... have to check that out. Thanks!

slipjack · Nov 23, 2001, 03:01 PM

WOW! Big difference... dang that altivec really is useful

4 Mk/s + 5.75 Mk/s on the 450 Dualie....

I was getting LESS THAN HALF that rate on the buggy client. Damn.

Thanx reader50

slipjack · Nov 23, 2001, 03:06 PM

BTW... I only get about 1.8 Mk/sec on the Pee Cees here at work, and they are at least 600 Mhz P III's... the G4 rocks their world.

Scotttheking · Nov 23, 2001, 03:26 PM

You fix all the G4s running it?

slipjack · Nov 23, 2001, 03:33 PM

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
You fix all the G4s running it?

Yes, but unfortunately that's only 2. The rest of my Macs and those at work are G3's. Still, it looks to double or better the output of the dualies.

Cheers!

[ 11-23-2001: Message edited by: slipjack ]

Joe Cool · Nov 24, 2001, 12:40 PM

Damn I need the 7450 client for X! I ran my dual 800 in 9 for a day with the new client and it was a good 4Mk faster. Any one know how long we have to wait?
I just cant deal with only getting 12.5Mk/sec!

533 · Nov 29, 2001, 03:04 AM

Originally posted by reader50:
... There is a bug in the OS 9 client, such that on G4s, the alitvec-enabled core is never selected. This bug does not affect the OS X client, and does not matter on G3 and earlier Macs.
You can download the previous OS 9 RC5 version here. It will select the altivec core on G4s, but it is not certified for the PPC 7450 CPU (G4s faster than 600 MHz). This client version might be just what you are looking for.

Would be a good idea to post this info on the Team.MacNN optimization page. I unfortunately ran the buggy version on my G4 for the last 3 weeks...

reader50 · Nov 29, 2001, 11:31 AM

Originally posted by 533:
Would be a good idea to post this info on the Team.MacNN optimization page. I unfortunately ran the buggy version on my G4 for the last 3 weeks...

It was posted on the RC5 News page, and is still there, a ways down. We don't usually put News in the support pages, and RC5 cranks out a lot of client updates. I'm rather surprised that they have not released a fixed client yet.

Still, good suggestion. The tip will be in there tonight. Thanks.