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You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > Team MacNN > New Altivec-enhanced Seti worker in need of testing

New Altivec-enhanced Seti worker in need of testing (Page 11)
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E.T from tellus
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Dec 26, 2005, 04:32 PM
 
Before that quad i had dual 2.7GHz G5, under my desk. That one generates much more heat than Quad.
Anyway quad runs much more silent than dual 2.7GHz G5.
     
halimedia
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Dec 26, 2005, 04:38 PM
 
Esa, I'm very glad to hear both of these tidbits! Thanks for the info! Both the PPC 970FX and the 970MP are 90 nm chips, IIRC? I wonder how the heat signature can then be noticably lower while significantly increasing performance??
     
Karl Schimanek
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Dec 26, 2005, 04:39 PM
 
Hehe, nice
All we need is a little optimizations here and there
About your question, the answer is coming from Amigoivo, you know

Temperatures: Full throttle
Dual: 82°C
Quad: 67°C

Idle:
Dual: 65°C
Quad: 40°C

And the quad is far more quieter than the dual, because of the memory-controller fan.
     
halimedia
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Dec 26, 2005, 04:40 PM
 
Meee ssa 'appy!

I just hope that the fan of the GF 7800GT won't sound like a jet engine...
     
Karl Schimanek
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Dec 26, 2005, 04:41 PM
 
Originally Posted by halimedia
I wonder how the heat signature can then be noticably lower while significantly increasing performance??
I'm not
One word ... I B M

Regards
Karl
     
halimedia
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Dec 26, 2005, 04:44 PM
 
You mean they've really come a long way since building typewriters?
     
Knightrider
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Dec 27, 2005, 05:58 AM
 
The Quad has liquid cooling. It has a small radiator (like on a car) and double fans on both sides (pushing and pulling air). It runs cool and quite when running normally (ie crunching) but do a hardware test on it and it is loud.

K.
     
halimedia
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Dec 27, 2005, 06:20 AM
 
Originally Posted by Knightrider
The Quad has liquid cooling.
So do the DP 2.5 and 2.7 GHz (and all dual-cores?)
     
Karl Schimanek
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Dec 27, 2005, 07:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by halimedia
Meee ssa 'appy!

I just hope that the fan of the GF 7800GT won't sound like a jet engine...
It will, but this should help. Easy to install

Originally Posted by halimedia
You mean they've really come a long way since building typewriters?


Regards
Karl
     
halimedia
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Dec 27, 2005, 10:55 AM
 
Originally Posted by Karl Schimanek
It will, but this should help. Easy to install
Thanks for the URL - interesting products across the board at AC! I won't jump on this one, though. The cooler eats an additional PCIe slot, and I'm not really hot on that (so to speak). At least Apple was clever enough not to put the 8-lane slot next to the graphics (16-lane) slot.

I hear that the reason for the major delays shipping the 7800GT in the dual-core G5 line has been Apple's stringent acoustic emission standards. I wonder if they were able to fix the problem firmware or hardware-wise (it's still a one-slot card, AFAIK). I'll report once I know from my own experience. Should arrive really soon!
     
beadman
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Dec 28, 2005, 07:33 PM
 
I'm having trouble with either BOINC or SETI - not sure which, but I suspect it's a SETI/OS X 10.4.3 problem. A week or so ago, I switched from 99% E@H to 99% SETI. Since then, my computer has several times just stopped crunching for no apparent reason. The last time was in the middle of a SETI WU about 67% done. This is happening on my 1.3 GHz G4 iBook, 768 RAM, plenty of hard drive, nothing else running, other than E@H waiting for it's turn. I'm using the BOINC SuperBench 4.44, and SETI G4 - Alpha 4. I'm running the same BOINC and SETI and E@H versions on my 1.66 GHz PowerBook, 1 GB RAM, plenty of HD, and NOT having the same problem. The PowerBook is still on OS X 10.3.9. The iBook was upgraded to OS 10.4.3 on 12/4/05, but seemed to do just fine with E@H for a couple of weeks, before I changed the ratios to let SETI run. When it happened yesterday, I made a copy of my entire BOINC folder, before I attempted to restart BOINC, and another copy right after I restarted BOINC, so I think I can post any files/file excerpts needed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The iBook ID is 1360780 for SETI, and the PowerBook is 280526
[edit] Forgot to mention, the iBook is running the MenuBar version of the SuperBench 4.44, and the PowerBook is CLI. [/edit]
Thanks,
beadman
     
jwhitnell
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Dec 28, 2005, 07:44 PM
 
Shaktai,
I notice in your post that you are running OS X 10.2.4.
I am running 10.2.8 and was under the impression that there was no BOINC version of SETI for this operating system version.
Where can I find a BOINC version of SETI for OS X 10.2.4?
I really would like to continue to contribute, but I am not ready to update OS X just to do that!
Thanks if you can help or point me in the right direction...

Originally Posted by Shaktai
Wow Beadman. That is weird. Can you give a little more info on your setup and OS. Did you actually "replace" the app_info.xml file?

I ran and completed 4 units with the 7450 client without problem and that was on a G5. I have completed 1 with the 7400 client and one is nearing completion. So far no errors. The first 7400 unit was faster still, but that could have just been a fast work unit. I'll know more by morning. Oh, and they were all using mikkyo's optimized BOINC clients as well.

Of course, no validation yet either. The app is so fast that other machines aren't keeping up. JavaLizards was fast. These new apps are much faster still. The only question now is "will they validate".

If I understand Alexkan correctly, a G5 specific unit might be faster still. Kind of mind boggling. Let's hope these apps can validate. Speed is great, but science comes first.

Imagine, Team MacNN first in Predictor and top 10 in Einstein and SETI. With optimizations like these, it could happen.
     
halimedia
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Dec 29, 2005, 06:07 PM
 
Esa, Karl: the Quad is quiet and cool? Crazy, you guys are! It's a howling furnace compared to my DP 2.5 GHz. And it's a ton faster, too!

http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/show...hostid=2020074

Edit: to give you credit, it is certainly quieter (with the exception of the GPU) when idling, but not by a long shot when crunching SETI...
     
E.T from tellus
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Dec 29, 2005, 07:29 PM
 
I am sorry for info, i compare quad to DP 2.7Ghz which was noisy like airplane when crunching.
It seems that they are individuals with different temperature characteristics (perhaps)
My room temperature in work is something between 18 to 22C in winter time. Exept yesterday when there was some outage in heating and temperature was 12C -> then my quad was quite silent Normally my Powerbook noise disturbs me more than Quad (which is under table)
But if you have clamp power meter it is interesting to compare results. I measure mine tomorrow
E.T
     
Knightrider
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Dec 29, 2005, 08:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by beadman
I'm having trouble with either BOINC or SETI - not sure which, but I suspect it's a SETI/OS X 10.4.3 problem. A week or so ago, I switched from 99% E@H to 99% SETI. Since then, my computer has several times just stopped crunching for no apparent reason. The last time was in the middle of a SETI WU about 67% done. This is happening on my 1.3 GHz G4 iBook, 768 RAM, plenty of hard drive, nothing else running, other than E@H waiting for it's turn. I'm using the BOINC SuperBench 4.44, and SETI G4 - Alpha 4. I'm running the same BOINC and SETI and E@H versions on my 1.66 GHz PowerBook, 1 GB RAM, plenty of HD, and NOT having the same problem. The PowerBook is still on OS X 10.3.9. The iBook was upgraded to OS 10.4.3 on 12/4/05, but seemed to do just fine with E@H for a couple of weeks, before I changed the ratios to let SETI run. When it happened yesterday, I made a copy of my entire BOINC folder, before I attempted to restart BOINC, and another copy right after I restarted BOINC, so I think I can post any files/file excerpts needed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The iBook ID is 1360780 for SETI, and the PowerBook is 280526
[edit] Forgot to mention, the iBook is running the MenuBar version of the SuperBench 4.44, and the PowerBook is CLI. [/edit]
Thanks,
beadman

I would want to check the 'permissions" (from the drop down menu on the install cd) and do a defrag if I could.

K.
     
halimedia
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Dec 30, 2005, 03:43 AM
 
Originally Posted by E.T from tellus
I am sorry for info...
I was just teasing you guys, sorry! I hope you don't feel offended!

Core temps are quite possibly lower on my Quad compared to the DP 2.5 (I still have to compare them). But the airflow is *much* greater than in the Dual, which results in greater heat output, I'm quite sure.

Sorry, I don't have a power meter. But it's a great idea - maybe I can borrow one from my utility company.

The machine is incredibly fast! In about 14 hours, it crunched through more than 90 WUs!

Happy crunching!

Ron
     
halimedia
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Dec 30, 2005, 02:56 PM
 
Off-topic, but possibly still interesting to some of you reading this thread: As mentioned above, I've experienced significant fan noise on a Quad running alpha-5 with BOINC Menubar 5.2.13 Superbench beta on Tiger 10.4.3 with Energy Saver settings for Processor Performance set to Highest. When I say significant, I mean really obnoxiously loud - server room noise level!

I have now found the cause of this: setting the Processor Performance preset to Automatic eliminates the noise greatly. All I can hear now is a quiet, low hum of the CPU-fans and the rather whiny fan of the GPU (a GF 7800GT). It remains to be seen if the Automatic setting has an effect on WU CPU time. I will report back with further findings.

Cheers,

Ron
     
Todd Madson
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Dec 30, 2005, 03:34 PM
 
I may try that as well.

Seti classic, the cli version never made the fans ramp up like this does.

But, I can't figure out how to run the optimized client under cli mode.

But I can't argue with the results of the machine with this - I'm constantly
doing blocks that are just around or under an hour and it's amazing me.
     
TiloProbst
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Dec 30, 2005, 03:39 PM
 
@ E.T. from Tellus

According to the Top Computers list .. RAC of your Quad Machine over 3400 o_O insane ..

@ halimedia

Whats the name of your Quad Mac? Can we expect it to appear in the Top Computers list?

P.S. Grüße an die deutschsprachigen Poster hier
     
E.T from tellus
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Dec 31, 2005, 07:33 PM
 
Danke schön Tilo, i expect something around rac 3000 this beast surprise me all the time
Happy new year to everyone

PS. anyone going to MacWorld SFO?
     
amigoivo
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Dec 31, 2005, 11:04 PM
 
Hello,

first:
Happy New Year!!

I only would like to wrote, that as long as im using the new BOINC Manager 5.2.13, with the seti alpha 5 client, i had no longer results with "finshed with zero" results.

The problems with the alpha 5 client must relay with the old BIONC Manager, i think.

@Tilo
Moin Tilo, wünsch dir nen Guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr.
Der Top Computer bei Seti ist im Moment Karl Schimaneks, er ist auf dem 3. Platz.

Ich denke mal das mehr als 2800 RAC nicht drin sind, da Kalles QUAD 24/7 durchläuft.
I think that more than a RAC of 2800 isn't possible with a QUAD, because of Karls QUAD works 24/7.

Mit der alpha 6 gehts dann wohl eher.
It could work with the alpha 6 version.

Greetz,
Ivo
Seti@home + Einstein@home + climateprediction.net
PowerMac QUAD G5 2,5GHz / 3GB RAM / 250GB HD
     
halimedia
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Jan 1, 2006, 06:03 AM
 
Happy New Year everyone!

As a follow-up to my previous post: changing Processor Performance of my Quad from 'Highest' to 'Automatic' or 'Reduced' results in an increase of WU CPU time from 2400 seconds to 3500 seconds, while having a drastic effect on fan activity. At the 'Highest' preset, the CPU fans are going at close to full speed, while at 'Automatic', they are barely audible.

I have also found out that ambient temperature has a drastic effect on fan activity. While anything below 23 °C / 73 °F allows me to crunch at the 'Highest' preset without exorbitant fan activity, anything above that causes the described near-full-speed fan activity.

Further, I have found that the CPU fans in my unit respond very slowly to changing load, e.g. when stopping BOINC/SETI while the fans are going at their fullest, it takes almost two minutes for the fans to settle down. This is not the case with the Dual 2.5 GHz G5 I own, where load changes cause a response in fan activity almost immediately.

I hope to find out if I have a defective unit by comparing it with one at a nearby dealer. If any of you have any insights on the above, I would much appreciate to hear them.

@ Tilo: the SETI Results for my Quad can be seen <a href="http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=2020074" target="_blank">here</a>. Due to the way BOINC/SETTI calculates RAC, it will be a good while before the machine shows up in the Top Computers list (although RAC is a figure for credit accumulated over 24 hours, it seems to be averaged over a one-month period). But I hope it will be up there some day
( Last edited by halimedia; Jan 1, 2006 at 08:19 AM. )
     
E.T from tellus
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Jan 1, 2006, 07:02 AM
 
I call for my friend in apple service center. He told me that quads has quite sensitive thermal characteristics, many owners has reprted noisy units. I think that is a global problem, processors inside quad are individuals within some specs for power consumption and heat.
I think that anyone with noisy quads can complain apple/dealer. At least they can do thermal calibration (service program, took something like 6hours)
Liquid cooled macs responds slowly to any change on thermal load -> liquid has much more heat storing capacity.

My Quad crunches 24/7 uninterrupted, it took 10days to run up top 20 list
     
amigoivo
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Jan 1, 2006, 09:21 AM
 
Hello,

@halimedia,
i would only tell you, that my QUAD is quite at any setting of the energy preset. But i'm using the Boinc Manager, also my ambient temperature is most at ca. 20ºC.
I read in a magazin that you can clear your SMU (System Managment Unit, formerly PMU =Power Managment Unit) by simply plugging of the power cable for about 15 seconds.

Have a nice day,
Amigoivo
Seti@home + Einstein@home + climateprediction.net
PowerMac QUAD G5 2,5GHz / 3GB RAM / 250GB HD
     
halimedia
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Jan 1, 2006, 04:15 PM
 
Thanks for all the help and suggestions! I very much appreciate it! I'm quite sure I have a dud on my hands here...

Not to beat a dead horse to pulp, but is there any Quad owner here that also has Marcel Bresink's <a href="http://www.bresink.de/osx/HardwareMonitor.html">Hardware Monitor</a> licensed? I'm currently running some tests on the effect of CPU load on fan speed at different ambient temperatures, and I'd be delighted if I had a means to compare to another Quad under similar conditions. If you do, and you're interested in a little testing, please <a href="mailto:[email protected]">e-mail me</a>, so we can take this topic off this thread.

TIA for any takers!

Ron
     
Karl Schimanek
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Jan 1, 2006, 05:39 PM
 
Happy new year @everyone!

Ron, my license-key should arrive the next couple days

I have a wired phenomena with my quad ...

After he awakes from sleeping, one fan is making some noise (every 10 seconds) and MBs Hardware Monitor shows me -60°C at one sensor

This can only resolved after a system restart. I think a firmware problem.

Regards
Karl
     
halimedia
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Jan 2, 2006, 05:51 PM
 
A follow up: I'm done with my comparative load testing of my Dual 2.5 and Quad at different ambient temperatures (21 and 24°C). In essence, the reason for the exorbitant fan activity of my Quad at higher ambient temperatures appears to be that its temperature control logic maintains significantly lower CPU temperatures compared to the Dual (between 10 and 20°C less depending on ambient temperature!! --> Dual min./max. 56/75°C, Quad min./max. 46/65°C). No wonder its fans are going wild!

Does anyone know whether the dual-core CPUs (PPC 970MP) have a lower temperature specification compared to the single-core CPUs (PPC 970FX)?

Again, it would be very interesting to compare to another Quad. Karl, how about it?

Edit: Esa, do you know if this thermal calibration you mentioned can be done by a dealer, or whether the unit has to go back to Apple for that?

Cheers,

Ron
     
halimedia
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Jan 2, 2006, 06:35 PM
 
I just found this in my system.log (added during boot sequence):
Code:
Jan 2 19:26:28 localhost kernel[0]: PowerMac11_2_ThermalProfile::start 1 Jan 2 19:26:28 localhost kernel[0]: PowerMac11_2_ThermalProfile::end 1 Jan 2 19:26:28 localhost kernel[0]: SMU_Neo2_PlatformPlugin::initThermalProfile - entry Jan 2 19:26:28 localhost kernel[0]: SMU_Neo2_PlatformPlugin::initThermalProfile - calling adjust Jan 2 19:26:28 localhost kernel[0]: PowerMac11_2_ThermalProfile::adjustThermalProfile start
Do any of you Quadders see this, too?

TIA,

Ron

Edit: Here's at least some of the source for ThermalProfile (for you coders out there - what does it do?):
http://darwinsource.opendarwin.org/1...malProfile.cpp
http://darwinsource.opendarwin.org/1...ermalProfile.h
( Last edited by halimedia; Jan 2, 2006 at 06:42 PM. )
     
amigoivo
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Jan 3, 2006, 09:27 AM
 
Originally Posted by halimedia
Thanks for all the help and suggestions! I very much appreciate it! I'm quite sure I have a dud on my hands here...

Not to beat a dead horse to pulp, but is there any Quad owner here that also has Marcel Bresink's <a href="http://www.bresink.de/osx/HardwareMonitor.html">Hardware Monitor</a> licensed? I'm currently running some tests on the effect of CPU load on fan speed at different ambient temperatures, and I'd be delighted if I had a means to compare to another Quad under similar conditions. If you do, and you're interested in a little testing, please <a href="mailto:[email protected]">e-mail me</a>, so we can take this topic off this thread.

TIA for any takers!

Ron
Hello Ron,

there is another programm for checking the fan speeds, its known as "XRG" or "X Resource Graph",
it shows mostly cooler temperatures as Temperature Monitor, but it shows also the fan and pump speeds.
And it's free.
Link: http://www.gauchosoft.com/xrg/

By the way.
I wonder that nobody wrote that im totally wrong with my opinion with the max RAC of 2800?
Because i've even seen, that E.T. from tellus the first in he Top Computers list is.

Congratulations!

CU,
Ivo
Seti@home + Einstein@home + climateprediction.net
PowerMac QUAD G5 2,5GHz / 3GB RAM / 250GB HD
     
Morphis
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Jan 3, 2006, 12:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by Knightrider
The Quad has liquid cooling. It has a small radiator (like on a car) and double fans on both sides (pushing and pulling air). It runs cool and quite when running normally (ie crunching) but do a hardware test on it and it is loud.

K.
The Quads and the previous "Liquid" cooled G5 actually use freon heat pipes. Which are very common these days in heatsinks.
99.99% of laptops also use heat pipes to move the heat from the source to somewhere a heatsink can be located for maximum cooling.
     
halimedia
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Jan 3, 2006, 01:37 PM
 
Actually, you're both right - what was used in the previous generation (before the dual-core G5s), was a mixture of passive heat pipes and active liquid-cooling. This <a href="http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/G5.ars/6" target="_blank">ArsTechnica Article</a> has more.

From what I hear, the liquid-cooling system in the dual-core G5s has been significantly redesigned, making it less complex. But I don't know what the differences are, exactly. What I can tell from my own experience is that the new system has a much higher latency, and therefore probably either did away with the heat pipes or uses a considerably larger volume of liquid (or both).

HTH,

Ron
     
Morphis
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Jan 4, 2006, 04:10 AM
 
currently 6 valid, 2 pending, 0 errors
average CPU time ~1:30 hours thats like 10x faster than the classic setiathome client.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/resul...hostid=2035606
     
Novi
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Jan 4, 2006, 02:39 PM
 
I mustered up the courage to try out the optimized SETI worker, and wow!!

SETUP:
PowerBook3,5 (G4 15" 867MHz) 768MB/40gB running 8F46 (X 10.4.3) under light load.

STOCK:
SETI averaged 25343.12 sec/WU for the last 6 WUs. BOINC marks were 0.440 and 1.373 giga-ops/sec. That translates into 934.59 sec/cr.

TOTALLY OPTIMIZED:
SETI averaged 7475.66 sec/WU for the last 3 WUs. BOINC marks were 1.283 and 3.594 giga-ops/sec. That translates into 354.40 sec/cr.

RESULTS:
SETI is 3.39x faster, BOINC marks are up 2.915x and 2.628x, and claims one credit 2.637x sooner.

You've put the POWER back in my 'book!
     
halimedia
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Jan 6, 2006, 09:02 AM
 
As a follow-up to my post regarding the G5 liquid cooling system: I just stumbled upon <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/thunderaudio/PhotoAlbum11.html" target="_blank">some images</a> of the Quad's cooling system.

While individual components appear more accessible (cf. link in my previous post), the design seems very similar to that of the previous generation. It is now also clear that the heat pipes and their associated heatsinks are used to cool the CPUs' power supplies, while the liquid cooling system cools the CPUs themselves.

Edit: I've recently had correspondence with Marcel Bresink (author of Hardware Monitor, among other software). I learned that Apple isn't using temperature as the main measurement influencing its cooling control logic, but rather the power consumption (current x voltage) of the components to be cooled. Temperature readings appear to only be used as a check of the whole system and to trigger emergency shutdown procedures when values are out-of-bounds.

Cheers,

Ron
( Last edited by halimedia; Jan 6, 2006 at 09:30 AM. )
     
halimedia
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Jan 6, 2006, 02:01 PM
 
This might be the biggest leap yet! Today, I upgraded a Pismo PowerBook from 400 MHz G3 to 550 MHz G4 and from the SETI 4.18 stock worker to alpha-5. WU times <a href="http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/results.php?hostid=1312743" target="_blank">shrank from 61'000 seconds to 9'000</a>!!! Awesome!
     
cyberface
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Jan 7, 2006, 09:02 PM
 
If it's of any interest, I got my Quad running Seti@Home just for a laugh and it appears to have found its way up to #13 in the top computers list.

My login name on Seti is 'lx' - the Quad is processing all it can but stays cool and quiet. Awesome machine.

I've got it's predecessor (dual 2.5) next to it, nowhere near the Seti performance and makes a complete racket when the memory controller gets hot (more than 90˚C most of the time!!!!!) so can agree with the others here who have hot 'old' DP G5s compared to the Quads.

However my Quad is nowhere near ET's performance.... so spill the beans ET, what are you doing? I was as high as 11th last week but there were a few down days due to no work from the project.
     
Karl Schimanek
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Jan 7, 2006, 10:06 PM
 
     
cyberface
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Jan 7, 2006, 10:32 PM
 
Originally Posted by Karl Schimanek
Cheers mate - interesting since I have the same type of RAM (a bit less at 4.5 GB) - then again this Quad is my main workstation so it's not 100% dedicated to crunching.

Two things I've noticed:
1. the Boinc client reckons I've only got 2 GB of RAM
2. it often runs out of work i.e. finishes all its work units, then sits idle for ages before requesting more from the project server. Is there any way I can force it to request more work when idle?

Sad geekery but I'd like to get in the top 10, just to get a tiny ego boost
     
E.T from tellus
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Jan 8, 2006, 12:17 AM
 
Few tricks
1) Boinc preferencies:
Set connect to server at least 1 day, then your computer load more WU:s and has work over outages.
Set write to disk something more than half of one WU time (in quad 1800 seconds) -> disk operations generates extra I/O avoid that
2) Memory, one seti crucher reserves 20 to 250mb memory, depends on phase of operation in quad you have 4 processes -> at least 1.5 gigs is recommended for smooth operation.
3) memory type & size: if possible use same size, speed & latency memory
4) Don't allow NAP (you need install developer tools to have Processor in control panel. NAP is in there)
5)Use command line client (under screen command) , log out from computer when you don't use that
6) Boinc 5.2.13 GUI compatible version reports memory amount correctly.
     
halimedia
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Status: Offline
Jan 8, 2006, 05:43 AM
 
There's another important tidbit: be sure to use a variant of <a href="http://members.dslextreme.com/~readerforum/forum_team/boincbeta.html" target="_blank">BOINC 5.2.13 Superbench (currently beta)</a>. It doesn't much matter if it's BOINC Manager, Menubar or CLI, unless you want to tickle the very last cycle out of your system (see Karl's reference to E.T's post).

The 5.2.13 Superbench versions create higher benchmark values than the stock client or even the 4.44 Superbench versions. This results in your machine claiming higher credit, which in turn leads to you being awarded higher credit when your result happens to be the canonical one (which may happen as often as 25% of the time, but usually less often when you're claiming more credit than the other machines crunching the same work unit). The higher benchmarks also have the nice side-effect that you're less likely to run out of work (or be under-committed in BOINC jargon).

HTH,

Ron
( Last edited by halimedia; Jan 8, 2006 at 05:53 AM. )
     
halimedia
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Jan 8, 2006, 09:05 AM
 
Two related questions:

1.) Esa - is it possible to switch Nap off/on via CLI? If so -how?

2.) How does SETI/BOINC determine which of the four results per WU is the canonical one? Maybe we can influence it somehow
     
cyberface
Guest
Status:
Jan 8, 2006, 09:28 AM
 
The 'Nap' functionality in the G5s is controlled by the CHUD tools (available from the developer tools install). You may need to get the latest version of the CHUD tools from the Apple website to recognise the new dual-core 970 CPUs.

ET - cheers for the advice - I have reset prefs to pick up more work units and increased the write-to-disk time, hopefully that will boost things a little!
     
halimedia
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Jan 8, 2006, 01:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by cyberface
The 'Nap' functionality in the G5s is controlled by the CHUD tools (available from the developer tools install).
That was already known around here. Not everyone uses a GUI, though.

I was thinking of something along the lines of [FONT="Courier New"]defaults write com.apple.system.config.something...[/FONT]

Any ideas?
     
halimedia
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Jan 8, 2006, 02:15 PM
 
I was just playing a little with my calculator and the results <a href="http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/show_host_detail.php?hostid=2020074" target="_blank">my Quad</a> has been knocking out lately. Currently, it's crunching through 150 WUs a day. Assuming an average credit per WU of 25, a theoretical RAC of >3700 may be possible (given a stretch of a few weeks w/o unplanned SETI server outages, which seems like a long shot these days). I wonder what reality will tell...
( Last edited by halimedia; Jan 8, 2006 at 06:41 PM. )
     
halimedia
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Jan 8, 2006, 02:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by cyberface
Sad geekery but I'd like to get in the top 10, just to get a tiny ego boost
Better than staging a car race on public roads an endangering innocent bystanders in the process, IMO

Edit: I have a confession to make myself... I'm trying to claim one of the top three spots <a href="http://www.boincsynergy.com/stats/country.php?country=Switzerland&project=sah" target="_blank">of Swiss SETI crunchers</a>. Slooowly getting there...
( Last edited by halimedia; Jan 8, 2006 at 02:34 PM. )
     
Snake_doctor
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: USA, Virginia
Status: Offline
Jan 9, 2006, 03:02 AM
 
Folks,

I am certain that most of the readers of this thread would agree that we could not be any happier for you guys that are running the new G5 Quads. Clearly discussion of those systems is on topic if Rick or Alex ask you questions related to the SETI development. But this thread is now really, really, really long, and it is almost impossible to follow the discussion of the SETI worker development. Many people have posted on topic questions which get quickly buried in off topic discussion and go unanswered. It would be considerate if you could either stay on the titled subject, go to PM mode, or perhaps create a new thread about G5 dual core systems and noise/cooling issues.

Alternatively, Rick and or Alex might consider creating a new thread starting with the links to Rick's Website at the top of this one, covering just the Altivec SETI worker development.

Either of these options would be a great service to people who are interested in SETI development.

Regards
Phil
We must seek intelligent life on other planets as it is increasingly apparent we will not find any on our own.

Link: http://www.boincsynergy.com/images/stats/comb-2033.jpg
     
Glenn L G
Guest
Status:
Jan 9, 2006, 03:50 AM
 
To rick (thanx for your help) and alex

some feedback for you if it helps.

have been running s@h since july 05 and aveaged 10 hours per wu.

installed your a4:G4 begining of december 05. Am running 10.3.9

now crunching each wu in LESS than two hours, average is 1.50 hours!

If you want any testers, just let me know. Rick, (i still have yrs) you may still have my email but if you hav'nt, and u r still lokking for testers, post a note and i will mail u back

You two are very, very smart people!
Congrads

chow4now
glenn
     
BTBlomberg
Forum Regular
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Status: Offline
Jan 9, 2006, 08:32 AM
 
I would have to agree with Snake on this. And besides being happy for you some of us who can't get into new Dual Core G5s are just plain jealous as we watch you guys fly by with averages of thousands of WUs. I hope you guys are running the BOINC Superbench client as not to mess us slower workers up. Will give you higher WU counts to be nice for others in the Quorum.

But really, this should be about the optimization and trouble shooting of the client/worker.
Originally Posted by Snake_doctor
Folks,

I am certain that most of the readers of this thread would agree that we could not be any happier for you guys that are running the new G5 Quads. Clearly discussion of those systems is on topic if Rick or Alex ask you questions related to the SETI development. But this thread is now really, really, really long, and it is almost impossible to follow the discussion of the SETI worker development. Many people have posted on topic questions which get quickly buried in off topic discussion and go unanswered. It would be considerate if you could either stay on the titled subject, go to PM mode, or perhaps create a new thread about G5 dual core systems and noise/cooling issues.

Alternatively, Rick and or Alex might consider creating a new thread starting with the links to Rick's Website at the top of this one, covering just the Altivec SETI worker development.

Either of these options would be a great service to people who are interested in SETI development.

Regards
Phil
     
Todd Madson
Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN USA
Status: Offline
Jan 9, 2006, 01:01 PM
 
Perhaps we create two threads:
(1) a stickied thread that follows client development with clickable links.
(2) another thread that follows user experiences with the clients.
     
rick
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Sep 2005
Status: Offline
Jan 9, 2006, 02:27 PM
 
Originally Posted by halimedia
1.) Esa - is it possible to switch Nap off/on via CLI? If so -how?
On my PowerBook there's an "Allow Nap" checkbox in System Preferences -> Processor. I guess you can then look in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist for the appropriate key to pass to the defaults command.

Originally Posted by Todd Madson
Perhaps we create two threads:
And a third for random praise.
     
 
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