Disable temporary a CPU core for another application
15 May 2014 7:53:14 UTC
Topic 197585
(moderation:
Hi,
Most of the time we ask BOINC to use all CPU/GPU ressources to process WU.
In my case I set the maximum usage to 90% of processors with a processor priority level set to Low.
But it happens that I also need to run other applications (e.g. Adobe products) that require much ressources.
And in this case, Photoshop for example has difficulties to open a page or to perform a change because BOINC use all ressources. But in another side, I do not use PS all the time either and I do not want to impact Einstein too much.
It should be useful to have the option to temporary disable the access to a CPU-core for Einstein@home (an option that 'd also be welcome for all other BOINC apps).
So, another application could temporary use this additional ressource.
Of course there is an alternative : I can change my preferences when I use an additional application then update, and restoring my preferences when my job is complete. But accessing to an option on the menu 'd be much more convenient.
Thank you
Disable temporary a CPU core for another application
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One way is to go into the Boinc Manager, down by the clock, and click tools, computing preferences. This will open a box with tabs, go to the far right tab, exclusive applications, and put your photoshop startup file in there. That will mean anytime PS runs Boinc stops, Boinc will then start back up again as soon as PS closes. Gamers use this alot so Boinc doesn't interfere with their gaming.
RE: ...click tools,
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Hi,
Thanks for the advice.
Changing these preferences does not help me (but they could, indeed).
An alternative 'd also be to ask it to not run at a specific time some days. But I do not want that.
My issue is that I want that Boinc continues to process my data 24h a day.
But in the same time I'd like that it frees 1 cpu-core (my PC has 8) when I work on another application hungrier of ressources.
At first sight this option is not programmed.
http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion
RE: RE: ...click tools,
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No it probably doesn't, we have been asking for more minute control over Boinc and the way it uses the cpu for many years but the Developers haven't yet given us that control. I'm guessing they have bigger problems and are on a path to solve them instead. One thing we have asked for is to let each project have it's own cpu core if we choose, similar to what you want, but the Developers say 'no'.
You could also use the option
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You could also use the option to suspend BOINC when the non-BOINC CPU load is above a certain threshold, e.g. 12.5% for 1 core in your case.
What I don't like about this setting and the other methods to stop BOINC is that it always suspends BOINC entirely. I may have threads feeding a GPU, which I might want to continue to crunch even though I might want to suspend the CPU tasks.
As fas as I know there's no option for this in BOINC. But it's rather similar to what you'd like, i.e. changing the "suspension" from a full stop to something else. There's not much Einstein could do about this, though, as it's part of the BOINC core functionality.
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
RE: You could also use the
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A while back I 'heard' Boinc 8 MAY have some of this in it. It was said in passing and NO details were given, just that maybe we could have more control in the next major version.
With BOINC 7.2.42 for x64
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With BOINC 7.2.42 for x64 Windows, here's how I do it:
If you are using the simple view, click on View, then Advanced View.
Click on Tools, then Computing Preferences.
Click on processor usage. Find a line starting with "On multiprocessor systems" near the bottom of the window. Set the value on this line to the percentage of the CPU cores BOINC is allowed to use for CPU workunits, rounded upwards to the nearest 1%.
Click on OK.
If you want the simple view, click on View, then Simple View.
Following an advice from
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Following an advice from ATLAS@home I put "use the number of processors to 50%". The result was a loss in speed on two systems, one with a 2 cores Opteron 1210 and Linux, one with a A10-6700 with 4 cores and Windows 8.1. CPU usage on the Task Manager of the Windows PC went down to 62% from the 100% it was before. The only tasks not being slowed were two, one Einstein and one SETI Astropulse using a Radeon HD 8670D graphic board on the Windows PC, so I reset the number of processors to 100% and CPU usage on the Task Manager went back to 100%.
Tullio
Tulliio, thanks for taking
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Tulliio, thanks for taking the time to post your findings. However, you just describe how the current BOINC controls normally work. Which is not able to do what Thierry is looking for.
Robert, what you are suggesting always reserves a core (or not, depending on how GPUs may be fed). But Thierry was looking for a way to dynamically reduce the BOINC load to something more than "nothing", if he needs the performance elsewhere. Otherwise BOINC should run full throttle.
I know it's an old thread, but anyway.. thinking about it again I came to the conclusion that "dynamically limit BOINC to 1 core less than usual" is really not necessary. The reason is that BOINC tasks run at minimal priority anyway and will thus give way to tasks running at normal priority (like your Photoshop). However, this doesn't mean that running BOINC in the background won't affect performance. Those tasks are still eating cache space and memory bandwidth no any core not running the main application. Hence in order to get maximum performance one would want to disable all BOINC CPU crunching. If such a drastic reduction doesn't seem necessary.. well, then reserving just 1 core wouldn't be necessary either, as the difference to running full throttle is pretty small (7 other threads vs. on average 7 other threads + 1 suspended by the OS due to priority).
MrS
Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002
It would be useful to assign
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It would be useful to assign the percentage of cpu cores used by time, so that all cores could be utilized during off hours, and reduced during work hours.
RE: It would be useful to
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Currently, with the advanced BOINC Manager interface, you can select Tools, then Computing preferences, and reach a window where you can adjust the number of CPU cores BOINC is allowed to use. Not automatic, though; you have to do this every time you want the number to change.