Dual core support?

DanNeely
DanNeely
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Topic 190270

I just replaced my old pc with an a64x2 3800 even though I have my preferences set to use multiple processors my eta for completing a work unit is indicating that i'm only running on one core.

My old athlon ran at 1400mhz, and my new one is running at 2gig, if both cores were running I should be ~3x as fast but the actual eta per work unit has only shifted from 9.5 to 6.5hrs so it appears I'm only using a single core at the moment.

J D K
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Dual core support?

You are correct, your view computer page shows one CPU, did you set the preference to use 2 or more and then update the Boinc CC.....?

Michael Roycraft
Michael Roycraft
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RE: I just replaced my old

Quote:

I just replaced my old pc with an a64x2 3800 even though I have my preferences set to use multiple processors my eta for completing a work unit is indicating that i'm only running on one core.

My old athlon ran at 1400mhz, and my new one is running at 2gig, if both cores were running I should be ~3x as fast but the actual eta per work unit has only shifted from 9.5 to 6.5hrs so it appears I'm only using a single core at the moment.

Dan,

I'd like to call your attention to a small error. However you set up Boinc on the new machine, it will not use both cores to crunch one individual Workunit. Where does that leave us? With a 2GHz core crunching a WU, compared with your previous rig's 1.4GHz proc, for something like a 42% faster crunch, possibly a tiny bit above that due to larger L2 cache. That is right in line with the times you've quoted. The potential benefit of crunching with your new double-core is that it is capable of crunching 2 WUs simultaneously, one on each core. I hope that settles your mind, helps you understand.

Michael

microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK

DanNeely
DanNeely
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RE: I'd like to call your

Message 20299 in response to message 20298

Quote:
I'd like to call your attention to a small error. However you set up Boinc on the new machine, it will not use both cores to crunch one individual Workunit. Where does that leave us? With a 2GHz core crunching a WU, compared with your previous rig's 1.4GHz proc, for something like a 42% faster crunch, possibly a tiny bit above that due to larger L2 cache. That is right in line with the times you've quoted. The potential benefit of crunching with your new double-core is that it is capable of crunching 2 WUs simultaneously, one on each core. I hope that settles your mind, helps you understand.

So how do I do this? I didn't see anything in the setup guid linked above mentioning dual core systems.

DanNeely
DanNeely
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i'm not in any rush here

i'm not in any rush here since I'm planning on doing several days of prime95 torture testing before doing anything important on my new box.

Michael Roycraft
Michael Roycraft
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RE: So how do I do this? I

Message 20301 in response to message 20299

Quote:
So how do I do this? I didn't see anything in the setup guide linked above mentioning dual core systems.

Dan,

There, sir, I'm afraid you have me at a loss, except to repeat Jim K's suggestion - to go to your account page/view or edit general preferences, ensure that "on multiprocessors use at most... set to value "2", make sure to click "update preferences" at the bottom of the Edit General Preferences page, and then in Manager window, on the "Projects" tab, click on (select) the currently-running project, and click the "Update" button on the left.

One more thought - While you have the Manager open, check the "Work" tab. Does it show 1 item status "Running", or 2 of them running? If it shows 2 items as "Running", disregard the paragraph above, because that would indicate that both cores are actively on the job.

Michael

microcraft
"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" - MLK

Richard M
Richard M
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Hi Dan, It sounds like

Hi Dan,
It sounds like Windows 2000 is not set up to run two processors. When you open task manager and click on the performance tab does it show two graphs (indicating two processors)? If not, you need to change your setup. For more information on how to do that, go to this page.

TTYL
Richard

DanNeely
DanNeely
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THanks that worked. Now I

THanks that worked. Now I just need to do a week or three of torture testing with prime95 to see how fast I can run it. (I'm not going to run real data until I'm sure my clocking values are stable)

Bruce Allen
Bruce Allen
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RE: THanks that worked.

Message 20304 in response to message 20303

Quote:
THanks that worked. Now I just need to do a week or three of torture testing with prime95 to see how fast I can run it. (I'm not going to run real data until I'm sure my clocking values are stable)

I personally think that running E@H on both cores is an excellent torture test for your new box (:-).

[If lots of invalid results are returned then some other users might get annoyed that you are delaying their credits, but I'm sure you'll watch the results and stop if this is happening!]

Director, Einstein@Home

DanNeely
DanNeely
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RE: RE: THanks that

Message 20305 in response to message 20304

Quote:
Quote:
THanks that worked. Now I just need to do a week or three of torture testing with prime95 to see how fast I can run it. (I'm not going to run real data until I'm sure my clocking values are stable)

I personally think that running E@H on both cores is an excellent torture test for your new box (:-).

[If lots of invalid results are returned then some other users might get annoyed that you are delaying their credits, but I'm sure you'll watch the results and stop if this is happening!]

P95 has a built in torture tester though. It runs the same computations over and over again and confirms that it gets the same results every time. Feedback immediately instead of days down the line. Making a tweak and waiting to see what happens with a feedback loop that slow's impossible. Even the spontainious reboots or bsods that would occur from overstressing the hardware are much slower.

Bruce Allen
Bruce Allen
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RE: P95 has a built in

Message 20306 in response to message 20305

Quote:
P95 has a built in torture tester though. It runs the same computations over and over again and confirms that it gets the same results every time. Feedback immediately instead of days down the line. Making a tweak and waiting to see what happens with a feedback loop that slow's impossible.


OK, fair enough!

Director, Einstein@Home

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