Posts by lashrasch

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61146) Posted 16 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: I too buy the cheap ones, but I buy them 3 at a time and replace them when I notice a rise in temps that blowing out the vents doesn't change. BE CAREFUL to ONLY use a can of compressed air, air compressors can easily blow with too much pressure and actually damage things very easily! You buy these stands 3 at a time? Why would the temps start to rise when you've been using them?
2) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61142) Posted 16 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: It certainly makes a difference to my laptop - so much so, that when I knocked the USB cable out of place by mistake, the machine first downclocked and then shut down completely. Get to know your laptop. Find out where the air vents are: which ones blow, and which ones suck. If it's not obvious, hold a sheet of tissue paper nearby and see which way the wind takes it. [hint: there's usually a supply of suitable light-weight paper on a roll in the smallest room in the house] The stand will only help if the fans are helping the air to move in the right direction. In my case, the stand pushes the air upwards towards the base of the laptop: the laptop itself sucks from underneath and blows hot air out of the side, so all is good. I don't actually see any reduction in temperature, but I can hear that the internal fan is working less hard, so the manufacturer's thermal control software is happy that I'm running within limits. And there's extra headroom available if the ambient temperature increases, or I run an application which places higher stress on the CPU or GPU. I had to buy a relatively cheap one, and even though i get the fan positioned directly underneath the intake, there is 0 reduction in temperature. I run speedfan alongside boinc to always keep an eye on the temps. The only function this stand has, is to keep my vent holes free of obstructions.
3) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61138) Posted 16 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: Get yourself something like this to keep your laptop cool. It is powered thru a usb port on the laptop and will both create a space under the laptop for airflow and move that air with the fans. I have one of those. The fans are ineffective and don't do anything to lower the CPU temps, but it definitely gives good circulation around the pc.
4) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61128) Posted 15 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: Setting to 75% is what I had in mind & that should of worked, I don't understand your 2nd idea, if you suspend all CPU tasks then all cores will be free, if you suspend the GPU tasks then the GPU load would be near 0, lol. I don't understand why the 75% CPU didn't work though, I'm at a loss, anyone else? My understanding is setting CPU usage to 75% in preferences will stop boinc from using more than 75% in total. Which means that if i can have 8 threads, 75% will make boinc only work on 6 threads and some of that 75% on the GPU. Setting the preferences to 100% CPU usage and suspend tasks so I'm only working on 6 threads will leave 2 threads (1 core) idle for boinc to use on the GPU. or am I wrong in this assumption?
5) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61124) Posted 15 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: Btw to get MW to load the GPU properly you'll need to dedicate a CPU core to it, yea I know that sucks ;). BTW: how do I dedicate a CPU? I tried reducing "use at most x% CPU" to 75%, which would put one CPU idle for any other work. No change in GPU load. Then I set it to 100% and suspended task so I still had one core free, but the load on my GPU is stuck at only 55% ... ?
6) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61123) Posted 15 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: ... Or just run MW to keep your temps down! :) Btw to get MW to load the GPU properly you'll need to dedicate a CPU core to it, yea I know that sucks ;). Thank you for the constructive reply. I'm also running an older laptop with only two cores, it used to reach 95-100°C, but after cleaning the fan and reapplying thermal paste, it never goes above 75°C, so that a dramatic decrease in temp. On my primary laptop, if I change "maximum processor state" to 99% in power plan settings, the CPU will throttle down to 2,3GHz and the temps drop to 70-75°C, so I'll consider temperature a non-issue for me. What I'm really looking for in this thread is any tips on how to make the crunching as effective as possible on my laptop. And as I said earlier, MW never manages to get my laptop as hot as PrimeGrid. I take that as a clue that MW is not using the full potential of my computer.
7) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61121) Posted 15 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: Don't know what could possibly go wrong. COMPUTER MELTDOWN is what could happen if you let your laptop run at such high temperatures Is that even remotely likely, considering that I have good circulation of air around the whole laptop, and the cores being at a steady 85-90°C? The picture you posted looks more like a computer reaching 150°C across the whole keyboard, while mine is cool even after 6 hours of crunching. I see it as highly unlikely that my laptop will melt. Is there anything else that could happen to the CPU/motherboard at high temps? Keep in mind that the CPU will throttle down if it ever reaches 102°C, and it will shut down at 105°C. EDIT: I also ALWAYS remove the battery when I'm using BOINC.
8) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61118) Posted 15 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: OpenCL code (used at MW) is not running well on NVIDIA GPUs. They care only about CUDA. The temperatures you achieved on PrimeGrid are pretty high (even after repasting). I don't advise to run your notebook at such high temperatures for longer time. Ok, then I'll use my Nvidia GPU for PrimeGrid only. Considering the temps, I hear most people saying 70°C and above is not good for the CPU in the long run, however my laptop seems to be coping with the temps fairly well. Don't know what could possibly go wrong.
9) Message boards : Number crunching : Tips and tricks to improve CPU and GPU crunching. (Message 61115) Posted 15 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: I'm seeking help to setup my computer and project preferences to get the most out of my computer when running MW and boinc projects in general. This is my main computer (laptop): i7 3610QM 2,3GHz (3,3GHz turbo boost, 4 cores - 8 threads), Nvidia GT 650m (2GB, 384 CUDA cores). tldr at the bottom. When running PrimeGrid, I have 8 threads running on my CPU and my GPU has a 98% load with 0.0233 CPUs. CPU temp used to go all the way to 102°C and it throttled down from 3,3GHz to 2,8GHz. I changed the thermal paste and I'm now at full CPU speed and 88-94°C. GPU temp usually 80-85. Running Milkyway GPU - MW@H v1.02 (using openCL) 0,254 CPUs and 45-55% load on the GPU. Temp is 69°C. CPU - N-body simulation all cores on one WU. 3,1GHz full load. Temp is 73-76°C Is there any way to increase the load on my GPU in MW, seeing as the load is a lot lower than when running PG. It dedicates more of my CPU to the GPU WU (apparently 0,245 CPU), but GPU is still only at 45-55% load. tldr; Running PrimeGrid puts full load on both CPU and GPU and reaches "max" temp, but MW has lower load on GPU, and both CPU and GPU has a significant lower temperature.
10) Message boards : News : Award Badges Going Live Soon! (Message 61114) Posted 15 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: If you ask this over in the Number Crunching section you should get lots of ideas that can help you. Will do. Cheers!
11) Message boards : News : Award Badges Going Live Soon! (Message 61111) Posted 15 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: I was talking about Boinc, there are soooo many things about running Boinc that sooo many newbies have no clue about. I see you have been running Boinc for quite a while, PG since 2007, there are alot of people that really have no clue how to make it better. I tried boinc in 2007, running PG for a few weeks i guess. I've lost interest several times, and consequently a few years hiatus. Forgot all about Boinc until december 2013 when I started up again, with a relatively new laptop. I'm probably not going to stop crunching now that I have a better understanding of what the different projects are doing. I also have an old laptop that will be used purely to run boinc, although it's quite slow compared to the new i7 processors. Within a year, I hope to have built a brand new desktop computer with high-end CPU and hopefully two GPUs that will also be used for boinc when idle. Any quick tips on how to make boinc "better", as you put it? My laptop can't be overclocked, so there is little I can do on that end.
12) Message boards : News : Award Badges Going Live Soon! (Message 60938) Posted 3 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: Welcome to the forums, now don't let these be your only posts!!! You can both learn alot and help those who know less then you do. Is there anything in particular I need to learn? I doubt there is anything I can teach anyone here. I'm just running BOINC.
13) Message boards : News : Award Badges Going Live Soon! (Message 60934) Posted 3 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: Where can I see my badges? I can't find them anywhere... ? Look under Your Account on the webpage, or under your name where you just posted. Thanks! Didn't see them until I posted just now (which was my first post ever). Probably just a glitch in the matrix.
14) Message boards : News : Award Badges Going Live Soon! (Message 60928) Posted 3 Feb 2014 by lashrasch Post: Where can I see my badges? I can't find them anywhere... ?