I installed BOINC a few days ago, running SETI and Rosetta. Initially, I was able to run it so that it did work only when my computer is idle. After about a day though, it became clear that running it at 100% CPU usage wasn't going to work with my notebook with a Pentium M at 2.0ghz. I was experiencing windows crashes and sudden rebooting, so heat was evidently becoming a problem. I tried to reduce the percentage of the CPU BOINC used, but to no avail. I tried 80%, 50%, 10%, you name it, and it still ran at a constant 100% when the computer went idle.

After uninstalling and reinstalling BOINC to see if that helped, I am no longer even able to limit BOINC to processing when the computer is idle, let alone reduce its CPU usage.

Either I'm doing something wrong or there's something wrong with the software. If anyone has any pointers, I'd love to hear them. I'm enthusiastic about contributing my spare processing power on my notebook and my other computers, but not at the cost of burning out their processors or mobos.

---

You're not doing something wrong, and it's not something wrong with the software either. :-)

The Use maximum CPU percentage is a future option, for the next update of BOINC. It's on some sites, so the Alpha testers can check how that option works with regular projects. I can say it works fine. :)

It's only available in versions 5.6.x and above. Since 5.6.x is abandoned in favor of 5.8.x, which will also have a new GUI. So there's still a little waiting to do before it is publicly available.

In the mean time you could use a 3rd party program such as Threadmaster. This adjusts the CPU usage through the registry.

---

Hi Imperator

Here are the instructions Thyme Lawn gave to ClimatePrediction crunchers about how to install Threadmaster to reduce CPU usage. Note that the 2 instances of hadcm..... are for the climate project.

http://bbc.cpdn.org/forum_thread.php?id=600

Just past half-way through his first post there he says

'Approximately 30 seconds after the restart you should see that the climate change program will be using the limit you specified. (BOINC manager will say that the project is using 100% resources but if you check in task manager it will only be using the amount you specified.)'

I wonder whether this is the case with your computer?

To improve air flow and cooling we advise climate crunchers using laptops to raise the entire machine slightly above the table surface - not just the little feet at the back. I'd say that the same applies to crunchers of any project.

---

Thanks for the quick replies.

'Approximately 30 seconds after the restart you should see that the climate change program will be using the limit you specified. (BOINC manager will say that the project is using 100% resources but if you check in task manager it will only be using the amount you specified.)'

I wonder whether this is the case with your computer?

Nope, task manager said my CPU was running at 100% in all instances.

To improve air flow and cooling we advise climate crunchers using laptops to raise the entire machine slightly above the table surface - not just the little feet at the back. I'd say that the same applies to crunchers of any project.

Thanks. I have a docking station for my notebook which gives it a good 3/4" of clearance, so I'm pretty sure airflow is as good as it's going to get without any additional cooling devices such as a fan base, which I've heard don't make much difference anyway.

The Use maximum CPU percentage is a future option, for the next update of BOINC. It's on some sites, so the Alpha testers can check how that option works with regular projects. I can say it works fine. :)

It's only available in versions 5.6.x and above. Since 5.6.x is abandoned in favor of 5.8.x, which will also have a new GUI. So there's still a little waiting to do before it is publicly available.

That makes sense then. Definitely looking forward to the next release. I'll have to look into Threadmaster in the meantime.

---