I’m fairly new to BOINC and SETI@home, and I’ve noticed that my Recent Average Credit (RAC) is still too low to post new threads in some forums. I want to make sure my system is running efficiently and reliably so I can contribute more.

A few questions:

Should I prioritize GPU tasks over CPU to earn credit faster?

Are there certain projects that give credit more quickly?

Any tips for keeping tasks running smoothly without crashes?

Also, since I’m running my computer almost 24/7, I’ve been looking into ways to protect my hardware from power issues. I found this guide on UPS power supply solutions , which has some helpful recommendations for keeping home setups stable during outages.

Would love to hear from experienced users about any strategies for maximizing credit while keeping systems safe.

Thanks!

Should I prioritize GPU tasks over CPU to earn credit faster?

It depends on the application, and the hardware involved.
A well written application for the GPU will be able to do a lot more work per hour than one for the CPU.

However, old GPU hardware, with poorly optimised software can't compete with well written software on the latest CPUs, let alone if they have 32+ cores/threads. And for many projects, manually tweaking the settings for particular applications can provide a massive boost in GPU output as many applications are developed for wide compatibility and so aren't necessarily able to take full advantage of the latest GPUs.
So it all depends.

Are there certain projects that give credit more quickly?

Yes, if that's all you're interested in.
There are several projects that grant absolutely stupidly ridiculous amounts of Credit, rendering it meaningless.

However, most people run projects for the science, and the Credit lets them see how they compare to others doing the same project.

Any tips for keeping tasks running smoothly without crashes?

Don't overclock to the nth degree.
Good quality components- memory, motherboard, power supply, and especially cooling- CPU and the system in general.
Keep it cool and it can run 24/7 for years without issue.

---

Grant
Darwin NT.

In reply to oliver grant's message of 25 Sep 2025:

I’m fairly new to BOINC and SETI@home, and I’ve noticed that my Recent Average Credit (RAC) is still too low to post new threads in some forums. I want to make sure my system is running efficiently and reliably so I can contribute more.

You can forget about SETI@home. It stopped distributing work on March 31, 2020. More than 5 years ago. SETI@home will probably never come back again. So if you're new, and have added SETI@home to your BOINC client, your RAC or Credit on SETI@home, will never reach a level where you can post on the SETI forum.

In short: SETI@home as a project is dead, only the forum still exists.

See this thread: SETI@home hibernation

Unless you have a really poor internet connection having a large cache doesn't really help, indeed if you suffer a serious crash it can be counter productive.
Avoid shutting down the computer overnight, or using it for "real" work, as both will affect the speed of processing tasks.
Spread your computing power over a number of projects, looking for projects with active message boards so you can get project specific help - and understand that not all pairs of project play well with each other., look for projects with a fairly solid supply of work suitable for your computer (e.g. don't try to run CPDN just now as it's current work is Linux-only, but "most" of its tasks will run under Windows with a virtualised version of Linux).