Wish: allow CPU throttling

Message boards : BOINC Manager : Wish: allow CPU throttling
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Aaron Lawrence

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Joined: 17 Sep 05
Posts: 8
Message 465 - Posted: 20 Sep 2005, 8:07:40 UTC

I have an Athlon64 which I use cool-n-quiet with. This means the CPU throttles right back when not need; instead of running at 2.2GHz all the time it will drop back to either 1.2G or 800MHz. This reduces power and heat a great deal.

BOINC however, always runs at 100%, therefore it also keeps the CPU at full speed. Ironic, isn't it, that in order to simualte climate change I need to increase my contribution to it :P

Anyway, I would like an option, somehow, to decrease the amount of CPU BOINC uses, so that the CPU can stay at lower speed when not needed for my other tasks. I realise this might be difficult, but it would be nice.
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Jim Baize

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Joined: 30 Aug 05
Posts: 25
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Message 467 - Posted: 20 Sep 2005, 10:51:56 UTC

On Seti's page there is an add-on download page. Look for it. On that page there is a utility called ThreadMaster. It purports to do exactly what you are requesting. I"ve not used it personally, but I've read comments from a few who have used it and they seem to be happy with it.

Jim
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Bill Michael

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Joined: 30 Aug 05
Posts: 297
Message 471 - Posted: 20 Sep 2005, 15:40:46 UTC - in response to Message 465.  

I have an Athlon64 which I use cool-n-quiet with. This means the CPU throttles right back when not need; instead of running at 2.2GHz all the time it will drop back to either 1.2G or 800MHz. This reduces power and heat a great deal.

BOINC however, always runs at 100%, therefore it also keeps the CPU at full speed.


On the SETI forums, people are complaining about CNQ, trying to turn it OFF, because it drops back even while they're wanting SETI running at full speed... BOINC itself is at a priority such that it should always kick the processor to full - but that's only about 5% of the time, with the rest being in the science application. It's possible that SETI runs in a way that CNQ doesn't see it and slows down, while Climate causes it to speed up.

In any case, a functioning CNQ is great for people who are running BOINC projects just to donate idle time - but lousy for those who want to crunch as fast as possible. I assume since you even know what it is that you have made sure it is enabled for your system (sorry, but we get the "BOINC doesn't let me open my cupholder" type posts here...) - if it for whatever reason isn't working, I would recommend ThreadMaster as a way to throttle back the CPU. That's what those people who are stuck with Intel chips have to use. :-)

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Message boards : BOINC Manager : Wish: allow CPU throttling

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