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Letting BOINC run 24/7

Letting BOINC run 24/7

Message boards : Cafe CPDN : Letting BOINC run 24/7
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old_user701332

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Message 47199 - Posted: 29 Sep 2013, 19:01:03 UTC

When joined CDPN, I saw something about the carbon footprint from running the project was small compared to the benefit. So, I planned on leaving my computer on mostly 24/7. (I would shut it down during thunder-storms or hot weather.) However, my electric bill was very small, and running my computer 24/7 has doubled it.
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Les Bayliss
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Message 47200 - Posted: 29 Sep 2013, 19:45:25 UTC - in response to Message 47199.  

That statement is still true. But, yes, running these huge supercomputer programs on a desktop computer does use up a fair bit of electricity.
The comparison is between lots of desktops, and one or more dedicated supercomputers.
It's up to each individual to decide about the research.

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Belfry

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Message 47201 - Posted: 29 Sep 2013, 20:00:28 UTC
Last modified: 29 Sep 2013, 20:04:58 UTC

CPDN, as with all distributed computer projects, will increase electricity consumption. Some things you can do:

-Use a laptop.*

-Don't run CPDN or any CPU-based BOINC project on a machine with a dedicated graphics card.

-Run BOINC only certain times of the day and then suspend or hibernate.

-Undervolt and/or underclock.

* Ed: I'd recommend an extra one you don't need to carry around a lot--CPDN tasks are prone to crashing with a lot of shutdown cycles.
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Message 47205 - Posted: 30 Sep 2013, 6:55:00 UTC - in response to Message 47201.  

* Ed: I'd recommend an extra one you don't need to carry around a lot--CPDN tasks are prone to crashing with a lot of shutdown cycles.


Will it reduce the number of CDPN crashes if I use the BOINC manager to select all projects and suspend them before I shut down my computer?

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Profile JIM

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Message 47208 - Posted: 30 Sep 2013, 15:46:11 UTC - in response to Message 47205.  

quote]* Ed: I'd recommend an extra one you don't need to carry around a lot--CPDN tasks are prone to crashing with a lot of shutdown cycles.[/quote]

Will it reduce the number of CDPN crashes if I use the BOINC manager to select all projects and suspend them before I shut down my computer?

[/quote]

Suspending the tasks and then exiting the Boinc manager before shutting down the computer are definitely recommended. It will minimize crashes.


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Message 47211 - Posted: 30 Sep 2013, 18:09:53 UTC - in response to Message 47205.  
Last modified: 30 Sep 2013, 18:32:16 UTC

In my experience it's best to shutdown BOINC before machine shutdown.

Ed: it might be okay to suspend BOINC without the "leave applications in memory while suspended" setting checked, but to the tasks it's essentially the same as shutting down BOINC--me thinks. This setting is probably what you want to save energy and keep the tasks loaded through S3 suspend or hibernation. Check that your suspend/hibernation is good and stable though.
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Message 47223 - Posted: 1 Oct 2013, 15:59:11 UTC

Thanks for the replies.

I started using the BOINC manager to suspend projects (Seti@home and World Community Grid) prior to shutting down my computer about the time I joined CPDN, but before I received my first CDPN work unit. This was the result of some sort of bug in my operating system: When I booted my computer, it would start showing UTC time, instead of Chicago time. It would claim either the UTC time was "Local" time or Chicago time. I noticed that changing the time would confuse some of the software, including the BOINC projects, so I had to reboot after changing the time, hoping the time would be correct on the next boot. I would try to protect BOINC projects from this by suspending projects, and not resuming them until I verified I did not have to change the time.
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Message boards : Cafe CPDN : Letting BOINC run 24/7

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