Bionic CPU usage too low?

[DutchTexan]

So, my plan is to F@H with my GPU and run 2 CPU(hopefully CPU only) projects, milkyway@home and Cosmology@home through bionic. The issue is my CPU usage is like 14%? That can't be right. 

 

I don't have a CPU slot for F@H. I changed the preferences on bionic manager and on the two respected websites for the projects I want to work on. My activity in Bionic Manager is also set to: Run always, Suspend GPU, Network Activity Always

 

Here is what I see while my CPU usage is 14-17 percent in msi afterburner and task manager:

 

Is there something obviously wrong with my settings/configuration? Or did my no GPU preferences not work? (ended and then added current projects after I configured the milkyway@home and cosmology@home preferences) 

 

[tobben]

Could you provide a screenshot of the actual

task tab in the boinc client? To see if you have

received any tasks at all. Maybe the project tab

aswell to see if it's set up properly.

 

Depending on the wu in question, on a 1080 i

wouldn't expect much less than 14% cpu usage

just from folding alone.  

 

Also keep in mind that your ppd will likely suffer 

from using your cpu for boinc, you can try it out

and see for yourself. 

 

I thought milkway@home had a 8 or 16 thread 

requirement pr task? I might be wrong though,

operating on slightly old and flaky knowledge

here. 

 

 

[Ithanul]

If BOINC and F@H at the same time, get a program like Process Lasso and have it setup where F@H runs on certain threads and BOINC on others.  Great way to keep F@H pushing PPD without to much of a hit.

 

Just to show you.  i7 4770K, so each thread shows around 12% usage.  This can vary depending on BOINC project or F@H WU.

 

Hmmm, I don't have Milkway@home.  Usually projects have a link called preferences for the project.

Should be called Milkway preferences.

This is how PrimeGrid looks.  Should look similar in Milkway.  In your case, no on both.

[DutchTexan]

27 minutes ago, Ithanul said:

If BOINC and F@H at the same time, get a program like Process Lasso and have it setup where F@H runs on certain threads and BOINC on others.  Great way to keep F@H pushing PPD without to much of a hit.

 

Just to show you.  i7 4770K, so each thread shows around 12% usage.  This can vary depending on BOINC project or F@H WU.

 

Hmmm, I don't have Milkway@home.  Usually projects have a link called preferences for the project.

Should be called Milkway preferences.

This is how PrimeGrid looks.  Should look similar in Milkway.  In your case, no on both.

On 12/30/2016 at 1:48 PM, tobben said:

Could you provide a screenshot of the actual

task tab in the boinc client? To see if you have

received any tasks at all. Maybe the project tab

aswell to see if it's set up properly.

 

Depending on the wu in question, on a 1080 i

wouldn't expect much less than 14% cpu usage

just from folding alone.  

 

Also keep in mind that your ppd will likely suffer 

from using your cpu for boinc, you can try it out

and see for yourself. 

 

I thought milkway@home had a 8 or 16 thread 

requirement pr task? I might be wrong though,

operating on slightly old and flaky knowledge

here. 

 

 

Thanks I will give it a shot after my CPU finishes 

 

If only bionic was as retard friendly as F@H

[tobben]

@DutchTexan If you haven't already, when

you open the boinc client, in the "simple view".

Click on the show tab second from left at the

top, then "advanced view" at the bottom. Might

clear a few things up.

[DutchTexan]

6 hours ago, tobben said:

@DutchTexan If you haven't already, when

you open the boinc client, in the "simple view".

Click on the show tab second from left at the

top, then "advanced view" at the bottom. Might

clear a few things up.

Yes, I have spent the majority of my time in advance view.

 

I think it may have to do with the projects I have chosen. They are all very interesting, especially the space ones. Figuring out the different settings and preferences between the projects is pretty much just figuring out their website layout, yes? The settings are all fundamentally the same, just in different places on each website. I think I figured it out milkyway@home, but I was just expecting to see 100% CPU usage all the time. It seems like my CPU is pined at 100% half the time and then it hovers around 12% the other half the time. Not efficient.

 

Which project would you say is best for for up 8 threads of CPU attention, no GPU workloads?

 

Bionic is more complex than F@H, but it's not impossible to figure out. Even some of the script solutions I see people discussion in other forums are relatively easy to figure out, sometimes anyway. I like the F@H a lot better because my GPU and CPU, appear, to be more useful. On the other hand, medicine isn't as interesting of a donation than what bionic offers. Especially since I own a Newtonian Reflector, observing deep sky objects and heavenly bodies is extremely fulfilling.

[tobben]

I have a 14" newtonian reflector, i love space

 

It would be very helpful if you kept track of the tasks

in the advanced view. If for example, your cpu is at

13% because it doesn't have any tasks, then there 

are a number of possible solutions. 

 

if you are just seeing bad utilization for a given project,

you might want to try a different project altogether, or 

force the cpu to run more tasks at once. You should 

see if the cpu is somewhat stable or not, if you aren't 

failing any tasks etc.. 

 

First off we need to know why your cpu is stuck at 

14% out of nowhere, to me it sounds like it's idle in

boinc and just supporting your gpu in folding. 

 

Maybe you don't have a big enough buffer, so its

between downloads, maybe the project didn't have 

any tasks available at the time etc.. You can figure

it out by paying attention to the tasks.

 

First off we need an assessment, why does it happen,

then we can look at a possible solution. As for low

thread count projects, maybe @Imakuni can help. 

 

The websites should generally be pretty similar and

mostly follow the same formula across projects. 

[DutchTexan]

16 minutes ago, tobben said:

I have a 14" newtonian reflector, i love space

 

It would be very helpful if you kept track of the tasks

in the advanced view. If for example, your cpu is at

13% because it doesn't have any tasks, then there 

are a number of possible solutions. 

 

if you are just seeing bad utilization for a given project,

you might want to try a different project altogether, or 

force the cpu to run more tasks at once. You should 

see if the cpu is somewhat stable or not, if you aren't 

failing any tasks etc.. 

 

First off we need to know why your cpu is stuck at 

14% out of nowhere, to me it sounds like it's idle in

boinc and just supporting your gpu in folding. 

 

Maybe you don't have a big enough buffer, so its

between downloads, maybe the project didn't have 

any tasks available at the time etc.. You can figure

it out by paying attention to the tasks.

 

First off we need an assessment, why does it happen,

then we can look at a possible solution. As for low

thread count projects, maybe @Imakuni can help. 

 

The websites should generally be pretty similar and

mostly follow the same formula across projects. 

That's fucking huge! I just have a little 130mm. Tube and eq mount together wieghs almost 11kg. What do you have that monster mounted on? How's the light pollution in your area?

 

I'm finishing something off in F@H. I'll be back shortly with another bionic attempt and explanation. 

[tobben]

Sky isn't ideal but its pretty good, basically out in

the country in the middle of a forest. Practically

no street lights or nearby(very) big cities. 

 

It's a dobson mount, no eq mount for me, and

yeah, overall i'd say the telescope is pretty back

breaking , not fun to move..

 

I did consider investing in my own little observatory

in the backyard, with something even bigger. But i

no longer have the money. 

[DutchTexan]

@tobben Everything looks good for now. Is it just normal for CPU usage to drop while folding with bionic?

 

 

 

just paused CPU F@H

 

Just selected 'always run' under 'activity'

 

MSI afterburner observation (dip was switching from F@H to bionic)

 

 

 

 

 

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Is there a benefit to running more than 1 project at the same time? Is it just related to your hardware? Or is it just your preference? 

 

 

 

 

[DutchTexan]

23 minutes ago, tobben said:

Sky isn't ideal but its pretty good, basically out in

the country in the middle of a forest. Practically

no street lights or big nearby(very) cities. 

 

It's a dobson mount, no eq mount for me, and

yeah, overall i'd say the telescope is pretty back

breaking , not fun to move..

 

I did consider investing in my own little observatory

in the backyard, with something even bigger. But i

no longer have the money. 

Wow that would be impressive. I have an awesome observatory nearby, an hour away. They have a 36″, 18″ and 14″ available for public use. The 36" is a Ritchey–Chrétien telescope with a badass 11" refractor mounted as a secondary finder scope. I'd much rather have something more intermediate than my 130mm all to myself, like an 8". I gets expensive really quickly. I bought a couple explore scientific eyepieces that tpgether are worth more than my entire scope. Still not as bad as PC's though

Edited January 2, 2017 by DutchTexan
space talk gets me excited, so I make poor grammar :1

[DutchTexan]

still so far so good

 

 

Does 'waiting for network access' mean waiting on available threads

Bionic suddenly made a whole lot more sense...

[Ithanul]

To get more info on what the project is doing.

 

You can open the Event Log for BOINC by Ctrl+Shift+E or click Tools then Event Log.  That can show how the projects are talking back to their servers.

[tobben]

Sorry for the slow response, nice to see that

it's working. The temporary dip in load could

be a number of things, should mostly be a 

non-issue. 

 

Running several projects could for example

be beneficial to lower the chance of running

out of work. If there is any server trouble, or 

maybe one project just runs out of work, you

always have one or more alternatives. It's

mostly a matter of preference though, what 

you want to contribute to etc.. 

 

"waiting for network access", likely means it's

in a upload or download queue, contacting 

the server etc.. 

 

I went for explore scientific eyepieces aswell,

they are damn expensive, but i love them.

Even have one of these, it weighs around 1KG
http://explorescientificusa.com/collections/eyepiece/products/82-30mm

 

I don't have any super expensive nagler eps

though. If you ask me, if's FAR worse than

pc's