CPU Benchmark test not finding all CPU's

msketers
msketers
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I recently built a new Win 7 64 bit system. I have the latest Boinc (7.4.42). When CPU Benchmark is run, it only finds 2 CPU's, but the machine has 4 CPU's. What is the problem? It used to find and use all 4 CPU's on (Vista 32 bit) and the exact same processor. Is this a bug in the latest Boinc?

Claggy
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CPU Benchmark test not finding all CPU's

Both your hosts report 4 CPU cores according to Boinc:

Computers belonging to msketers

You'll have to post the log messages for us to understand what you're talking about.

Claggy

ExtraTerrestrial Apes
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As long as the OS and BOINC

As long as the OS and BOINC itself finds and uses all cores, it doesn't mnatter what the benchmark does. It's not being used by Einstein and most other projects anyway, because it's too inaccurate and generates too many disputes.

MrS

Scanning for our furry friends since Jan 2002

Bikeman (Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein)
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The number of CPU (cores)

The number of CPU (cores) that the benchmark is executed on is the number of cores that BOINC is configured to be allowed to use, which can be less than the total number of cores. What you describe would suggest that BOINC is configured to use only 2 (or 50%) of the cores, which can be done in the computing preferences. Note that there are different settings for the different "venues" that you can assign to your PC ("home", "school", "work"...) so you need to check the settings for the venue that the PC in question belongs to.

So perhaps after the update, the new host belongs to a different venue than before?

Hope this helps
HB

msketers
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I checked "Computing

I checked "Computing Preferences", I found nothing regarding venues. But there was the option "On multiprocessor systems, use at most: 0% of the processors (0 means no restriction".
I did find in the event log, after selecting the menu option "Advanced->Read local prefs file" a line "max CPUs used: 2 " Below is the log excert.

5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | General prefs: from http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ (last modified 14-Jul-2005 20:17:56)
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | Host location: none
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | General prefs: using your defaults
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | Reading preferences override file
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | Preferences:
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | max memory usage when active: 1790.78MB
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | max memory usage when idle: 3223.40MB
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | max disk usage: 10.00GB
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | max CPUs used: 2
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | don't compute while active
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | don't use GPU while active
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25%
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | max download rate: 50002 bytes/sec
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | max upload rate: 50002 bytes/sec
5/26/2015 6:03:25 PM | | (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)

msketers
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I did find preferences on

I did find preferences on Einstein web site and there were three entries (default, home, and work). They were all set to use max 2 CPU's. I edited the entries to use max 4 CPU's. Then I re-read preferences and even rebooted, to no avail running local preferences, the event log still says use max 2 CPU's. I think there must be a bug somewhere.

msketers
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It seems to have fixed

It seems to have fixed itself. Apparently editing the preferences on the Einstein web site fixed it. Don't know why it took so long for it to trickle down to my machine.

mikey
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RE: It seems to have fixed

Quote:
It seems to have fixed itself. Apparently editing the preferences on the Einstein web site fixed it. Don't know why it took so long for it to trickle down to my machine.

At Einstein the changes don't happen until you get 'new' workunits. Next time you can try expanding your cache size slightly, then setting it back to normal once you get some new units and it should happen right away. The units are downloaded with a 'specific set of parameters' and changing those parameters means you need to get new units. I do not know why the parameters for the existing units also change when you get new units, but I believe they do.

archae86
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mikey wrote:At Einstein the

mikey wrote:
At Einstein the changes don't happen until you get 'new' workunits. Next time you can try expanding your cache size slightly, then setting it back to normal once you get some new units and it should happen right away. The units are downloaded with a 'specific set of parameters' and changing those parameters means you need to get new units. I do not know why the parameters for the existing units also change when you get new units, but I believe they do.


To be more accurate, one needs to draw a distinction among the various settable parameters. The behavior description by Mikey is correct for the Einstein preferences labelled on the Einstein preference setting page as "GPU utilization factor" (which governs how many WUs process simultaneously on the GPU, and goes informally by many different names in discussion here, such as "multiplicity"), which don't take effect for any WU until a new WU has been assigned and successfully downloaded, at which point all WUs of the type in question on the host change to the new state.

However for other parameters in general, set at the web site, a less involved interaction with the Einstein servers is enough. Most of us learn to click the "update" button on the project page deliberately after we make a web page preference setting. Assuming the servers are up and running, and communication between your host and the servers is successfully, this generally works. Other communications, automatically initiated by your boinc software, will also work, in time.

Just making a change on the preferences web page does not constitute a request for an update, so one may wait a while.

mikey
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RE: mikey wrote:At Einstein

Quote:
mikey wrote:
At Einstein the changes don't happen until you get 'new' workunits. Next time you can try expanding your cache size slightly, then setting it back to normal once you get some new units and it should happen right away. The units are downloaded with a 'specific set of parameters' and changing those parameters means you need to get new units. I do not know why the parameters for the existing units also change when you get new units, but I believe they do.

To be more accurate, one needs to draw a distinction among the various settable parameters. The behavior description by Mikey is correct for the Einstein preferences labelled on the Einstein preference setting page as "GPU utilization factor" (which governs how many WUs process simultaneously on the GPU, and goes informally by many different names in discussion here, such as "multiplicity"), which don't take effect for any WU until a new WU has been assigned and successfully downloaded, at which point all WUs of the type in question on the host change to the new state.

However for other parameters in general, set at the web site, a less involved interaction with the Einstein servers is enough. Most of us learn to click the "update" button on the project page deliberately after we make a web page preference setting. Assuming the servers are up and running, and communication between your host and the servers is successfully, this generally works. Other communications, automatically initiated by your boinc software, will also work, in time.

Just making a change on the preferences web page does not constitute a request for an update, so one may wait a while.

I stand corrected, THANK YOU for providing the correct info!

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