Using too much processing power

[MikeV]

Here's some info to start:

Computer Specs: Laptop with Intel i7-3610QM quad core @ 2.30 GHz with 8GB RAM , NVIDIA Quadro K1000M, with 2 GB dedicated DDR3 video memory
Network Connection: Sattelite with wireless router at home and LAN at work
Operating System: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
Overclocked?: Nope
Stable?: Yup
Software: 7.2.9_x86
WU details: Currently running 2 WU. One says OPENMMGPU and the other is GRO-A4.

I've been running FAH for years and only seem to have issues when installing on a new computer. I just got this computer today. I have no prior experience with this version or with using the GPU. This thing is running wide open on both and my computer is running like a slug. About 5 seconds after I type this, it appears on the screen. Task Manager has it using 95% of the CPU power. This computer will be used for work 10 hours a day and this is unacceptable. I've read a couple of threads on this issue in the forum here, but the directions on how to fix it didn't seem to apply to the version I have. I'm on track to do my previous two years of work in 2 weeks time, which is awesome, but I actually need to use the computer in the meantime. Please let me know if I need to provide more info to get some help on this. Thanks!

[P5-133XL]

Pause just the GPU slot and see if that helps. I think you need to be in advanced mode (upper right of FAHControl) then you can right click the GPU slot and choose pause. When you no longer need to use the machine pick unpause or fold. The SMP should not be affected and shouldn't affect your usage of the machine so can continue.

The lag comes from the fact that the video subsystem has no ability to deal with resource conflicts so anything using the screen is delayed by folding which has allocated 100% of the GPU.

[MikeV]

Ahhhh. I never saw the dropdown box since I hadn't had the window maximized. That helped significantly. Thanks. There is still a bit more lag than I'd prefer however. Is there a way to scale back the CPU folding a bit?

[P5-133XL]

You can diminish the CPU by configuring the SMP slot to use fewer cores under configuration->slot tab

[MikeV]

OK, I set the SMP to "2", which should make it use 2 of the 4 cores, right? After this change, the Task Manager is still showing nearly 100% CPU usage. If I no longer wanted to use the GPU, would I change the setting from "-1" to "0"?

[bruce]

As a general rule, laptops do a poorer job of heat dissipation than desktop machines so running at less that 100% is a reasonable choice. On any system with 4 CPU Cores, you can set SMP to 2 to get 50% utilization or to 3 to get 75%. Setting SMP to -1 (i.e.- "all of them") or to 4 will maximize CPU utilization but in all cases, it probably won't cause your system to lag since FAH runs at an extremely low priority and anything else you might want to do will take priority.

There's no such thing as SMP:1 but that's just a problem with the way we use words. If you really want to run at 25% you can run the uniprocessor client.

If you want to use only the GPU, you can remove (or suspend processing) on the CPU slot(s) -- or maybe you want to use the GPU and a uniprocessor or something like that.

I prefer to leave slots configured if I might use them again. The "Finish" function will complete the current WU and upload the result but will not get a new WU. Unfortunately if you restart FAHClient, it will get a new WU, but you can inhibit that by configuring pause-on-start=true in as many slots as you choose.

[P5-133XL]

If you do not wish to use the GPU at all, just delete the GPU slot. You can create a new one if you ever change your mind.

Rather than look at the 100% CPU usage, you should go to the process tab and see how much is being used by the folding processes. That way you won't be fooled by other activities that are running on your computer.

[MikeV]

Thanks for the help guys. It's working smoother than ever now.