CPU priority

[olliecampbell]

Hi,

I've been folding for a while now, usually whilst working but also leaving it running overnight. I do various types of work but a fair amount of CAD work. I understand that there is no way to adjust the GPU usage percentage and just stop it slowing down my work by having the GPU set to 'on idle'.

I've just noticed that some of my CAD sluggishness is because the CAD process isn't getting processor priority over the FAH process. Checking both using Task Manager is showing CAD as having Normal and FAH as Low. My FAHControl is set to Lowest for CPU priority too.

What I'd like is the ability to a user run process to take CPU priority over the FAH process when it needs to. Then as it drops, let FAH take up whatever spare processing cycles there are. Where am I going wrong?

v7.6.13, using this config.xml:

Code: Select all

<config>
  <!-- Folding Slot Configuration -->
  <cpus v='0'/>

  <!-- Network -->
  <proxy v=':8080'/>

  <!-- Slot Control -->
  <power v='medium'/>

  <!-- User Information -->
  <passkey v='XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'/>
  <team v='XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'/>
  <user v='XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'/>

  <!-- Folding Slots -->
  <slot id='0' type='CPU'/>
  <slot id='1' type='GPU'>
    <idle v='true'/>
  </slot>
</config>

[ajm]

An user always has priority over FAH processes, and the later should never prevent you to use your computer just as you wish. But if you are folding on the GPU, yes, your CAD software will probably take a nosedive.
Anyway, when you really want the whole machine for you, the best is to pause the folding until you're done with the heavy lifting. You can do that in Advanced Control or directly in the FAH contextual menu (taskbar, under ^, FAH icon, Pause).

[foldy]

Another option would be to limit the threads count FAH CPU process may use in FAHcontrol.

[JimboPalmer]

F@H runs in the background and should never take Priority over foreground Processes. However, sometimes your App may set up background processes as well, and F@H may or may not 'win' over those.

Decades ago, you could not print out of WordPerfect as the back ground process was lower than F@H. F@H is as low as it can go, you may wish to check about raising the Priority of the background processes in your CAD App.

I hope this helps.

[MeeLee]

you can safely pause the client, in moments where you are needing CPU or GPU power.

[uyaem]

Just keep in mind that you will lose some progress on the GPU, due to the nature of the system used, the client is unable to just "save whenever" and has to use dedicated checkpoints (every 5% on most projects, every 25% on very few others).

[bruce]

F@H runs in the background and should never take Priority over foreground Processes. However, sometimes your App may set up background processes as well, and F@H may or may not 'win' over those.

Decades ago, you could not print out of WordPerfect as the back ground process was lower than F@H. F@H is as low as it can go, you may wish to check about raising the Priority of the background processes in your CAD App.

I hope this helps.

When one talks about the priority of FAH, you need to distinguish beteen the priority of FAHClient, of FAHCore_a*, and of FAHCore_7*

The Gromacs core does all of the work on N threads and if it's a high enough priority, it can shut out other processes, including WorkdPerfect printing. FAHCore_2* uses a single CPU thread most of the time so it really can't shut out any process on a multi-threaded CPU. FAHClient does almost nothing except to manage I/O with you and with the internet. It's priority is also almost meaningless.

Depending on the generation of you GPU, it can (almost) shut out other GPU activites, including screen updates. but that's not managed by task priority. I think that Pascal or greater allows the FAH processing to be interrupted rather than waiting until a block of folding is completed. I'm not sure about AMD.