Posts by rsNeutrino Universe@Home

21) Message boards : Number crunching : Double your task throughput on Linux (Message 4579) Posted 5 Dec 2020 by rsNeutrino Post: Yes, Virtualbox is Type II, which runs on top of Windows, and may has to do some emulation, patching and hacks to run the code inside it, but It uses the virtualization extentions where it can. Hyper-V is Type I, which runs as its own mini-OS directly on the hardware. Windows runs on top of that, as does every other VM, with close to zero performance impact. VMs run parallel to Windows, not on top of Windows anymore, so all the code still runs natively on the CPU, as far as I'm aware. The linked article in my last post has commands to change the Windows boot mode to toggle the Hypervisor on and off. Installing/Uninstalling Hyper-V through Windows Features should do the same thing. I did some performance tests back in May and Ubuntu 20.04 on Virtualbox managed to run Universe task series 310 with a computation time of 40 to 50 Minutes. So not bad at all! (Ryzen 7 1700 @ 3.6 GHz) But the thing that made me switch from Virtualbox to Hyper-V was another no-go problem: I have 16 threads available and want to use 14 for BOINC, which works fine when using BOINC on Windows. But when running a Virtualbox VM with such a thread count, the whole PC begins to lag HARD, linke I struggled to get even the mouse moving on the host! In several forums people wrote that using many threads is a specific weakness for Virtualbox. Maybe running serveral VMs in parallel with less theads each could alleviate that, but there is overhead by having multiple BOINC instances, and multiple Linux OS to manage. Hyper-V to the rescue! Windows 10 Home users are out of luck, sadly, they can NOT use it, it's only a feature for Professional (and up). Those who have Windows 10 Pro just need to have virtualization enabled in BIOS, tick a checkmark at "Hyper-V" in the Windows Features (old system control panel) and are ready to use it. My PC runs practically non-stop since March, with around 90% CPU usage for Universe and Rosetta inside the Ubuntu VM, and at certain times Folding@home on Windows added to the mix. Just a restart e.g. for updates every few weeks, it is my daily driver and fully usable without noticable slowdown, except in certain games. But Hyper-V has a nice Pause button for that. ^^ Another thing: Hyper-V is a bit worse than Virtualbox concerning file and clipboard transfer which does not work between Windows and Ubuntu, and display resolution, which is quite low and not changable using normal options. The first problem can be circumvented by using AnyDesk, the second is a bit more complex, where a Linux boot option has to be added in a file to define a different resolution (mine is at 1600x900 now): https://virtualizationreview.com/Blogs/Virtual-Insider/2014/09/change-ubuntu-resolution-on-hyper-v-vm.aspx
22) Message boards : Number crunching : Double your task throughput on Linux (Message 4576) Posted 4 Dec 2020 by rsNeutrino Post: If you open Task Manager and go into the Performance / CPU tab, on the lower right is shown if "Virtualization" is enabled or disabled. Image: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/images/processors/5486_image5.png If it is enabled, you are ready to use Hyper-V which runs as bare metal as it can get, practically no performace lost, because it is a hardware-accelerated Type I Hypervisor: Even your Window 10 itself kind of becomes a VM then (like OS1 in the image), all systems on the computer get equal and full core performance, while the root/host OS (Window 10 in this case) retains the "admin rights". If virtualization is not enabled, you have to go into the BIOS to enable it first. To enable and use Hyper-V after virtualization is enabled, this may help: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/itops-talk-blog/step-by-step-enabling-hyper-v-for-use-on-windows-10/ba-p/267945 Warning: As far as I know, Virtualbox is not able to run with Hyper-V enabled. (Because it doesn't like to run inside a VM itself)
23) Message boards : Number crunching : Double your task throughput on Linux (Message 4569) Posted 1 Dec 2020 by rsNeutrino Post: https://www.chip.de/ii/8/4/2/2/1/7/2/a4e7ac17686754fc.jpg After installation of Ubuntu, its desktop should look like this. To install BOINC or any other popular software, there is no need to use the terminal at all. Look for the orage bag icon on the left with the "A" on it, that is the lanch icon vor the "Ubuntu Software Center". (You can find other apps by clicking on the button with the 3x3 white dots, which is like the Start button in Windows.) In Ubuntu Software, click on the magnifiing glass in the upper left corner and search for BOINC. It should now list BOINC Manager as a result, click on it, install, done! You should now have BOINC with the familiar user interface like in Windows. Its launch icon can be found with the 3x3 dot start button. You may have to remove the stuff you installed by terminal first, if above fails. "sudo apt remove boinc-client boinc-manager" Also maybe don't use Oracle Virtualbox for VMs, because it lags like hell if you want to use many cores with it, I tried that route... Windows 10 PROFESSIONAL specifically has Hyper V with works absolutely the best, and you have it as an option. Hope that helps. :)
24) Message boards : Number crunching : Double your task throughput on Linux (Message 4565) Posted 1 Dec 2020 by rsNeutrino Post: You seem to have many computers running Windows 10 Pro, which has Hyper-V built in. Do the following if you want to try using Linux and Windows together on the same machine at the same time (like I do): - enable the virtualization extentions in the BIOS (AMD-V / Intel VT-x) - enable Hyper-V in Windows Features - best use the latest Ubuntu version, so download the latest iso - use the Wizard in Hyper-V Manager to create a new VM - configure the amount of CPU cores (host and VM share them, and they are not fixed to physical cores, host usage takes priority) and RAM your Linux programs may need (fixed works best) - attach iso to the VM before starting the VM, install Ubuntu, install BOINC using the Ubuntu Software, done
25) Message boards : Number crunching : Odd performance on different computers (Message 4461) Posted 4 Sep 2020 by rsNeutrino Post: I advise against using Mint because I tried both Mint and Ubuntu and Mint had some tasks running at Windows speed, so no performance increase at all, with a runtime of around 4 hours, and some at Ubuntu speed with around 1 hour runtime. Maybe it is also hardware dependent how often it works, with things like CPU cache. Or Mint got an update in the last 2-3 months introducing the changes Ubuntu 20.04 already got. But I have yet to encounter an instance where Ubuntu 20.04 DIDN'T work, so I think it would be the safer and easier route to just use that. Also, did you try setting the thread count for the VM (VirtualBox) near the total threads of the Windows machine? I had massive lag problems with the newest version, wenn setting 13 or more of 16 threads usable by the VM. Only Hyper-V works smoothly.
26) Message boards : Number crunching : Double your task throughput on Linux (Message 4458) Posted 3 Sep 2020 by rsNeutrino Post: Glad that the upgrade worked on your side, too! BHspin v2 task series 325 just commenced on my side, with the first 6 taking between 32 and 33 minutes. It seems the start of each series takes the shortest amount of time to calculate in general. The last ones of series 324 took between 54 and 56 minutes. Ubuntu 20.04 inside Hyper-V VM on Windows 10 1909 host Ryzen 1700 @ 3.6 GHz 32 GB DDR4 @ 3.2 GHz Cl14
27) Message boards : Number crunching : Double or Triple your task throughput on Windows! (Message 4449) Posted 31 Aug 2020 by rsNeutrino Post: It seems Ubuntu 20.04 specifically is needed to get the big performance increase, see https://universeathome.pl/universe/forum_thread.php?id=526&postid=4446 (Post 4446 from Keith Myers). I also had a quick look into your task runtimes, which are around 5500 - 6500 sec at the moment on your Ryzen 2700, in comparison to around 2300 sec on my Ryzen 1700. So upgrading to Ubuntu 20.04 should at least double your BHspin task speed.
28) Message boards : Number crunching : Double or Triple your task throughput on Windows! (Message 4445) Posted 30 Aug 2020 by rsNeutrino Post: Hello everyone! So... I did some tests concerning task runtime some time ago, because I noticed that people running on Linux were crunching several times faster that people on Windows in some instances. Some other users are also aware of this and wrote about it here: https://universeathome.pl/universe/forum_thread.php?id=526 Here are the results and my current optimized setup: Host: - CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 @ 3.6 GHz - OS: Windows 10 1909 - Memory: 32 GB DDR4 @ 3200 MHz Cl14 Task series: Universe BHspin v2 0.19 (universe_bh2_190723_310_... and universe_bh2_190723_311_...) Because the task runtime varies quite a bit over the task series, I will give "typical" runtimes here, in hours:minutes (hh:mm) with a variation timespan where about 95% of the tasks would finish: Test 1: BOINC on host (Windows 10 1909): typical: 02:15 variation: 01:40 - 02:30 best case: 01:40 worst case: 04:10 Test 2: Linux Mint on Oracle VirtualBox (short test): typical: ?? some finished after 01:00, most after 03:55, no in-between, worst case: 04:00 Test 3: Ubuntu 20.04 on Oracle VirtualBox (short test): typical: 00:55 variation: 00:40 - 01:15 worst case: 01:40 Test 4: Ubuntu 20.04 on Microsoft Hyper-V, included in Windows 10 Pro: typical: 00:55 variation: 00:40 - 01:15 best case: 00:30 worst case: 01:40 Test 5: Old Intel Core i5 750@3.2GHz, 8GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz, Host OS: Win10 2004, VM: Ubuntu 20.04 on Hyper-V: typical: 01:20 variation: 00:55 - 01:40 To summarize: - On Windows 10, run BOINC on Ubuntu 20.04 in a Hyper-V virtual machine! - Not garanteed but should do the same: Run BOINC on Ubuntu in general! Notes: - I did not test Ubuntu running as host OS, but it should give similar results. - BOINC was seached and installed with the integrated "Ubuntu Software" app manager - Hyper-V can be enabled on every Windows 10 Pro with a few clicks, but may cause a few percent overall performance hit (Google "Type 1 Hypervisor") - You may have to enable hardware virtualization (Intel VT / AMD-V), Task-Manager shows "Virtualization: enabled" in the CPU tab - Hyper-V behaves much more nicely than VirtualBox on Windows 10: --> With VirtualBox the host begins to lag excessively if you use 80% or more available CPU-threads for the VM to the point of unresponsiveness of even the mouse pointer. --> Hyper-V is not noticable even when using the host for everything else, except in certain gaming situations, where fps drops can occur. --> I have assigned 14 of 16 CPU threads to Hyper-V, with Folding@Home using one of the 2 remaining threads during the day, without noticable slowdowns. - Linux Mint left a bad taste...sorry - If you want to change the Ubuntu screen resolution when booting in Hyper-V, you have to do this: https://metinsaylan.com/8991/how-to-change-screen-resolution-on-ubuntu-18-04-in-hyper-v/ - The Ryzen 7 1700 machine running 24/7 hovers around 460,000 points per day - The Core i5 750 machine running daily from 08:00 till 18:00 with 3 of 4 threads assigned to Hyper-V hovers around 33,000 ppd - With those 2 machines alone, I'm at rank 25 by RAC here... When I see Xeons and other high-end hardware taking 6,000 - 15,000 seconds for a task, instead of 2,000 - 3,000 I'm getting a bit sad thinking about the wasted ressources. I hope this helps.
29) Message boards : Number crunching : No credit from 2 new PCs (Message 2459) Posted 8 Nov 2017 by rsNeutrino Post: Yes, i'll try to explain: The same work unit has to be successfully completed by 2 clients, before either one gets any credit. You are the client who finished all WUs you've completed until now first, so the server is waiting for validation by a second client. I assume this is one of your machines, here are the completed tasks waiting in "Validation pending": https://universeathome.pl/universe/results.php?hostid=290855&offset=0&show_names=0&state=2 When the second client has finished successfully, the respective task will move to "Valid" and you will get the credit. If you click on the work unit ID in the list you can see who else is working on it and what errors might have happened if it's taking longer. It could also take some time until status updates are visible.

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