Enhancement to Prime95

[tengai]

Currently prime95 has the ability to start and stop at selected times. What I'd like to see an option to use additional cores with selected start and stop times.

For example: My PC is a 6 core CPU and 24hrs a day I can allocate two core without any impact on my daily workload; however, at night I'd like to give each "Worker" an additional core to take advantage of idle cores. Then in the morning, when my day starts, have the "Worker" relinquish the core for my daily activities.

The option to use additional core over the weekend would be nice too. Including a button to override/re-engage additional core at will.


Thanks,

Patrick

[Uncwilly]

You should normally be able to let workers use more cores without impacting your normal usage. (Some things might suffer. Depends on memory available, etc.)

There are commands to stop Prime95 when certain conditions (programs are running or at certain times.) You may want to look at this thread http://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=22628

[retina]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

You should normally be able to let workers use more cores without impacting your normal usage.

There is a noticeable impact on other foreground tasks because the cache is overwritten by P95 with its own data.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by retina

There is a noticeable impact on other foreground tasks because the cache is overwritten by P95 with its own data.

There can be. it depends on what you are doing. Noticeable meaning can be noticed if looked for in data, sure. Noticeable, meaning will be observed by the casual user, not certain or unlikely in many situations.

I did provide a contribution that may help the OP achieve their desire. Do you have recommendations that can help?

[retina]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

I did provide a contribution that may help the OP achieve their desire. Do you have recommendations that can help?

My recommendation for people that notice a problem would be to stop P95, and all other background tasks, completely. Then things can run more smoothly while they work with their chosen application(s). Even running with a single thread will still clobber the cache very effectively (due the the efficiency of the code) so having it still running but on fewer cores doesn't achieve what I want.

For me there is a clearly noticeable difference in performance. Sometimes I don't mind and I let P95 continue, other times it can annoy me so I stop it. Depends upon my mood and how many minions are needing my attention. So an automatic pause/run setting wouldn't help me unless it somehow intuited my mood. But a simple single click tray icon to toggle pausing & running P95 would be good IMO.

[Prime95]

Look at undoc.txt. You can selectively stop workers either at a specific time or when specific programs are running. I think this provides you enough flexibility to do what you want to do.

[tengai]

You can selectively stop workers either at a specific time or when specific programs are running.

Don't really see anything of value in the undoc... Nor do I really want to mange the dynamic allocation of core resources though a file. That is what a UI is for.

Why is the user interface so dated? Isn't one of the objectives of the prime95 to leverage idle computer resources? Clearly primer95 UI hasn't kept up with core scaling in CPUs. I have resource to give but the interface is too primitive to give these resources in an intuitive way.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by tengai

Why is the user interface so dated?

Because the entire project is run by volunteers. The UI handles most of the day to day requirements of most users. The config files are for advanced users. If anyone wanted to write code for a more advanced UI submenu to handle all sorts of odds and ends, I think George might welcome the help. You have to understand that the program uses the config files and that many of the users use Linux and much of the config work for that is done via command line. It is hard to have a UI handle all of the things that you can with just a text editor and a file.

[sdbardwick]

Originally Posted by retina

(snip)
But a simple single click tray icon to toggle pausing & running P95 would be good IMO.

I don't know about other versions, but In Windows, right-clicking on the tray icon gives the option of starting/stopping, so two-clicks. I'd find a "Pause for XX minutes" option to be useful addition though, as I'll stop P95 to do some task, then forget to resume. (Of course that says more about my advancing age than anything else )

[tengai]

Yes, I use the "stop" feature often as well. There are times during the day I need all the cores in my CPU so stopping P95 from time to time is a requirement. P95 UI needs to be modernized to help the user manage their multi-core resources better. These type of improvements will only lead to more GHz days...

[kriesel]

Originally Posted by tengai

Yes, I use the "stop" feature often as well. There are times during the day I need all the cores in my CPU so stopping P95 from time to time is a requirement. P95 UI needs to be modernized to help the user manage their multi-core resources better. These type of improvements will only lead to more GHz days...

I agree that the prime95 Windows app GUI seems dated; it still has a Win3.1 look to it, for example. (It was once available as a Win3.1 screen saver on 386.) Not all target platforms' prime95 even include a GUI.

And I consider that Prime95 is only one person. His time is divided among world-class optimization for newly introduced cpu types, occasional refinements for older processer types, addressing bugs, making builds for Win32 and Win64 and linux and MacOS and previously xBSD, helping out with primenet, documentation, forum participation, Mersenne Research Inc board membership, addition of new error checks such as the Jacobi check, PRP with Gerbicz error check,adding whole new capabilities (such as PRP-CF), making the core code available for other uses, occasional contribution to other aspects like gpu computing code suggestions, etc, and living a rewarding life in Florida. Like all the other volunteer participants, including you and me, he gets to choose how much time he spends on this and on what aspects. He has contributed more to this particular effort, GIMPS, than probably any other person living or dead, including getting it organized in the first place, starting with writing the original prime95 in 1996 and modifying it through dozens of releases since, approximately annually.

How, specifically, would the UI be changed? What would it look like to be modernized to help the user manage their multi-core resources better? What are you willing to yourself contribute to the effort?