Prime95 client stuck?

edorajh · 2003-11-06, 14:03

Hello to all Mersenne hunters.

Yesterday I start my LL test. And today I notice one strange thing. I set up that my P95 client write on screen for every 10000 iterations finished. And it works fine - it takes about 15 minutes to finish 10000 iterations of P-1 phase 1. After 3 hours it just stuck. Now it passed more than 1 hour and it still didn't finish next 10000 iterations. It's still in P-1 phase 1. Everything else is the same (work I do on my PC etc...).

Any idea what could cause that strange behaviour? How to fix it (if it is error at all)?

Edo

edorajh · 2003-11-06, 14:30

It actually slows down to 178 seconds for 100 iterations.

After I close my Word document speed of my Prime95 went to normal - about 8 seconds per 100 iterations.

Is there any problems with Prime95 and Word? Is is normal to slow down on such scale?

dsouza123 · 2003-11-06, 15:53

Prime95 runs at idle priority so almost all programs (which mostly run at normal priority) will take precedence, prime95 will get the leftover cycles.

It was designed to have very little impact on performance of other programs so the result is it runs much slower when other programs are requesting CPU time.

When the other programs aren't doing much, just in a waiting loop, then Prime95 gets most of the CPU time 95+ percent. As soon as another program starts requesting CPU time Prime95 will get the leftovers and can drop to single digit percents.

There are various ways of upping prime95 priority: through prime95; using the OS; or third party utilities, some of which will impact responsiveness of the system and some which will not.

For example for minimum impact but some gain.
The Prime95 process has 2 threads, one does the calculations and the other handles IO/interactions.
When it starts the process is idle priority with the IO thread normal priority and the calc thread idle priority.
I boost the process to high but leave the thread priorities alone. With the process at high it has a better chance of getting idle cycles than a lower priority process.
I haven't noticed any impact on the other programs and prime95 gets most of the CPU time.

I haven't tried it with Word, it may just use up alot of CPU time or not release much idle time. While using a web browser prime95 gets 95+ of the CPU time.

edorajh · 2003-11-06, 21:27

Thanks for answers! They are very helpful.

PageFault · 2003-11-07, 02:52

I normally have turd, blechcel, pukepoint, outbreak and at least a browser open all day at work. Never a problem with prime95 slowing. What you have is P-1 going on, probably on stage 2 with not enough ram available. Now, if you're swapping, tons of cycles are being wasted running the disk, on top of whatever other slowdowns take place. So, you should set ram option to 8 MB daytime / max nightime and it won't do P-1 while you work.

Which is why I hate IDE and any other onboart garbage that can't power itself - SCSI all the way!

QuintLeo · 2003-11-07, 23:08

SCSI still has a few advantages over IDE, but a good MODERN IDE implimentation can match any SCSI implimentation on performance for most usage.

This is especially true of the 'large cache" drives, like the WD "Special Edition" series.

Connect/disconnect, more drives per interface bus, and higher spindle RPMs are the only advantages SCSI has any more - and those are only significantly helpfull in setups where a LOT of folks are hammering the same driveset at the same time, like a BIG file server.

Ever noticed how many NAS and SAN companies have started using RAID IDE drives of late?

Danath · 2003-11-08, 17:06

I've also met the problem with MS Word (version 97, under Win98SE) taking more than 90 % of CPU time. I found that it happened because of Word's spelling & grammar checking being active. When I disabled the spelling & grammar checking in Word (to disable it go to Word's main menu > Tools > Options > Spelling & Grammar, then unselect "Check spelling as you type" and "Check grammar as you type"), it came to normal state.

This situation (spelling checking eating the most of CPU time) doesn't always happen, I dont't know what it depends on, and I'm not sure about other Word versions. So if this helps, you may disable the spelling checking for the time you type the text in Word, and then enable it when you want to check the document.

edorajh · 2003-11-08, 17:38

It's good idea. I will try that to see if it will have any influence in my situation.

Thanks

2003-11-06, 14:03	#1
edorajh Oct 2003 Croatia 2³×3×19 Posts	Prime95 client stuck? Hello to all Mersenne hunters. Yesterday I start my LL test. And today I notice one strange thing. I set up that my P95 client write on screen for every 10000 iterations finished. And it works fine - it takes about 15 minutes to finish 10000 iterations of P-1 phase 1. After 3 hours it just stuck. Now it passed more than 1 hour and it still didn't finish next 10000 iterations. It's still in P-1 phase 1. Everything else is the same (work I do on my PC etc...). Any idea what could cause that strange behaviour? How to fix it (if it is error at all)? Edo

2003-11-06, 14:30	#2
edorajh Oct 2003 Croatia 2³·3·19 Posts	It actually slows down to 178 seconds for 100 iterations. After I close my Word document speed of my Prime95 went to normal - about 8 seconds per 100 iterations. Is there any problems with Prime95 and Word? Is is normal to slow down on such scale? Last fiddled with by edorajh on 2003-11-06 at 14:30

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Processor stuck at 25% when multithreading	GaEL	YAFU	18	2015-12-31 10:08
Stuck assignment	Mark Rose	GPU to 72	10	2013-11-04 18:59
64-bit lnx vs win client, Prime95.exe under Wine?	xorbe	Software	13	2009-03-18 07:22
split a prime95 queue & client installation	joblack	Information & Answers	1	2009-01-06 08:45
Prime95 Client problem	GSV3MiaC	Software	21	2004-01-14 14:02

2003-11-06, 15:53	#3
dsouza123 Sep 2002 1226₈ Posts	Prime95 runs at idle priority so almost all programs (which mostly run at normal priority) will take precedence, prime95 will get the leftover cycles. It was designed to have very little impact on performance of other programs so the result is it runs much slower when other programs are requesting CPU time. When the other programs aren't doing much, just in a waiting loop, then Prime95 gets most of the CPU time 95+ percent. As soon as another program starts requesting CPU time Prime95 will get the leftovers and can drop to single digit percents. There are various ways of upping prime95 priority: through prime95; using the OS; or third party utilities, some of which will impact responsiveness of the system and some which will not. For example for minimum impact but some gain. The Prime95 process has 2 threads, one does the calculations and the other handles IO/interactions. When it starts the process is idle priority with the IO thread normal priority and the calc thread idle priority. I boost the process to high but leave the thread priorities alone. With the process at high it has a better chance of getting idle cycles than a lower priority process. I haven't noticed any impact on the other programs and prime95 gets most of the CPU time. I haven't tried it with Word, it may just use up alot of CPU time or not release much idle time. While using a web browser prime95 gets 95+ of the CPU time.

2003-11-06, 21:27	#4
edorajh Oct 2003 Croatia 2³·3·19 Posts	Thanks for answers! They are very helpful.

2003-11-07, 02:52	#5
PageFault Aug 2002 Dawn of the Dead 5·47 Posts	I normally have turd, blechcel, pukepoint, outbreak and at least a browser open all day at work. Never a problem with prime95 slowing. What you have is P-1 going on, probably on stage 2 with not enough ram available. Now, if you're swapping, tons of cycles are being wasted running the disk, on top of whatever other slowdowns take place. So, you should set ram option to 8 MB daytime / max nightime and it won't do P-1 while you work. Which is why I hate IDE and any other onboart garbage that can't power itself - SCSI all the way!

2003-11-07, 23:08	#6
QuintLeo Oct 2002 Lost in the hills of Iowa 2⁶×7 Posts	SCSI still has a few advantages over IDE, but a good MODERN IDE implimentation can match any SCSI implimentation on performance for most usage. This is especially true of the 'large cache" drives, like the WD "Special Edition" series. Connect/disconnect, more drives per interface bus, and higher spindle RPMs are the only advantages SCSI has any more - and those are only significantly helpfull in setups where a LOT of folks are hammering the same driveset at the same time, like a BIG file server. Ever noticed how many NAS and SAN companies have started using RAID IDE drives of late?

2003-11-08, 17:06	#7
Danath May 2003 Republic of Moldova 2³·5 Posts	I've also met the problem with MS Word (version 97, under Win98SE) taking more than 90 % of CPU time. I found that it happened because of Word's spelling & grammar checking being active. When I disabled the spelling & grammar checking in Word (to disable it go to Word's main menu > Tools > Options > Spelling & Grammar, then unselect "Check spelling as you type" and "Check grammar as you type"), it came to normal state. This situation (spelling checking eating the most of CPU time) doesn't always happen, I dont't know what it depends on, and I'm not sure about other Word versions. So if this helps, you may disable the spelling checking for the time you type the text in Word, and then enable it when you want to check the document.

2003-11-08, 17:38	#8
edorajh Oct 2003 Croatia 2³×3×19 Posts	It's good idea. I will try that to see if it will have any influence in my situation. Thanks