EvilAlchemist
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2008
- Messages
- 2,730
Back a few months ago, my girlfriend kept telling me my laptop made a clicking sound at night when I was at work. I tried shutting down F@H for a night, and she no longer heard the noise.
I figured out it was the hard drive spinning up every so often for work units.
I tired to think of a way to keep the hard drive spun down and still run F@H.
Create a RAM hard drive. Seems Simple .. and it was...
Software --> Dataram's RamDiskVE (http://www.dataram.com/products-and-services/ramdisk)
(Software is free for Ram Drives under 4GB in size)
Image 1) I launched the application and created a Drive 500 MB in size.
Image 2) I set the application to save the drive contents on closure of the app and to restore from the same image on the start.
(There is an option to save at a specified interval but that kinda defeats the RAMDrive function)
-- ( A second option would be to create a .bat file to backup and a second .bat file to load the drive on a reboot if you so desired)
Image 3) You can see my 500MB drive in Explorer.
I then moved my two F@H folders ( 2 x Uni-processor Client) to the Ram Drive and fired them up ....
I also did the same thing on my Main System ( 1 x GPU & 1 Uni-processor Client) to help test this setup.
Now, some results
Project : 4749 -- Core : GPU2 ATI Dev
Frames : 100 -- Credit : 548
-- Main -- (Pre-Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 19s - 3406.27 ppd
-- Main -- (On Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 14s - 3533.37 ppd
Project : 2446
Core : Gromacs
Frames : 100
Credit : 2435
-- Main -- (Pre-Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 1h 01mn 36s - 569.22 ppd
-- Main -- (On Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 55mn 36s - 630.65 ppd
Project : 0000 -- Core : Gromacs
Frames : 100 -- Credit : 100
-- Laptop -- (Pre Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 26s - 591.78 ppd
-- Laptop -- (Pre Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 33s - 564.71 ppd
-- Laptop -- (On Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 33s - 564.71 ppd
-- Laptop -- (On Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 34s - 561.04 ppd
Conclusion:
I did notice a small increase in PPD from my Main system.
I did notice a small decrease in PPD from my Laptop.
Since the Laptop CPU usage is at 100%, i think the few ppd loss is from the cpu usage needed for the Ram Drive, while my Main system has about 15% cpu free.
I can't say weather this will increase your ppd or not.
I know it did make her happy for the hard drive not to spin up all night.
I can only assume there will be a small amount of power saving from F@H not needed the physical hard drive spun up and writing files all the time.
Just thought I would share my experiment with the group .....
I figured out it was the hard drive spinning up every so often for work units.
I tired to think of a way to keep the hard drive spun down and still run F@H.
Create a RAM hard drive. Seems Simple .. and it was...
Software --> Dataram's RamDiskVE (http://www.dataram.com/products-and-services/ramdisk)
(Software is free for Ram Drives under 4GB in size)
Image 1) I launched the application and created a Drive 500 MB in size.
Image 2) I set the application to save the drive contents on closure of the app and to restore from the same image on the start.
(There is an option to save at a specified interval but that kinda defeats the RAMDrive function)
-- ( A second option would be to create a .bat file to backup and a second .bat file to load the drive on a reboot if you so desired)
Image 3) You can see my 500MB drive in Explorer.
I then moved my two F@H folders ( 2 x Uni-processor Client) to the Ram Drive and fired them up ....
I also did the same thing on my Main System ( 1 x GPU & 1 Uni-processor Client) to help test this setup.
Now, some results
Project : 4749 -- Core : GPU2 ATI Dev
Frames : 100 -- Credit : 548
-- Main -- (Pre-Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 19s - 3406.27 ppd
-- Main -- (On Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 14s - 3533.37 ppd
Project : 2446
Core : Gromacs
Frames : 100
Credit : 2435
-- Main -- (Pre-Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 1h 01mn 36s - 569.22 ppd
-- Main -- (On Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 55mn 36s - 630.65 ppd
Project : 0000 -- Core : Gromacs
Frames : 100 -- Credit : 100
-- Laptop -- (Pre Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 26s - 591.78 ppd
-- Laptop -- (Pre Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 33s - 564.71 ppd
-- Laptop -- (On Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 33s - 564.71 ppd
-- Laptop -- (On Ram Drive)
Cur. Time / Frame : 2mn 34s - 561.04 ppd
Conclusion:
I did notice a small increase in PPD from my Main system.
I did notice a small decrease in PPD from my Laptop.
Since the Laptop CPU usage is at 100%, i think the few ppd loss is from the cpu usage needed for the Ram Drive, while my Main system has about 15% cpu free.
I can't say weather this will increase your ppd or not.
I know it did make her happy for the hard drive not to spin up all night.
I can only assume there will be a small amount of power saving from F@H not needed the physical hard drive spun up and writing files all the time.
Just thought I would share my experiment with the group .....