Why cklocking of the processor is so high?

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Ola

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Joined: 12 May 18
Posts: 5
Poland
Message 86192 - Posted: 12 May 2018, 16:42:03 UTC

Hi, my name is Ola and I'm new in the BOINIC project. English isn't my first language so I'm sorry for mistaces.
I don't understand one behaviour of my computer. It's not important how low usage of the processor I set up the clocking is absurdly high. It's often over 3GHz! Basic cklocking is up to 2,7GHz, higher cklocking is possible in boost mode (option set up in BIOS). What's more, I've got now set up in BOINIC options maximal usage of processor at 10% (and 100% processor's time) but Task manager shows... 80% usage and 3,4GHz! When I set lower processor's time, usage and clocking are less but they "jump" like crazy ones and I don't believe that it's good for my computer too. Could you help me? Chipset and BIOS drivers are updated.
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Profile Jord
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Netherlands
Message 86193 - Posted: 12 May 2018, 18:31:15 UTC - in response to Message 86192.  
Last modified: 12 May 2018, 18:31:26 UTC

If that is an Intel CPU, read
Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, Higher Performance When You Need It Most
. AMD will probably have something similar. You ought to be able to disable that in the BIOS if you don't want to use it.
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Ola

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Poland
Message 86194 - Posted: 12 May 2018, 20:16:09 UTC - in response to Message 86193.  

Honestly I'd like to be able to use full power of my computer every time but I know than it must be occasionaly, not permanent. I'm worried because BOINIC settings of computing have very weak relations to reality. What's wrong with this program?
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Profile Jord
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Message 86195 - Posted: 13 May 2018, 0:57:04 UTC - in response to Message 86194.  

You misunderstand what BOINC does: BOINC does not use your CPU (or GPU) by itself, instead it is a managing program that allows you to easily do scientific calculations for different projects. These projects supply applications that run on the CPU or GPU. When they run on the CPU, by default they'll run all out. So that means that when you have set in the BIOS that your CPU is allowed to use the Turbo setting, then when the science application runs on the CPU, it'll use that Turbo setting. The Turbo setting will 'overclock' your CPU from its normal clock cycle to a much higher one.

Overclocking the CPU, be it through the Turbo option or through manual overclocking, shouldn't wear out the CPU much faster. CPUs these days are pretty sturdy.
I ran my Intel i5-2500K for 4 years at 4GHz with no extra wear or tear. The only thing you need to do is give it adequate cooling, meaning you have to install an aftermarket cooling. be it better air fan or water cooling. And have monthly maintenance cleaning dust away.

In any case, if you do not want the CPU to clock so high, disable the Turbo setting in BIOS.
Or use a form of throttling. Fred's Tthrottle comes highly recommended.
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Gary Roberts

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Joined: 7 Sep 05
Posts: 130
Australia
Message 86196 - Posted: 13 May 2018, 1:16:05 UTC - in response to Message 86192.  
Last modified: 13 May 2018, 1:21:00 UTC

... I've got now set up in BOINIC options maximal usage of processor at 10% (and 100% processor's time) but Task manager shows... 80% usage and 3,4GHz! When I set lower processor's time, usage and clocking are less but they "jump" like crazy ones and I don't believe that it's good for my computer too.

There are three separate things happening here. First, processor frequency. You cannot control this (3.4GHz - or turbo boost behaviour) with BOINC. As Ageless mentioned, you have to use settings in the BIOS or UEFI to do this OR you could use a third party utility after Windows has started (there are quite a few of these) to do frequency control (overclocking or underclocking). BOINC will just use whatever speed has been set.

Second, the setting you called "maximal usage of processor at 10%" is not a speed control. It is simply the number (fractional) of the available cores that BOINC is allowed to use. If your machine had 4 cores and you set 25% then BOINC would use just one of the 4 cores. However, that core would be running at the full frequency allowed by your BIOS or UEFI settings.

Third, the setting you called "lower processor's time" also has no control over maximum frequency. It controls the fraction of time that the processor runs at full frequency before dropping back to idle frequency. The time steps are in one second intervals so, yes, if you use this setting, the frequency will "jump like crazy ones" as the processor ramps up to full frequency for a short time and immediately drops back to idle frequency in a continuously repeating cycle. You get a lower average heat level but I too am not sure that the rapid and violent thermal cycling deep in the CPU cores is all that good for the long term health of the processors.

If you give all the details of your hardware, the projects you want to run, and explain the nature of your concerns, perhaps someone might be able to give suitable advice. You should do some research along the lines Ageless suggested and you should also look into all your BIOS or UEFI settings so you understand what controls you have there.

EDIT: I hadn't seen Ageless' response before I posted mine. The two are sort of complementary so hopefully both might be of benefit.
Cheers,
Gary.
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Ola

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Poland
Message 86233 - Posted: 15 May 2018, 19:23:41 UTC - in response to Message 86196.  

Thank you all, TThrottle really works :) Unfortunatelly the application crashed a bit and I can't open its interface again and correct my preferences (they're good but not perfect) but it works. Reinstallation did't help. I need to wait for the update. The most important is, my computer began quitet and cold and the CPU works stable with clocking about 1 GHZ :)
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Message boards : Questions and problems : Why cklocking of the processor is so high?

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