First off, I'm not sure if this is the proper place to post this but it was the only place I could find on the site. Apparently they don't have a "tech support" or "suggestions" area. Sorry if I was wrong.

AMD Phenom II x4 955 cpu (3.2 ghz quad core)
Nvidia GEForce 9600 GSO (1gb video card)
4 gb dual channel ram
BOINC ver. 6.10.18

I think you need to make the GPU processing portion of BOINC optional instead of mandatory. I like to watch a movie on my computer when I go to bed at night and I have 2 choices.

1. Leave BOINC running and watch a choppy movie

or

2. Shut down BOINC all together and watch a smooth movie.

Which one do you think usually wins. BOINC loses a lot of processor time because of this as I do not get back out of bed and start it again after the movie is over. Often because I'm asleep. ;)

I stopped using BOINC a year or two ago because when I shut it down it wouldn't actually shut down. The GUI and any obvious visuals were shut down but, behind the scenes, processing was continuing. I had to go into Windows Task Manager and shut it down manually. It would appear that that bug has been fixed but now the mandatory GPU usage is quickly becoming a big problem as well. I have looked in preferences and options for a way to disable it, or at least limit it, but there is only one option regarding GPU usage and it is "Use GPU while computer is in use." This option is unchecked. It appears that it waits one to two minutes after computer is idle before using it but, unfortunately, this is not good enough. It makes it impossible to watch a movie, video clip or listening to music and wanting the visualizations to be displayed.

If you find yourself having the same problems I'm having, please reply to this thread and maybe we can get them to add some "option controls" for the gpu. I don't mind at all letting BOINC use the GPU when I'm done with it but until that time, it's mine! :)

Hope you get this problem fixed soon. In the interim, I will download an older version and begin using it again.

Or you could try out Boinc 6.10.29, the latest development version which has the Snooze GPU function, which snoozes the GPU for an hour,
and you can turn GPU use off in the activity menu as well, please don't try it if you're attached to the AQUA or CPDN Beta projects.

Claggy

I've found the GPU snooze button to be a welcome addition. It works as advertised.