There is an option in the preferences asking me to pick an amount of time for an additional work buffer. What exactly does changing that number do?

It'll tell BOINC you want to download additional work to make sure you don't run out. I usually run with the connect interval (how often BOINC thinks it'll be able to access the internet) at about .1 (I have always available DSL) and the work buffer of .5. I'm also attached to multiple projects.

The additional work helps if you're attached to only one project (typically it turns out to be Seti) and they have frequent outages or periods without work.

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Kathryn :o)

Thank you. As you can tell, I'm new to this. I think this project is perfect for me, because I almost rarely use the computer and never to it's potential. I want to help as much as much as possible without overheating. Can you help me set my preferences so y'all can milk it for all it's worth, but still not cause heating problems? I have a Gateway with an Intel Core Duo processor that is always connected to the internet.

Keep the dust bunnies at bay, and you should be OK in terms of heat.

What projects are you doing? That will help us give you advice on where to set the buffer. The connect interval can be something relatively small. Like I said, I use .1/.5. I have 3 projects, 1 of which rarely has work.

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Kathryn :o)

I've never gone out of the way to figure out if the connect interval space is additive to the buffer setting or inclusive, I.e. if 0.5 days connect and 1.0 days buffer setting, does that cause 1.5 days being cached on the host? Think not, it just working to keep at least 1.0 days worth on client, but the pros may confirm. Always being connected anyway seems to pretty much ignore the connect setting, thus have set that value to 0.0 which makes thinking cache size all the more easy.

It is additive, I'm running a 14 day Cache (4+10) on my laptop, just so it can get enough Astropulse Wu's to tide it over any outages, splitters being offline, etc,

Claggy

Problem with the connect is that it has a safety valve function. Setting it to 4 days is not fully 4 days and the higher that value, the more aggressively it's torqued off... which is why WCG insisted in the creation of the cache field.

BTW, the cache/additional buffer field on the website profiles does not seem to have any limit anymore, though the client setting still is ltd to 10 days (it says that). Just for sake, entered 14 days at WCG and it took. Clearing local prefs will be required.

WCG doesn't use the standard Boinc Server software. Other sites do limit additional buffer to 10 days. Don't know what the Boinc manager will do with a large number from WCG.

In any case any cache value that is greater than 1/2 the time to due date (especially the connect interval) will tend to self-throttle as Boinc will avoid getting more work than it can complete and report on time.

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Boinc V 7.4.36
Win7 i5 3.33G 4GB NVidia 470