GPU Folding Slows Down Everyday Usage

[geokilla]

So I'm using my 9600GT to fold and ever since I started to do GPU folding on my rig, I notice slowdowns in everyday usage. MSN lags....web browsers don't load as quick as they do when I'm not folding, etc. Basically, once I stop GPU folding, my rig runs at top speed. Is there a way to speed up my computer while still doing GPU folding?

Also, I'm using the 180.43 beta drivers right now, and I noticed that I managed to get a slightly higher overclock. The downside is that I think my GPU folding takes an extra 5 seconds to complete 1% compared to when I was 177.92. That, or it may be the WU that I'm working on which could be a bit more complicated than the other ones I had before.

[DaIceMan]

I don't notice any slow down on my machines, except at times when watching videos, it stutters a bit, but that is to be expected.

You can turn down the CPU Usage %. Right click systray icon, configure, advanced tab. Try adjusting that and see if it makes any difference.

[DMB2000uk]

I have slowdowns using my 8600GTS at work too.

I think certain driver versions work better at letting the system be more responsive, but I've not tried enough to know which ones are best.

Dan

[martini161]

i just pause it whenever i stream video or something.

[geokilla]

Streaming or watching videos is fine...it's when I alt+tab between MSN, Firefox, etc. that's when I notice the slow downs. I check Task Manager and my CPU usage is usually at around 97%, never 100%.

Before I left for dinner, I had Firefox, 3 MSN conversations open in one window (tabbed chats by MSN Plus) and WMP running. Just switching between my tabbed conversations would talk around 5 seconds for it to switch. And when I'm typing a message, chunks of the message would show up, so it wasn't showing on the screen smoothly.

[DaIceMan]

how long had firefox been running? I use Meebo (web based chat), and I notice after a while, the firefox memory leaks to 150-200k used and it actually slows down Folding. Eventually, I have to restart firefox to regain the leaked memory.

[geokilla]

Around an hour....

And I've been on Firefox and MSN ever since I made my last post, and so far I'm lag free. It's so weird...sometimes I get extreme lag, sometimes no lag.

Edit: I take that back. MSN is lagging now.

[DaIceMan]

go to Task Manager, processes tab and see how much memory ff is using now that it's lagging.

[geokilla]

Firefox is using 120MB of RAM. Second most is svchost.exe. In total, I have 37 process running. Under "Performance" I have 130MB of Physical Memory remaining.

I have one MSN conversation open now and the lag is gone. If I open up a 2nd chat, then I lag again....so I think I may have found the reason to why MSN lags. But what does MSN have to do with GPU folding? They're two separate programs....I shouldn't get any lag should I?

[DaIceMan]

For a while, I was setting affinity on firefox to use the core/s (0,1,2 on my quad) that my FahCore_11.exe wasn't using (usually 3). This seemed to help a bit, but I got lazy and never figured out how to make the settings permanent if possible.

Task manager, right click on the process, set affinity. Check the FAH core first, and it will probably be on CPU 1. You could try running firefox on just CPU 0, but I don't know how much this would affect the performance of firefox.

[geokilla]

I changed the Affinity for Firefox just now, but I'm not sure if it's permanent. And I have my GPU folding setup to use whatever cores that's not being used. It took quite a while to figure it out. I believe I posted it on the forums somewhere...

Edit: The affinity settings for Firefox is not permanent.

[geokilla]

I've narrowed it down to MSN lagging, which causes everything else to lag when I'm using my GPU to fold. For some reason, MSN uses up to 50% of my CPU when someone replies in the conversation. Anyone else got a similar problem?

A quick google search shows that it might be MSN Plus which is causing the CPU spike when someone replies in my conversations because the tabs flash when someone replies.

[DMB2000uk]

Try changing back the tabbed windows to the normal mode and see if it still does it.

Dan

[martini161]

Try changing back the tabbed windows to the normal mode and see if it still does it.

Dan

or just use Pidgin

[Apoptosis]

strange, no problems like that here.

[geokilla]

Try changing back the tabbed windows to the normal mode and see if it still does it.

Dan

Changed it back to no tabs, and just one window for conversation. Problem still exists.

@Apop. What MSN and MSN Plus version are you using? I'm using the latest for both.

Even if I tried to open my Preferences for MSN Plus, it'll take quite a LONG time to open it up and access the options. I thought it was a bad/failing hard drive, so I downloaded HD Tune, but everything seems to be fine. I even managed to drop the the access time from 16ms to 13ms by raising the AMM to 254. I ran the Windows Disk Defragmenter as well and everything's all good. I also checked my CPU temps, and they're under 50C so I'm not getting throttled. Problem lies with MSN or MSN Plus when there's two or more conversations going on. I'll try and run just MSN without MSN plus and see what happens.

I asked my friends who are doing GPU folding as well, and one of them has the same problem as me. However, I didn't ask if it only occurred when he has two or more conversations running. He's running Windows XP just like me. My other friend is using Vista 64 bit and he says that he's not lagging. However, he has a quad core and a not-so-good SMP, so his MSN might be running on the other cores that's not running folding.

[geokilla]

It is MSN Plus that was causing MSN to lag. Now I just have to find a solution...

[martini161]

or just use Pidgin

[geokilla]

I changed from the 180.43 to the latest 178 series drivers. There's less lag now but it also takes a couple minutes longer to complete a WU. Hope NVIDIA can make some big changes with the upcoming 180 series drivers.

Actually, now that I've let the computer settle for a bit, it seems to take more or less the same amount of time to complete 1% for my current WU.

[Apoptosis]

I just moved to the 180.43 drivers and oh my... lag city... FF, IE, MSN, AIM everything I use freezes up for sometimes up to 10-15 seconds.

I'm going back to the 178 series drivers as it is obvious the 180 series isn't F@H friendly. I'm using Vista 64-bit with 180.43 drivers on an Intel SSD... Was quick till i fired up F@H.