Should I upgrade to BOINC from CP classic?
From Unofficial BOINC Wiki
[edit] Simple Answer
The simple answer is you probably want to finish your current model first. The Climateprediction.net Team would like you to move to BOINC after completing your current run.
[edit] Why?
The Climateprediction.net Model you are currently crunching cannot be converted to the BOINC system.
[edit] More advanced considerations
If you really like the THC slowdown model: Stick with classic version, as THC slowdown is not available with BOINC version nor are there any plans ( as of yet ) to make it available.
[edit] If you have an AMD processor and like to compute as fast as possible:
Some AMD users are finding not much difference in speed and some (particularly 64bit) are finding BOINC slower. Finish your classic model then you may want to test the speed of BOINC. Hopefully there will at some stage be a 64 bit version.
[edit] If you have Pentium processor (not hyper-threaded) and like to compute as fast as possible:
The speed difference is not that great that it is worth abandoning a model on which you have done more than a few hours of work. Probably worth waiting until your current model finishes before downloading BOINC.
[edit] If you have Hyper-threaded Pentium processor and like to compute as fast as possible:
You will probably want to download the BOINC version. You may want to restrict BOINC to one processor so that you run one BOINC and one classic model in parallel. Then when classic has finished a model, you can if you wish change BOINC to use both processors which will run 2 CP models or 1 model and another project.
[edit] What advantages are there to running a BOINC model over a classic model?
Faster for Pentium processors. More stable in calculation. Less upload problems. More choice of type of experiment eventually. At present there is more choice with classic (Std or THC) but soon the THC choice will disappear and a Sulphur Cycle choice will appear on BOINC only. Basically the future is BOINC. Possibly more useful as we have already hammered most of the parameter sets possible with CPDN classic. BOINC available on Linux and Mac as well as Windows. More diagnostics have been built into the BOINC version so perhaps more science output due to more useful information being uploaded with a BOINC model. BOINC supports multiple processors - each processor can run its own model. BOINC has more options to control how it is run, like a screensaver or between certain hours.
[edit] If I go to BOINC, should I uninstall classic?
It is possible to run classic and BOINC in parallel so it is not necessary to uninstall classic. We have a quasi-archive uploader mechanism for uploading archived experiments. If you have a high speed network with high throughput AND COST is not an object, you can upload the archived experiments. - ( requires some sort of browser plugin ) Otherwise if possible please keep the backup of the archived run, the scientists may want to do analysis on them. If you simply want to free up disk space, then you can go ahead and delete the experiment folder within the archive directory.
[edit] How will it affect stats and teams?
Classic stats and teams will be left unaffected by move to BOINC. BOINC work will go into BOINC stats. You can join a team with the same name or a different name or form a new team for BOINC work.
[edit] Recommended minimum hardware and OS
Recommended minimum hardware and operating system
NB: You may need administrator rights to install BOINC. If you cannot get these, Classic installed but not as a service may be the only possibility. Perhaps if you cannot get administrators rights, you should not install classic either. Please do not run the software if you cannot get appropriate permission.
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