Thanks to all for the good explanations in his thread. I have a little bit different question about switching between applications... The "Preferances" section has a switching interval recommendation of 60 minutes. Why 60 minutes and not less often? I have my switching interval set 120 minutes currently and am considering changing it to 480 minutes. This thread explains why it may not be a good idea to switch more frequently. Is there a down side to switching less often ? Also, there's a write to disk parm that can be adjusted as well. It currently is set to write no more often than once a minute. Can I change this to perhaps once every 30 minutes to reduce hard drive wear? I have 1024 megs of RAM. Thanks !

---

The switching between setting is an at-most setting. So although you can set it to 480, the boinc client will most likely switch to another project before hitting the 8hr mark (depending on your resource share, LTD, etc). Eg, if a Rosetta WU is completed in 2hrs, the client might switch to an project because of LTD.

I personally have the setting set at 3hrs, but I haven't found any project that runs for the full 3 hrs, except CPDN. (although I haven't sat watching boinc for 3 hrs staight, Einstein might :)

As for the write to disk parm, I would think 1 minute is fine. That setting is probably just a safe guard so that a project client doesn't thrash your HD. :)

---

The switching between setting is an at-most setting. So although you can set it to 480, the boinc client will most likely switch to another project before hitting the 8hr mark (depending on your resource share, LTD, etc). Eg, if a Rosetta WU is completed in 2hrs, the client might switch to an project because of LTD.

I personally have the setting set at 3hrs, but I haven't found any project that runs for the full 3 hrs, except CPDN. (although I haven't sat watching boinc for 3 hrs staight, Einstein might :)

As for the write to disk parm, I would think 1 minute is fine. That setting is probably just a safe guard so that a project client doesn't thrash your HD. :)

Project switches are based on STD, not LTD.

There is a downside if it is too long and your system occasionally needs EDF. There is a possible case where a deadline may be missed by a little. If the system needs to enter EDF to finish a result, the switch is delayed until the next project switch opportunity. Project switch opportunities happen when work is downloaded, a result is complete, the user takes certain actions (version dependent, and I do not have the list memorized), and after the project switch time since the last project switch.

I do not believe that going up past a half a day or so is a very good idea for the above reason. However, if your machine is underloaded and never needs EDF, then this limit does not hold.

60 minutes was chosen so that a different project would show up on a fairly regular basis to keep the users interest.

---

BOINC WIKI

What he said!

Thanks John. :)

---