Sorry folks, but this task is a memory pig.
I don't mind donating 'spare' CPU time as it becomes available but I have to PAY for memory (i.e. Upgrade RAM).
There are disk space usage, CPU usage and other settings in the Preferences but there appears to be NOTHING regarding RAM usage and I simply cannot afford to upgrade that at the present time. I was running everything just fine (including Photoshop) at sys RAM = 766 MB but once I plug this in I'm experiencing swapping problems. Bear in mind that a great deal of the current vendors seem to think it's perfectly OK to ship a Windows Vista system (I'm running OS X)) with a mere 512 MB of RAM and, although this is ridiculous, it's happening all over the place. This project is a fine idea which I have previously participated in and was wanting to do again, particularly with the launch of the new antenna array, but, when it impacts my system to the degree it is, there needs to be something available to reduce the impact on my ability to use my own system without having to run out and upgrade RAM once again. Remember, most users don't even know how to recognize this problem, much less how to FIX it...

Remember, most users don't even know how to recognize this problem, much less how to FIX it...

I only have 256 MB of SDRAM on a 400MHz G3... Boinc doesn't seem to slow me down... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

You can always change your preferences to not do work while computer is in use and to not leave applications in memory. Or you can install it as a service, which does away with the screen saver portion of code, which in turn will make the RAM footprint less (roughtly 40-60MB).

What I don't understand is why your RAM settings didn't kick in. BOINC is supposed to detect low memory situations, pause the workunit and give the message "waiting for memory" in BOINC Manager.

Personally, I don't think 80MB is a whole lot, even with 768MB of RAM.

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SETI uses the memory to cache some calculations and so speed up the caclulations. If you have over 512 MB installed SETI uses about 70 MB Memory, if you have less memory installed SETI uses about 32 MB memory.
But, I think that the problems you have described should not caused by the some MB of more memory the SETI application uses. The cause of the swap usage could also be a other memory leak by the OS or a other running applications. Could you please looke with the activity monitor (applications/utilities/activity monitor) which application uses the highes memory usage, and if there is a application or projess is using a lot of memory.

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Under account, you can choose General Preferences and limit the amount of RAM (as a %) that BOINC uses when the computer is in use and when it is idle. I haven't tried playing with these, but this may be what you are looking for.

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Remember, most users don't even know how to recognize this problem, much less how to FIX it...

I only have 256 MB of SDRAM on a 400MHz G3... Boinc doesn't seem to slow me down... ;)

Whew, running OS X??? I'm surprised if it's anything other than barely usable.
I recently upgraded an eMac to 768 MB from that condition and the performance improvement was dramatic to say the very least...

SETI uses the memory to cache some calculations and so speed up the caclulations. If you have over 512 MB installed SETI uses about 70 MB Memory, if you have less memory installed SETI uses about 32 MB memory.
But, I think that the problems you have described should not caused by the some MB of more memory the SETI application uses. The cause of the swap usage could also be a other memory leak by the OS or a other running applications. Could you please looke with the activity monitor (applications/utilities/activity monitor) which application uses the highes memory usage, and if there is a application or projess is using a lot of memory.

SETI is 'nose-to-nose' with Firefox with both in the lead 'as they round the clubhouse turn'. There's the kernel_task running 59 MB, 3 in the 30's, 5 in the teens and the rest dropping off rapidly after that. Perhaps the issue is that SETI is looking at 'installed' memory and not 'free available' memory which is far more dynamic not to mention considerably less than what's 'installed' when other applications are trying to run. For something that I consider is supposed to be 'running in the background', 70MB is a 'rather large chunk' to be consuming, but that's just my opinion. SETI also seems to blithely ignore any of the RAM percentage to 'use at most' settings in the preferences, BTW, but my guess is that these, if they were working, would also be basing their calculation on 'installed', as opposed to 'free available' which would be a better, albeit more difficult/tricky to code for, way to do it.

Under account, you can choose General Preferences and limit the amount of RAM (as a %) that BOINC uses when the computer is in use and when it is idle. I haven't tried playing with these, but this may be what you are looking for.

They seem to be ignored.

Under account, you can choose General Preferences and limit the amount of RAM (as a %) that BOINC uses when the computer is in use and when it is idle. I haven't tried playing with these, but this may be what you are looking for.

They seem to be ignored.

Those settings need BOINC v5.8 or greater to work. What BOINC version are you using?

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Under account, you can choose General Preferences and limit the amount of RAM (as a %) that BOINC uses when the computer is in use and when it is idle. I haven't tried playing with these, but this may be what you are looking for.

They seem to be ignored.

Those settings need BOINC v5.8 or greater to work. What BOINC version are you using?

BOINC v5.10.20 - Just downloaded it the other day.

Under account, you can choose General Preferences and limit the amount of RAM (as a %) that BOINC uses when the computer is in use and when it is idle. I haven't tried playing with these, but this may be what you are looking for.

They seem to be ignored.

Those settings need BOINC v5.8 or greater to work. What BOINC version are you using?

BOINC v5.10.20 - Just downloaded it the other day.

You're not using local preferences, are you? (Options set via BOINC Manager that would override the website settings.)

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Whew, running OS X??? I'm surprised if it's anything other than barely usable.

Be surprised, be very surprised... I don't even think Leopard will slow this puppy down... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

Whew, running OS X??? I'm surprised if it's anything other than barely usable.

Be surprised, be very surprised... I don't even think Leopard will slow this puppy down... ;)

OK, a little OT but: I just saw something about Apple revising their requirements for the Leopard installer to run and I have doubt it will on yours or mine [I have a G3 450MHz]. Back on topic, from one of the other replies SETI uses about half the memory if the installed RAM is 512 or less so that may be helping you out in the performance area. By the same token, it seems my upgrading RAM from 512 to 768 some time ago is what is causing SETI to have more of an impact in my case although the upgrade had a significant positive impact on MY machine's performance otherwise. This is, of course, all very dependent, when comparing 2 different machines, on what is being run on them. In my case that would include Photoshop, 3D graphics rendering, compilers and so forth, often at the same time and along with the other, more 'normal' stuff...
Don't know what you happen to be running over there but, in my case, SETI seems to be 'the straw that is breaking the camel's back' as it were.

Don't know what you happen to be running over there but, in my case, SETI seems to be 'the straw that is breaking the camel's back' as it were.

Mostly, a web browser, a word processor, and 3d modeling software, with boinc in the background 24/7...

Don't get me wrong, my new Intel Mac puts this little G3 to shame... However, I'd hardly call it slow... When that day arrives, it'll be reduced to a boinc crunching router for my new MacBook... ;)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

Under account, you can choose General Preferences and limit the amount of RAM (as a %) that BOINC uses when the computer is in use and when it is idle. I haven't tried playing with these, but this may be what you are looking for.

They seem to be ignored.

Those settings need BOINC v5.8 or greater to work. What BOINC version are you using?

BOINC v5.10.20 - Just downloaded it the other day.

You're not using local preferences, are you? (Options set via BOINC Manager that would override the website settings.)

Have not done anything with the 'local' prefs. BOINC prefs link to the website so it's all done there - Yep I did do the Update in the BOINC prefs pane thereafter (several times and also suspended and restarted the task/project just to make sure).

SETI is 'nose-to-nose' with Firefox with both in the lead 'as they round the clubhouse turn'. There's the kernel_task running 59 MB, 3 in the 30's, 5 in the teens and the rest dropping off rapidly after that.

I think, that the 70 MB or 80 MB for the SETI application should not make any slowdown with a Mac with 768 MB memory installed. I think the behavior you have written could also be a OS issue. - I had no issues with my Mac (as it had 1 GB) by running two BOINC application instances (SETI, CPDN, SIMAP,...) and running Firefox, Thunderbird, Photoshop and some other applications in parallel.

How many swap is your system using ?
Have you tried to install the recent combo Patches ?
How long is your system running ? - Is it better after a reboot of your system ?

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I just saw something about Apple revising their requirements for the Leopard installer to run and I have doubt it will on yours or mine

I just spoke with Apple and you were correct... It aint gonna happen, without a little hackin... :(

(But it's still going on my MacBook!)

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It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

Under account, you can choose General Preferences and limit the amount of RAM (as a %) that BOINC uses when the computer is in use and when it is idle. I haven't tried playing with these, but this may be what you are looking for.

They seem to be ignored.

Those settings need BOINC v5.8 or greater to work. What BOINC version are you using?

BOINC v5.10.20 - Just downloaded it the other day.

You're not using local preferences, are you? (Options set via BOINC Manager that would override the website settings.)

Have not done anything with the 'local' prefs. BOINC prefs link to the website so it's all done there - Yep I did do the Update in the BOINC prefs pane thereafter (several times and also suspended and restarted the task/project just to make sure).

Can you exit BOINC Manager, restart it and show us the first 20-25 lines of messages in the Messages tab?

What I'm looking for is the line that displays the memory preferences.

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Have not done anything with the 'local' prefs. BOINC prefs link to the website so it's all done there - Yep I did do the Update in the BOINC prefs pane thereafter (several times and also suspended and restarted the task/project just to make sure).

It may have a set of defaults that you need to clear out. I noticed some strange behavior on some of my most recent installs of Boinc that were removed with clearing the preferences in Boinc. These seem to override the web perfs.

Taras

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