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BOINC allows you to run multiple BOINC projects easily. You can set a percentage in each project so that BOINC will run multiple projects in a ratio that you determine.

One example would be that you want to run one project 60% of the time, and the second at 40%, and BOINC will automatically download work and manage the work unit deadlines so that the projects will get approximately the amount of time you specify.

You may also wish to set up a second project as a "backup project". A backup project means that if your primary project runs out of work and for some reason can't download more work, BOINC will automatically download work units from your backup project, then switch back to your primary project once more work becomes available. This is usually accomplished by setting a large percentage for your primary project (99.999%, for example), and a complimentary percentage for your backup project (in this case, 0.001%).

When initially setting up a backup project, BOINC may download what seems to be a large amount of work before you get the chance to set up your percentages. If this occurs, just set your project percentage on the project's website under your account, and once the initial downloaded work is completed, BOINC will then start to work in the percentages you have set up.

If you are running a non-BOINC project, ordinarily you would not be able to run a BOINC project along with that project. The two projects will compete for CPU cycles and the results are unpredictable as to how much idle time each project would get, and they would be constantly competing for idle time.

There is one situation where you may be able to run BOINC along with a non-BOINC project. If you have either a multiple processor PC, a Hyperthreading enabled PC, or a Dual Core processor PC, and the other DC project does not support multiple CPUs, you can run that DC project, then set BOINC to use only 1 CPU, and both projects should take 100% of one processor. If your computer shows more than 2 processors, you can adjust the BOINC properties accordingly so it leaves one CPU free for the other project.


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by Xaak See Profile
last modified: 2006-05-05 12:10:27