it is set to 240 or more seconds in hdd and memory saves. This hdd activity makes my pc nearly stop, even my mouse stops responding.

My pc is new; AMD Phenom II X4 925, 2GB hdd. Thanks for the replies and tips.

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Looks like you are probably trying to run 4 tasks at a time in 2GB of memory. That isn't a lot of room, and the latest Rosetta version seems to have an issue which is using more memory then usual at the moment.

So much of your hard disk activity, especially if you are running other applications, is probably due to page faults and memory swaps. These are controlled by the operating system, not by BOINC. And that is why it probably seems as though BOINC is ignoring your preference not to use the disk so much ...because it isn't using the disk very often, the operating system is, as a side-effect of running the BOINC tasks along with the other applications you are running.

In a nutshell, your goal seems to be to have a more responsive PC. The way to achieve this is to get BOINC to use less memory. You can do this by running fewer tasks at a time (by limiting the number of CPUs BOINC is allowed to use), or by limiting the amount of memory BOINC is allowed to use when the machine is in use (which will eventually force at least one of the tasks into a waiting for memory state). Either of these approaches should improve the usability of your machine, although they will likely reduce the overall amount of BOINC work you complete each day.

Another approach would be to attach to a second BOINC project, one with work units that require less memory. Set up the resource shares so that at least 25% goes to the other project, and BOINC will generally be running at least one of those low-memory tasks along with 3 from Rosetta. If you attach to another project, then I'd suggest using the preference for the amount of memory BOINC is allowed to use. If the Rosetta tasks you are running consume a lot of memory, BOINC will begin running other tasks until it finds some that can run within the amount of memory BOINC is allowed to use. These will tend to be from the other project. So, you could still be crunching with all 4 CPUs and have a more responsive machine.

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Rosetta Moderator: Mod.Sense

Thanks for the tips, I will try the combinations of the setting you told about (well I never set Boinc to keep Wus in memory but may I be missing something).
Thanks again.

Looks like you are probably trying to run 4 tasks at a time in 2GB of memory. That isn't a lot of room, and the latest Rosetta version seems to have an issue which is using more memory then usual at the moment.

So much of your hard disk activity, especially if you are running other applications, is probably due to page faults and memory swaps. These are controlled by the operating system, not by BOINC. And that is why it probably seems as though BOINC is ignoring your preference not to use the disk so much ...because it isn't using the disk very often, the operating system is, as a side-effect of running the BOINC tasks along with the other applications you are running.

In a nutshell, your goal seems to be to have a more responsive PC. The way to achieve this is to get BOINC to use less memory. You can do this by running fewer tasks at a time (by limiting the number of CPUs BOINC is allowed to use), or by limiting the amount of memory BOINC is allowed to use when the machine is in use (which will eventually force at least one of the tasks into a waiting for memory state). Either of these approaches should improve the usability of your machine, although they will likely reduce the overall amount of BOINC work you complete each day.

Another approach would be to attach to a second BOINC project, one with work units that require less memory. Set up the resource shares so that at least 25% goes to the other project, and BOINC will generally be running at least one of those low-memory tasks along with 3 from Rosetta. If you attach to another project, then I'd suggest using the preference for the amount of memory BOINC is allowed to use. If the Rosetta tasks you are running consume a lot of memory, BOINC will begin running other tasks until it finds some that can run within the amount of memory BOINC is allowed to use. These will tend to be from the other project. So, you could still be crunching with all 4 CPUs and have a more responsive machine.

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2GB is very little for 4 cores, even without Rosetta!

I have 4GB is my 2 core laptop, never run out of memory =]

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Yep, present optimun is around 1GB per 1 CPU core. :)