SETI problems

[DoneADougalOnSofa]

Just need to ask, is anybody else having problems with SETI?
Been trying to install it via BOINC manager for nearly a week now, and the best I've managed is a few downloaded files, then it just stops, and defers the downloads constantly. At worst I just get 'communication deferred' over and over...
My other projects (LHC & MilkyWay) work perfectly.
I assume they're having issues, if someone could either confirm or contradict that, I would be most grateful.
Got a pair of GTX260s clocked up to hell and back and wanna find some aliens with them.

Cheers
Jon.

 

[DoneADougalOnSofa]

Ps.
I stupidly bought the second '260, not realising that my mobo only does Crossfire, not SLI.
(I use both cards anyway, for crunching purposes.) At some point I will have to go AMD/ATI... I can't afford the top-end cards, so which ones give the best bang-for-the-buck when it comes to crunching? Up to about £150-160 per card is my limit, and I want to mangle as many WUs as I can!

 

[TheTross]

I think berkeley have just recovered from a server crash which, combined with the usual struggles with getting work, makes it even more difficult to download work - I'm having the same issue at the minute.

If it's ATI you want to switch to then you'll be better off running a different project, as SETI doesn't really support ATI cards at the moment and only has an app for astropulse work which, I believe, it part-shares with the CPU anyway.

 

[DoneADougalOnSofa]

Yeah, I heard that Nvidia was best for SETI. I'm probably going to continue MilkyWay on its own though, also heard that ATIs are better for this than Nvidias.
Given the huge array of cards on the market and the not-too-impressive price structure, I don't know where to go! Was thinking 6850/6870s. I assume they will be better than my 260s, but could I do even better for similar money?

 

[TheTross]

If you're thinking in terms of Milkyway then I think nvidia cards are pretty much hopeless when compared to any recent ATI card. The one thing that will affect your decision in which ATI card to get would be if it supports double-precision arithmetic, as Milkway requires this feature in order to run. This thread should help you somewhat with that

 

[DoneADougalOnSofa]

Thanks Tross,
I've pulled the trigger on a 5870, then I'll eventually upgrade to a Xfire setup as funds allow.
Had to go second-hand due to budget limitations. As soon as the Barclaycard has recovered a bit, I'll be going for a pair of something fat and powerful from OCUK, that's a promise!
Have abandoned SETI now, waiting ten days for the project to initialise, only for it to error every WU is frustrating enough for me to drop it- MilkyWay it is then...
Bring it on!
Jon.

 

[eggcup]

try the previous version of boinc, as the latest version was ***** for me and had the exact same problems you did.