[Rd] Whine in dual core Windows PC if R uses full CPU capacity

[Gabor Grothendieck]

I don't think it would be necessary to do any programming.  Just run
another program at the same time.

On 1/15/07, Ulrike Grömping <groemping at tfh-berlin.de> wrote:
> Duncan,
> thanks. Not knowing what is a quiet or noisy loop beforehand, I wouldn't like to do my programming around that theme though :-)
> By the way, does your phrase "noisy CPUs" suggest noisy types of CPU or noisy individuals of generally ok types of CPU (you might not know that, though)?
> Regards, Ulrike
>
> ---------- Original Message -----------
> From: Duncan Murdoch <murdoch at stats.uwo.ca>
> To: Ulrike Grömping <groemping at tfh-berlin.de>
> Cc: r-devel at r-project.org
> Sent: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 13:07:10 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Rd] Whine in dual core Windows PC if R uses full CPU capacity
>
> > On 1/15/2007 12:02 PM, Ulrike Grömping wrote:
> > > Dear R-developers,
> > >
> > > the following may seem a weird question for R-devel [WINDOWS-1252?]– I try anyway, because it
> > > does seem to be related to usage of R and R's way of interacting with the
> > > hardware.
> > >
> > > When running R (2.4.0) on my new dual core Windows XP system (Intel Core 2 Duo
> > > E6600, Mainboard ASUS P5B, BeQuiet Power Unit), I observe various types of
> > > sounds (not related to fans) when running at full usage of at least one of the
> > > cores.
> > >
> > > The most annoying sound [WINDOWS-1252?]– a high-pitched noise like a whine [WINDOWS-1252?]– I have so far
> > > observed running simulations in R only and [WINDOWS-1252?]couldn't reproduce with any other
> > > software (sometimes [WINDOWS-1252?]it's also more a rustle than a whine, that one is not
> > > disturbing). I can clearly track it down to particular instances of R [WINDOWS-1252?]– as
> > > soon as I left-click on a blue window bar in the affected R-Gui, the noise
> > > stops (and there are sometimes other instances of R running in parallel which
> > > are completely unrelated to the whine). [WINDOWS-1252?]I've also stopped R when the computer
> > > just whined and started SAS, fully using the CPU as well [WINDOWS-1252?]– no whine. Shut down
> > > SAS, restart R à whine again. Apparently, it can also be related to what
> > > exactly R is doing at the particular moment. For example, I just discovered
> > > that simulations of one type were finished, because the computer [WINDOWS-1252?]– running
> > > another simulation under full load on R in a quiet way [WINDOWS-1252?]– started whining at
> > > the moment it switched to the new type of simulation.
> > >
> > > The hardware technician [WINDOWS-1252?]I've asked about this issue does not have any idea and
> > > suspects R to do something peculiar that causes the noise. [WINDOWS-1252?]It's not the
> > > mainboards fault (that has already been changed for another reason, and the
> > > behavior remains). I [WINDOWS-1252?]can't definitely locate the source of the sound. I
> > > suspect that [WINDOWS-1252?]it's the Power Unit, but there are so many parts close together
> > > that I am not really sure.
> > >
> > > I do not know enough about interactions of R with hardware to know whether it
> > > is even possible for anyone deeper into the matter to develop an idea what
> > > could be behind this behavior. For the moment, I can get rid of the whine by
> > > using the mainboard tool [WINDOWS-1252?]„AI [WINDOWS-1252?]Gear" to reduce the [WINDOWS-1252?]processor's speed from 2.4GHz
> > > to 1.7GHz when I want to concentrate [WINDOWS-1252?]– then the whine is gone (but the
> > > simulation is slower).
> >
> > I haven't heard this from R, but on occasion I've had noisy CPUs. I
> > suspect it's a case of some repetitive calculation leading to repetitive
> > electric fields which happen to cause physical resonance of some part of
> > your system. That agrees with the observation that changing the speed
> > changed the noisiness. Another way to get rid of it would be to change
> > the contents of the loop: make it run faster or slower and the noise
> > should go away.
> >
> > Duncan Murdoch
> >
> > >
> > > Does anyone have any idea [WINDOWS-1252?]– or hints regarding what else I could think about ?
> > >
> > > Regards, Ulrike
> > >
> > > ******************************
> > > Prof. Dr. Ulrike Grömping
> > > Fachbereich II
> > > TFH Berlin
> > > Luxemburger Str. 10
> > > 13353 Berlin
> > > mail: groemping at tfh-berlin.de
> > > www: www.tfh-berlin.de/~groemp/
> > > ******************************
> > >
> > > ------- End of Forwarded Message -------
> > >
> > > ******************************
> > > Prof. Dr. Ulrike Grömping
> > > Fachbereich II
> > > TFH Berlin
> > > Luxemburger Str. 10
> > > 13353 Berlin
> > > mail: groemping at tfh-berlin.de
> > > www: www.tfh-berlin.de/~groemp/
> > > ******************************
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > ______________________________________________
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> > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
> ------- End of Original Message -------
>
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