distributed.net: Hints and Tips for Faster Clients

Here are some tips which we've found (typically by trial and error), which should help to speed your client up:

1.) Try to use the latest client for the platform which you are using. Usually the new builds only have bug fixes, but we have seen some speed-ups. For example, the PII/PPro core in Build 6403 is approximately 15% faster than Build 6401! Notable speed-ups will usually get mentioned in the Team mailings.
2.) Don't run a screensaver. Or, if you do, make sure its a simple one! All of my PCs are currently set to "black screen" screensavers. Boring perhaps, but screensavers hog CPU - even though there might be useful processes in the background.
3.) Be aware that some applications (eg. Netscape with animated graphics) will eat CPU even when they appear to be dormant or minimised.
4.) If Internet access is patchy, and you have more than one machine on the same network, you might find a proxy useful. Proxies are also useful if some of those networked machines cannot see the Internet.
5.) Try to avoid random block generation. After saying this, random block generation is better than no blocks at all!
6.) If you are running one of the PC clients, the CPU Auto Detect option is "quick and dirty". It is best to set the CPU architecture manually, or to try all options to find the fastest!
7.) If available, use the multi-threaded client for your architecture. This should start threads for each CPU present. Without multi-threading, multi-CPU systems require one client per CPU. Even with single CPU systems, multi-threading is still a good idea. This is because one thread will continue to crack threads, even when the parent is waiting on a slow network or network error.
8.) If you are running a slow machine (eg. a 486) which is regularly restarted, it is best to go for the smallest possible block size or to enable the checkpoint file. Doing either (or both of these) will help reduce the amount of work which is lost when the machine is restarted or crashes.

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