LinX - A simple Linpack interface

[kup]

The status bar (the green one) is now flashing every second during testing since v0.4.9. This was added just for the purpose you mentioned. I thought flashing woud be visible enough...

Would it be possible to make it flash Green to White to Green to White... when running? Green to Lighter Green is hard to spot when glancing up. And maybe Red to White to Red... when an error occurs?

Thanks for the GUI, Dual', it's been essential for getting my Q6600 Folding@Home stable.

[slim142]

Nooooo!
Please, if more modifications are going to be done to the loading bar, stick to blue or green, FORGET THE RED!!!!

[Pyr0]

Ok, here's yet another update: LinX 0.4.9

Changes:
- possibly fixed a bug when LinX would fail & exit if an error was detected in the last test
- added "Always on top" mode. Double click window caption to toggle it
- LinX now saves its window's vertical size on exit
- when "Enable sound notifications" box is checked LinX will also play sound upon successful completion of all tests
- added status bar flashing during testing
- minor UI changes

just did a quick test of the new 0.49 version.
despite the test completing successfully(numbers matching), LinX says it stopped because of an error when using the "Play sound on error" option.
if i don't use the audio option, it tells me "Linpack has terminated unexpectedly..."

[WaterFlex]

Sweet interface. Good job Dullist

[Dua|ist]

Pyr0 and those with the same problem, please try the attached exe from this post. Just overwrite the exe in LinX directory.
Once again I proved to be a lame programmer as I'm still unsure what causes this (can't reproduce this on my rig).

[Pyr0]

thanks Dua|ist, this version seems to work
i ran a quick 128mb, 3 loop test with and without the sound notification option and both say "Finished without errors in 9 seconds"

[edit] i'm testing in xp x64 atm. if that makes any diff

[DildePer]

Thanks for this program. I am, however, unsure about how to use it. You dial in a problem size, but what does this represent? And how long should you leave this program running to ensure maximum stability? So far, it has made my rig reboot twice so I am typing this message in a hurry :-)

[Dua|ist]

Thanks for this program. I am, however, unsure about how to use it. You dial in a problem size, but what does this represent? And how long should you leave this program running to ensure maximum stability? So far, it has made my rig reboot twice so I am typing this message in a hurry :-)

You may enter Problem Size or the amount of memory you wish to use (they correspond to each other). I'd start with something like 5000-6000 problem sizes (20-30 runs). For full stability checking use the Max mem option or just anything above 10000 problem size for 25-100 times (the more the better ).

[DildePer]

Thank you very much for the quick answer. Even when using 25 runs of 5000 sizes it still reboots my comp, where I could run ORTHOS for about an hour!

Although it seems that Orthos generates more heat? Was getting 48-50 load temps with ORTHOS and 44-45 with LinX?

Very effective, thanks again!

[Dua|ist]

As you've probably read in post's title this new LinX has AMD support (it's so pretty stupid to say that in Intel thread ).

But, it was done not by me but by forums.overclockers.ru member Right, so all credit goes to him.

I just added this to LinX with his permission and wish to thank him for that once more. Intel users, there's no performance difference from previous versions, so don't worry. If you still want to stick with Intel-only files you can use those from previous versions or download them here (but there's really no difference in performance/error finding efficiency as well as in heat generation ).
Other changes include slightly redesigned UI and the ability to resize program window horizontally in Detailed log mode. Bug reported by Pyro (thanks to him!) was also fixed.

Download link : LinX 0.4.9.1

Thank you very much for the quick answer. Even when using 25 runs of 5000 sizes it still reboots my comp, where I could run ORTHOS for about an hour!

Although it seems that Orthos generates more heat? Was getting 48-50 load temps with ORTHOS and 44-45 with LinX?

Very effective, thanks again!

It's kinda weird you're getting lower temps with Linpack than with Orthos. This is normally just the opposite. And BTW have you managed to make it pass LinX or it still reboots?

[slim142]

Dualist
Why did you remove the blue frames from the bottom? (where it says 13/15, Maximum Performance, Minimal Time etc).
Not that I dont like it, but was that an issue or personal preference?

Also, nice job for this one. You are using 1.7 IBT now I suppose

One bug I found, not serious. When Im in short log mode, I try to increase the size of the window horizontally, the left column makes the window move, not increase the size and the right column doesnt do anything in terms of increasing the size.

[Dua|ist]

Dualist
Why did you remove the blue frames from the bottom? (where it says 13/15, Maximum Performance, Minimal Time etc).
Not that I dont like it, but was that an issue or personal preference?

Also, nice job for this one. You are using 1.7 IBT now I suppose

One bug I found, not serious. When Im in short log mode, I try to increase the size of the window horizontally, the left column makes the window move, not increase the size and the right column doesnt do anything in terms of increasing the size.

The frames are gone, there's a statusbar instead. I thought it'd be a more correct way of displaying that info in a statusbar rather than in 3 separate Edit boxes.

The files do have something in common with IBT's new ones as Right reported but they're still different (no plagiarism here).

The "bug" you found belongs to Delphi and I'm afraid I can't fix it. (You'll have to get used to it )

[slim142]

The frames are gone, there's a statusbar instead. I thought it'd be a more correct way of displaying that info in a statusbar rather than in 3 separate Edit boxes.

The files do have something in common with IBT's new ones as Right reported but they're still different (no plagiarism here).

The "bug" you found belongs to Delphi and I'm afraid I can't fix it. (You'll have to get used to it )

Is ok, I dont mind if there are frames or not
About the bug, well I can live with it, is not that it affects the function of the program

[rge]

Again, thanks for the great interface, really like it.

But on the most recent version, I cant see all of it. It is stretched out as far as will go (enlarging box with mouse), but I cant see residual norm. I just noticed this on more recent versions. Maybe because I am using 120 dpi?, I am at 1600x1200 if that helps. Any chance of making it so I can stretch it bigger to see residual norms.

[Dua|ist]

Again, thanks for the great interface, really like it.

But on the most recent version, I cant see all of it. It is stretched out as far as will go (enlarging box with mouse), but I cant see residual norm. I just noticed this on more recent versions. Maybe because I am using 120 dpi?, I am at 1600x1200 if that helps. Any chance of making it so I can stretch it bigger to see residual norms.

Who'd have thought that making a window resizeable will cause such problems?.. Here, please try this one, it's all I managed to do about the dpi stuff. If something's still wrong, please let me know.

[rge]

Thanks that is much better!

[Fungus]

Awesome! Thanks a lot for this great interface, I like it much better than the other one. =]

[Dua|ist]

Upgrade over and I'm back with a new version: LinX 0.5.0



Changes:
- added Everest support. LinX can now display CPU temperature from Everest. The displayed temperature is the temperature of the hottest core; if a CPU doesn't have core sensors then a temperature from an external sensor is displayed. For this to work you'll need to have Everest running in background with "Enable shared memory" option checked (in Everest "File -> Preferences -> External Applications"; you might also want to set update frequency to 1 sec for external applications and adjust Tjmax value)

- added an option to stop testing if CPU temp exceeds the desired temp (see above)

- LinX now correctly reads (well, actually skips ) values from damaged lininput file

- and saves most of its settings on exit

[kup]

Dual, random question but what theme are you using on your Windows install? I liked the blue version you used previously, but this new black version looks amazing!

Thank you for the new version of LinX. This tool has invaluable with my overclocking recently! Also good for draining laptop batteries for a full discharge!

[WaterFlex]

Dua|ist
Good work, mate Russian programmers rock

[Dua|ist]

Thank you for your warm words. If the monitoring will work ok, I'll try to implement some temperature/fan/voltage graphs later (optional, of course).

Dual, random question but what theme are you using on your Windows install? I liked the blue version you used previously, but this new black version looks amazing!

It's the Watercolor Emico series, all of them can be found on this page (search the gallery there a little): http://gelosea.deviantart.com/.

[Dua|ist]

After playing with new rig I decided to make some Linpack error interpretations, which might be helpful for those unfamiliar with Linpack. Note that these are based upon my observations and can't be 100% true. You are welcome to share your experience.

Basically if you get an error you would have x same (correct) results and 1 different (an error):
- if the incorrect result differs slightly from the rest (numbers very close, same powers in Residual & Residual (norm)) it is most likely that there's not enough vcore. In this case only a small vcore bump is usually needed to stabilize the system (alternatively, Vtt & GTL tweaking can sometimes fix this too)
- if the wrong result differs much from the others (different power or even positive power in Residual or Residual (norm)) it might be 1) insufficient vcore (the error would happen at the very first runs then) or 2) some memory / NB instability (when it worked for say 10 minutes ok and then produced a different result)

Now more serious errors:
- a BSOD during testing (at the very first runs) is often caused by too low vcore
- if the system hangs and remains hung it is almost 100% not a CPU but memory or possibly NB issue
- if the system reboots (with no hang prior to reboot and no BSOD) - a CPU issue, but not vcore related (insufficient PLL or Vtt I guess)
- if it hangs for a short while and then BSODs - once again NB or memory problem (but might be wrong Vtt / GTL setting as well)
- if it hangs and then just reboots - wrong Vtt (too low or too high) or GTL settings

P.S. Despite being probably the most stressful stability checking program for CPU Linpack is not that good at finding memory errors, so checking memory with tools like Memtest, OCCT & Prime Blend will be a better idea.

P.P.S. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Dua|ist]

Another update for LinX.
Good news is:
- LinX can now create, display and save as PNG graphs for CPU temp, CPU fan speed, vcore and +12V voltage based on Everest data. Graphs are shown in separate windows, can be resized and made semi-transparent
- the green status field now flashes in all time modes (elapsed, remaining & finish time)
- you can now make screenshot of LinX's window by pressing the F5 key. The screenshot will be saved as LinX.png in program's folder. Pressing F5 in graph windows will save the corresponding graph (not the whole window) as PNG image



Bad news is the exe (compressed and archived) no more fits in 200KB, so only Rapidshare from now on.
Link : LinX 0.5.1

[subaruwrc]

many thanks. really useful program.

[Dua|ist]

Just in case someone's having problems with graphs & temperatures taken from Everest. This update will most likely fix them. Thanks go to forums.overclockers.ru members for notifiying me of these issues. Link: LinX 0.5.1.4
Your bug reports and suggestions are also always welcome.