Folding@Home - #96276

Discussion in 'Hardware & Software' started by Asus, Dec 16, 2007.

  1. Robbo Spy

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    We really need to get more people into this somehow. I would think with a network of people as large as this we could easily get 100 people. Maybe put something on the homepage that displays our team stats.. try to get to people competitive side somehow.

    Anyway just a thought, we're not doing too badly as is!
  2. Kadayi Newbie

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    Excellent and welcome to the team. :thumbs:

    It is all for a good cause and hopefully we'll get more members over time. Feel free to add Sig links of your own.
  3. Asus Newbie

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  4. giant384 Tank

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    Signed up and running both CPU and GPU clients.
  6. kupocake Tank

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    As with most things, the closer I am to the top of the rankings, the less healthy the rankings are.
  7. Adabiviak Tank

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    You're doing the work orders backwards, so they're negative.
  8. Asus Newbie

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    Although after 2-3 weeks we should be inside the top 500.
  9. Robbo Spy

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    My computer needed a new HDD so that would have taken 5,000 each day. Will get back too it now
  10. Bakurei Spy

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    Installed the GPU client, running it when I'm not gaming.
  11. Kadayi Newbie

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    Blame DA: O. I have to pause the folding when I'm playing that otherwise its a tad jerky :rolleyes:

    Sweet, good to have you both aboard.

    Also as Asus noted, we are just a couple of weeks away from breaking into the top 500. Which given we were over a 1000 a year before would be a fantastic achievement. :D
  12. Bakurei Spy

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    Why does folding say I have no works done when I just finished one? :'(
  13. Kadayi Newbie

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    Their database takes a few hours to update. I think it updates once every 6 hours or so.
  14. Robbo Spy

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    According to our team stats we have only five days till we're in the top 500!! woo hoo
  15. Asus Newbie

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    Woot. I just checked. We are at 502 now. At our current rate it says we will be 500 tomorrow and maybe hit 498 on Thanksgiving...
    Doing awesome guys.

    Ha. I just checked my totals. ~2,000,000 under Techreport (different names) and almost 3 mil. under hl2.net. If i stayed under TR I would have had 5 mil. under 1 name/team. But I like folding for HL2.net. ;)
  16. 15357 Party Escort Bot

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    This is interesting. I should go do this when I get back home next week.

    Which one are you supposed to use?
  17. Asus Newbie

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    If you are not sure then grab the main program (v6.23 for windows).
    200-500 points per day? (although you can install one for each core)

    If you have a fast dual core or quad core CPU then run the SMP instead. TONS more points and gets a lot more complex work done. (SMP beta v6.23 for windows)
    1,500-4,000 points per day? (pretty sure you still need a password on your windows login for this one to work)

    Now, if you have a somewhat current GPU then it probably can run the GPU system tray client. And if you have a fast GPU then it will probably get you more points and do more work than the SMP client by far.
    3,500-10,000 points per day?

    Make up your name and enter the correct team ID (HL2.net = 96276) when setting it up.
  18. Robbo Spy

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    Which SMP client should I use, can't find any advice on the difference between the two?
  19. 15357 Party Escort Bot

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    Ok... so I've a quad core Phenom II 955, a GTX260..... so... 2nd or 3rd? If it makes the CPU fan speed go up, I'll prolly use the latter.
  20. Adabiviak Tank

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    ...that gave me a thought. My SMP client only runs the CPU(s) at about 50% load. Can I run two clients at the same time? I'm using a C2D E6850.
  21. Asus Newbie

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    Between Deino (32bit) and MPICH (32bit and 64bit) ?
    I would use MPICH. The only time I would recommend Deino is if you run a 32 bit OS and find MPICH is getting network interruptions on your setup (could result in lower CPU usage). Otherwise MPICH is easier to setup and probably faster.

    Get BOTH! :)
    The GPU client with your Nvidia card will not use any major CPU usage. And the SMP will be free to completely use your quad core. Both points! If you find the CPU fan spin up you can always go back through setup and have it only use up 50% usage instead of 100.
    When I game, I always PAUSE my GPU client but leave my CPU SMP one going. Then I just RESUME after I'm done gaming. It can be left on the whole time since it runs in idle mode but may cause some random stuttering.

    A dual core shouldn't be running the client just at 50% unless it is only setup for a single core or you are running MPICH and getting network interruptions which that version is sensitive to. But I'm guessing it is just using a single core (windows would be passing it back and forth between both cores aka 50% usage).
    Is it running with the -SMP tag?
    I would read through this guide again. If you can't figure out how to modify it maybe scrap the SMP install and do it fresh.
  22. kupocake Tank

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    I'm running the GPU client on a 4850, and I've never had more than 1,400 points according to the stats (admitedly, I've probably never run the PC for more than 18 or so hours, but this still seems below what you're saying is likely). Are you using a different measure of points, or am I doing something wrong?

    Edit: It may have been said before in this thread, but which clients and what kind of machines are our hardest hitters running on?
  23. Kadayi Newbie

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    I think the Nvidia cards are better at folding than the ATI, though whether that is still the case I'm not sure (I'm sure Asus can clarify). With respect to folding I basically have my PC at home folding on a 9800 GTX+ which does the bulk of the work just using the GPU, meanwhile I have my quad core mac pro at working folding using the CPU.

    I did have a SMP client also running at home on top of the GPU client, but as I only have a dual core machine I didn't find it was particularly great in terms of gain, so decided to stick to the GPU only (Probably upgrading the PC to an i5 or i7 model next year though).

    Generally I used to find that I could play games and have the GPU running as well, however more lately I'm finding that's not so much the case so I tend to pause it when I'm gaming then resuming. I tend to keep the PC overnight as I'm bad for torrenting TV shows, so ideal time for folding. I just put the machine to sleep when I'm out at work etc though.

    With your GPU you want to be using a High performance client:-

    http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther

    Some stuff about ATi Vs Nvidia when it comes to folding here:-

    http://theovalich.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/why-nvidia-destroys-ati-in-folding-at-hom/
  24. Asus Newbie

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    4850 is what I have. I go back and forth from 2000 PPD to 4000 PPD depending on the work units.
    Right-click on the icon (if you are running the system tray version) and go to Configure.
    Click on the Connection tab and make sure the 'greater than 10MB' option is checked at the bottom.

    But otherwise the ATI cards, even though they have more power than Nvidia ones at the moment, are doing less PPD. That's because the kind of work Stanford is sending out with the GPU client is pretty simple stuff. So Nvida's simple quick shaders are doing more PPD while ATI's more complex hardware is going unused while chewing on the similar types WUs (so lower PPD). If/when Stanford decides to change the WU to more complex then the 4000 cards will jump up on the board a bit while Nvidia's 8000 cards will go down, the GTX's may drop a little but it depends how complex they decide to make the WUs. Nvidia's new yet to be released GPU would do rather well. And is probably when Stanford would decide to mix up the types of WUs they send out to the GPU clients.

    The people who build PCs just to fold would be running one or two graphic cards with dual cores (9800GX2 or GTX 295) although with SLI disabled. The reason is for maximum potency. MUCH lower power usage than running 4 individual PCs with a single 8800gt.
    A quad core in their system but not running the Windows client. Instead they would probably setup 2 virtual setups each seeing 2 cores and the linux SMP client installed virtually. (linux client is better than windows). That setup would do 10,000 PPD to 40,000 PPD+. (just a 9800GX2 by itself does 10,000 PPD).
  25. Adabiviak Tank

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    Thanks - I thought I had the -smp flag set in the configuration options, but it's definitely missing from the shortcut. I'll try it upon the next work unit.
  26. Robbo Spy

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    ok I tried to install the MPICH client and came up with this
    [IMG]

    any help to get it going would be appreciated :)
  27. Eejit The Freeman

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    Wait, people build PCs just to fold? They must have a lot of money or parts to burn.
  28. Kadayi Newbie

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    Some do (bizarre as that may seem). Do Future publish Custom PC over in your neck of the woods? In their reviews for GPUs they always list the PPUs of cards because people are interested to know what they get in terms of folding bang for buck.

    Incidentally: -

    http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_overtake.php?s=&t=96276

    Woohoo!!!:cheers:
  29. Robbo Spy

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    [IMG]

    CELEBRATE!!! :bounce:
  30. Asus Newbie

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    This is just a normal desktop PC right? Any weird setup going on with your network? Do you have 2 network ports but use the 2nd instead? Or are you using wireless?

    Try Deino if you are on a 32bit OS. Might not have issues with your network.

    I bought a couple 8800GTs for $90-$30 MIR ($60) back in july '08 just to use with my old PC which has 2 PCI Express 16x slots. Then my wife's brother needed a PC so I lent him that one. He's OK paying the power bill for it. hehe
  31. Robbo Spy

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    I tried both but didn't get anywhere so I'm just going to use the normal CPU version
  32. 15357 Party Escort Bot

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    Installed it on my sister's laptop; will install more on my computer when I get home tommorow.
  33. Adabiviak Tank

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    The -smp flag causes the program to see two cores, and right up to the point where it starts calculations, I get File IO errors.
  34. 15357 Party Escort Bot

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    Yay! My first workunit completed for 353 points :D



    I'm using the GPU because it runs more silent and I can use the computer at the same time. The normal client doesn't seem to work, because it stays at 0% all the time. The smp version reboots my system.
  35. Asus Newbie

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    I've got IO errors before when setting some version up. I can't remember what I did though. Probably just delete the queue.dat file and work folder and have it start on a new one.
    Awesome. Your first WU.
    The regular and SMP clients take a lot longer to finish than the GPU.
    I'd watch how it might drain the battery. It isn't power free.
  36. 15357 Party Escort Bot

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    Yeah, it also seems to make it run way slower, and therfore I've had to uninstall it after she beat the crap out of me. :)
  37. dfc05 Tank

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    I have it running on my laptop, but set the CPU usage down to 40-50%.
  38. Asus Newbie

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    Also, the SMP version (or I guess SMP flag) needs the windows login that it runs on to have a password. Do you run your user login with no pw?
  39. Adabiviak Tank

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    It's got a password. I'll try purging the work queue upon the next completion (or when I get around to it, whichever comes first).

    edit - done, and running on all cylinders. Thanks!
  40. kupocake Tank

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    Just look at you go Numbers! You leapfrogged over 9 users in a day :)