Folding@home Team 56895 and Life with PlayStation

[gizzy]

Hey all

New folder checking in (actually old folder but built a new i7 comp so, new team )
I hope everyone is still folding
I don't think I can ever pass dr.pepper or any of the other top folders but I hope to make a nice dent folding SMP
Look for me under Kuma-kun

[BrianTX]

Originally Posted by gizzy

Hey all

New folder checking in (actually old folder but built a new i7 comp so, new team )
I hope everyone is still folding
I don't think I can ever pass dr.pepper or any of the other top folders but I hope to make a nice dent folding SMP
Look for me under Kuma-kun

Have you tried any -bigadv with your i7 yet? Heard you can get up to 20k ppd running those.

[gizzy]

Hey Brian

Thanks for the info I will definitely look into that.
I think I average around 9-12k ppd but once in a while I get thrown a huge WU that takes about 13hrs to complete
and throws everything off ugh

[Nathan P]

Welcome to our new folders, I'm currently taking a short break both holidaying and I also fold for another team as well as here, I'm just helping them with my machine's full output for a couple of weeks then my 2 clients will back with us here. Normal folding should be resumed around october 5th.

If any of our new team members get stuck just post here and i'm sure we can help you out

[BrianTX]

What kind of rigs do you guys have folding? What kind of PPD do your setups yield? I'm looking to upgrade my mobo and cpu for Christmas, trying to get some ideas staged for black friday!

[Nathan P]

Originally Posted by BrianTX

What kind of rigs do you guys have folding? What kind of PPD do your setups yield? I'm looking to upgrade my mobo and cpu for Christmas, trying to get some ideas staged for black friday!

I've currently got 1 rig with the following in.

AMD Phenom x6 1090T, Asus GTX 460 and an EVGA GTX275/GTS250 combo card that is currently giving 20k PPD - I'm having a few problems at the moment but once everything is up and running there is another gts 250 to add to that and it should end up totalling about 41k PPD.

i7's give the best bang for buck but if you have the ability to reuse parts an x6 can give 11-12k PPD

[BrianTX]

Top 100!

I think I'll go with an i7, there's a good deal on newegg for one. Then I can move this core2quad over to the wife's computer, that one only gets at most 500 ppd with an amd 64 and a 9400gt graphics card.

[HydraShok]

I fold under the name eiodd...also have folded under RogueAgent and HydraShok. Currently using a GTX480 and GTX275. Not using my i7 to fold at present but that may change.

[SoCalTiger]

Originally Posted by Nathan P

I've currently got 1 rig with the following in.

AMD Phenom x6 1090T, Asus GTX 460 and an EVGA GTX275/GTS250 combo card that is currently giving 20k PPD - I'm having a few problems at the moment but once everything is up and running there is another gts 250 to add to that and it should end up totalling about 41k PPD.

i7's give the best bang for buck but if you have the ability to reuse parts an x6 can give 11-12k PPD

What the heck! I only get 4k PPD with my GTS 250 according to FahMon

How are you getting 20k?

Also, I have a i7-860 and running 4 clients that only comes out to just over 1k PPD!?!?

Am I doing something wrong or are you super OC'd?

FWIW I think I'm already in the Top 100 but it seems kind of futile to leave my PC on 24/7 if I'm only getting 5k PPD.

[BrianTX]

Originally Posted by SoCalTiger

What the heck! I only get 4k PPD with my GTS 250 according to FahMon

How are you getting 20k?

Also, I have a i7-860 and running 4 clients that only comes out to just over 1k PPD!?!?

Am I doing something wrong or are you super OC'd?

FWIW I think I'm already in the Top 100 but it seems kind of futile to leave my PC on 24/7 if I'm only getting 5k PPD.

With an i7 you don't want to run multiple classic clients. Get the smp client, it's made for multi-core cpu's. Also set up a passkey. There is a bonus system that you can only get when you have a passkey. With the smp client, attach the flag -smp 8 with -bigadv, or -smp 7 and give the extra core to your gfx card which will boost it's ppd output. Almost all high end graphics cards benefit from a cpu core being dedicated to it, even if it's just a virtual core. Do you have hyperthreading enabled?

Also make sure you are using the gpu3 client with your fermi card and not the gpu2 client. You should clear 8k ppd easy on that card. Check out http://foldingforum.org/, those guys have all kinds of great info to get the most out of your rig.

I just replaced my core2quad with an i7 950 last night and have a gtx465 for occasional folding. The gfx card will do 12k ppd and the processor (without any -bigadv work units yet) is showing about 16k ppd. My cpu is oc to 4.21GHZ and gfx card is oc to 626 MHZ core.

Edit- Just added a GTX460, it's putting out about 12k ppd also. Had to reduce oc of cpu to 4GHZ, too much voltage and heat.

[gizzy]

Yep what BrianTX said.
Look at me (Kuma-kun) I've only folded 58 WU's in just about a month on my new i7 920, very lightly oc'd to 2.9ghz
It's the passkey that gives most of the points the requirement being that you need to finish the WU by a certain faster deadline than "normal" which might require leaving the computer on.

Oh nice upgrade to your rig Brian! you are gonna be crankin em out big time now!

[BrianTX]

Originally Posted by gizzy

Yep what BrianTX said.
Look at me (Kuma-kun) I've only folded 58 WU's in just about a month on my new i7 920, very lightly oc'd to 2.9ghz
It's the passkey that gives most of the points the requirement being that you need to finish the WU by a certain faster deadline than "normal" which might require leaving the computer on.

Oh nice upgrade to your rig Brian! you are gonna be crankin em out big time now!

Thanks, I love this thing so far! Got my first -bigadv wu, it will take 3 days to complete but it'll pay out a little over 62k points!

edit- nm, got another one, worth approx 72k this time

[BrianTX]

Returned the GTX460 for another GTX465 so I could use SLI. The 465 has tpf's of 45 seconds vs. 1:07 for the 460, I was surprised at the big difference.

I'm having issues with the -bigadv wu's, is there any safe way to stop the smp client from folding without trashing the wu and having to start a new one? I've used ctrl+c and I've tried just shutting down the computer, but I lose the wu if I do either. Losing -bigadv wu's sucks, I've lost over 2 days of folding and I don't want to give the i7 a bad rep with these wu's. I can't wait for a sys tray style client for smp!

[Nathan P]

Originally Posted by BrianTX

Returned the GTX460 for another GTX465 so I could use SLI. The 465 has tpf's of 45 seconds vs. 1:07 for the 460, I was surprised at the big difference.

I'm having issues with the -bigadv wu's, is there any safe way to stop the smp client from folding without trashing the wu and having to start a new one? I've used ctrl+c and I've tried just shutting down the computer, but I lose the wu if I do either. Losing -bigadv wu's sucks, I've lost over 2 days of folding and I don't want to give the i7 a bad rep with these wu's. I can't wait for a sys tray style client for smp!

The easiest way is to ctrl+C the client and then restart it using the -oneunit flag at the end of the executable from the command line. At the end of the unit the client will not download any more units until you tell it to.

e.g c:\program files\F@H smp\fah6.exe -oneunit

when the unit is finished c:\program files\F@H smp\ fah6.exe -config and remember to change advanced options when prompted, then just reconfigure the switches without the -bigadv switch
v7 client will be out soonish - it is supposed to be a one stop shop controlling all the different types of client. SMP,GPU and Uni.

[Nathan P]

Originally Posted by SoCalTiger

What the heck! I only get 4k PPD with my GTS 250 according to FahMon

How are you getting 20k?

Also, I have a i7-860 and running 4 clients that only comes out to just over 1k PPD!?!?

Am I doing something wrong or are you super OC'd?

FWIW I think I'm already in the Top 100 but it seems kind of futile to leave my PC on 24/7 if I'm only getting 5k PPD.

As Brian has said get setup with the SMP client - your i7 should give 16k-20k on normal A3 WU, you also have the option to run -bigadv but these are tricky to run on single socket systems without heavy overclocks. Your GTS 250 is running a tad slow you should get 5.5k as a minimum - which model is is it as there are some lower clocked "green" ones around? Also once you have the SMP client set up download HFM.net, its much better at calculating your bonus

[BrianTX]

Originally Posted by Nathan P

The easiest way is to ctrl+C the client and then restart it using the -oneunit flag at the end of the executable from the command line. At the end of the unit the client will not download any more units until you tell it to.

e.g c:\program files\F@H smp\fah6.exe -oneunit

when the unit is finished c:\program files\F@H smp\ fah6.exe -config and remember to change advanced options when prompted, then just reconfigure the switches without the -bigadv switch
v7 client will be out soonish - it is supposed to be a one stop shop controlling all the different types of client. SMP,GPU and Uni.

Thanks for the info Nathan, btw I see you're folding for the good guys again!

I have to give up the 24/7 folding for a while due to a large increase in the electric bill. It's only going to get worse when I get my water cooling system installed. Just regular A3 wu's for me after I get this last bigadv one done. Maybe I can convince the boss to let this thing run as a heater in the winter.

I'm definitely looking forward to v7, anything that makes running all these clients every time I startup easier is very welcome!

[Nathan P]

Originally Posted by BrianTX

Thanks for the info Nathan, btw I see you're folding for the good guys again!

I have to give up the 24/7 folding for a while due to a large increase in the electric bill. It's only going to get worse when I get my water cooling system installed. Just regular A3 wu's for me after I get this last bigadv one done. Maybe I can convince the boss to let this thing run as a heater in the winter.

I'm definitely looking forward to v7, anything that makes running all these clients every time I startup easier is very welcome!

Yes i'm back - just had to help my other team beat EVGA to 4billion points

Yeah, any folding rig will put out a fair amount of heat, i can offset the costs in winter as i'm in the UK but as you live in Tx i guess is hot all year round and needs the aircon running. One thing that may of helped your heat output is keeping the 460 - personally i would have got a 2nd 460 for sli and sold the 465 - just as good at folding and much cooler and more energy efficient.

Work has been keeping me pretty busy but i'm trying to stop by all the forums i frequent more often especially the stanford one as there seem to be a lot of new WU around and hopefully there will be an update on the v7 client.

[BrianTX]

Originally Posted by Nathan P

Yes i'm back - just had to help my other team beat EVGA to 4billion points

Yeah, any folding rig will put out a fair amount of heat, i can offset the costs in winter as i'm in the UK but as you live in Tx i guess is hot all year round and needs the aircon running. One thing that may of helped your heat output is keeping the 460 - personally i would have got a 2nd 460 for sli and sold the 465 - just as good at folding and much cooler and more energy efficient.

Work has been keeping me pretty busy but i'm trying to stop by all the forums i frequent more often especially the stanford one as there seem to be a lot of new WU around and hopefully there will be an update on the v7 client.

In TX we get a couple cold months per year, but most of the year the a/c is running. The reason I kept the 465 over the 460 was the 25% higher ppd for the 465, but if I had known that no full cover water blocks fit the 465, I would have just gone 3-way SLI 460's.

Now that the water cooling is done, the heat output seems to be less and everything is nice and cool. Noise is way down also. The wife seems a little more tolerant now that it doesn't sound like a black hawk is hovering in the office.

Speaking of new work units, I have been seeing all kinds of crazy WU's on both the GPU3 and SMP client. 10,500 point SMP WU's and 7200 point GPU3 WU's, both of which have brought my total system PPD way down. I don't get the 925 point GPU WU's anymore, those would get me 17,500 PPD per GPU. Now the 1298 point GPU WU's have me down to 11,000 ppd per card. Seems to be a lot of changes going on with Stanford, maybe they're getting ready for the new GTX 580 cards.

[Nathan P]

Originally Posted by BrianTX

In TX we get a couple cold months per year, but most of the year the a/c is running. The reason I kept the 465 over the 460 was the 25% higher ppd for the 465, but if I had known that no full cover water blocks fit the 465, I would have just gone 3-way SLI 460's.

Now that the water cooling is done, the heat output seems to be less and everything is nice and cool. Noise is way down also. The wife seems a little more tolerant now that it doesn't sound like a black hawk is hovering in the office.

Speaking of new work units, I have been seeing all kinds of crazy WU's on both the GPU3 and SMP client. 10,500 point SMP WU's and 7200 point GPU3 WU's, both of which have brought my total system PPD way down. I don't get the 925 point GPU WU's anymore, those would get me 17,500 PPD per GPU. Now the 1298 point GPU WU's have me down to 11,000 ppd per card. Seems to be a lot of changes going on with Stanford, maybe they're getting ready for the new GTX 580 cards.

Lots going on over at Stanford at the moment as you noticed, the GPU3 client has now gone into actual science work - the 912/925 units were test units to make sure that the fermi cards were calculating properly. With regards to SMP haven't seen any of them on my rig yet so i will wait and see - are you still only running standard SMP or have you gone back to -bigadv? Everyone has been hit the same, mine has tailed off from a total of 41k down to 30-32k PPD.

Yeah noise is a bone of contention in our house too although the wife has finally got used to the idea of a computer running 24/7, she needs to - there is a 2nd one on the way

[BrianTX]

Originally Posted by Nathan P

Lots going on over at Stanford at the moment as you noticed, the GPU3 client has now gone into actual science work - the 912/925 units were test units to make sure that the fermi cards were calculating properly. With regards to SMP haven't seen any of them on my rig yet so i will wait and see - are you still only running standard SMP or have you gone back to -bigadv? Everyone has been hit the same, mine has tailed off from a total of 41k down to 30-32k PPD.

Yeah noise is a bone of contention in our house too although the wife has finally got used to the idea of a computer running 24/7, she needs to - there is a 2nd one on the way

Yes still standard SMP, figure I'll leave the -bigadv for the guys with the serious rigs! I haven't received any more of the 10k point WU's and regret not writing the number down. I took the -advmethods flag off my GPU3 clients to stop receiving those 7200 point WU's since 1 in 3 were failing.

I finally sat my wife down and explained this folding project to her. So far she hasn't complained too much about the computer being on all the time, and our electric bill was much better this month. Who knew water cooling was so much more efficient that I would notice it in the electric bill! I too have a second computer that will be coming online in the next couple days. Trying to learn linux right now and then I'll get it going with SMP and GPU2.