Join the SPCR Folding@Home effort

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 3:32 am

Hello:

Evo wrote:Hi! Yesterday I downloaded the F@H client and joined SPCR's team. My pc is currently working on p678_L939_K12M_355K. Could someone please tell why nobody likes tinkers? And how do I get my signature to show the right team?

Excellent, and welcome to both of you!

The Tinker cores are just slower running that the GROMACS, generally, and some of the GROMACS give you stupendeous points/day -- the 910's leap to mind! But they are all valuable to the project, and the sooner all the Tinker projects get finished, then the sooner we all can fold with the GROMACS...

As far as getting the stats -- I think you have to finish your first WU before they will show up?

Choy has four WU's for 7 points, so yours may just be a "bigger" one. BTW, the points values vary all over the map -- some are as high as 75 and obviously, some are just over 1 point. The record for the most WU with the least points total must go to Edrae with 45 WU for the whopping points total of 64!

The GOOD news is that the low pointers don't take very long...so in the end it's all the same, but it 's interesting to see all the variations.

Evo · Post by **Evo** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:53 am

Thanks!

I just saw an overview of all the current projects and project 678 is a 70.9 pointer. It will take my pc about 2 days, that's about 35 points a day. Would that be a good score a day? And how much time would the average wu take?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 5:53 pm

Hello:

Evo wrote:I just saw an overview of all the current projects and project 678 is a 70.9 pointer. It will take my pc about 2 days, that's about 35 points a day. Would that be a good score a day? And how much time would the average wu take?

It all depends on your computer, how much you otherwise use it, and the work unit. Some of the best, in particular the 910 = about 105 points/day -- but some are much lower; in the range of 12 points a day. Someone (above) mentions a 70 point unit taking about 4 days, so you're fine.

The biggest thing is to just keep on foldin' -- stick with it!

wussboy · Post by **wussboy** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:47 pm

Welcome, Evo. Glad you joined us.

Zhentar · Post by **Zhentar** » Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:09 pm

indeed, it seems like your one little ocmputer can't do much for us... but the big folders like me only account for something like 30% of our points- the big stuff comes from all you people just running it on one or two machines, and every extra person helps.

PS · Post by PS » Sun Aug 17, 2003 11:34 pm

Hey folks, I am now joining you as well... I'm not sure how much my pc will help, but I'll see if I can get the program running somehow at my university... I have connections in Academic Computing

Then we could have possibly hundreds of (relatively slow) computers amassed!! bwahahahah!

Anyway... a quick little question: my cpu usage is at 100% right now (and it's been like that for awhile now), but the last message I saw in my console was "Completed 0 out of 2500000 steps (0)". So ummm... is it just not showing my progress? [edit] Or is that just because the priority is set to idle, maybe? [/edit]

And BTW, I did NOT read the entire 12 pages for this thread, sorry... I don't really have that kind of free time.

-PS

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Mon Aug 18, 2003 12:14 am

Hello:

The default for F@H is "idle" so it doesn't take much to keep F@H from showing progress -- which in the end is a good thing! Since it then is *unnoticeable* in terms of the performance -- it will do what you otherwise "ask" it to do and it only folds when you aren't using it for anything else. (SETI@Home OTOH, is set for "low" and *will* be noticable on slower computers...)

Depending on the work unit, you might see the next step in 3 minutes, or in over an hour! And like a tea kettle, if you're watching it -- it *will* take longer!

The best policy is to check it hours later, and if it's progessing -- just check once a day and just let it go. The other thing that seems to happen especially when you are just starting out, is that the Stanford servers will get bogged, and either not "accept" you work units right away, or you won't get credit very quickly -- or both!

It also is a lttle frustrating to not be able to get new work right away -- this seems to be happening a fair amount to me, lately. So, I turn on SETI@Home and churn through one SETI unit, and this seems to make F@H "jealous" and I get a work unit *right away*!

At this moment, in fact, I have 1 result stored, and I had e to wait almost 2 hours for a WU -- so I cranked out 1 SETI unit, and now it's folding again -- though it still has not uploaded that result...

BTW, you can run Electron Microscope and get a better idea of how things are progressing -- inbetween steps, time/step, time/unit, etc. It's a little quirky, but it does also show you the protein molecule.

http://home.comcast.net/~wxdude1/emsite/em3.html

Evo · Post by **Evo** » Sat Aug 23, 2003 2:40 am

wussboy wrote:Welcome, Evo. Glad you joined us.

Thanks.

BTW: does anyone know why my stats say I have 2 active CPUs, while I only have 1?

EDIT: now it says I have one CPU.

mjc · Post by **mjc** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:39 pm

Just joined the cause also!

Hope my XP2400+ is of help.

mormakil · Post by **mormakil** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 1:48 am

I have joined the team and deliver my first WU

One question, I'm going to format my HD the next week and install Windows XP from zero. What happens with my username? If I type it in the "new" computer it will be the same user as before?It's strange because it doesn't have any password so I don't know if i'll have to create a new user.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 8:28 am

Crap, I ran McAfee Quickclean and it deleted some temp files. My WU got messed up and tossed out. 30 hours down the drain. Be careful people.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 5:10 am

My PC has tried 3 times to send my last completed WU and it's still having problems. Anybody else having problems

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 5:38 am

Just installed it on my home's server/gateway/firewall which is on 24 hours a day. Glad to join the team

It's only an XP1600+ but every bit helps I guess.

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:55 pm

I have "joined the team".

I'm just figuring things out, and have read only a small fraction of the information and posts, but here is what I "understand" so far:

WU Progress 164/400 means I am 41% through a "Work Unit". The rankings are based on completed work units (WU's) so I won't show up in any list until I have completed this WU.

How do people get the F@H summary grid to show in their signature?

It's ironic that just as I complete a major "quieting project" to make my main computer quiet, I start running something that uses 100% cpu 24/7. But even running F@H and with my cpu fan and all case fans undervolted, my cpu temp is around 50 C, and case temp 36, both fine by me. I am running almost 10% overclocked, so I could dial that back down a bit and reduce my temps.

Continuing the irony, I have a Shuttle XPC that I put together as a Linux machine, but it was so loud I couldn't stand to have it running. I was going to sell it on eBay, but now I'm seriously considering seeing what can be done to make it quiet enough to run F@H. So, F@H is making my computers not so quiet, but F@H is challenging me to build ANOTHER quiet computer. I'm not sure but I think this constitutes a "mental illness".

I look forward to completing my first WU, and seeing my name at the bottom of the Team Stats. Then I look forward to seeing my name NOT at the BOTTOM of the Team Stats.

Oh, yeah, and there will be a 3rd machine, an HTPC, if I can ever get it running, and have been contemplating building a machine for my son. I felt guilty about having all these computers doing nothing, just generating heat and sucking electricity, so it's nice to see them doing something useful.

David

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 11:58 pm

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks tangled.

My first WU is progressing painfully slowly. In 9 hours of CPU time on a 2.6GHz P4, it has progressed only from 41% to 58%. I'm working on p692_L939_K12M_int, whatever that means. I just hope it's truly something which contributes to the betterment of mankind and not some secret government project.

Right now my team score is 40,317,237.99. Not much to brag about.

David

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 1:47 am

haysdb wrote: I'm working on p692_L939_K12M_int, whatever that means.

That's a Tinker, which tend to give less points/cpu hour if you have SSE instructions (which your P4 does). You want to run with -advmethods -forceasm options - do a search here or at Stanford for more details on these options. Also project details can be found here at Stanford.

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 4:17 am

I am making some progress in getting things figured out. Electron Microscope takes the guesswork out of estimating how long the WU will take to complete. According to EM, my first WU will take a total of 53.5 hours and finish just before midnight tonight. I really need to do a reboot, but I am anxious to get a WU under my belt, so I can say I have accomplished something, so I'll put it off until this Work Unit is done.

Question: Does Electron Microscope work with the CLI client? With EM as a front end, I don't feel like I need to see F@H itself in the task bar any more. I would probably set it up as a service.

David

CharlieChan · Post by **CharlieChan** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 5:17 am

haysdb wrote: Right now my team score is 40,317,237.99. Not much to brag about.

You do realise (according to your sig.) you are NOT currently folding for SPCR

.

You should enter team 31574 if you wish to fold for SPCR

.

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 7:37 am

CharlieChan wrote:You do realise (according to your sig.) you are NOT currently folding for SPCR .

You should enter team 31574 if you wish to fold for SPCR .

Man, you SCEERED me. I believe it's a figment of the signature thingy. It didn't ask for my team number, just my name, and it might not be able to make that association until I have completed and reported my 1st Work Unit. I'm theorizing. In the Folding@Home window, it shows Team Number 31574.

David

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 7:39 am

haysdb wrote:Question: Does Electron Microscope work with the CLI client? With EM as a front end, I don't feel like I need to see F@H itself in the task bar any more. I would probably set it up as a service.

No - use the plain old console version. But there is an option in EM that will hide the FAHConsole - under Options, Settings tick the "Hide F@H window".

I suspect the reason you are not yet showing up for team 31574 is that you have not completed a unit yet - hang in there.

PaleMelanesian · Post by **PaleMelanesian** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:24 am

I'm in on it, too! I've got these machines running:

At work:
pIII 500
pIII 1000
XP1800
XP2000

Home:
XP1900 @2000

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:49 am

dukla2000 wrote:
haysdb wrote:Question: Does Electron Microscope work with the CLI client? With EM as a front end, I don't feel like I need to see F@H itself in the task bar any more. I would probably set it up as a service.
No - use the plain old console version. But there is an option in EM that will hide the FAHConsole - under Options, Settings tick the "Hide F@H window".

Isn't CLI (Command Line Interface) just another word for Console?

To answer my own question, Electron Microscope works with either the GUI or CLI (aka Console) clients. I suppose it works with the screen saver version too, but you'd never know!

Once the current WU is completed, I may switch over to the Console version. Especially with EM, the GUI client doesn't really offer anything. I am running the Console on another machine, and I rather like the ability to scroll back and see what has happened recently without having to open up the log.

David

I was joking about the screen saver version. In fact, EM should work fine with the screen saver version. Let's say I have a second machine on my home network (which I do), and that PC is running the screen saver version. I can monitor that F@H on another PC. In fact, all PC's on the LAN should be able to monitor all other PC's on the LAN. Aren't I quite the expert for someone who hasn't completed their first WU yet!

If nothing bad happens, I will finish two WU's in the next two hours. I have my fingers crossed!

miker · Post by **miker** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:56 am

Yeah it works with every version of FAH, as long as you can type in a path to the log file, its good to go.

ColdFlame · Post by **ColdFlame** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 2:52 pm

Allright!!! I've got my first WU done and I'm at spot #203 with whooping 32 points.

I've got 3 machines doing the calculations right now,
1) AMD Athlon 2000+ XP with 512 MB DDR 2700 - running at 95% utilization while I'm not playing games (usually during the night)
2) Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz with 512 MB DDR 2700 - running at 70% utilization
3) Intel Pentium III 1.05 GHz with 768 MB SDRAM PC 124 - dedicated to folding 24/7

I'm looking forward to have more WUs done soon.

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 7:29 pm

I welcome a new "competitor"! I'm not sure why I find this fun, but I do.

David

TRC-13 · Post by **TRC-13** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 9:33 am

Welcome ColdFlame! We are glad you joined us in our effort. I have added two more 2GHz boxen to the effort.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 9:29 am

Hey TRC-13, how's your electric bill?

TRC-13 · Post by **TRC-13** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 9:44 am

Funny you should mention. I just got my October bill and it was up $40/mo.

Join the SPCR Folding@Home effort

Excellent -- Welcome!

35/day is fine!

Glad you are using the CLI console version...