SPCR Folds Team Blog

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:40 pm

Follow up. Even though the FAH site says that for Win 2000 just follow XP instructions that's no longer true. Version 5.91 is the SMP last version, good until November, that will run on Win 2000. After that Win 2000 will be delegated to the old farts webpage along with Win 98 and even older stuff.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:59 pm

Neil,

Your output is kaput. A $99 8800GS will get you flying again.

Aris

Myth! · Post by **Myth!** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:49 am

Hey, I'm back and folding with an 8800GTX (stock speeds). Not had a whole day without errors or me gaming etc yet, but it does a WU in about 2:45 hrs, so should be 8 or 9 WU's a day...maybe 4000 PPD

SKeptical Thinker · Post by **SKeptical Thinker** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 7:35 am

aristide1 wrote:So is anyone GPU2-ing here?

I've spent the last week and a half getting the maximum overclock I can get and be folding stable. I have a EVGA 8800 GS 384MB ($64 after multiple price reducers from newegg) that is now running at ~750C/1860S/1025M. It has been stable for more than a day and is producing 5120PPD according to FahMon. I'm feeding it with an overclocked AMD BE-2350(2.7GHz up from 2.1GHz stock).

I have the SMP client running on core 0 (nearly 500PPD and easily meeting the deadlines of project 2665) and the GPU 6.20 client on core 1. There is a bit of white noise from the GPU fan that is audible (fan is at 70% and I'm working it downwards).

At stock settings the GPU was virtually inaudible and produced ~3800PPD.

Getting the GPU client running has vaulted me into the top five in terms of daily point production. I wouldn't mind being pushed back down out of the top 20.

Myth! · Post by **Myth!** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:39 am

SKeptical Thinker wrote: I have a EVGA 8800 GS 384MB ($64 after multiple price reducers from newegg) that is now running at ~750C

I think that's too hot

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:46 am

Hi Aris,

aristide1 wrote:Your output is kaput. A $99 8800GS will get you flying again.

If I could get a Windows SMP client to work, I'd gain back two fast C2D machines!

Which is the best Windows SMP client to use?

cd8uk · Post by **cd8uk** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:52 am

If I could get a Windows SMP client to work, I'd gain back two fast C2D machines!

Much as I hate to say it, a single GPU2 wipes the floor with SMP and can be much more energy efficient too.
I'm fine tuning my new SPCR (i.e. as quiet as poss) dual 8800GT folding rig and, currently, I'm getting around 10,000ppd for only ~200w. The equivalent number of SMP boxes would, at best, require significantly more power and thus noise.

SKeptical Thinker · Post by **SKeptical Thinker** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:31 am

Myth! wrote:
SKeptical Thinker wrote: I have a EVGA 8800 GS 384MB ($64 after multiple price reducers from newegg) that is now running at ~750C
I think that's too hot

Why? I have the fan at 1000%

SKeptical Thinker · Post by **SKeptical Thinker** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:48 am

cd8uk wrote:
If I could get a Windows SMP client to work, I'd gain back two fast C2D machines!
Much as I hate to say it, a single GPU2 wipes the floor with SMP and can be much more energy efficient too.
I'm fine tuning my new SPCR (i.e. as quiet as poss) dual 8800GT folding rig and, currently, I'm getting around 10,000ppd for only ~200w. The equivalent number of SMP boxes would, at best, require significantly more power and thus noise.

I measured the incremental power required to fold on a highly overclocked 8800 GS. It was 40W (according to Kill-a-Watt) for 5120PPD.

Myth! · Post by **Myth!** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:47 pm

SKeptical Thinker wrote:Why? I have the fan at 1000%

Ahh, you didn't say. So that's 0.75c per %....well within nVidia specs

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 3:27 pm

NeilBlanchard wrote:Hi Aris,

aristide1 wrote:Your output is kaput. A $99 8800GS will get you flying again.
If I could get a Windows SMP client to work, I'd gain back two fast C2D machines!

Which is the best Windows SMP client to use?

I would think GPU2 would run even on a single CPU. From what I've been told it's best to run GPU2 with Vista, as the GPU's workload on the CPU will vary, whereas under XP it will use an entire CPU no matter what. Don't ask me why, that's just what I was told.

I had some problems with 6.22, so I reverted back to 5.91, which actually is very hard to locate, but my problems are gone. It's valid until November. You install 6.22 fully, then do a search on "5.91 exe" and you download that as well into the same folder. It is a straight EXE file so there's no additional install procedure, just create a shortcut for the 5.91 EXE and you're off and running. 6.22 installs easier than ever, you still need .NET framework, per instructions, and a password on your ID (no non-password IDs will work).

FAH says not to run GPU2 and SMP together, but some people have noticed that GPU2 may not fully load down the CPU(s) so they run a single instance of regular FAH for a few extra points.

Win 2000 SMP compatability ends with 5.91.

kittle · Post by **kittle** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:16 pm

well it seems xp x64 and the gpu client do not behave well together. Im consistantly getting about 14% complete on all WU and then it errors with "gromacs is unable to continue" or the "unstable machine" error.

And then of course after so many of those errors the gpu client will "pause" for 24 hours, thus doing no work.
The "joys" of beta software

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:29 pm

I must say, I'm really disappointed in the lack of support for service-based installations. Does the F@H Group really expect us to run this with CMD windows in the background all the time?

The lack of proper support for 64-bit operating systems (which is all I run these days) is also getting to be a pain in the neck.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:17 pm

Well I've read some of the feedback left on some 4 slot PCI-E X16 boards. Seems that even though everything is geared to support 64 bit OSs as soon as you install over 4GB of memory the board fails.

You would think that would be the most basic test of a board that is suppose to support a 64 bit OS, but noooooOOOOOoooo.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:48 pm

SKeptical Thinker wrote:I've spent the last week and a half getting the maximum overclock I can get and be folding stable. I have a EVGA 8800 GS 384MB ($64 after multiple price reducers from newegg) that is now running at ~750C/1860S/1025M. It has been stable for more than a day and is producing 5120PPD according to FahMon. I'm feeding it with an overclocked AMD BE-2350(2.7GHz up from 2.1GHz stock).

At stock settings the GPU was virtually inaudible and produced ~3800PPD.

I purchased the same card, mine cost $80 after rebates, same point, using about 10% overall CPU on a C2D(Vista 32 bit). I'm very pleased at how quiet it is stock, but the stock fan speed is much to low, I went from 25% to 60% and even now it's in the 60C range. I may try the OC'd XFX next, todays price is $90 after rebate. Duh!

The best news is I replaced an ATI X1950GT with the EVGA. The ATI was not folding, so I picked up all those points for just about zero watts of additional power.

SKeptical Thinker wrote:Getting the GPU client running has vaulted me into the top five in terms of daily point production. I wouldn't mind being pushed back down out of the top 20.

I'm curious where it will end up. We also picked up like 8 new members, and the newest one on the top 20 is clearly GPU only, not that I'm complaining.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:52 pm

Some milestones are coming up.

As a team we're about to break the 100 million point mark. We're also on our way to passing a team, team hack a day, for a change.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:05 am

Oh man, the downside has arrived to GPU folding.

My current work units are taking 1/3rd longer (from 1.5 to 2 minutes) and the points have dropped from 480 to 430.

A negative 2-fer.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:43 pm

Upon running both GPU and SMP on my 2GB of memory pc I started getting "low on memory" warnings. I'm using 1.6GB total. So I installed another 2GB and all is well, considering it only sees 3GB total.

Is the rest used for anything? Feels a tad quicker.

SKeptical Thinker · Post by **SKeptical Thinker** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:44 am

aristide1 wrote:Upon running both GPU and SMP on my 2GB of memory pc I started getting "low on memory" warnings. I'm using 1.6GB total. So I installed another 2GB and all is well, considering it only sees 3GB total.

Is the rest used for anything? Feels a tad quicker.

Launch the task manager, select the processes tab and add page faults delta. If you sort the display on that column you will see which processes are actively using the page file. For best performance, you want to have enough memory so most processes that do use the page file are using it sporadically. Not using it at all is even better.

It may appear that Windows is only seeing 3GB, it is likely seeing and using all (or nearly all) of the memory, but it can't use it all for any one process + kernel.

If you have an IGP your BIOS may have a selection to put the video memory above the 4GB limit. Mine does, though it took me a while to find it. After I did that the BIOS saw all of the RAM.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:20 pm

Oh hell Mr Thinker I'm even running Bill2's Process Manager. I added some more software for my computer forensics class (new sw every week) so lately I started getting slow downs and low memory messages, despite still having about 400MB free, it was over 75% used and we all know what happens to Windows when it gets passed that point.

How can I move video memory about 4GB when all I have is 4GB? Is it going into nowhere?

I have heard of people with 4GB of memory that turn off their swap file altogether. Page file, how many names does thing have?

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:23 pm

Our team is about to drop 4 positions over the next month. Wow! Another right after, we'll be #40 soon. I remember we were #20.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 8:12 pm

Hiya,

It looks like they now have more SMP projects available!? I just got one running in Linux (so my points should be boosted in a few days), and my brother's iMac finished one a few days ago!

http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/ ... =&u=189150

When I go to the office on Monday, I'll see if the Windows machines can get the SMP client running again, as well. Which is the best SMP client to run in WinXP 32bit?

zoatebix · Post by **zoatebix** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:05 pm

The word on the street is to use Deino. Googling "folding deino" brings up two relevant threads on the folding forums right at the top of the list. This is the better of the two.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:22 pm

I'm running Vista with both SMP and GPU folding. Lately I've been getting into trouble. I slowly run out of memory. The last time I rebooted I recovered a GB of memory. A couple of weeks have gone by and soon I will start getting those low memory messages again.

I've run a deep scan with Bit Defender and it hasn't found anything. All else seems normal.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:41 am

The Good - we as a team are averaging over 1400 PPD per user.

The Bad - we have only 95 users at the moment, we lost 11 people recently.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:24 am

Hi,

The good news is I got the Linux SMP client working -- I had to manually download the Core_2a and edit it in a Hex editor, and then use Bunzip to make the EXE. Sheesh.

I have yet to install the Deino yet -- I have tried. The current version is an "upgrade" to the original SMP client, and I have uninstalled that already; and so I need the standalone version.

My brother's iMac spit out just the one unit about a week ago -- and seems to have gone silent again. I have tried umpteen times to figure out why it isn't Folding, and then months later -- it finishes a unit! I think somehow, it is the F@H servers, or something like that...

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:03 pm

Neil,

A $50 NVidia 9600 GSO card will get you like 4000 PPD and leave your processor(s) free for the most part.

You will need Vista, nobody's perfect.

SKeptical Thinker · Post by **SKeptical Thinker** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 8:18 am

aristide1 wrote:Neil,

A $50 NVidia 9600 GSO card will get you like 4000 PPD and leave your processor(s) free for the most part.

You will need Vista, nobody's perfect.

Or XP with the 180.60 drivers. My CPU load on the GPU core went from 100% to barely measurable. There was a slight hit on PPD (~100).

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:10 pm

SKeptical Thinker wrote:Or XP with the 180.60 drivers. My CPU load on the GPU core went from 100% to barely measurable. There was a slight hit on PPD (~100).

That's a big change, as people I know say XP will use one entire cpu per GPU, which is what mine is doing. I will have to look into upgrading my drivers. May save a watt or 2.

No, no, please don't everybody thank me all at once for breaking 2 million points. You must learn to control yourselves.

Wibla · Post by **Wibla** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:53 pm

the new drivers does this? then I can start folding on my 8600GT again, as the current driver smashes rosetta throughput (yes, I defected, helping my local rosetta@home team)