Folding@Home - Turning Up the Speed!

Departments of Chemistry and of Structural Biology, Stanford University ^ | August 4, 2008 | Dr Vijay Pande

[texas booster]

With the 6.20 (classic & GPU) and 6.22 (SMP) clients out, we (Dr. Pande and the F@H team) can start looking forward to the next steps in client development. We still have some last bits of work to completely unify the clients, but the hard part is already completed there for the most part.

The 6.2x series introduces several new features for donors, but in time, the clients have been getting gradually more and more complex to use. The Win/SMP and multi-gpu setups are examples of very challenging setups. Our primary plans for the future are to make setup much easier, especially for the very challenging clients (Win/SMP, multi-gpu). Our dream client install would be a single installer that would install either the classic, SMP, or GPU client based on donor choices during the install process, and the installer would take care of complex install situations (such as multi-gpu).

It may take a while to get to a client installer like that. In the mean time, we are looking to improve our installation instructions to make the process easier with existing clients.

We have spent a lot of effort developing these new clients and putting all of our effort into getting them to run well (the GPU2 client/core has gotten a great deal of effort, which has paid off in the transition from GPU1 to GPU2). It's now time to concentrate on usability and ease of installation.

Our hope is that with this completed, we will have a very advanced set of clients, but with very easy installation. That's easier said than done, but that's where we're headed.

[texas booster]

Your first work unit has completed:

http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?s=&u=370276

Can't wait to see the rest of the systems pitch in.

BTW, the other guys at your work can all donate to team 36120 under their names or pseudonyms, under your name or under my name - Texas_Booster.

I will generously allow them to use my moniker at no charge!

[andyk]

Still one of our favorite team names.

LOL! I had totally forgotten about that team :)

[texas booster]

I found this tidbit on the EOC forum, discussing the NVidia cards and folding:

Excellent data in this thread. Based on it and using $0.20/KWh which is closer to the incremental over baseline cost of power for me used to fold, the 8800GS at $80 after rebate is a small investment in an upgrade to a computer I have whose older Nvidia can't fold (7600GS).

And at something like 4500 PPD for the 8800GS that's a good bit of folding for a small purchase costs but more importantly over the next year or two of 24x7 folding and if I turn off one of my more power hungry folders like the 200W 80GB PS3, I can add a net 3600 (4500-900) points and save about $500 in power costs at $0.20/KWh.

The GPUs are definitely a revolution in inexpensive supercomputing, even over the PS3. And the dominant cost in the equation over two years is electrical power if your paying the power bill!

Another nice thing is that the 8800GS is inexpensive enough that as we get future results with bigger WUs on how the different GPUs do in PPD/$, PPD/W and 2 year costs that I can afford to supplement or replace the card in 6 months or a year if a more energy efficient card comes along with good PPD based on mature PPD results.

Thanks to the experience of all and their price hunting skills for giving me the best information to make the best choice for me!

As a confirmed ATI folder for well over a year, I will be purchasing my next upgrade as an NVidia video card, probably an 8800GS.

At these prices verses work units completed, its a no brainer for someone like me that values folding over gaming on my system.

Also, the stats are still messed up. Our entire team is down about 20% due to stat server problems.

[LonePalm]

I finally got the laptop GUI to upload 5 WUs yesterday after I installed the new version. I saw the log entries but haven't gotten any credit for the WUs.

I should go over 300K tomorrow or Tuesday.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[astyanax]

Thought I’d give you an update.
Came in to work early a.m. on the weekend, stepped outside to have a smoke, and it was game over.
I had left my access card in the building (DOH!)(along with wallet and everything else in my bag.)
So no work done, figuratively and/or literally.
On the bright side, I did have my car keys in my shorts.
Soon...

[texas booster]

I would laugh at you, but my dear wifey, looking over my shoulder, let loose a guffaw.

“That sound exactly like the time I had to drive a hour to your work with the extra keys!”

So, currently humbled, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of a fellow FReeper who volunteers of his weekend to advance the cause of Folding and medical research.

Women sure have long memories, you know ...

[astyanax]

LOL! My saving grace was that I had my keys on me, so it wasn't necessary to call "my dear wifey" for a ride!
(long, selective memories...) ;o)

[papasmurf]

I just traded into a Dell Inspiron 530. It has a GeForce 8600GT w/256mb on it, with a 1.80mhz dual core processor.

How would you advise setting it up?

Thanks,

papa

[texas booster]

Start with the GPU core 6.20r1. This link discusses the set up options.

http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=4806

Let this run for a week without turning it off. You should complete between 5 and 8 work units per day, at 480 points each.

After a week we will either know that it is stable or will go to plan B.

If stable then we add a console version to tap the other core.

If unstable then we install the SMP core.

[astyanax]

Some info. to pass along:
Core2Duo(E6750) using XP/SP2(32-bit) with an 8800GT (driver v.175.19).
Loaded GPU systray 6.2, swapped .exe w/ r1.

Works like a champ! And the viewer is ‘PURDY’
On a 22’ widescreen right next to me here at work. ;o)

Just under 4 hrs. remaining (10% completed) of 25,000 for team 36120. WooHoo!

(BTW, a couple of works units from a 2nd laptop I had set up last week went to team 31620 over the weekend while I was locked out!) ...doh...

[astyanax]

re: 8600GT
Wondering how it was going and if you’re up and running?

[papasmurf]

ooh. Just saw this.

Thanks for the info. It’s a no go with the GPU. I’ve tried every combination of clients, and “nodded” .driver .infs. Just gives an error message saying it has an error and must close.

Anyway, I got the SMP console client up, but only on one processor. (turned in one already) This ain’t like the old one, that’s for sure. I’ll do some more later on in the week, when I have more mental capacity available.

Thanks again...

[astyanax]

Good luck!
Mine didn’t work until I used the video driver mentioned.
Just uploaded the first results moments ago, so now I know the backend is working.
I’ll see how it holds up for the next couple of days...
Thank you for your support.

[astyanax]

http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_overtake.php?s=&t=36120
#54 vs. #45...
and they look like they should be one of ours!
“a moose once bit my sister”
(monty python ping!)

[astyanax]

For anyone interested:

Hooked up a “Kill A Watt” to the machine running the 8800.
It’s about 100W sitting idle.
With the gpu folder running, around 150W.
Add about 5 watts if you run the viewer (22” @full screen).

[papasmurf]

OK! I got the GPU up and running in console and as a service. Don't know why it gave me such a brain fight yesterday, I had no issues with my old machines.

BTW, nVidia released a new driver set this AM. I found it on Guru3d, and here's the link. (177.92) I have to say, maybe that might have been the problem, 'cause my entire machine is running smoother and snappier now.

Maybe you, Texas Booster, might want to ping others?

Right now it's crunching on FahCore_11, amoeba-Project 5015, at the rate of about 4 min 7 sec per step.

After it runs the first one and I see that it's stable, I'm gonna OC my card again back to 644mHz clock and 812 mem., and see what that does.

Texas, if there is anything else you think I should do, holler at me. Thanks again.

[astyanax]

Congrats, good to hear!
Question for you and Tex:
Being new at this and so far only familiar with the systray version, am I correct in thinking my next step would be (regarding the machine running the gpu ver.) to install the standard systray client for one of the cores?
The machine in question being a duo, can I do that twice? I understand the gpu version uses “a bit” of one cpu.
Or should I go with dedicating a cpu to the folder that runs as a service?(this is an xp box)
Looking to maximize, any and all info. is appreciated.
Thanks!

[astyanax]

Went back and read the posts again.
Then I installed the cpu systray version.
They are both churning away right now (slight bump to 155w).
Painless install, no renaming necessary.
The default install folders are “Folding@home-gpu” and “Folding@home-x86”
Thanks again for your guidance and support!

[colinhester]

How much faster is the new and improved 6.x client than the previous 5.x? I tried to setup the 6.x console and could not get 2 versions to work on my dual core. The second install automatically was assigned machine ID 1, the same as the first install - finally gave up. Just wondering if I should dig a little deeper into the problem for some extra points.....C

[astyanax]

I should go over 300K tomorrow or Tuesday.

Congratulations! I noticed you were sitting at 301k! Very nice.