Welcome a New Folder!

[robodude666]

Thats very cool.

Speaking of F@H, I have just over 16hr before I finish my first work unit! Should be done tomorrow at 3PM :) yay! I will download the SMP client tomorrow and see how much better that one runs.

[screwballl]

the SMP client is amazing....
my E6600 running 2 single clients does 300-600 points per day (ppd) and the SMP client does 1100-1400 ppd

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by screwballl

the SMP client is amazing....
my E6600 running 2 single clients does 300-600 points per day (ppd) and the SMP client does 1100-1400 ppd

Is setting up the SMP client any different than the regular F@H client?

[robodude666]

I think the SMP client uses both cores and spreads the load across them.

I am having problems with the install.bat file :( It asks for my windows user/password but when i enter it, i get an error saying it doesnt accept blank passwords... but i dont have a password for my windows account!

What do i do?

Hmm, fug it. It seems to not work without a password so i made a password for my windows account and updated control userpasswords2 with it...

How exactly does this SMP client work? When does it show updates? How do I know how fast its going and how much before WU is done?

I got this in my log file:

[22:27:45]
[22:27:45] + Processing work unit
[22:27:45] Core required: FahCore_a1.exe
[22:27:45] Core found.
[22:27:45] Working on Unit 06 [June 22 22:27:45]
[22:27:45] + Working ...
[22:27:46]
[22:27:46] *------------------------------*
[22:27:46] Folding@Home Gromacs SMP Core
[22:27:46] Version 1.74 (March 10, 2007)
[22:27:46]
[22:27:46] Preparing to commence simulation
[22:27:46] - Ensuring status. Please wait- Created dyn
[22:27:46] - Files status OK
[22:27:46] - Files status OK
[22:27:47] - Expanded- Starting from initial work packet
[22:27:47]
[22:27:47] Project: 265- Starting from initial work pAssembly optimizations on if available.
[22:27:47] Entering Entering M.D.
[22:28:04] acket
[22:28:04]
[22:28:04] Project: 2652 (Run 0, Clone 121, Gen 39)
[22:28:04]
[22:28:04] Entering M.D.
[22:28:04] ne 121, Gen 39)
[22:28:04]
[22:28:04] Entering M.D.
[22:28:10] Rejecting checkpoint
[22:28:11] OK.
[22:28:11] in: Protein
[22:28:11] Couldn't open for writing
[22:28:11] Writing local files
[22:28:11] Extra SSE boost OK.
[22:28:11] Writing local files
[22:28:11] Completed 0 out of 1000000 steps (0 percent)

[Adak]

I think the SMP client uses both cores and spreads the load across them.

I am having problems with the install.bat file :( It asks for my windows user/password but when i enter it, i get an error saying it doesnt accept blank passwords... but i dont have a password for my windows account!

What do i do?

Hmm, fug it. It seems to not work without a password so i made a password for my windows account and updated control userpasswords2 with it...

How exactly does this SMP client work? When does it show updates? How do I know how fast its going and how much before WU is done?

I got this in my log file:

The SMP client works by starting 4 operating threads. It can run on an SMP dual-core cpu, but runs fastest when it has 4 physical cores, so each thread can run on it's own core.

You do need a password account to install the Windows SMP client, and you need to be logged into that account, when you try to install it.

The program itself is just a beta release and runs in a terminal or console window. The output of the FAHlog.txt file, is it's only output, for now.

The third party monitoring software will be able to monitor it before long, but for now, looking at the log file output in the terminal or console window is one way to know it's working. It appears that EMIII has problems getting a new website and updated, but FahMon can monitor SMP progress, but it's data files are not yet up to date with most of the SMP projects, yet.

FahMon's home website is: FahMon Homepage

Although the SMP clients provide a way for more science to be done, it also puts more of a computational burden on the PC running them, including bandwidth. I don't notice the problem with a strong C2D system, except when it's time to return the WU's data to Stanford over a ADSL uplink. That can be up to 27Megs, and takes 30 - 35 minutes at my 12K/sec. upload speed.

I have GOT to get a faster internet connection.

[robodude666]

Thanks for the info Adak!

Yea, I downloaded the SMP client yesterday. I googled around about the password thing and I just said "fck it" and added a password ("password") to my windows account and updated the control userpasswords2 window so it would automatically log me in again.

My slow little X2 3800+ was assigned a 1 million frame protein for some reason and it will take it like 4 days to complete (61 minutes to do 1% (10,000 frames).. about 4 days and a few hours). Why was it assigned such a large protein? I better get uber bonus points for it. Its 16% done so far :)

While my SMP client is running the super large protein of death, my graphical client was working on a 2000 frame and recently started another 4000 frame WU. One thing I noticed is the graphical client crashes when it completes a WU. Is this normal? If not, how can I fix it? I don't want it to crash in the middle of the night and not do any work!

Cheers,
-robodude666

[Panda Man]

Originally Posted by Adak

and you need to be logged into that account, when you try to install it.

Are you sure? I normally use Administrator and I'm never logged into the Administrator account unless my normal account implodes or something.

[Adak]

Originally Posted by Panda Man

Are you sure? I normally use Administrator and I'm never logged into the Administrator account unless my normal account implodes or something.

Personally, I fold only with the Linux SMP client. When I need to do something with Windows, I just shut FAH down, reboot, and select Windows to boot from the boot menu. (Which Linux Ubuntu installed).

If you read the larger forums or FAH's own forum, you'll see that most of the Windows SMP gripes are caused by trying to install it using an account that has no password, or an account that has a password, but isn't the account authorized to run that program.

If you're system works fine, then obviously you've done it correctly.

On GPU folding:
In the tests I've read by experienced top folders, the system being tested did better with just the SMP client running, and no graphical client. The problem with the graphical client is that it requires one core to constantly keep feeding it the next "picture" it believes that it is "shading", while it actually does the calculations to simulate protein folding. The GPU client is very fast, but not nearly as high in points, or as stable, as the cpu SMP version. It's recommended mostly for uniprocessor systems which have a very good GPU card in them.

If your system takes 4 days to finish an SMP WU, you're running a real risk of running over the deadline! Compare your points per hour or per day with that same system running just the SMP client. I believe you're cutting yourself off from points, here.

Perhaps more to the point, it's bad for the science anytime a WU is not returned within the deadline. That means the WU in question will be resent to another folder to be worked on, and that holds up the whole project, every time it happens. Note hugely, but every slow down should be avoided if possible. Also, it's very un-motivating to have folded a WU for a few days, only to have it go over the deadline, and give you no points.

So [Edited for spelling:] Robodude666, you're a BIG fan of FedEx?? < rofl >

[robodude666]

Well, the dead line for the 1million frame WU is tomorrow and its only at 27%. I turned everything off on my system and only let the SMP client run, trillian and skype. I had it running from yesterday at 12PM till 12PM today (24hr) and it only went from 18% to 27%. It seems to go faster with the graphical client as it went like 18% in a little over a day before.

I have no idea WHY F@H assigns such a large WU to a single machine. At least to a slower machine. They should assign these large WUs to the PS3 client since it has 8 cores which can work and break it down into 8x 125,000 frames and get it done faster. My system takes 1 day and 18 hours to complete a 4000 frame WU on the graphical client.

What affects the speed at which it completes the frame? The oscillation of the CPU? (GHz speed), or the ram speed, or the HDD read/write speed or access time, or what? My ram is running underclocked from 800MHz to 650ish because I haven't toyed with making it faster after OCing my CPU. I think its fairly stable at 2.6GHz and I will toy with the ram speed and timings and the LDT.

Oh well, I restarted the client 15 minutes ago (my mom was vacuuming at 12 and hit the OFF switch on my power strip ). I will see how fast it goes now. I remember before with SMP and graphical my SMP was doing 1% per hour with the 1mill frame WU. After I turned off the graphical client it was slowly ramping up to like 70 min then to 80 and before i left it was at like 85 minutes per WU. Ahh poopers :(

Originally Posted by Adak

So Robbodude, you're a BIG fan of FedEx?? < rofl >

Robbodude may be, but robodude666 is not. I had 5 packages come to me within a 2 month span. 2 of them were delivered to the wrong house (they were delivered 5 blocks away. Both packages were prizes I won :)), And 3 of them keep coming early in the morning like at 8am, 30m after I left to school.. Even when I called them 5 times to deliver AFTER 4PM and they said "ok, we will deliever it tomorrow at 4:30PM" and they came at 10am.... F@#$ers. And one of those packages was delivered back to the shipper in taiwan... Thankfully it was free shipping on that package >_<. So yea, I hate FedEx. I prefer USPS, UPS and DHL.

[screwballl]

that 3800 X2 will run them in about 3-5 days.... my E6600 at stock speeds does them in 24-36 hours...

the FahMon mentioned above can tell you how much longer it has and the points per day (with version 2.2.0).