Folding@Home - #96276

Asus

Asus

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HL2.net - Team ID: 96276
Folding@Home website
Folding@Home summary stats from ExtremeOverclocking.com - Team Overtake - Team Users List <-Recommended
Folding@Home stats from KakaoStats.com

Join! Thanks to Sedako for creating the team.

Folding@Home install guide.

What is Folding@Home?
It is a Stanford University project that aims to better understand proteins and how they change their shape to do their job properly (aka fold). A number of diseases are cause by proteins that have misfolded. "Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes." By running their program we simulate a protein folding and get results to Stanford that help them with their experiments.

Why not use super computers instead?
It would actually take them a long time to get the results compared to distributing the work load to computers worldwide.

Will it slow down my computer running the program?
It takes up a little bit of memory. Similar to a web browser. F@H runs in IDLE mode by default so it only takes CPU time when no other program is running on the CPU for that cycle. It will not slow down other programs by any noticeable amount. Not even your game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUPLimoTtiY

What are the points for?
Points are rewarded to encourage participation. Additional points are given for WUs that require extra memory. You can enable large WUs in the client. Stanford does adjust points from time to time based on what they think a platform's value is to the project. Multi-core (SMP) and GPU beta clients give the most points.

Do WUs have an expiration date?
Yes. Deadlines vary from a few days to a several weeks depending on which client you run. You will get credit for all units that you complete prior to the final deadline. If the client finishes between the preferred and final deadlines you will still get credit although it is too late for them to use the work you did.

Which Folding@Home version is the one I need?
If you have a Nvidia card (8000, 9000 or GTX series) OR ATI card (2000, 3000 or 4000 series) then pick up the GPU2 client here. Guide is here.
You can also install two GPU2 clients if you have two of the supported graphic cards installed in the system (SLI/Crossfire must be DISABLED). Guide here.
1500 PPD given to benchmark GPU which is an ATI 3850. Faster cards will get more PPD.

If your PC has multiple CPU cores (dual core, quad core, or dual CPU etc) then grab the SMP client.
Windows SMP download is here along with Windows SMP MPICH and Windows SMP DEINO guides.
Linux SMP client download is here and the guide is here.
1760 PPD is given to the benchmark machine which is a Macintosh Pro w/two 2.33GHz Dual Core Xeon CPUs (two Intel 5140 CPUs w/4MB cache, 5GB FBDIMM 667MHz DDR2, 1.33 GHz bus). Faster systems will get more PPD.

Playstation 3 - You can fold on your Playstation 3. Setup info here.
900 PPD for all Playstation 3 systems.

If you have a single CPU with just one core then grab the Linux or Windows uniprocessor client. I would recommend downloading the Console client and tell it to install as a Windows service then it will run in the background without a window.
Linux guide here. Windows Guide Here.
110 PPD given to benchmark machine which is a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 w/SSE disabled running Linux. Faster CPUs will get more PPD.
 
haha
I'm sure you felt the difference too. ;)
I tested the CS:Source benchmark with and without the SMP client running and it was ~3% slower while folding. Probably within the margin of error.

Also, go atomicspark!
 
You should run a UT3 benchmark then with it on and off. All other benchmarks I've seen show its impact as pretty transparent to the end user. But I don't think anyone has tested UT3 and FAH yet. Would be pretty interesting to see if UT3 is an odd ball.

The SMP client uses 4 FahCore_a1 entries in the task manager. Stanford categories it as a 'high performance' client and therefore it uses more resources in order to turn in larger WUs with a tighter expiration date. I'm showing 50MB+ of memory for each FahCore_a1 entry.

If it is impacting your performance it would be pretty easy to close FAH and start it up again after you finish gaming. I know people who run the Linux SMP FAH client (virtual OS with VMWare in windows) shut it off while gaming. But that is because VMWare runs in a higher CPU priority than FAH.
 
We have another new member. Welcome to the team Frolic.
 
Hooray I finished one!

Edit: I think I will try out the beta client though, more points! Also, I'll be building a core 2 duo PC soon, so that should make things go a bit faster.
 
December

HL2.net
Current rank: 6,264
Estimated rank in 30 days: 3,261
Average weekly points: 18,811
Points last 7 days: 29,227

Milestones hit:
25,000: Pegasus
10,000: Pegasus
5,000: sea, Pegasus-PS3, Frolic, Pegasus
2,500: atomicspark, danielschaffer, Pegasus-PS3, Frolic, sea, Pegasus
1,000: ramdomthought, atomicspark, Pegasus-PS3, Frolic, danielschaffer, Sedako, sea, Pegasus
 
Yeah, we are doing pretty well. Hey...did you switch off your SMP client or is something wrong? You are turning in some 300 pointers instead of 1760. ;)
 
ah. I usually just close it and open it several times. It eventually says that it has tried to start improperly several times and goes into a normal mode or something. Does it get to the line "Entering M.D." or "Working..." and then stop? There is also another process running with the SMP client that sometimes stalls. Just restart the PC. Shouldn't be any reason to reinstall unless you screw up the program's files (excluding work folder, you can delete that at any time if you want to get a different unit).
 
I joined up 'cause I have dual core and it might help a bit. I also haven't been playing may cpu intensive games for ages so it should be fine.

I'm using the SMP beta.

EDIT: my name's not showing up on the member roster. It's dekstarhl2.
 
Oh u ATI user u. I tried that one but it doesn't support nvidia cards :(

I'm finishing one more with the V6 beta client and then I'll try out the 5.91 SMP client.
 
I installed F@H a few weeks ago, hasn't been running recently because I've been having some issues with it that I haven't bothered to fix yet.
 
Ooooooook SMP seems to be causing blue-screens :\

I'll deal with it later because right now I'm sick of restarting my PC every 5 minutes :frown:
 
Constantly restarting is a pain. :\

Your PC overclocked? Vista or XP? Do you have more than one CPU in the box? Could try deleting the WORK folder for FAH in case it was a bad unit. need a password on the windows account login too.
 
Anyone who hasn't tried using the SMP client should do so! I finally got it working properly so I'm getting a good amount of points now \o/
 
I opened the SMP client (With service) every day for a week, and it didn't even start one work thing.
So I gave up.
 
I know it can be a pain to get working properly, but here's what worked for me:

1. Uninstalled/deleted everything and started with a fresh copy
2. From Asus's original post:
- Run the self-extracting installer.
- Run the install.bat file within the FAH folder that was created
- Enter the User name and Password for your windows login when it prompts. (Using the name and password of my current windows account is the only thing that worked for me.)
- I think I chose "no" to all of the options.
3. Make a shortcut to FAH.exe on the desktop or something and just run it from there.
4. Should work fine from now on.
5. If it does screw up again, try running the install.bat file.

The first time it was screwing up I was using the Administrator name and password, but for whatever reason it refused to work.
I tried running the .exe normally and running as admin, but it would just sit there and do nothing or give an error.
Also, I think the bluescreens that I was getting were because of something else.

Hope you can get it working dekstar/sea :)

Edit: btw this is on XP, dunno how it works on vista
 
If you just restart the SMP program multiple times it doesn't work for ya? (rather than deleting files)
Naudian, you are pulling 9k this week so far. Nice!
That just with the SMP unit on a core 2 duo?
 
Hmmm, I could throw this on my work PC, then go home and slap her on.

Wow, I downloaded that console one...and I was confused to hell trying to set it up. I just made most things default... \=

*EDIT* I just downloaded the GUI, it's easier to install for me, and it makes more sense, since I'm used to it.
 
awesome. default should be good. Do you have the regular console or the SMP? The install is a little different.
If you have just the regular one you can set it up to run as a service so you don't have the window up all the time. Would be running in the background. If you need to make any changes just ask.
 
Asus said:
awesome. default should be good. Do you have the regular console or the SMP? The install is a little different.
If you have just the regular one you can set it up to run as a service so you don't have the window up all the time. Would be running in the background. If you need to make any changes just ask.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just went for the GUI version of it, as it runs in the taskbar, and is out of the way on the work laptop. I'll probably do the same to my work computer.. FAH is using 50% CPU....now, I'm seeing spikes on both cores, so I'm going to have to assume it's using them both...which is awesome.
 
It's only using 1 thread, windows is just switching which core it is running off of.

You should try running the SMP client with everything at default except name and team, if you use a password on your user login in Windows (required for the SMP). ;)
That one uses 2 to 4 cores and tons more points.
 
Asus said:
It's only using 1 thread, windows is just switching which core it is running off of.

You should try running the SMP client with everything at default except name and team, if you use a password on your user login in Windows (required for the SMP). ;)
That one uses 2 to 4 cores and tons more points.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I'll give it a shot on my home PC. If I have any questions, I'll let you know, Mr. Master FAH. ;)
 
I tried launching it a minute ago and it said "This beta expired February 2"
So just in case anyone can't start their SMP client you probably have to download the latest beta.
 
That's good to know. My WU is about half way done. Hopefully it will turn in.
 
January

HL2.net
Current rank: 3,431
Last month's rank: 6,264
Estimated rank in 30 days: 2,718
Average weekly points: 22,468
Points last 7 days: 17,881

Milestones hit:
50,000 - Pegasus
25,000 - Pegasus-PS3, Frolic
10,000 - Sea, Frolic, Naudian
5,000 - danielschaffer, atomicspark, Naudian
2,500 - Soupstorm, Naudian, Djees
1,000 - Naudian, Soupstorm, Pesh, Djees
 
Asus, what do you think about the stats being completely messed up?

It says I've had 4 active processors in the last 7 days when I've only had 2.
It says I've contributed 37 WU when it should be closer to 20.
Also I just completed two WUs at the same time, one on my C2Duo and one on my A64(single core) and I don't think it gave me any points for either one.
Not to mention Travis with his 131 WU and 0 points...
:(
 
I know if a WU crashes it can turn in what it has done and you get partial credit. Not sure how you get 100+ WUs in a day with no points though. Regarding 4 active proccessors under your name, maybe someone is using your name too? There is nothing to stop them. Or do you still have the old FAH client running? It doesn't count per core but just per client.

I really dont know. I'd check some folding related forums and see if they mention anything recently. Might just be a mistake by the server. I know one day it messed up and dropped all WUs and then recounted them. Something like that anyway.
 
Hey so I decided I would run this, I downloaded the smp client however when it seems like everything is started, the command line just stops at: " Completed 0 out of 500000 steps <0 percent>"
Is that supposed to happen?
Also does it automatically run as a process if I close the command prompt window?
I'm just a little comfused and could use some clarification.
Thanks.
*edit* here's an image so you guys can see exactly what i'm talking about.
Client Window
 
welcome to the team.
Just leave it open like that. It will update the screen to say "Completed 5000 out of 500000 steps (1 percent)" maybe after 20mins. Depends how fast your PC is. With an e6700 it shouldn't take long. Mine takes 30mins between steps.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6717/fahsmphp0.png

If it stops before the "writing local files" "completed ..." at the beginning then it is usually stuck. Just restart it, multiple times if you need to. But it rarely gets stuck after that point.

If you didn't already know, this shows the teams close to us and detailed HL2.net team stats are here.
 
So, I can run multiple clients on the same machine? I wonder if two will kill my Core2Duo :p

*edit* Is this normal?

taskmanagerbm0.png
 
You can run two console clients. But as long as you use a password on your windows login, you might as well run 1 SMP client. 4x the points and uses both cores automatically. Only 1 thing to setup.
 
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