Team 36362 XS Folding Roster

[G0ldBr1ck]

so the GPU client is CPU limited? would have thought the gpu client taxed the cpu just a little unless its doing some of the folding with the cpu core also.

[Sparky]

Perhaps the GPU takes the data and crunches it, then the CPU processes/compresses it? Dunno, just guessing

The old X1900 series client wasn't GPU limited too much, I assumed this to be the same here too but I guess I'm wrong.

[G0ldBr1ck]

I just found my answer in a FAQ, The Gpu is capable of so much work but the data is fed to it by the cpu wich realy cant keep the gpu fed as fast as the gpu can work.


"Dedicating 100% of a CPU core to a GPU client is strongly recommended. You will need one CPU core per GPU core to keep the GPU client adequately fed with data.

Folding performance on high-end GPUs is directly related to the performance of the CPU feeding the new client. Increasing the GPU core speed may not improve folding performance without sufficient CPU speed to support those higher GPU speeds. The reverse scenario may also be true. A very fast CPU helps to get the best GPU performance with this new client."

[Sparky]

Ahh OK that makes sense then.

[SocketMan]

It's true however a lot depends on the given project:
For example some projects will load up the gpu to 100 % with
the cpu clock being low (2.4). Other projects need 3.0ghz in order to
load the gpu 100%
So if your gpu is 80& load then increasing your cpu speed will take the load
higher and the ppd along with it. Recent projects however (4727) don't need
much from the cpu and increasing cpu speed by 400-500 Mhz brings no
ppd increase. Hope this makes some sense

[Naja002]

Ok, I'm in......running a 512mb 8800GT gpu for F@H. A Q9450 feeding that and WCG....with Dimes running around somewhere!

I folded for a while a few yrs ago, but I cannot recall my username, so I'm just starting from scratch= naja002

I have a few questions, but I'll just start a new thread(s).....

[sc00p]

Ok, I'm in......running a 512mb 8800GT gpu for F@H. A Q9450 feeding that and WCG....with Dimes running around somewhere!

I folded for a while a few yrs ago, but I cannot recall my username, so I'm just starting from scratch= naja002

I have a few questions, but I'll just start a new thread(s).....

Thank you for your contribution to a Distributed Computing with us at dimes/f@h/wcg

[Naja002]

Thanx for the Welcome! I think I've already answered all of my questions, but.......that's not likely......

Everything is running fine atm.....

[Kingcarcas]

AHHHHH!!! Watch out!! Snake!!!

[Sparky]

[v0dka]

Ok just threw a 4870 on F@H. Does this iter /sec number say anything? I think it looks low compared to some numbers I saw around the net. I'm seeing 700 to 1700 iter /sec jumping up and down when I open the viewer. Clocks are at 790 / 1000Mhz. Load is 100% on the GPU along with 100% WCG on the CPU.

The 4870 is one hot card, I'm afraid my poor old PA120.3 cant take it anymore. The air coming out of the rad is very very warm, even without yesterdays 30C ambient here in the crunching room. And that's with 6 Yate Loons at 12v. Temps on the GPU are hitting 45C and the CPU is exceeding 60.

Also, this fahmon application isnt doing anything for me. Keeps saying work is at 0%?I think I might have confused the program when I accidentally installed the CPU F@H client first, and then installed the GPU client in the same folder?

[vaio]

Isn't the gpu client a standalone app?
Try moving it to it's own folder

[v0dka]

Isn't the gpu client a standalone app?
Try moving it to it's own folder

Hehe, easier said than done no? I cant see what is what, and when i set fahmon to monitor the folder named folding@home-gpu in the F@H directory it doenst recognise anything - so moving that wont work. And I'm afraid I will lose all progress when I just reinstall to a different directory.

In addition to the above little problems, it seems that Vista isnt able to feed the GPU client enough data without one core assigned to it. This pisses me off more than high temps or whatnot. Wasnt this an XP only problem?

[vaio]

Been a long time since I ran it (with a 1900xt) but I just kept the folder on desktop.

Could you not download another copy just to see which files the folder needs, then put them together in new folder?

Sorry, I am so out of touch with folding....I'll stop trying to be helpful now.

[v0dka]

Been a long time since I ran it (with a 1900xt) but I just kept the folder on desktop.

Could you not download another copy just to see which files the folder needs, then put them together in new folder?

Sorry, I am so out of touch with folding....I'll stop trying to be helpful now.

Seems like a good enough idea to try, appreciate the help

[sc00p]

Hehe, easier said than done no? I cant see what is what, and when i set fahmon to monitor the folder named folding@home-gpu in the F@H directory it doenst recognise anything - so moving that wont work. And I'm afraid I will lose all progress when I just reinstall to a different directory.

In addition to the above little problems, it seems that Vista isnt able to feed the GPU client enough data without one core assigned to it. This pisses me off more than high temps or whatnot. Wasnt this an XP only problem?

You must point fahmon to a folder (it's a "hidden" btw):
XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<your_windows_username>\Application Data\Folding@home-gpu\

Vista: C:\Users\<your_windows_username>\AppData\Roaming\F olding@home-gpu\



Have you tried set the gpu-client to "slightly higher" tab on and if it has any difference in performance?
EDIT: You find this via systray and setup (or something like that IIRC, at work right now). Might have to restart the client/windows to take it account.

[v0dka]

You are the man sc00p

[sc00p]

You are the man sc00p

Waht
Everything working fine now ?
(I was afraid that cpu-client could be still lurking below, good if not).

Thanx... glad if I could be a help

EDIT: almost forgot to the team

[Marvin_The_Martian]

Yea you can but not with Vista atm
Unless they fixed it it's 1 gpu client per "Vista" machine.
Also Cat.8.5 DOES NOT work for folding, use 8.3 or 8.4
I've also found that when 2 or 3 cards are folding on 1 machine the total
ppd is a lot less then using 3 cards on 3 machines.Mind you that was
on the MSIK9a2 and 9600be @ 2500mhz. Higher cpu freq. should bring higher ppd

Maybe I should make a gpu2 thread? got lots of picks

Didn't we have one? ( browses back to section... )

No we don't... gues you should make one with all the info that is spread around now... Don't ask me, you're the one who proposed it

[sc00p]

all the info that is spread around now...

Agreed... a bit of mess again, UnG was on the track for a while What can you do... we could use dedicated and hired mod

Welcome back from rehab MtM
You're free to pm me for example if you need to ventilate sometimes so it wouldn't lead to so drastic consequences. I plan to stick around here again now that I have had my own holiday used this summer.

[Marvin_The_Martian]

Yeah I miss him to. I am so freakingly preoccupied with personal issues ( severe one's... ) that plays a role, but also I am not the kind of person suited to do what he did. If I consolidated knowledge like that, even when I gave references I would get burried under accusations of stealing other people's intelectual property :ROFL:

Atleast it happend in the past, and with me being kind of stuck thinking in circels it make me pretty sure it will happen again. I seen all the info concerning the client posted, here on xs and other forums and I know Mike seen it to and commented on the disabillity currently showing in the fah community to consolidate everything. I think two things are happening, to many teams want to keep the juicy stuff for themselfs and I think allot of people think that with the rate Pande Group is updating clients it's almost no use as it will be obsolete the moment it is posted.

That does not mean there are no good public guides out there, you just need to know where to look

[Sparky]

IIRC, in XP both the nvidia and ATI clients need a whole core. In vista, nvidia just uses a couple % while ATI still uses a whole core. I think that's what I've heard.

What we need is a good setup guide written up in the thread linked in my sig, Then Jimwah to edit the first post with the direct link to it. I think that would be helpful. Then a MOD to sticky that thread as well!

[Marvin_The_Martian]

Wow... do I see 3 consequitive posts about the same subject yet no one has done so yet. I'm willing to contribute if something is asked but I'm pretty sure one of the reasons I been a lil out off things last week ( besides my vacation offcourse ) is that my medication has been alterd ( again, and without my consensis or approval ) and I really feel incapable of doing more then formulating a semi english looking post. Which is pretty rough because I just bought my own domain and need to put content on that asap ( personal, related to the stuff in my signature amongst others ).

Story of my life maybe, always have this stuff happen to me at moments I whished I could have been more myself.

Sparky don't you feel up to it? I know you got the enthousiasm, and if you don't know anything sc00p, mike me and everyone else would help where needed. Just start the thread and I'm sure everyone will pinch in and proof read/correct. If it's all done to satisfaction, we get one off our long lost mods to edit it in? I'm not trying to put you in a position where you would feel saying no would reflect badly on yourself, I just thought about it and then realized you yourself must have thought about it and just needed a lil incentive/push

[v0dka]

IIRC, in XP both the nvidia and ATI clients need a whole core. In vista, nvidia just uses a couple % while ATI still uses a whole core. I think that's what I've heard.

I'm seeing around 15% CPU usage on a Q6600 @ 3.8 on Vista Ult 64 bit, but it does work flawlessly with WCG on 4 cores now.

[Sparky]

15% usage on ATI in vista? Not bad, apparently it doesn't need a whole core then. Cool beans.