Team CFC: Folding@Home project

[scienide09]

To AlanH or anyone else running on a Mac:

My new MPB has arrived (15", 2.33Ghz C2D, 2GB RAM, 256MB Radeon X1600). Any suggestions for which client to use? And the optimal setup for this type of machine? I understand that heat may become an issue with heavy crunching, but I don't want to do a lot of messing around.

 

[AlanH]

If you are going to keep it going 24 x 7 then use the OS X SMP client. If you are going to let it sleep or turn it off for significant periods then the best you can do is to use the normal graphical client, but it's PPC code, so it runs in Rosetta emulation on an Intel Mac which is a big performance hit. On my system the performance difference between the two clients is probably a factor of 10

 

[scienide09]

Thanks AlanH.

Are you saying that the PPC Rosetta code performs better on the Intel chips than the Intel code? Odd.
Hmmm, now it's a toss up. I certainly can leave it running 24/7, or nearly so, but I hadn't planned on it. Why do you suggest 24/7 availability for the SMP client?

 

[Synobun]

Almost done my first WU, at last.. It'll be done by Monday.

 

[AlanH]

Thanks AlanH.

Are you saying that the PPC Rosetta code performs better on the Intel chips than the Intel code? Odd.

Hmmm, now it's a toss up. I certainly can leave it running 24/7, or nearly so, but I hadn't planned on it. Why do you suggest 24/7 availability for the SMP client?

Sorry I didn't make myself clear.

The only native Intel client is the SMP one. That's the one that delivers high performance and has taken my Mac Pro to third on the CFC list in four months. But you have to run that one close to 24 x 7 in order to meet the tight deadlines for the SMP work units.

Single CPU work units have far more relaxed deadlines, so you can afford to work on them intermittently. So if you expect to sleep or power down your Mac for more than a few hours a day a single CPU client is the only way you can fold.

There is no single CPU client that will run native on an Intel Mac, unless you run one under virtual Windows or Linux in Parallels or VMWare Fusion. The PPC single CPU client runs in Rosetta on an Intel Mac, and so runs pretty slowly as well as only using one core.

I hope this makes it clearer.

 

[scienide09]

The confusion was on my end, and now I understand.

I'll try Intel SMP client for now -- if I find that my results are not making it in by the deadlines, then I'll switch over to the older PPC client and contribute what I can.

Installation was easy, and it seems to be going fine. The fans kicked in almost immediately, but I expected that.

 

[Synobun]

I've finished my first work unit, yay!

EDIT: 2, 100 posts!

 

[Synobun]

Wow, surprisingly, my next WU will be done tomorrow most likely.

 

[Tee Kay]

Wow, surprisingly, my next WU will be done tomorrow most likely.

This means you have to use the internet non-stop between now and tomorrow. Am I right?

 

[Synobun]

Well, it says 10 hours. So it will be done tomorrow (Considering I will be my lazy self and be on the comp all day)

 

[Tee Kay]

Ten hours?! I've been working on my WU for more than a week now and there's still 17 hours to go.

 

[Synobun]

It's /50. Very small ones for some reason.

 

[Furiey]

Grrr, I finished a WU this morning and can't get another. I keep getting assigned to server 0.0.0.0. Apparently this means they've run out of work units for my client - I have Windows ME so am stuck with version 4. Anyone else having this problem?

 

[AlanH]

This means you have to use the internet non-stop between now and tomorrow. Am I right?

I don't think you need to maintain your connection to the internet all the time you are folding using a single CPU client. Connection is only needed when you want to download a new work unit or when you have completed one and need to upload the results.

@Furiey: There have been reports of 0.0.0.0 server connections as a failure mechanism. Might be worth searching for that in their forums.

 

[Furiey]

@Furiey: There have been reports of 0.0.0.0 server connections as a failure mechanism. Might be worth searching for that in their forums.

Yep, I've done that. Apparently you're assigned to server 0.0.0.0 when they've run out of units for your client, either that or it's an IE7 problem. As I have to use IE6 still due to Win ME that leaves the former rather than the latter as an explanation. I'm going to try the v5 console client to see if that makes a difference, but as it's still ME I won't be able to accept the large WUs so will be stuck with the same WUs as before. As I can't get anything at the moment though now seems a good time to try. If it doen't work I've not lost anything. I'll keep a backup of the v4 directory so I can return to that if it doesn't work.

 

[Furiey]

Well I now have the 5.04 console client running and have a work unit! Not quite as convenient as the V4 graphical client, not for the pretty pictures but being able to configure it and access the info from the taskbar. But at least I can keep folding.

 

[Synobun]

Done my second WU.

 

[Sophie 378]

We're still climbing through the ranks, after all this time, and even with the PS3 folding client!

 

[AlanH]

My next 1440 point work unit (already uploaded, but not included in the stats yet) will take me to 200,003 points

 

[ruff_hi]

way to go AlanH. If you look at this link right now and sort by the 'points / update' (if it isn't), you will see that I am #1 . Got to love those 500 pt WUs.