Computer Hope

Congrats to our team!!! 

COOL!!!   I use to do the Seti and Folding thing, but my complaint with the crunching projects are that the work units have become increasingly larger, ( take longer to complete ) and even with a higher end system your completed work count isnt much. The mainframes pumping work units out like chocolates from a chocolate factory to me made my couple of work units a day at a cost of more than 250 watts per hour per computer just seemed not to be worth it. I pulled the plug at 269 work units completed.

Maybe if they grouped home users and mainframes in 2 seperate groups, I wouldnt feel like I am taking a Model-T Ford to the Audubon race feeling Lapped Badly by Lamborghini mainframes!!!

My Praise to all others who are pushing further with the crunching for the many causes!!!, when I have stopped because my little contribution to me felt like a cup of water added to the ocean. You dont see the difference. Also the same work units are run redundantly on multiple systems wastefully, which is good in a sense of error checking and avoiding altered/corrupt completed data sent back from users etc, but to me also seemed like I was wasting electricity on my home systems and I saw a drop in my electric bill when shutting down the 6 computers that I had crunching at around 1.5kW per hour.

Quote from: DaveLembke on October 17, 2011, 03:29:23 PM
when I have stopped because my little contribution to me felt like a cup of water added to the ocean. You dont see the difference. Also the same work units are run redundantly on multiple systems wastefully, which is good in a sense of error checking and avoiding altered/corrupt completed data sent back from users etc, but to me also seemed like I was wasting electricity on my home systems and I saw a drop in my electric bill when shutting down the 6 computers that I had crunching at around 1.5kW per hour.

IF everybody felt that way, nobody would be folding at all. The idea of distributed computing is that a large number of computers working together are more powerful than even the fastest Super Computer. The small contributions are indeed small contributions but the point is that they add up. The only problem is there are so many people bent on folding as if it is some sort of competition or game or something that they forget the entire purpose of it.

And regardless, Folding@Home, SETI@Home, and various other distributed computing projects are infinitely better than "mining bitcoins" which is probably the most pointless thing you can set your computer to do aside from an infinite loop.

Dave, think about this. If you manage to complete 1 WU per day, that doesn't seem like a lot, right? By itself, it isn't. But think about the hundreds of thousands of people who are also doing the same. Even if everyone completed 1 WU per day, that's hundreds of thousands of WUs per day. That's where everything starts to add up.

Quote from: Helpmeh on October 19, 2011, 09:21:19 PM
If you manage to complete 1 WU per day, that doesn't seem like a lot, right? By itself, it isn't. But think about the hundreds of thousands of people who are also doing the same. Even if everyone completed 1 WU per day, that's hundreds of thousands of WUs per day. That's where everything starts to add up.

Totally agree with everything said. But wish that I could complete 1 WU per day. Typically depending on what is required I can complete a WU in a few days. For example this week I was able to complete several (on my laptop) when the number required for a WU was 250. But presently on my desktop I've been struggling since Sept 27th attempting to reach 7000 to complete a WU and I'm not even halfway there?  I've had WU's that required 10000 and was able to complete these within days on this same desktop. Neither PC is running continuously but working towards 7000 will take a very,very long time. Luckily the deadline date for this WU is Nov 22. This is the first time that I've been required to reach the 7000 number for a WU and have never encountered this problem previously. Just wondering if anyone here has experienced anything similar? overthehill

QuoteAnd regardless, Folding@Home, SETI@Home, and various other distributed computing projects are infinitely better than "mining bitcoins" which is probably the most pointless thing you can set your computer to do aside from an infinite loop.

Had a good laugh at mining bitcoins... I agree!!!

Quote from: overthehill on October 20, 2011, 10:42:26 PM
Totally agree with everything said. But wish that I could complete 1 WU per day. Typically depending on what is required I can complete a WU in a few days. For example this week I was able to complete several (on my laptop) when the number required for a WU was 250. But presently on my desktop I've been struggling since Sept 27th attempting to reach 7000 to complete a WU and I'm not even halfway there?  I've had WU's that required 10000 and was able to complete these within days on this same desktop. Neither PC is running continuously but working towards 7000 will take a very,very long time. Luckily the deadline date for this WU is Nov 22. This is the first time that I've been required to reach the 7000 number for a WU and have never encountered this problem previously. Just wondering if anyone here has experienced anything similar? overthehill

Forgive my ignorance but what are these numbers reffering to, 'Base Credit' / 'Estimated Credit'?
Those numbers seem high since the largest WU I've had so far was ~ 1400 Base Credit.
I'm running SMP2 v7.1.24 on my laptop and CPU v6.23 on my desktop (both run 24/7)

Quote from: lectrocrew on October 29, 2011, 10:03:05 PM
Forgive my ignorance but what are these numbers referring to, 'Base Credit' / 'Estimated Credit'?
Those numbers seem high since the largest WU I've had so far was ~ 1400 Base Credit.
I'm running SMP2 v7.1.24 on my laptop and CPU v6.23 on my desktop (both run 24/7)

Thks, lectrocrew for replying. The numbers that I referred to are the numbers shown in the task bar when I run my cursor over the F@H icon. Example;  CPU- F@H Working (4900/7000) My understanding is that the 7000 is actually 7000001 steps.  My log showed the following before the program quit working. Completed 4900001 out of 7000001 steps  (70%). Now after reboot the task bar icon shows ; CPU-F@H Working (0/7000) and the log shows; Completed 0 out of 7000001 steps  (0%). Although I'm told that the program is working, the number is now stuck at 0. My next move will be to reload F@H on this PC. Hope that you can make some sense of this. overthehill

Quote from: overthehill on October 29, 2011, 11:45:11 PM

The numbers that I referred to are the numbers shown in the task bar when I run my cursor over the F@H icon. Example;  CPU- F@H Working (4900/7000) My understanding is that the 7000 is actually 7000001 steps. 

Okay, I understand.
In my SMP2 version on my laptop, (which is what I usually use) this information is not displayed when I hover the mouse over the F@H icon (that's why I was confused), but it is displayed in my logfile (e.g. completed 40000 out of 2000000 steps (2%)).
But when I hover the mouse over the F@H icon on my desktop running the single CPU version It does display "working 130/1000".
This log shows;
Completed 130000 out of 1000000 steps  (13%).
So that answers my question... These numbers represent '% of steps completed/total steps to complete' rather than "Base Credit" or "Estimated Credit".

Thanks overthehill! 

Mike

Quote from: overthehill on October 29, 2011, 11:45:11 PM

Thks, lectrocrew for replying. The numbers that I referred to are the numbers shown in the task bar when I run my cursor over the F@H icon. Example;  CPU- F@H Working (4900/7000) My understanding is that the 7000 is actually 7000001 steps.  My log showed the following before the program quit working. Completed 4900001 out of 7000001 steps  (70%). Now after reboot the task bar icon shows ; CPU-F@H Working (0/7000) and the log shows; Completed 0 out of 7000001 steps  (0%). Although I'm told that the program is working, the number is now stuck at 0. My next move will be to reload F@H on this PC. Hope that you can make some sense of this. overthehill

Well as I stated above I did remove and reinstall the application. But, things are just not going well on my desktop. After hours of folding I'm getting literally nowhere. Don't know how to explain except to say that I'm folding on two PC's, one is an older laptop (Pentium M 1.73 GHz- 1.5 GB Ram) and it's smoking in comparison to  my (again older)desktop  (Pentium D 2.70 GHz - 3.0 GB Ram). Typically with the laptop I'm required to complete 250000 steps and this can be accomplished in a full day or so. In a matter of hours today I went from 107000 steps to the required 250000 and completed the WU on my laptop successfully. The desktop is another story. After reinstalling the app. on my desktop (several times)it automatically requires that 70000001 be achieved before the WU is completed. After hours it goes to approx. 27000 of the required 7000001 ( keeps running) but does not change from the 27000.
Heat on the desktop is a concern that I have because when I'm folding it runs to the max. recommended temp. of my CPU. If I'm not accomplishing any progress then there's no point to my folding. As I had mentioned earlier I've never encountered any such problems until I was required to meet the 7000001 step requirement. So at the moment my laptop is plugging along fine, but, I've shut down folding on the desktop.

Any help or suggestions with this would be appreciated. overthehill

Quote from: overthehill on October 30, 2011, 08:06:42 PM
The desktop is another story. After reinstalling the app. on my desktop (several times)it automatically requires that 70000001 be achieved before the WU is completed. After hours it goes to approx. 27000 of the required 7000001 ( keeps running) but does not change from the 27000.
Heat on the desktop is a concern that I have because when I'm folding it runs to the max. recommended temp. of my CPU. If I'm not accomplishing any progress then there's no point to my folding. As I had mentioned earlier I've never encountered any such problems until I was required to meet the 7000001 step requirement. So at the moment my laptop is plugging along fine, but, I've shut down folding on the desktop.

Any help or suggestions with this would be appreciated. overthehill

I'm very new and inexperienced at F@H but I'll try to help...

What version of F@H are you running on your desktop?

I really have no idea why it would be stalling at 27000. I've had no issues running the single CPU v6.23 on my old desktop (Celeron 2.4, Intel D845GVSR), therefore I haven't had to do any troubleshooting.
The only possibility that comes to my mind could be:
- Right click the F@H icon in system tray/click configure/click advanced tab/(under 'core priority') tick the option for 'slightly higher (if other distributed computing applications are stopping folding @ home)' rather than 'lowest possible'.

Also, maybe your high CPU temps are causing a problem, but I really don't think it would stall at 27000 repetitively because of this. But you might try running your CPU usage setting below 100%. That setting is just below the setting for core priority I just posted about (under the advanced tab).

FYI: I was having high temp problems on my laptop running the high performance SMP2 version, so I lowered the CPU usage from 100% to 60%, and now the CPU temps are 10deg lower and I am having no problems finishing the clients on time.

Hope this helps!

Mike

Quote from: lectrocrew on October 31, 2011, 09:11:26 PM
I'm very new and inexperienced at F@H but I'll try to help...

What version of F@H are you running on your desktop?

I really have no idea why it would be stalling at 27000. I've had no issues running the single CPU v6.23 on my old desktop (Celeron 2.4, Intel D845GVSR), therefore I haven't had to do any troubleshooting.
The only possibility that comes to my mind could be:
- Right click the F@H icon in system tray/click configure/click advanced tab/(under 'core priority') tick the option for 'slightly higher (if other distributed computing applications are stopping folding @ home)' rather than 'lowest possible'.

Also, maybe your high CPU temps are causing a problem, but I really don't think it would stall at 27000 repetitively because of this. But you might try running your CPU usage setting below 100%. That setting is just below the setting for core priority I just posted about (under the advanced tab).

FYI: I was having high temp problems on my laptop running the high performance SMP2 version, so I lowered the CPU usage from 100% to 60%, and now the CPU temps are 10deg lower and I am having no problems finishing the clients on time.

Hope this helps!

Mike

Thks Mike, appreciate your help. Yes I'm running v 6.23 and although I've tried your suggestions in the past (or something close), and I'm now trying them again. Heat has been a concern when folding right from the start. My recommended  CPU max. temp. is 63 C. on this PC. I always hit this number (at times) when folding seems no matter what I try. When not folding runs at approx. 57 C and occasionally hits 60 C.
Anyway, since my last post the number (somehow or another) has gone from 27000 to 45000. It appears that although the app. has been shut down, each time I restart it the number increases. For example; number was stuck at 27/7000 (as previously mentioned) and when I restarted it, it showed 37/7000 and now after shutting it down for a few hours and restarting it now shows 45/7000. The numbers must be increasing while I'm folding but will not show until the app. has been restarted. I've never encountered this before.Needless to say there is no way ( at this rate) that I'll be able to complete this WU by the deadline date of Nov.22. I wish there was a way to start a new WU. One for example that requires only 250000 steps . As I've mentioned previously I've never had any concerns with completing a WU until I was required to reach the 7000001 steps.

Thanks again, overthehill

Again, I'm a rookie folder with very few answers. But just for kicks, since my v 6.23 is running fine and yours is not, check to see if you have the rest of the advanced settings set like mine are:

-"Disable highly optimized assembly code" box should be un-ticked.
-"Checkpoint frequency" should be set to '3 min'.
-"Do NOT lock cores to specific CPU" box should be un-ticked.
-"Core network address (advanced)" entry should be blank.
-"Pause work while battery power is being used" box should be un-ticked.
-"Additional client parameters - Restart client to take effect" entry should be blank.

Also, when you right click the F@H icon in your system tray, the menu items "Pause when done" and "Pause work" should not have a check mark next to either item.

Do your settings match these?

FYI: On my Celeron 2.4 machine running v6.23; According to 'SpeedFan', which only shows HDO temp reads 34C @ 100% CPU usage while folding.
This is in an ATX full tower case with 2 case fans and a heatsink mounted CPU fan. I recently removed the heatsink and replaced the thermal paste, and I keep the heatsink blown out on a regular (bi-monthly) basis.
(That's better than my laptop running the high performance SMP2 version which runs 70C folding at 60% which is better than the 80C when I was running both CPU cores @ 100%.) 

Hope this helps!

Mike

Quote from: lectrocrew on November 01, 2011, 08:08:00 PM
Again, I'm a rookie folder with very few answers. But just for kicks, since my v 6.23 is running fine and yours is not, check to see if you have the rest of the advanced settings set like mine are:

-"Disable highly optimized assembly code" box should be un-ticked.
-"Checkpoint frequency" should be set to '3 min'.
-"Do NOT lock cores to specific CPU" box should be un-ticked.
-"Core network address (advanced)" entry should be blank.
-"Pause work while battery power is being used" box should be un-ticked.
-"Additional client parameters - Restart client to take effect" entry should be blank.

Also, when you right click the F@H icon in your system tray, the menu items "Pause when done" and "Pause work" should not have a check mark next to either item.

Do your settings match these?

FYI: On my Celeron 2.4 machine running v6.23; According to 'SpeedFan', which only shows HDO temp reads 34C @ 100% CPU usage while folding.
This is in an ATX full tower case with 2 case fans and a heatsink mounted CPU fan. I recently removed the heatsink and replaced the thermal paste, and I keep the heatsink blown out on a regular (bi-monthly) basis.
(That's better than my laptop running the high performance SMP2 version which runs 70C folding at 60% which is better than the 80C when I was running both CPU cores @ 100%.) 

Hope this helps!

Mike

Once again, Mike thanks. All settings on both PC's are set exactly as you described. The Pentium "D" 2.8 GHz is a full tower case . At the time that I started folding and observed the increased heat I too replaced the thermal paste with Arctic MX-2. I also installed an extra exhaust fan. The combination of the two brought the temps. down to where they are today. Before I made these changes my CPU temp. when folding was usually running over the recommended max. Oh Yes, I do clean this mach. frequently. When folding at 60% these are my current temp. readings according to Speed Fan.

Pentium "D"--           GPU -- 50C
                               CPU -- 62 C
               Internal Temp.  -- 45 C
               Remote Temp.  -- 39 C
                              HDO -- 31 C
------------------------------------------------
Laptop Pentium "M"     HDO -- 37 C
                            Temp. 1 -- 68 C
                            Temp. 2 -- 54 C

Regards, overthehill

A late congrats to the team we're now 14,000,000 and ranked 602. I'm happy to report that I'm pretty much fully operational again and have upgraded one of the computers to a NVIDIA GTX 580, which has made a great difference. I've got you in my eyes now cruisin702.

Quote from: Computer Hope Admin on November 23, 2011, 03:12:17 AM
I've got you in my eyes now cruisin702.

LOL, and at your present 24 hr average of 11,422, it won't be long before you'll need a magnifying glass. 
Thank you and cruisin702 both for your excellent contributions to our team!!! 
Mike