I'm still trying to finish a bigadv so I can shut down the i7. My bedroom finally dropped below 80F, so I removed the OC from the C2Q's and have 9 GPU clients running. Once I get this A/C running better, or get a new one, I'll get the SMPs folding again. I've got a 6000 BTU window unit, which worked pretty well when I only had a single dual core AMD box. It doesn't quite do the trick anymore with 3 OC'd Intel quads and 6 GPU's......3 TVs, 2 radios, a small refrigerator, and my coffee pot. I'm trying to find a 10-12K BTU unit that will work with my skinny windows (19").

Just finished folding my first bonus SMP WU, and it was running at 1264 ppd, so that's above my GPU + Systray ppd, which means that I'm keeping the SMP. Bad part is that I'm leaving for Cost Rica (:D) on monday, which means the folding will stop until I come back the 17th... Hope you guys won't miss me .

With the recent temperature and power use slowdowns for some team members, we look to be holding our position at #129 for the next few months.

The GPU3 client has been released for public beta testing. The client (6.30r1) can be run on any card, but only the nVidia cards will receive GPU3 WUs using the new FahCore_15. The bad news is these WUs result in lower PPD. The good news, they provide support for the Fermi cards. From a PPD standpoint, I'd say stick with what you're running (6.23) unless you've had a 400-series card waiting to fold.
http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=14671
http://foldingforum.org/viewforum.php?f=59
This is still early beta. I've run it on XP32, Vista64, and W7 64 with 8800 GTS 512, 9800 GTX+, and GTX260/216. Give it a try if you have the time to watch it more closely than a fully released client.

Milestones
MistaMo 250,000 05-30-10
Floating_Jet 60,000 05-29-10
Fyrste 7,000 05-24-10

No new members, and a temporary drop in active members.

Fold on! :goodjob:

As predicted, we're just holding on to #129. It looks like we'll get pushed above 130, again. On the slightly better news side, I have a new A/C on the way and hope to be back to full folding production in a week, or so- not to mention be able to sleep in comfort once more.

Milestone
Chaul 2,000,000 06-03-10 :cookie:

No new members and we still have a temporarily reduced number of active folders.

Limpingly Fold on! :goodjob:

Sorry, I forgot about this today. I was prepping for the new A/C install, then had to take a nap. :blush: On the plus side, by tomorrow afternoon the barely functioning 6000 BTU unit will be out and the nice, new 12000 BTU unit will be in and I can get all the boxes fired back up. :woot:

Unless I can get all the hardware folding and put the OCs back in place, and no one else has problems, we'll probably drop a few spots in the coming weeks. Heat has been an issue for several of us, so we should all ask the entity of our choice to provide cooler weather in our areas, to allow us to fold. :bowdown:

Milestones
RyanLudwig 10,000 06-09-10
Denina 200,000 06-07-10

Still no new members.

Fold on! :goodjob:

New A/C is in, all the boxes are folding, and, now that I have sufficient cooling, I'm working on jacking up the overclocking. :ahhh:

i7-930 still at 4.0
Q9550 up to 3.2 from 2.83
Q6600 up to 3.6 from 3.4
2 Q6600 still at stock 2.4 in another room. When I get them in here I can run them up and get rid of the wireless network. :dance:

The only thing that saved us from going back up to #130 was the stats system going down yesterday. Being the weekend, this probably won't be cleared up until the IT staff comesin Monday. Just remember, the work server is the one that keeps track of your WUs. The stats server just displays the numbers sent to it by the work servers. Keep working- it won't be lost.

Milestones
RyanLudwig 12,500 06-19-10
Dragon32 600,000 06-18-10
Paceline 150,000 06-16-10

The cookies are still safe.

Fold on! :goodjob:

I keep getting these P6701 work units that give me very bad PPD. It's almost half less than what all the other work units are credited for.

Funny, project 6701 gives me more PPD than what I've been used to. Others have seen a drop in PPD so I guess differences in the benchmarking machine set up are starting to show.

6701 in Windows really, really svck. They are the lowest PPD of all the A3 WUs. Luckily, under a quarter of my total SMP runs are 6701. I see about a 15-30% drop across the various quads with these.

So our first hydro bill came in today since stopping folding. It was $30 cheaper. My roommate is happy. Not sure were we fell in the billing cycle so it may even be more.

I'm hoping I can use the "I have no heat in my room so I want to fold in the winter to compensate" excuse this winter. Though I'll wait till closer to winter to spring that.

*wishing I was folding*

I just got my electric bill- $497.62! :brokencomputer: :facepalm:

The usage is more than double last months- 3139 KWH vs. 1487 KWH. They did estimated readings the last few months and had to make up a big booboo with this actual reading.

This is the price we pay to advance science. :goodjob:

Looks like I'm mostly getting P6701 now. Really, the PPD for the Core i7 with 7 threads running, is just under 7000PPD, when it used to top at 14000PPD for other projects. Provided, I haven't actually run this app 24/7 lately, but still.

We're back at #130 and once more scheduled to move slowly up the list.

Milestones
Hibro 500 06-26-10
Oranos 1,000 06-24-10
Drac 100,000 06-22-10

We have no new members, but we do have 2 cookie-worthy returns of inactive folders. Hibro (3 years ago) and Oranos (2 years ago) did a WU or two for us before stopping. They have now returned to do a few more WUs to support the team. Thanks, guys. :cookie: :cookie:

All I can say about the low points for the 6701 in Windows is all the other teams have to put up with the point drop, as well.

Fold on! :goodjob:

We made it back to 129. The teams closing on us the fastest have drastically slowed, so, at the expense of the project, we will maintain our position and continue to climb.

Milestones
uncle_fuzzy 35,000,000 07-03-10
Floating_Jet 70,000 06-29-10
Hibro 750 06-27-10
Oranos 1,500 06-27-10

No new members.

Fold on! :goodjob:

At long last, I'm a member of the team again!!! :^) Oh how I've missed you all, I hope I'm still welcome!

I just got high speed internet today so I've decided to start folding again. And this time I'm bringing the heat. I don't even know what all I've got to fold on, let me see here... I've got an old 2.2 GHz Pentium 4, both cores of a 3.2 GHz Pentium D, a 2.0 GHz AMD 64X2, a 2.2 GHz 64X2, maybe another 2.2 GHz 64X2, one Radeon HD 4850, a Radeon HD 5750, oh and a Core i3! Hehe, I wonder what this will do to my electric bill? No matter, I just hope it adds enough weight to the team to help us gain some ground.

Welcome back, Oh Revered Founder! :foodndrink: :cookie:

How the Hell can we block you, and why would we try? It's your team. :poke:

Thank you! :^)


My team!? Heh, I don't think I've done as much for this team as you, and several others, have. I helped get us on our feet, but you've taken this team places I never, ever dreamed we would go. Seriously.

edit - I finally got F@H set up and working on my Radeon HD 4850. Hopefully my PPD will be pretty strong for the next week or so, after that I should be folding on a core i3 and a Radeon HD 5750 as well as all of my current hardware so things should pick up a bit.

Now I have a question about the SMP/GPU clients. In my experience, the CPU console client is very much "set it and forget it." I install it in a minute and never see or notice it again for as long as I use the software. It doesn't require any input from me, it doesn't slow down anything I ever want to do (video games, for example). Are the SMP/GPU clients like this? Or do they require input from the user or slow down your regular computer use?

@Bycote- I've only been checking the index when I pop in, so I missed your edit. I did follow your thread at the Folding Forum. I only have nVidia, so I'm no help to you on that.
SMP- made for 100% core usage, but still should back off when you want resources. Others have had some luck installing it as a service, but I stick to the console where I have immediate control. It is not set and forget, but it has matured and is a lot more stable than when I first started using it. The projects have been getting larger and more demanding, so I wouldn't recommend running it on less than a very fast dual core. There is a big fight over the speed, points, and system requirements of the new 670x WUs. You can no longer just assume you can handle the SMP because you have a dual.
GPU- made for 100% gpu usage, doesn't always play nice when you want the resources. This varies greatly by make (ATI/NV), model, drivers used, and OS. Many ATi users have found that they need to stop the client when gaming. I have a little delay with normal use on a couple of my boxes, but nothing too major.

I have been able to play Oblivion on a machine running the SMP and 3 GPU clients with some lag in the game, and a big hit on PPD (stock Q9550, 3x GTX 260). Depending on the system, I have crashed the GPU client while streaming video.

The big point makers these days are the GPUs. The deadlines are 4-6 days, but higher level cards can complete the work in a couple hours. As long as you're not gaming 18 hours a day, I'd say run the GPU client, but stop it while gaming. Just remember to restart it. A game without huge visual demands might not show any lag at all.

I don't think I'd run the SMP on less than a quad if the computer is used for other things on a regular basis. My "lowest" machine is a Q6600 stock, with 2x 8800 GTS 512's. The SMP makes 3500-4500 PPD (12-24 hours per WU), but each of the GPUs make 6000-8000 (1.5-2.5 hours per WU). This is a dedicated folder. If I used it daily, I'd go with multiple CPU clients. The mix of WUs I see when I run it on the laptop (T6400@2.0) give 150-350 PPD per core with the CPU client.

I had a few issues this week. I smoked a couple video cards (GTX 260/216 and 9800GTX+), so I guess it's time to look into the new Fermis. This puts me down over 12K until I replace them. I also had a big fight fixing an OS which put a 20K machine down for over a day. WARNING- XP Pro does not like having folding on the C drive. Some times I forget and have a fight on my hands. Random parts of the OS screw up. This time, it kept losing track of the network connection. I don't have that problem with Home version.

-----------------------------------------------------

We hit #128 this week and should make 125 before the next team catches up.

Milestones
Striken7 12,500 07-10-10
Xunnamius 1,000 07-10-10
FishyFLCL 1,000 07-07-10


WE HAVE A NEW MEMBER!!! :celebration:
Xunnamius 07-06-10 :icecream: :cookie:

Fold on! :goodjob:

Hardware Report
I'm upgrading my GPUs and just got 4 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130563. I think I'm in love. 150W, runs cool, 10K+ PPD. I replaced 3x GTX 260/216's in a Vista64 box- Q9550, 8GB DDR2 1066. These are overclocked, but I bumped it a bit more to 1608MHz shader clock. They run a solid 10152 PPD. The only problem I've seen is they hog the cpu enough that I can't even run -smp 3. They did fine with 2 CPU clients. The 4th card went into an open slot, i7-930@4.0, W7 64, 12GB DDR3 1600, sharing with an 8800 GTS 512. I had a major problem with the 8800 failing with GPU3 and had to switch it back to GPU2. Unfortunately, I left town for a long weekend 18 hours after the UPS truck showed up. The 260's will be going into other boxes and I'll probably retire a couple 8800's, or else use some of the parts laying around to build 1 or 2 single core machines to keep the leftover cards busy. Having a parts closet can be a wonderful thing.

I managed to recover the fried 260, but still need to tear down a 9800 and 8800 to see what's wrong. With the new cards I won't have any open slots while I attempt repairs.

Discussion of these cards- http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=15241
Guide to make them work with older cards- http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=14683&p=144648#p144648

If you're thinking about getting into the 400-series, I would recommend this card. This might be a good way to go if you have a dual core that can no longer run the bigger SMP WUs.

-------------------------------------------

We remain at #128.

Milestones
Cecilff2 7,000 07-18-10
Oranos 2,000 07-17-10
unxle_fuzzy 250 07-16-10
Xunnamius 1,500 07-12-10

New members
unxle_fuzzy 07-16-10
Ikillsuall 07-12-10 :cookie:

Either we have a copycat, or I goofed on one of the CPU clients I set up to keep the boxes cool while I was gone. :ahhh:

Fold on! :goodjob:

We are still at 128. We'll move up 1 spot in about 5 hours, and another early tomorrow.

Milestones
Oranos 5,000 07-24-10
Cecilff2 10,000 07-22-10
glymfeather 90,000 07-19-10
Ikillsuall 100 07-18-10
unxle_fuzzy 500 07-18-10

I hunted down that unxle guy. He won't be a problem any more. :gun:

No new members this week.

Fold on! :goodjob:

Welcome to my weekly blog. At the time of this post, we are 12 hours away from #125! (Due midnight-ish EST)

Milestones
FishyFLCL 1,500 08-01-10
Cecilff2 12,500 07-28-10
Bycote 200,000 07-26-10

Again, no new members, so the cookies are mine.

A bit of folding news. We now have the v6.30 SMP2 client on the download page. http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther This is not a required update, but does include 2 new features.
1- This client does not use Deino or MPICH- crunches A3's fine, but wii choke if it sees an A1 or A2 WU (unlikely)
2- It now has official service install support

It does not require a complete reinstallation. You can update from 6.29 to 6.30 by using the drop-in binary at the bottom of the page. Just plunk it into your existing SMP client (after stopping it, of course). I now have the i7 client running -bigadv as a service. Spiffy! :hubbahubba:

Now all I need is service support for the GPU in Vista and W7. I always worry if I'm going to be away for more than a day that one of the machines might crash. This way I can set them to restart after a crash, but run them manually if I'm here.

Fold on! :goodjob:

Thanks for the heads up on the new version. If I understood correctly, I can finally uninstall the MPICH service and run the SMP client without it. Now waiting for the GPU3 client to support my Radeon 5870..

Yes. I just used the new binary and left the rest of the old client alone. Version 6.30 no longer requires the whole Admin account/password log in stuff.
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/WinSMPGuide


Umm, GPU3 does support the 5xxx series. If the client doesn't recignize the card, you can use the -forcegpu ati_r800 flag.
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/WinGPUGuide
http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=15196

I was pretty sure it still does not have support. The first link you provided is for GPU2, and the second does not mention ATI Radeon. Also the download page specifically says that this is for nVidia only, and so do the FAQ's. This is what the rest of us, the non-nVidia users, have been whining for half a year. Did I miss an announcement or something?

Edit: And it still seems to want to see the MPICH service anyways, for some funny reason. I disabled the service and it whined about not getting a connection but started anyways. I restarted the service, and got the usual "if you see this twice" message..