[Newbie]Need Help Setting Up (CPU i7/GPU 460M)

[Pharaoh]

Hi, I joined FaH about a week ago, and i seem to be having some problem with my setup. I am running the client on my laptop.

My config is -
i7 740
8GB 1333Mhz
Nvidia 460M

I am running the SMP client with the -smp flag and a gpu client.
I have configured the smp client to get the >10mb WU.

All my core seem to be maxed out, but my PPD is 550, for the CPU client, didnt figure out how to check the GPU one yet
Considering there are people posting a PPD of 10-25K, i guess something is wrong with my setup, please help out.

BTW the cpu client runs ~20 hours everyday and the GPU client ~22 hours everyday

Thanks for your help
Pharaoh

[Qinsp]

First make sure to get a Passkey and use it. No Passkey, no SMP bonus.
Second, it takes 10 completed units to get bonus.

[Baowoulf]

Welcome to F@H Pharaoh. The CPU and SMP clients are different. Please post a section of your log from startup so we can see what's going on using

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tags.

[Pharaoh]

@Qinsp
I have setup a passkey already.
Even without the bonus, it shouldn't be that low should it??

@Baowoulf

Here is the log from the last startup

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--- Opening Log file [December 20 15:33:46 UTC] 


# Windows SMP Console Edition #################################################
###############################################################################

                       Folding@Home Client Version 6.30

                          http://folding.stanford.edu

###############################################################################
###############################################################################

Launch directory: D:\Applications\FaH
Executable: D:\Applications\FaH\fah6.exe
Arguments: -smp 

[15:33:46] - Ask before connecting: No
[15:33:46] - User name: Pharaoh (Team 97103)
[15:33:46] - User ID: C6D19347109EA64
[15:33:46] - Machine ID: 1
[15:33:46] 
[15:33:46] Loaded queue successfully.
[15:33:46] 
[15:33:46] + Processing work unit
[15:33:46] Core required: FahCore_a3.exe
[15:33:46] Core found.
[15:33:46] Working on queue slot 02 [December 20 15:33:46 UTC]
[15:33:46] + Working ...
[15:33:46] 
[15:33:46] *------------------------------*
[15:33:46] Folding@Home Gromacs SMP Core
[15:33:46] Version 2.22 (Mar 12, 2010)
[15:33:46] 
[15:33:46] Preparing to commence simulation
[15:33:46] - Ensuring status. Please wait.
[15:33:56] - Looking at optimizations...
[15:33:56] - Working with standard loops on this execution.
[15:33:56] - Previous termination of core was improper.
[15:33:56] - Files status OK
[15:33:56] - Expanded 763749 -> 1404481 (decompressed 183.8 percent)
[15:33:56] Called DecompressByteArray: compressed_data_size=763749 data_size=1404481, decompressed_data_size=1404481 diff=0
[15:33:56] - Digital signature verified
[15:33:56] 
[15:33:56] Project: 6701 (Run 16, Clone 38, Gen 98)
[15:33:56] 
[15:33:56] Entering M.D.
[15:34:02] Using Gromacs checkpoints
[15:34:09] Resuming from checkpoint
[15:34:09] Verified work/wudata_02.log
[15:34:09] Verified work/wudata_02.trr
[15:34:09] Verified work/wudata_02.xtc
[15:34:09] Verified work/wudata_02.edr
[15:34:09] Completed 25980 out of 2000000 steps  (1%)
[16:45:52] Completed 40000 out of 2000000 steps  (2%)
[17:29:59] Completed 60000 out of 2000000 steps  (3%)
[18:09:31] Completed 80000 out of 2000000 steps  (4%)
[18:49:12] Completed 100000 out of 2000000 steps  (5%)
[19:28:09] Completed 120000 out of 2000000 steps  (6%)
[20:06:58] Completed 140000 out of 2000000 steps  (7%)
[20:43:57] Completed 160000 out of 2000000 steps  (8%)
[21:20:41] Completed 180000 out of 2000000 steps  (9%)
[21:57:11] Completed 200000 out of 2000000 steps  (10%)
[22:33:38] Completed 220000 out of 2000000 steps  (11%)
[23:10:17] Completed 240000 out of 2000000 steps  (12%)
[23:47:06] Completed 260000 out of 2000000 steps  (13%)
[00:23:52] Completed 280000 out of 2000000 steps  (14%)
[01:01:02] Completed 300000 out of 2000000 steps  (15%)
[01:38:01] Completed 320000 out of 2000000 steps  (16%)
[02:15:03] Completed 340000 out of 2000000 steps  (17%)
[02:52:07] Completed 360000 out of 2000000 steps  (18%)
[03:29:26] Completed 380000 out of 2000000 steps  (19%)
[04:06:12] Completed 400000 out of 2000000 steps  (20%)
[04:44:54] Completed 420000 out of 2000000 steps  (21%)
[05:46:42] Completed 440000 out of 2000000 steps  (22%)
[07:00:45] Completed 460000 out of 2000000 steps  (23%)
[07:44:15] Completed 480000 out of 2000000 steps  (24%)
[08:25:18] Completed 500000 out of 2000000 steps  (25%)

Folding@Home Client Shutdown at user request.

Folding@Home Client Shutdown.

[Bobcat]

Project 6701 is worth 921 points without a bonus. 550 PPD is 0.6 work units per day, which means it shold take 40 hours to complete the work unit or 24 minutes to complete 1%. That's not unreasonable given your CPU clock speed.

However, I see by your log file that you're running very slowly. 1% is taking 1.3 hours. You won't meet the deadline of 4.9 days to complete the work unit.

My i7-860 desktop can do 1% of project 6701 in 12 minutes, and that's with only 6 threads.

To figure out what's wrong, I suggest that you start with:
1. Only run the SMP client.
2. Check your temperatures. Maybe you're overheating and the CPU clock is being slowed down.
3. Use -smp 6 to free up a couple threads for other tasks. If one thread in the SMP client gets slowed down by something else, all the threads are affected.

See how that goes and proceed from there.

[Pharaoh]

I checked with CPU-Z

with the -smp 6 flag, my cores are running at 133 x 14 = 1861 Mhz
and i have 4x2GB ram @ 667 Mhz each
Also my temperatures are well within limit (~70 C)

right now i am not running the gpu client (gpu3 beta client), but the time per % doesn't seem to have improved

UPDATE - I restarted my system and only ran the smp client with -smp 6, the time per % is down from 1 hour to ~15 mins !!
I will try with -smp 7 and gpu client running... or should i go for -smp 6 + gpu?

what is the best advised configuration?

[Bobcat]

I'm not familiar with the Nvidia GPU client (I use ATI). It also depends if you use the PC for other things at the same time. If so, I would try smp 6 + GPU. That will leave one HT thread for watching videos, browsing the Net, etc. If the PC is used exclusively for folding, you could try smp 7 + GPU.

I use smp 6 + ATI GPU. That works well for me. It also keeps my temperatures around 70 C.

If you can do 1% (it's called a "frame") in 15 minutes, that project would earn ~3900 PPD with the bonus.

[PantherX]

...UPDATE - I restarted my system and only ran the smp client with -smp 6, the time per % is down from 1 hour to ~15 mins !!
I will try with -smp 7 and gpu client running... or should i go for -smp 6 + gpu?...

If you use your laptop for normal tasks, then -smp 7 is good enough as it leaves a thread for all your daily applications to function. You can also use the GPU to fold. Since the GPU is an Nvidia one, it will use very little CPU cycles so that isn't an issue. Do remember to keep an eye on the CPU/GPU temperatures. If you have some free time, you can compare the TPF of same Projects using -smp 7 and -smp 6 and which ever gives the lowest, stick with that. Do note that there is a known issue with FahCore_a3 where if CPU cycles are "stolen" from it, the WU folding will slow-down in a non-linear fashion.

I'm not familiar with the AMD GPU client (I use ATI)...

Not sure what you mean but AMD and ATI are now the "same" company. The GPU2 Client and GPU3 BETA Client can work with a huge range of GPUs from Nvidia and AMD/ATI without significant issues. However, when it comes to the performance of folding, AMD/ATI GPUs are significantly behind Nvidia and it is due to the way FahCore_11 is being implemented on the GPUs. Hence it need a thread to constantly "feed" data to the GPU which explains your -smp X flag. However, it has been stated that FahCore_16 is being worked on by PG so it is expected to be more optimized then the current FahCore_11 for AMD/ATI GPUs.

[Bobcat]

I meant to say I'm not familiar with the Nvidia client. I actually use the GPU3 client with ATI.

[Pharaoh]

Ok, i will try with smp -7 + gpu client.

BTW i can edit the cfg file with a notepad, or will that cause some problem??
too lazy to to start wth -configonly and go all the way

PS - would it be better to run it in linux, or windows??
Cause i have no problem in running in either OS

PS2 - The laptop that i a running FaH is my normal use laptop, but it remains online all through the night doing nothing (thats what i want everyone to think, but really it doesnt do anything CPU/GPU intensive)
So is there a way to alternate between 6 cores and 7 cores in the smp client?

Also how should i shut down the smp client? If i press the cross button, when i start next time, it says improper shut down of core detected :/

[Qinsp]

-configonly saves all your settings that you don't want to change, just hit enter on most fields.

[uncle fuzzy]

Ok, i will try with smp -7 + gpu client.

BTW i can edit the cfg file with a notepad, or will that cause some problem??
too lazy to to start wth -configonly and go all the way

No, don't try to edit the file. Even though you can open and look at it, it is NOT a text file.

The only way to change it that does not run the risk of totally borking the client is to run -configonly.

[PantherX]

...Also how should i shut down the smp client? If i press the cross button, when i start next time, it says improper shut down of core detected :/

You Ctrl+C the CLI Window is the preferred method. However, I can occasionally use the X Button and nothing bad happens (YMMV). Regarding the improper termination, it is a cosmetic error and can be ignored (Details).

[Bobcat]

So is there a way to alternate between 6 cores and 7 cores in the smp client?

I enter the -smp switch in the shortcut, not the client config, so I can simply edit the shortcut or have two different shortcuts.

From a practical standpoint, once you find the right number, you won't be changing it much.

Shut down the client by typing ctrl-c. You'll still get that error message the next time you start up.

[Pharaoh]

BTW, the GPU client has a weird probem, if i let is auto start at windows boot, it runs perfectly, but if i start i manually it give an error about some cudart32.dll file missing and then exists giving a critical error warning, i have Nvidia 290.6 drivers installed.
Do I need to install anything else also, for the cuda to work properly?