I'm neeeeew so some advice would be nice

[mojoinaboxx]

I am currently running

AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0 cpu
4 gigs of ripjaw 1333 ram
and have a gtx 460 ssc 1 gig edition video card (EVGA)




I downloaded the cpu client of FAH Folding@Home Client Version 6.23 (Should I be running the GPU Client instead?)
its been running for over 2 days and is a little over halfway with my first job the cpu is only utilizing 25% towards the program even when Im doing nothing on my sysytem. (Is this Normal?)
also I have tried the slider bar to try and kick up cpu usage when I am not doing anything (Like when I am sleeping) so maybe the jobs will get done faster (any tips on getting this to work?)


I am sure these questions have been answered somewhere in these forums but I can only look for so long without getting frustrated lol


looking forward to your replies and to more folding!!

[MtM]

Welcome mojoinaboxx!

Why not jump on board with the V7 beta client, it makes folding allot easier

You can read on how to install it here -> http://folding.stanford.edu/English/WinGuide

[Napoleon]

Welcome to the forum, mojoinaboxx.

its been running for over 2 days and is a little over halfway with my first job the cpu is only utilizing 25% towards the program even when Im doing nothing on my sysytem. (Is this Normal?)

Depends. Considering the "nee..w" in the topic, I assume you'd like to fold SMP WUs (Work Units) which automatically run on all of your four CPU cores, as opposed to running four separate uniprocessor clients. The 25% CPU utilization and your choice of client version indicates that you are running uniprocessor WUs. If that is indeed the case, a remedy is close at hand. EDIT: as MtM pointed out... was about to recommend v7 myself.

However, I'd like to start with a basic questionnaire...

1. Is your setup running - or meant to run - 24/7? (24 hours a day, 7 days a week)
2. Is it dedicated to folding?
3. If you answered "NO" to either 1 & 2, please specify why. Be as elaborate as you can, it helps (us)

Apologies for applying (near) binary logic to a your very human question(s). Alas, In order to give you any solid advice, we'd need to know more about your use cases and expectations of FAH.

[mojoinaboxx]

wow thanks for the quick replies ....

So what I am understanding with my current version of the program there is no way to increase the amount of resources dedicated to it . (am I coreect in my understanding?)

I am most willing to install a newer version of the program so that wont be a problem if I need to . (If the current job is not complete will it carry over to the new version?)

No I am not able to run 24 / 7 at full speed because the 25% does not in anyway slow my performance when I am using the machine .... currently I am able to do everything I want with no interference ( Such as gaming ) I run blackops with this program running and it doesnt seem to effect anything. But what I am wanting is the ability to be able to when I am sleeping for the 12+ hours I sleep after taking my meds is to be able to crank it up so more work gets done faster and then when I wake if I want to have some game play or watch some netflix or something to be able to dial it back a bit to the level its currently at so it could run 24/7 in theory . so if this is possible with version 7 please let me know . I love the theory behind this program and really want to contribute my system to the cause .

[MtM]

I would use V7, but it's possible to do the same with V6. V7 is easier since it's a single client which can control multiple 'slots' which are the actual computing applications.

25% cpu usage you see now is because you're running a classic work unit, which only uses one core of your cpu. When you install V7 I would choose smp which is a slot which uses as many cores as possible ( four in your case ).. You can still do your everyday tasks, the smp client will yield to other processes because it has a lower priority, and you would complete your assignments with plenty of time to spare since your pc will be on 24/7.

If you want to fold at full speed at night, add a slot for the gpu and turn it on when you stopped your daily gaming sessions, and when you wake up set the slot to finish so it doesn't download a new assignment after completing it's current one.

Gaming and running the gpu slot won't really work, but most games are ok with the smp client in the background for me at least.

The work does not get carried over, finish your current unit on v6 with the -oneunit argument before installing the new client if you so choose.

[mojoinaboxx]

awesome yes I have installed v7 and right off the bat it shot my cpu to 100% usage . I am finishing the current work unit before I really dig in with the new version though another day it will be done and still well early from due date so I am happy about that . I will definitly use the gpu at night I didnt know I could do that so that is an awesome feature. one thing I did notice when I installe v7 though was it had a pause button .... this did not work for me I pressed it after highlighting the job and it continued working as if I hit a dummy button lol ...maybe a bug with v7? and I did notice it yield to v6 which was running 25% and v7 took the remaining 75% so I do like that. Now after this job is done I hope I can get into this and go buckwild maybe get a job a day done would be nice concidering Im not real sure how the points thing works with evga and how they do their rewards program but Im sure it takes a lot of points lol . a topic for another thread in another subsection I am sure I will start being more frequent on here please dont mind my idiocy sometimes my brain doesnt keep up lol ....but thank you MtM for your help and you as well Napoleon you both were great in helping a nub like me !

[MtM]

You should be able to finish the v6 job and your current smp job but it's not the best way. Since you already have it configured as that I will only say you should make sure the v6 client does not download a new work unit after it finishes the current one ( use -oneunit like I said before ).

http://fahwiki.net/index.php/How_do_I_a ... _client%3F for the console client

For the systray client right click the icon and select 'pause when done'. Remove/uninstall the v6 client as you will no longer be needing it.

[derrickmcc]

awesome yes I have installed v7 and right off the bat it shot my cpu to 100% usage . I am finishing the current work unit before I really dig in with the new version though another day it will be done and still well early from due date so I am happy about that . I will definitly use the gpu at night I didnt know I could do that so that is an awesome feature. one thing I did notice when I installe v7 though was it had a pause button .... this did not work for me I pressed it after highlighting the job and it continued working as if I hit a dummy button lol ...maybe a bug with v7? and I did notice it yield to v6 which was running 25% and v7 took the remaining 75% so I do like that.

As you are still running v6 you need to stop it downloading another WU when it finishes the current one.
If you have not already done so, stop v6, then restart it in with the flag -oneunit

If you only have one client in v7 try using the Pause button at the top of the screen. Either way, when you pause a client, the status should change from Running to Paused, and there should be an entry in the log:

Code: Select all

19:12:13:Unit 00:Completed  14500000 out of 50000000 steps (29%).
19:12:17:Slot 01 paused
19:12:17:Slot 01: shutting core down
19:12:17:WARNING: FahCore not accepting gentle shutdown, killing
19:12:17:WARNING: Killing Unit 02
19:12:17:FahCore running Unit 02 exited
19:12:28:Slot 01 unpaused
19:12:28:Starting Unit 02

[mojoinaboxx]

ok thanks for the info on the -oneunit ...I'm using the systray one so I did the pause when done currently at 190/250 so another day it should be done .... I am not going to run v7 until this is complete I should have specified that sorry. I did tray out v7 for a few minutes to try and get a little familiar with it for when v6 finishes its current job and that is when I noticed the pause button did not work for me . I will try again when the v6 job is done so if I need more assistance I will let you know thanks again

[Jonazz]

If you will be running the SMP-client then consider getting a passkey. After 10 completed smp work units you will get bonus points for every WU you complete (these bonusses are higher the sooner you return the WU).

[Zagen30]

I think the pause button not working is because of a bug in the cores (the software that actually does the calculations). For some reason they don't get killed properly the first time v7 tries to shut them down, so they take a couple of minutes to close down on their own. After the first time, however, v7 figures out that they don't close on their own and kills them itself right away.

[mojoinaboxx]

ok so how do I go about getting a passkey?



Edit: Nevermind sorry I decided to not be lazy and went to the FAQ and found it lol

[Zagen30]

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/getpasskey.py

Request one, and then copy/paste it into the passkey field in Configure->Identity in v7.

[GreyWhiskers]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the user name when you register your passkey must EXACTLY match the one in the field in Configure->Identity in v7. This has tripped a number of people up.

[GreyWhiskers]

Now after this job is done I hope I can get into this and go buckwild maybe get a job a day done would be nice concidering Im not real sure how the points thing works with evga and how they do their rewards program but Im sure it takes a lot of points lol .

I wouldn't be surprised if you don't finish a typical Fermi GPU Work Unit in, say, 3.5 hours or even faster. If you only have the GPU client configured at night, you should get multiple of these WUs done. Could be faster, depending on your stable overclock.