Restarted Folding

[Mactin]

Hello.
After not folding for many years I just started again on my new M4 MacBookAir.
I'm currently working on my 4th WU.

In the good old times, the whole thing was run with a console on my PC. I could inject commands (some not recommended or suported), one of which instructed the folding engine to finish a WU and not start a new one. How do I do this on my mac while folding in a Firefox tab ?

I know folding is not recommended on a MacBookAir, it has no fan to control temperature. I will want to discontinue folding on the near future for the summer and dont want to "waste" a WU by stopping it after it started.

[muziqaz]

Click Pause icon and options will be given

[jonault]

When logged into the client web page (https://v8-4.foldingathome.org/machines) you should see a pause button for each of your folding computers as well as an overall pause button. When you press any of those it will ask if you want to finish the current work unit(s) before pausing.

[daiko]

I know folding is not recommended on a MacBookAir, it has no fan to control temperature.

I have an M2 Air that is folding on its 4 Performance Cores. Don’t worry about the lack of a fan, the machine will throttle CPU if necessary to maintain a safe operating temperature. Propping up the rear of the machine for some airflow underneath keeps it cool enough for good performance. I typically get at least 100K PPD with this config on most projects; I’m guessing you’ll get at least twice this with the M4.

[Mactin]

After a little more than a month of folding, the "drug" has hit me, in the good sense.

I have two more questions for the community.

1- Where on my Mac (Sequoia) can I find the log file ?
2- Is there a recommended Web site that I can refer to to setup a new folding rig that would cost 1k to 1.25K $us ?

Thank you all

[calxalot]

The log file can be seen by clicking the log icon in web control.

The log files are in /Library/Application Support/FAHClient/

[arisu]

After a little more than a month of folding, the "drug" has hit me, in the good sense.

I have two more questions for the community.

1- Where on my Mac (Sequoia) can I find the log file ?
2- Is there a recommended Web site that I can refer to to setup a new folding rig that would cost 1k to 1.25K $us ?

Thank you all

It's a pretty awesome drug isn't it?

I don't know about any websites specifically for folding rigs, but https://folding.lar.systems/ gives statistics on the PPD that each CPU and GPU produces (beware that the stats are sometimes way off), and https://https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ helps you pick compatible components assuming you're building the rig, which is much cheaper than buying one pre-built.

Prioritize folding on a GPU for a dedicated rig, although you can fold on the CPU at the same time. Something like an RTX 5070 is very powerful for its price. The 5070 Ti is even better if you can find one that is cheap enough or are willing to add just $200 more. The CPU and motherboard doesn't matter as much as long as it supports PCIe 3.0 or newer (i.e. anything that's not ancient). I'd recommend an AMD CPU anyway. Memory likewise isn't that important. You won't need more than 16 GB. The best OS to fold on is Linux. Ubuntu is a well-supported Linux distro and is easy to use.

Here's something I put together real quick from pcpartpicker with a 5070 that fits in your budget: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/93XBdb

[Mactin]

I would like for CPU and GPU folding to have their own Username and Passkey.

Is it possible to set up two clients on the same machine with each their own Username ?

In the past I did this with three computers with a suite of GPUs in each over time.
For example
Martin_i7-980x" for CPU folding and a series of GPUs in it (two at a time).
Martin_i7-980x_HD3650
Martin_i7-980x_HD5870
Martin_i7-980x_HD7790
Mactin_i7-980x_RX560

I even moved GPUs from one machine to the other
Martin_Q6600_GTS250
Martin_i7-875k_GTS250

The point is I could track everything thing going on separatly, and the official stats database still have records of everything.
Would I be able to do this NOW ?

Thanks

[muziqaz]

No.

[Joe_H]

Doing something like that was possible with the v7 client, slots could be configured with a different username set for each. As best as I can recall, that was doable still in v7.6.21. The v8 client does not have that option. It has been requested as an enhancement to the client - https://github.com/FoldingAtHome/fah-cl ... issues/262.

[appepi]

2- Is there a recommended Web site that I can refer to to setup a new folding rig that would cost 1k to 1.25K $us ?

Why build when you can buy a workstation like the one that is tempting me on eBay.AU, namely a HP Z4G4 workstation for AU$440. It is OK for W11 - unlike my other workstations - and has two PCIE3 16 (x16) slots for GPU's of your choice within its PSU limits ( 750W in this case). [Though when I look at eBay CA they all seem to be from south of the border with ridiculous shipping charges but still within your limit with enough left for one second-hand GPU. If you can find one with the 1000W PSU (always ask the vendor specifically) you can run a serious GPU.]

For GPU's see https://www.techspot.com/bestof/used-gpu-24/ for a September 2024 review of the used GPU market (n US$) and check Techspot for when they do their more or less annual update. Example:

Graphics cards are still very expensive, and one of the best ways to get a low-cost yet capable GPU is by turning to the second-hand market. Thousands of used graphics cards are changing hands every day, and in many cases, it's the only way to get a decent GPU for under $180. Today, we'll be looking extensively at the used market and breaking down the best options for buyers.

There are many places to buy a used GPU, but one of the best for gathering data is eBay, which has extensive price history for completed sales. In this article, we've taken the average price for the last 100 completed sales of each used graphics card model on eBay to determine the "typical" price. ...

Used graphics cards around $250 to $300
At around $300, we have the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB at $306, the RTX 3070 Ti at $311, and the RX 6800 at $312. The Radeon card is a clear standout, offering a small increase in rasterization performance over the 3070 Ti and double the VRAM at the same price.

Note that cards with low amounts of VRAM are unpopular for gamers but in my experience FaH doesn't use much anyway and certainly my 6GB GPUs are fine. Note the the HP Z-series generations are G1=Zx00 (eg Z800); G2: Zx20 (eg Z420); G3: Zx40 ( eg Z440); Zx G4, Zx G5. G3 and G4 have PCIE3, both with NVME boot but G3 has no dedicated M2 slot so my Z440s use a cheap 4 lane adaptor in a PCIe3 slot for a Samsung 970 EVO 1TB boot drive ( and switch between W10 and Ubuntu by swapping drives). ZxG5 goes to PCIe4 and general newer tech but they are an order of magnitude more expensive than G4 on eBay. The best time to buy is about 5 years after release, when the corporate leases run out, so the discards are usually clean and reliable and cheap from bulk purchasers who want quick turnaround. Edit: Note that the compact cases generally require the "turbo" versions of GPUs, with a single blower.

Edit: Also see https://www.greenpcgamers.com/upgrade-guides/ which is basically about turning quality old hardware into gaming devices - ie support platforms for powerful GPUs, which are what Fah likes best. Like their Z4G4 guide for example, at https://www.greenpcgamers.com/hp/hp-ddr ... ade-guide/

[appepi]

Well, I yielded to the temptation and bought some of those cheap Z4G4's while there was still a 20% discount for the end of the AU financial year. They come (next week) with W11 Pro, a Xeon W-2133, a Quadro P1000, 256GB NVME boot drive, 1TB heavy metal HDD, and a 12 month warranty. The 6 core/ 12 Thread W-2133 has GB6 performance comparable to the E5-1650 V3's in my Z440s, so I don't expect to fold with them, except to add a W-2133 to the LARS CPU list which currently lacks one. The 47W P1000s are roughly equivalent to a GTX1050 for folding purposes - about 280,000 PPD according to the LARS lists. 32GB of RAM should be fine.

The inevitable trap for young and old players was that I didn't fully appreciate the importance of the vendor's note that there was no front cooling fan and support housing - needed if you want to run a more powerful GPU. I figured to wing it and run (say) a 2060 on cool settings. But of course workstation land is a nanny state, and so it seems that as soon as you plug in Auxiliary power you will get a complaint at Boot time that you haven't got a fan, and that's where things stop. So now I've ordered fans, which adds about 20% to the price and cancels out the discount. Still a good deal, I think. Will post some performance when I get some.