Folding Forum

been hearing about the v7 beta, and wondering if i should switch. any performance improvements? is there a full feature comparison between the versions? and is it true that i can run all my clients from that one program?

If you have only one video card per PC, and a multi-core CPU, it is very nice!

hiigaran wrote:been hearing about the v7 beta, and wondering if i should switch. any performance improvements? is there a full feature comparison between the versions? and is it true that i can run all my clients from that one program?

Technically speaking the client does nothing to change performance; that depends entirely on which FahCore is use to process the WU. Nevertheless, there are some new projects and a new FahCore that can only be run with the V7 client. (That's really only important if you have an AMD HD5000 or greater.)

Yes, on installations where you have been running multiple V6 clients, you'll have a single V7 interface that manages them all -- though they're now called "slots" That interface, called FAHControl is much cleaner looking and it is MUCH easier to make changes to your configuration (if you ever have to do that).

The current V7 beta is in pretty good shape, but there sill are a few (mostly cosmetic) things that need to be fixed before it can be listed on the download page as the recommended client for new people. Things like errors in estimated PPD ought to be fixed, but they don't prevent it from being used. For someone who has been folding for a while, there will be a few things to learn (mostly because it LOOKS different on the surface) but you shouldn't have any real problems.

JimboPalmer wrote:If you have only one video card per PC, and a multi-core CPU, it is very nice!

Well, technically, there's no problem if you have multiple GPUs of the same TYPE. (V7 sill has about a 50% chance of needing some manual tweaking if you have two or more of the following four in the same machine: AMD HD5000 or greater, AMD older than HD5000, NVidia Fermi, NVidia older than Fermi, but considering the fact those combinations were virtually impossible in V6, that's a big step forward.)

From this thread viewtopic.php?f=67&t=19795 you'll notice that I was a little hesitant at first, but my concerns were soon resolved and now I'm happy testing it out. As Bruce said, there are a few bugs, but I'd say go for it. I'm not "recommending" it, just leaning in that direction. It's development is moving on, and I'm based on statements from the developers there's a good chance it will be released as a beta client within a month, but we'll see.

hiigaran, since you are considering the switch to V7, then I recommend you make the switch.

Almost everybody but the die-hard command line simplicity loving users prefer V7 after having tried it.

I recommend the current V7 beta client for everyone.

hiigaran wrote:been hearing about the v7 beta, and wondering if i should switch. any performance improvements? is there a full feature comparison between the versions? and is it true that i can run all my clients from that one program?

One more note. Not only can you run all your clients on one machine, but if you have them netted in a local area net, you can control all of the v7 clients from any of the installations.

I'm folding 4 PCs on my local net, and due to a couple of issues not worth mentioning here, only three of them have v7 clients
- an old Pent 4/HT single core Windows XP that runs v7 with one Uniprocessor and one GPU slot
- an old Toshiba laptop with Windows XP that runs v7 with one single Uniprocessor slot
- a new i7 2860 laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium that runs v7 with one SMP slot (it also has a GTX560M GPU that isn't whitelisted, so I'm also running the GPU on v6 just until an upcoming release whitelists that GPU)

Now, as set up, I can view on any of the computers all 4 of the v7 slots on any of the 3 computers on the LAN, and even better, can control any of the 4 v7 slots from any of the v7 computers.

For windows, v7 isn't bad, like others have posted, it's pretty much cosmetic issues. On a mac, v7 is a pile of crap. Lots more than cosmetic issues going on there. Can't speak for linux, since I don't currently have a box with linux on it.

Ravage7779 wrote:For windows, v7 isn't bad, like others have posted, it's pretty much cosmetic issues. On a mac, v7 is a pile of crap. Lots more than cosmetic issues going on there.

I have to agree with you on that one, but it's not too bad if you leave it running in the Dock. I can promise that the next beta of V7 for the Mac will be significantly better than the current one. I can't promise when that might be.

sorry for the late reply. been busy. forgot about this thread. anyway...the reason im hesitant to make the switch at this stage is because it means i either need to wait until all three of my clients complete their work units at roughly the same time, or lose out on progress. plus, i only want to make the swap if i get any kind of extra performance out of it, and since my suspicions were already confirmed with the fact that its FahCore that determines it, i think ill stick with the current version...for now, at least.

one thing that bugs me though is that my two command line GPU clients always open up on my primary screen. i can never get them to open up on my third screen in their respective corners like i would like them to. is there a way to fix this?

The easiest fix for opening up in different places is to forget it until you're ready to upgrade to V7. There will be only one screen for the combined client that displays the information for all three former "clients" (except that they will no longer be called that).

Whether you upgrade immediately or wait, there should be another upgrade to V7 "soon" (It was predicted for sometime in Dec. or Jan. and that probably gives us about a month or less.)

hiigaran wrote:...one thing that bugs me though is that my two command line GPU clients always open up on my primary screen. i can never get them to open up on my third screen in their respective corners like i would like them to. is there a way to fix this?

If you have a multi-monitor setup, then can't you drag the console window across to the other monitor? Personally, I have managed this by using virtual desktop (http://sourceforge.net/projects/windowspager/) and it has been great so far without causing any issues for me.

thats what i do. i drag it across, but it never remembers the location that i had it in. every other program i have has its location remembered. perhaps it is because it is command line based?

back to the topic of v7 - with current command line versions, i can have it set to run as a service, and therefore be invisible to me. can i do the same thing with v7, or will it always be minimised to the taskbar or systray?

and in case you are wondering, it is only my GPU clients that i keep visible, because i like to know whats going on with them, if and when they get EUEs

Vista/Windows 7 prohibit a service from using a gpu, so unless you're running Windows XP, you'll have to keep your gpu clients visible whether they use V6 or V7.

If I were in your shoes, I would upgrade my V6 service to a V7 service, leaving the V6 gpu clients alone for a while. That would allow you to get familiar with what V7 can do for CPUs/SMP before figuring out what it can do for GPUs. At the present time, that will require you to drain the service which can be a bit trickly since the -oneunit flag or the Pause-When-Done menu pick won't be available to your service. You may want to wait until https://fah-web.stanford.edu/projects/F ... ticket/729 is fixed.