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Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:16 am
by Stonecold
Assuming they are all running on the exact same hardware, which major operating systems process cores the fastest on an SMP client? The major operating systems I was thinking of are Windows 7, Mac OS (whatever the most recent version is), and Linux (Ubuntu 11.10). And would running the fastest OS in VirtualBox in Windows (assuming the fastest OS isn't Windows) be good or would Folding@home be too slow on a virtual machine?
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:16 am
by Ravage7779
Pick one you like and go with it. Whatever has a slight edge today, will be behind the curve tomorrow. The one thing about this project, is nothing stays the same. Virtual machines do incur an overhead hit, altho not a lethal one. But native on any platform will be better than virtual whatever running on top of whatever. The only virtual situation i would get into at this point, is gpu under wine running on linux.
if you plan on gpu folding at all, i would go windows. The PG's plans for gpu on anything but windows is in the "long term" range. So figure 5+ years to never for that to happen, so by the time some miracle happens and they come out with a non windows gpu client, you will be buying new hardware anyways.
If you are going to use the box while folding, go with whatever OS you like to use. If you are going to stick the box in a corner, and all its going to do is fold, go linux. If you are using the box, you will be checking on it periodically anyways, if not, linux is pretty much set it up, and never have to touch it again...ever.
*clink clink*
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:19 am
by Stonecold
I'm not wondering about the speed for the GPU client. All I'm running is the SMP one. I've heard that Linux is the fastest for a dedicated Folding@home machine when using only the CPU, but I'm not sure if it's entirely true.
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:28 am
by Jesse_V
I'd say that it depends on the cores available. See: viewtopic.php?f=44&t=20319&p=202272#p202272
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:31 am
by jimerickson
ravage7779 is right . fastest today means nothing. tomorrow it could be different. pick what you like so it will be enjoyable long term.
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:33 am
by Stonecold
Alright. I'll use Windows then.
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:18 am
by ChasR
Right now, the Linux SMP client is 20% faster than the Windows client on the same WU. Linux in a VM running under Windows is 15% faster than than native Windows SMP folding
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:21 am
by Stonecold
20%!? That's a lot! Does using Folding@home in a virtual machine use much more CPU percentage then Folding@home running normally?
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:39 am
by bruce
I have no data, but if ChasR's numbers are right, he's saying that running in a VM has a 5% overhead, reducing the +20% native Linux to +15% with Linux under Windows.
In the past, some people have suggested setting up a dual-boot system, but that's a bad idea (compared to running a VM continuously) because with dual-boot, you'll end up running one or the other almost all of the time.
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:57 pm
by ChasR
I'm confident my numbers are correct when you compare performance on the same WU. However, I do have one caveat. The mix of WUs you receive is different running Windows SMP and Linux SMP and between v7 and v6.34 and that will affect production due to project variability. As an example on p11040, Windows SMP has very high production, while Linux SMP doesn't receive that WU. In the end, the observed differrence over weeks or months will be higher or lower than 20% depending on WU assignment patterns. My testing was done on C2Qs and 2600Ks.
As for using Linux in a VM, the VM will show 99% CPU usage in Windows task manager. You have to be sure that the VM runs at idle priority when ungrabbed else it will interfere with windows apps and the GPU client.
I know everyone loves to see numbers to back up performance assertions, so here are some from a semi dedicated 2600K @ 4.8 GHz running Windows SMP, Linux in a VM, and Native Linux on p6901:
Code: Select all
Project ID: 6901
Core: GRO-A5
Credit: 7164
Frames: 100
Name: ChasR Big VM (2600 K @ 4.8)
Path: \\CHASR-Desktop\fah\
Number of Frames Observed: 300
Min. Time / Frame : 00:20:44 - 52,188 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:22:40 - 45,656 PPD
Name: HTPC 10.10 (2600 K @ 4.8)
Path: \\HTPC\FAH\
Number of Frames Observed: 300
Min. Time / Frame : 00:20:49 - 51,875 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:21:12 - 50,475 PPD
Name: HT-PC SMP (2600 K @ 4.8)
Path: \\Tmp-pc\fah\SMP\
Number of Frames Observed: 300
Min. Time / Frame : 00:24:27 - 40,753 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:24:44 - 40,055 PPD
Name: HTPC VM (2600 K @ 4.8)
Path: \\HTPC-UBUNTU\fah\
Number of Frames Observed: 300
Min. Time / Frame : 00:21:49 - 48,350 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:22:56 - 44,862 PPD
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:22 pm
by 7im
6901 was bigadv. Got numbers for regular SMP?
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:28 pm
by ChasR
I will have to make clean numbers or find a post where I published them as current results from my C2Qs are polluted by GPU folding. If I'm lucky, I'll have three similar rigs running different OSes on the same WU.
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:16 pm
by Stonecold
If I set the virtual machine to low priority, then can I change the priority of Folding@home in the virtual machine assuming all it'll be doing is folding?
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:00 pm
by ChasR
THe priority setting of the Client in the VM won't make a discernible difference in production if FAH is the only thing running in the VM.
Re: Fastest OS
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:14 pm
by ChasR
Here are some comparissons on Q6600s @ either 3.2 or 3.0 Ghz:
Code: Select all
Project ID: 7506
Core: GRO-A3
Credit: 706
Frames: 100
Name: CCH VM (q6600@3.0, + 2 GPU instances)
Path: \\Cch-ubuntu\cch fah\
Number of Frames Observed: 300
Min. Time / Frame : 00:06:29 - 9,648 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:06:32 - 9,537 PPD
Name: Cindi Win SMP (q6600@3.0 + 2 GPU instances, same machine as above)
Path: \\Cprcc-ws03\FAH\FAH SMP\
Number of Frames Observed: 100
Min. Time / Frame : 00:07:34 - 7,652 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:07:47 - 7,335 PPD
Name: COINS SRV4 (Q6600 @ 3.2, Native Ubuntu 10.04)
Path: \\Coins-srv4\fah\
Number of Frames Observed: 200
Min. Time / Frame : 00:05:54 - 11,113 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:05:56 - 11,020 PPD
Name: CR L 1 (q6600 @ 3.2, Native Ubuntu 10.10)
Path: \\Cr-l1\fah\
Number of Frames Observed: 300
Min. Time / Frame : 00:05:51 - 11,256 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:05:59 - 10,882 PPD
Name: Marie BO VM (q6600@3.2, + GPU)
Path: \\Mcbo-ubuntu\mcbo-fah\
Number of Frames Observed: 300
Min. Time / Frame : 00:06:02 - 10,747 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:06:20 - 9,992 PPD
Cur. Time / Frame : 00:06:44 - 9,087 PPD
R3F. Time / Frame : 00:06:43 - 9,118 PPD
All Time / Frame : 00:06:45 - 9,055 PPD
Eff. Time / Frame : 00:06:56 - 8,722 PPD
Name: Marie BO Win SMP (q6600@3.2+GPU)
Path: \\Abco-cahill\Marie2 FAH SMP\
Number of Frames Observed: 280
Min. Time / Frame : 00:07:06 - 8,418 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:07:13 - 8,215 PPD