Folding Forum

New to Folding at home ...

2 problems

1) Mac Mini Server with 2.6GHz upgrade, dual hard drives, 16GB memory, latest software but not running Server software.
Soon after installing/running FAH (taking the defaults) the fan came on, which was the first time I've ever heard it. It is still running after several hours ...

2) FAHViewer ran fine for a while, I resized it and now it displays snap shots 1.0 and 3.0 of the 4 screen shots. Changing settings, resizing, does not seem to make a difference.

The fan running full time is a major problem ... I had gotten used to my silent Mac Mini.

m.ozone

1) Folding@home uses your computer to do calculations, and this causes the CPU to heat up. In response, the fans rev up to keep everything cool. This is normal. Folding@home will continue to run for as long as you want. It will download a workunit, process it to completion (which can take a number of hours, depending on the workunit and the speed of your processor), will then upload the completed unit to the Stanford servers, and then repeat. If you're uncomfortable with the fan noise while your machine is in use, simply move the Folding Power slider to the left a notch or two and see how that changes things.

2) This is a known bug with FAHViewer. I'm not sure why it only displays odd-numbered snapshots. Hopefully that will be fixed in a later release. https://fah-web.stanford.edu/projects/F ... ticket/963

The default settings for a desktop machine will use all but one of the available cores/threads. I am assuming by your statement that you have the 2.6 GHz upgrade that you mean you bought a Mac Mini configured with the 2.6 GHz quad-core i7. In that case, you are using 7 out of the 8 threads available. Pausing folding by moving the slider to Off and then running with fewer threads by changing to the Light setting will use 4 threads, and should run a bit lower load.

The viewer does not need to be running, that will further reduce the load and heat that the fans are running to dissipate.

Further reduction in usage takes use of the advanced control FAHControl. You can configure the CPU folding slot to use even fewer threads by selecting Configure, then Slots and set the number for the CPU slot to 2 or 3 instead of -1. Then save the changes.

Also make sure all protective film has been removed from the exterior of the Mini. From what I have seen in the past, the film can block some of the cooling passages, increasing the need for the fan to run to cool the system.

There are some known glitches with the FAHViewer displaying the WU being folded. Some work is being done to fix those, but when an updated client will be released is not known.

thx

I will turn off some of the threads

m