Folding Forum

Hello guys,

I'm new and only just found out about the project. I just have a few questions about trying to get the most out of my machine.

*Firstly is it a case of choosing only the GPU or CPU version? Can you run both at the same time or is it best to stick to one.

*Does having the "display" window open mean it works faster than normal? I seem to notice the amount of work done increase when the window is open.

* On the GPU version if I close the display window and open it again it seems to reset the counter. Does this mean I need to only have it open \ closed for it to do it's thing through to completion?

* How often do team details get updated. Is it once per completed work unit? Once per day etc etc.

Just a few small questions. Thought you'd be able to help.

Thanks so much.

Oh yes, and also sometimes the DISPLAY model runs really quick but then after about 6 seconds it slows down again.

Izual_Rebirth wrote:Hello guys,

I'm new and only just found out about the project. I just have a few questions about trying to get the most out of my machine....

It is a violation of forun rules/policy to multi-post the same message in separate forums, please don't do it again!

Just figured I'd have more luck getting it answered. Things don't seem to be moving too fast at the moment!

I won't do it again though. Sorry.

Any answers though while you're here?

Izual_Rebirth wrote:Firstly is it a case of choosing only the GPU or CPU version? Can you run both at the same time or is it best to stick to one.

I believe it depends on whether you are running the ATI or the NVIDIA client. I've read the ATI client takes up a lot of CPU resources, so if you only have a single-core CPU, you will have to choose (GPU is better though). However, if you run the NVIDIA client, which takes up very little resources, then you can run both clients side by side.

Izual_Rebirth wrote:Does having the "display" window open mean it works faster than normal? I seem to notice the amount of work done increase when the window is open.

The display is broken, so don't use it. In fact, having the display open siphons away a lot of CPU and GPU resources. Use something like FahMon to monitor your clients if needed.

Izual_Rebirth wrote:How often do team details get updated. Is it once per completed work unit? Once per day etc etc.

Stats are updated for about 1 hour every 3 hours.

You can use the CPU client in parallel with the GPU even with ATI, but you'll have to make some settings first, to reduce core's load.
You can monitor your stats at any time at Extreme OC.

While the ATI client definitely takes up resources, it's not always to the point where the CPU client is ineffective. I installed a 3850 over the winter being fed by a 3.0 GHz P4. On the 248x projects, the CPU client had been doing around 240 PPD without GPU2 running; with GPU2 running, it went down to around 120 PPD. This isn't as big of a problem with the uniprocessor client vs. the SMP client since the uni has much longer deadlines. With the SMP client, though, GPU2 could potentially slow down SMP to the point where deadlines are missed.

Zagen30 wrote:With the SMP client, though, GPU2 could potentially slow down SMP to the point where deadlines are missed.

As with many things, this depends on your CPU/GPU speeds.

I run a Intel Q6600 (Quad OC'd to 2.9) and an ATI HD4850, and have never had a problem with the GPU causing the SMP client to miss a deadline.

Well, yeah, clock speeds do play a part, hence why I used the word "potentially." It also depends on the WU; for instance, you're probably not going to miss the deadlines for project 2665 because it's 6 days preferred/6 days final, and even on a slowish dual-core like my 2.0 GHz C2D I still do it in about a third that time. But other SMP units, like some of the 306x's (used to get them occasionally, haven't seen any in months), have shorter deadlines and/or take proportionally longer to complete. I know I missed a few of the preferred deadlines on the 306x's, even without any GPU client, so the GPU2 could have an effect.