It's Folding@Home season again!

[techfreak85]

http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/images/Fold003.png
Once again, ladies and gentlemen, cool weather has started to descend upon the northern hemisphere again, and for some of us who maybe took a break from folding during the heat of the summer, it means it's time to kick those protein simulations into high gear!

If you are unfamiliar, Folding@Home is a distributed computing project that utilizes unused CPU and GPU power from around the world to simulate how proteins "fold" in an attempt to cure diseases like cancer, ALS, and Alzheimer's.
If you wan't more information about Folding@Home, look at the project's official website (http://folding.stanford.edu/), this (slightly outdated) FAQ (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=21908), or just ask in this subforum.

Let this thread serve as both a place to share your plans for folding this winter, and as a rallying cry/call to arms/revitalization of the team as we kick off a great new season of folding!

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I have started folding again on my i7 Hackintosh for the past week or two. I started with SMP units, then installed Ubuntu under virtualbox to run bigadvs. Tonight, I tried putting on my first OC of the season. Aiming for 4ghz.:D We will see how stable it is. Hope it makes it through the night! If I can't get it stable, I'll back it down to 3.8, which has consistently worked well for me in the past.

One nice thing about folding in a VM is that even if the host OS restarts or crashes, the VM state is saved. Haven't lost a unit yet when running under a VM. I have been able to reboot freely and not have to worry about loosing a delicate bigadv! Haven't noticed too much of a decrease in performance due to VM over head. VirtualBox seems to be pretty efficient and using a Linux distro with no GUI probably helps!

I also upgraded to 24GB of RAM (:o) this summer, so no more worrying about bigadvs eating up my available RAM!:D

Do share your setups and any new hardware you plan to use! Fold on!

[twoodcc]

dang that's a lot of RAM!! glad you got VMs working good for you.

i recently started folding with 1 gpu a couple of weeks ago, and i just started with another gpu tonight.

once the cold is here to stay (and it might be now), i'll fire up my other pc and fold with it also. i don't know if i'll run the bigadv units this time, but we'll see.

[techfreak85]

dang that's a lot of RAM!! glad you got VMs working good for you.

i recently started folding with 1 gpu a couple of weeks ago, and i just started with another gpu tonight.

once the cold is here to stay (and it might be now), i'll fire up my other pc and fold with it also. i don't know if i'll run the bigadv units this time, but we'll see.

Do you still have the first gen i7 PC? Could put out some good numbers. It's too bad that bigadvs took a hit in amount of bonus points awarded, but I guess it does help keep things fair. They still are the best for getting lots of points if you can run them!

[thormarketing]

Is it possible to run native in Lion? I would if I could!

[techfreak85]

Is it possible to run native in Lion? I would if I could!

Yes it is for normal units, but not for the special bidadv units (yet). But this is not too big of an issue because bigadvs require a rather fast computer to run 24/7 to meet the deadline for bonus points.

[thormarketing]

Yes it is for normal units, but not for the special bidadv units (yet). But this is not too big of an issue because bigadvs require a rather fast computer to run 24/7 to meet the deadline for bonus points.

I'm (trying) to run it on a 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Xeon. The System Preferences pane claims it is running, but unfortunately I am seeing a 100% Idle processor.

Edit: I ended up creating a Passkey. It seems to be working now.

[thormarketing]

Anyone know why is MiniUsage and Activity Monitor reporting 16 cores? Seems like a weird quirk.

[techfreak85]

I'm (trying) to run it on a 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Xeon. The System Preferences pane claims it is running, but unfortunately I am seeing a 100% Idle processor.

Edit: I ended up creating a Passkey. It seems to be working now.
Do you have the correct smp argument? Should be -smp 16.

Anyone know why is MiniUsage and Activity Monitor reporting 16 cores? Seems like a weird quirk.

Hyperthreading. Each physical core shows up as two virtual cores.

[thormarketing]

Thanks TechFreak. Just added "-smp 16" to the "Extra parameters:" section. Hope it helps.

[twoodcc]

Do you still have the first gen i7 PC? Could put out some good numbers. It's too bad that bigadvs took a hit in amount of bonus points awarded, but I guess it does help keep things fair. They still are the best for getting lots of points if you can run them!

yeah i still have it. i'm not running any bigadv units yet. i might crank up another machine this weekend though. i haven't kept up with the newer clients. i guess i'll do some research when i have time

[twoodcc]

we need people talking again on here about fah so we can keep our team going strong!

i've added another computer folding with 2 x gpus and a cpu

[techfreak85]

we need people talking again on here about fah so we can keep our team going strong!

i've added another computer folding with 2 x gpus and a cpu

Wonderful! Should give us a nice boost! Are you sticking with standard SMP units, or going for bigadvs?

After initial trouble, I finally found the time to get my OC stable. Running solid at 3.8Ghz. Stanford is "moving some stuff around on their servers", so there is a bit of a bigadv drought right now, so when those come back online, I should be cranking out bigadvs again!

[twoodcc]

Wonderful! Should give us a nice boost! Are you sticking with standard SMP units, or going for bigadvs?

After initial trouble, I finally found the time to get my OC stable. Running solid at 3.8Ghz. Stanford is "moving some stuff around on their servers", so there is a bit of a bigadv drought right now, so when those come back online, I should be cranking out bigadvs again!

nice!

i'm not doing bigadvs units this time. trying to save at least a little on my power bill. but i'm running the advmethods units, not the regular smp units. so i still get some bonus points.

and i just added 2 more gpus to folding. maybe another cpu after i see how this system runs

[techfreak85]

nice!

i'm not doing bigadvs units this time. trying to save at least a little on my power bill. but i'm running the advmethods units, not the regular smp units. so i still get some bonus points.

and i just added 2 more gpus to folding. maybe another cpu after i see how this system runs

How would a bigadv use more power? Isn't 100% CPU use still 100% use?

[CRIIM44]

Turned Einstein@home back on on my iMac almost a month ago and joined the macrumors team. Once I get more ram in my Mac pro I plan to turn it on there as well.

I've been trying to find a decent solution to circulate air in my cabinet with the ps3 so I can run that as well but currently it gets way to hot while running for me to leave it on for an extended period.

[techfreak85]

Turned Einstein@home back on on my iMac almost a month ago and joined the macrumors team. Once I get more ram in my Mac pro I plan to turn it on there as well.

I've been trying to find a decent solution to circulate air in my cabinet with the ps3 so I can run that as well but currently it gets way to hot while running for me to leave it on for an extended period.

Any way we could convert you to folding@home instead?:D

[twoodcc]

How would a bigadv use more power? Isn't 100% CPU use still 100% use?

to run bigadv units, i have to overclock quite a bit to make the deadline. i'm not overclocked anymore, or if i am, it's not much. this saves power.

and on 2 systems, i'm just running GPUs.

Turned Einstein@home back on on my iMac almost a month ago and joined the macrumors team. Once I get more ram in my Mac pro I plan to turn it on there as well.

I've been trying to find a decent solution to circulate air in my cabinet with the ps3 so I can run that as well but currently it gets way to hot while running for me to leave it on for an extended period.

nice! can we get you on our folding@home team? they are both for a great cause.

Any way we could convert you to folding@home instead?:D

+1!

[techfreak85]

to run bigadv units, i have to overclock quite a bit to make the deadline. i'm not overclocked anymore, or if i am, it's not much. this saves power.

In my vm client I am able to meet the bonus point deadline even when at stock speeds. Maybe the linux client is more efficient even with the vm overhead?

[Sweetfeld28]

I found a new version which is OPEN BETA, but is 64 bit for OS X and few of the other supported OS's...


Folding Blog/Download Link Page (http://folding.typepad.com/news/2011/03/client-version-7-now-in-open-beta.html)



I don't like the fact it is a separate app now, in stead of being just a preference pane app. The GUI is quirky too, FYI.

[CRIIM44]

to run bigadv units, i have to overclock quite a bit to make the deadline. i'm not overclocked anymore, or if i am, it's not much. this saves power.

and on 2 systems, i'm just running GPUs.



nice! can we get you on our folding@home team? they are both for a great cause.



+1!

Any way we could convert you to folding@home instead?:D

installing on my mac pro as we speak my iMac would probably have a conniption if i tried to run folding along side BOINC

Whats the team # though all i see for macrumors is:
http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=47628

edit: this looks more like it: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=3446

[techfreak85]

installing on my mac pro as we speak my iMac would probably have a conniption if i tried to run folding along side BOINC

Whats the team # though all i see for macrumors is:
http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=47628

edit: this looks more like it: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=3446

Yes it's 3446. Make sure to get a passkey too!

[CRIIM44]

Yes it's 3446. Make sure to get a passkey too!

nvmd found it

[techfreak85]

nvmd found it

Here (http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/getpasskey.py)
They will email you it which you will enter in the client configuration.

[CRIIM44]

Here (http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/getpasskey.py)
They will email you it which you will enter in the client configuration.

i'm brain dead today...
now from some searching looks like i'll wait this one out a little while:
[20:08:34] + No appropriate work server was available; will try again in a bit.
[20:08:34] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[20:08:34] - Attempt #7 to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.

[twoodcc]

In my vm client I am able to meet the bonus point deadline even when at stock speeds. Maybe the linux client is more efficient even with the vm overhead?

hmm, which processor do you have?

I found a new version which is OPEN BETA, but is 64 bit for OS X and few of the other supported OS's...


Folding Blog/Download Link Page (http://folding.typepad.com/news/2011/03/client-version-7-now-in-open-beta.html)



I don't like the fact it is a separate app now, in stead of being just a preference pane app. The GUI is quirky too, FYI.

thanks for the heads up!

[techfreak85]

hmm, which processor do you have?


The 920. Don't you have that one too?

[CRIIM44]

should it take this long for mine to connect? now on attempt 13

[techfreak85]

should it take this long for mine to connect? now on attempt 13

No it shouldn't. What additional parameters have you set? It could be possible their server is having issues tho.

[CRIIM44]

No it shouldn't. What additional parameters have you set? It could be possible their server is having issues tho.

I added -advmethods after it failed the first few times

edit: looks like i'm up and running

[twoodcc]

The 920. Don't you have that one too?

yep i've got the same one. so running at stock 2.66 ghz you are making the deadline?

I added -advmethods after it failed the first few times

edit: looks like i'm up and running

yeah i'm just running -advmethods right now also. i might give bigadv units a try later

[techfreak85]

yep i've got the same one. so running at stock 2.66 ghz you are making the deadline?

I was able to. Bigadvs are a little scarce right now, so even if you wanted to try it, you probably wouldn't get one. I haven't gotten one in a while now.

[twoodcc]

I was able to. Bigadvs are a little scarce right now, so even if you wanted to try it, you probably wouldn't get one. I haven't gotten one in a while now.

yeah i think i'll stick to what i've got going for now.

btw, one of my systems that's folding is now hooked up to my new 70" Sharp LED HDTV!! :D it's a monster!

[lozanoj83]

I have a questionfor you guys. Last week I finished folding a project, and received a new one to fold. However, my core has been transitioning now for a while. I removed the folding@home preference, cleaned out the library and reinstalled it, but it still isn't folding. Any ideas?

[techfreak85]

I have a questionfor you guys. Last week I finished folding a project, and received a new one to fold. However, my core has been transitioning now for a while. I removed the folding@home preference, cleaned out the library and reinstalled it, but it still isn't folding. Any ideas?
By cleaning out your library you mean that you deleted Homefolder/folding@home? Make sure to stop FAH, delete the entire folder, and start folding again. You will have to put in your settings and info again.

[lozanoj83]

Tried that already and nada.

[techfreak85]

Is this machine at work/school? Could there be some sort of Draconian firewall blocking it? Have you tried the command line version of the client?

[lozanoj83]

I do live at my University, but i've been folding while living here so i'm unsure as to what's going on.

Sadly I dont know if a firewall is in place or not, but I find it weird it just happened one weekend to a next. Think you can guide me with the CLI client?

[rwh202]

Think you can guide me with the CLI client?

Hi, I posted a guide a while back for setting up the v6 CLI client that should still be relevant:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12063370#post12063370

I think it is still the best bet for running on Mac, although the v7 GUI beta is seemingly quite stable as well (I never got on well with the v6 pref-pane version)

Any problems, let me know!

[lordonuthin]

dang that's a lot of RAM!! glad you got VMs working good for you.

i recently started folding with 1 gpu a couple of weeks ago, and i just started with another gpu tonight.

once the cold is here to stay (and it might be now), i'll fire up my other pc and fold with it also. i don't know if i'll run the bigadv units this time, but we'll see.

Hey folks, whats up? I just started up again after quite a while off. right now I've got my macpro 16 core nehalem and a gpu with a 980x probably won't run anything else for a while at least. Might try a VM with Ubuntu on the mac... wonder if there will be a new mac pro next year? or another hackintosh to go into my g5 case.

[techfreak85]

Hey folks, whats up? I just started up again after quite a while off. right now I've got my macpro 16 core nehalem and a gpu with a 980x probably won't run anything else for a while at least. Might try a VM with Ubuntu on the mac... wonder if there will be a new mac pro next year? or another hackintosh to go into my g5 case.

16 physical or logical cores?! :eek: Is it an aftermarket processor? Either way, you could run the new bigadvs in a vm come January! Virtual Box has worked well for me for folding on Ubuntu server.

[twoodcc]

Hey folks, whats up? I just started up again after quite a while off. right now I've got my macpro 16 core nehalem and a gpu with a 980x probably won't run anything else for a while at least. Might try a VM with Ubuntu on the mac... wonder if there will be a new mac pro next year? or another hackintosh to go into my g5 case.

glad to have you back! i'm not sure about a new mac pro, but there's some new stuff out for a new build!

16 physical or logical cores?! :eek: Is it an aftermarket processor? Either way, you could run the new bigadvs in a vm come January! Virtual Box has worked well for me for folding on Ubuntu server.

i'm wondering the same thing

[lordonuthin]

16 physical or logical cores?! :eek: Is it an aftermarket processor? Either way, you could run the new bigadvs in a vm come January! Virtual Box has worked well for me for folding on Ubuntu server.

16 logical cores, it's a standard 2.66ghz 2009 dual cpu.

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16 physical or logical cores?! :eek: Is it an aftermarket processor? Either way, you could run the new bigadvs in a vm come January! Virtual Box has worked well for me for folding on Ubuntu server.

I will have to try Virtualbox with Ubuntu.

[techfreak85]

16 logical cores, it's a standard 2.66ghz 2009 dual cpu.

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I will have to try Virtualbox with Ubuntu.

Yea, just remember to give the VM 16 cores in its settings.