The computer is a P4 with Hyper Threading. It will run only during the night as during the day the computer is too loud to use
Thanks for your help
couple more quick notes then... i'll assume running 2000/xp, if not let me know... will anyone need to use the system while it's folding? guessing not since you said at night, but hate to help you saturate the computer and then have you need to check email in a hurry!
other point is my suggestions will be based on personal experience. if someone has a better recommendation, please jump in. i am always looking for better ways to do this as well! so on with a report of what i have found...
background: 2 identical compaq p4/3ghz ht/800mhz fsb/1gb ram systems. installed only 1 client on the first at 100% running 24/7, and 2 clients on the second both at 98% running 24/7.
first thing i noticed was the task manager on the single client only showing 50% cpu usage. not actually true, but that was the display in task manager. the dual client was showing around 96% cpu usage in task manager. hyperthreading is a clever accounting trick if you will. one physical core (in door), but two virtual processors (out doors). in this case 1 + 1 = 1, but it helps with overhead, traffic, media threaded apps, etc.
second observation was that the single client machine was totally usable, responsive, opened/closed windows quickly, etc. the dual client machine was barely usable, not very responsive, long time to redraw the screen, etc.
last observation was the heat/cooling situation. these were nice quality towers, decent oem fan setup, no hardware changes made, and folding in an office environment. the single client ran fine, reasonably quiet/cool, and i saw no problems. the dual client maxed out the fans, ran just under the never exceed intel temps, and acted like it was at the end of its rope, couldn't keep up with the work, and was going to melt down.
ran for 1 month this way, and at the end, both survived, but i had a noisy cpu fan on the dual client box after the solid month. over the month run, i saw very little points difference between the two... less than 200 points if i remember right. here in the states, 'emachine' are crap entry level boxes. i think 2 clients on an p4/3ghz emachine would kill the box very quickly for perspective.
so, long story, but my suggestion would be to run one 5.04 client at 100% unless this is a badass, super cooled, server class machine that can take the abuse. dead computers don't finish work units very well or very often...
you mentioned 'trying to run the app a second time', so do you have one client installed and running now, or did you need help getting that set up? happy to help, answer questions, or whatever, just want to give correct advice! thanks.
