Folding on P4 2.4ghz, FahCore wont go above 50% ??

Her computer probably is Hyper Threaded, meaning that it's one processor but it runs like there is two. So you need to set up another instance of folding with a machine ID of 2. Everything else can be set up the same. But make sure you use the -local flags on both instances when you run them. Are you setting it up to run as a service or in the startup items?

EDIT: and make sure you download a fresh fah4.exe file and seperate the two instances in seperate folders.

Did someone do something with the advanced prefs and set the max. cpu power to 50%? Check that first before setting up this hyper thingy!

you can also go into the task manager (ctrl-alt-del) and under the processes tab, find fahcore.exe, right click it, and set the priority to normal or aboveNormal. Don't set it to High or Realtime if you don't want your computer to crash tho.

also: during the configuration process, it asks how much of the processor's time to request. If this was set to 50, it will only get 50%

if the problem is indeed hyper threading, which i excpect it is, then u can turn it off in BIOS

i would research the benefits of hyper threading before doing this

I believe I've read somewhere that the benefits of HyperThreading on folding results in nearly a [EDIT: 20-33%] increase in points production [for that machine]. I have no evidence of this, as I only have one machine that has hyper threading and haven't yet figured out how to get it to run as a service with no extra cost of having to buy FireDaemon Pro. I've been trying to figure out the free way with srvany and what not, but have not been able to get it to work correctly yet.

Just my 2 cents.

Nanuq said:

I believe I've read somewhere that the benefits of HyperThreading on folding results in nearly a 20% increase in points production [for that machine]. I have no evidence of this, as I only have one machine that has hyper threading and haven't yet figured out how to get it to run as a service with no extra cost of having to buy FireDaemon Pro. I've been trying to figure out the free way with srvany and what not, but have not been able to get it to work correctly yet.

Just my 2 cents.

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I don't know if this works well but, http://www.shroomery.org/files/fahsi/

cjc343 said:

I don't know if this works well but, http://www.shroomery.org/files/fahsi/

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Already tried it, for one reason or another it would only start up one instance of folding. The other wouldn't start up, and then when I quit the instance, the other started up, kept doing that... I might try it again, I was really tired when I tried it, and now that I have a clear head, maybe I can get it to work...

cjc343 said:

also: during the configuration process, it asks how much of the processor's time to request. If this was set to 50, it will only get 50%

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Is there a way to do this in OS X? I really can't stand having my PB's fans running all the time. Thanks.

To my [limited] knowledge, there is not. In the windows CLI, it's part of the advanced setting when you config the client. This option is missing from the OS X CLI.

Again, there may be a way to do it another way, but I have no knowledge of it.

I don't think there is an easy way to do this on a mac. I doubt it would work if you copied your configuration file over from a Windows machine, but you might want to give it a try.

t^3 said:

Is there a way to do this in OS X? I really can't stand having my PB's fans running all the time. Thanks.

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If your are using the script of mc68k, you can do it in the advanced options. You can run your idles proc power at 50% for folding.

system idle processes only run when nothing else is running, so no, you are not getting maximum output.

Speed varies for different work units, although with Tinkers, Windows is faster because it can take advantages of things that Macs can't

The reason its only at 50% is because of the hyperthreading already mentioned. Starting up another instance isn't going to gain you anything because hyperthreading only works on two different type processes.

For example, if your cpu is already building a car (i.e. running folding@home) it can easily build a truck at the same time (i.e. encode an mp3), but it can't build another car because the car assembly line is already in use. Does this make sense?

My P4 2.4@3.2 is also only hitting 50% cpu usage when running folding@home. Don't sweat it, as you already found out, its going to be leaps and bounds above any G4 processor.

no. If you disable hyperthreading, you will double the processor power for folding when it's sitting idle.

question... what the hell is folding... and why is it done

this may sound like a dumb question to everyone here... but what is folding... and why are there teams... please give me details... i might want to join in... (i have 2 P4 computers... a 1.3ghz and a 2.6ghz and this pentium m 1.2ghz and we also have a dothan pentium m 2ghz in the house)

Soc7777777 said:

this may sound like a dumb question to everyone here... but what is folding... and why are there teams... please give me details... i might want to join in... (i have 2 P4 computers... a 1.3ghz and a 2.6ghz and this pentium m 1.2ghz and we also have a dothan pentium m 2ghz in the house)

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You should read this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/21908/

Soc7777777 said:

this may sound like a dumb question to everyone here... but what is folding... and why are there teams... please give me details... i might want to join in... (i have 2 P4 computers... a 1.3ghz and a 2.6ghz and this pentium m 1.2ghz and we also have a dothan pentium m 2ghz in the house)

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Folding is a distributed computing project that attempts to figure out why proteins misfold, how they fold, and what goes wrong.

There are teams (at least in my opinion) because it increases the amount of power that people put into the project because there is more competition.

There is a team FAQ thread here.

I hope you decide to join.

Dreadnought said:

no. If you disable hyperthreading, you will double the processor power for folding when it's sitting idle.

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No, you should NOT disable hyperthreading. It improves performance, disabling it will NOT help. Disabling has nothing to do with idle time processing, or improving the speed of single tasks through the CPU. It simply adds the ability for the CPU to be doing to different tasks at once.

Disabling hyperthreading will slow down your system, not speed it up.