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New Gromacs core for Mac

I'm rather new to the whole F@H thing, but I've been trying to read up on it and I think I'm getting the general idea now. Since it would seem that the new Gromacs core is available at this point, I went ahead and used mc68k's spiffy script to install F@H on my dual G5, and I've got it grinding away with what appears to be the new gromacs core (at least I didn't get a tinker unit).

At this point, each processor seems to be taking about 9 minutes or so per frame (that is what they're called, isn't it?) of a 100 frame, 51 point protein (p352_nat_305_99)... which made me wonder how much better than the old core that would be (and how it compares to Jaguar, which I'm not running).

Does it work to calculate minutes/point for comparative purposes, or are the points not consistent enough for that to be meaningful? If so, what are some before and after numbers of people who've been running for a while? Guess that'd make mine around 18 minutes/point (per processor), if that's at all meaningful.

Sorry in advance if I'm spewing meaningless drivel--just ignore the newbie.
 
You Make Perfect sense to me !!
The old Gromacs core wouldn't even run on the G5, but the new core on the G4s are running 230 % to 270 % faster !! Even My G3s are running 230 % better !
Panther seems to speed a lot of things up on the G5s but Folding only a Tad.
Welcome to the Team !!
Wooo Hooo !!!! :D :D
 
If you use the -advmethods flag , I think you'll get more Gromacs WU. Or maybe I'm Lucky ? I've got NINE gromacs and not a single (S)tinker. :D :D
I Use :
./OSX-3.25 -local -pause -advmethods -verbosity 9
 
I just noticed something after my G3 returned results. It got a Gromacs work unit, but did not automatically download the new core. I removed the old FahCore_78.exe and it, of course, downloaded the new version then.

You may want to verify that you're running the new one with any Gromacs WU.
 
Tinker vs. Gromacs

I haven't had a Gromacs core ever, in all my WUs, and I must say I'm disappointed. I just ran some tests and found out the AltiVec enhanced my laptop will scream at nearly 5.3 GigaFlops however, while non-AltiVec, the poor guy is demoted to a lowly .63 GigaFlops. Needless to say, I would love to get one that uses a Gromacs core to get the nearly 10x boost in speed.

BTW if my calculations are correct, the BigMac's current flop rate would put it at around 30 seconds to complete a 70 point WU and it could return about 214,000 points a day! Even then though it would take almost 150 days for it to fold us into first place...:D
 
Is that one percent, or one frame? When I realized that my 70 point WU was doing one frame every 20 minutes instead of one percent, I got even more let down.

edit: Uhhhh, didn't mean to burst anyone's bubble there. Sorry if I did.
 
As in one percent of the whole WU. I'm not sure how to check how many frames it does. The graphical client just shows percentage until the WU is complete and generally it takes about 25 minutes or so to go up a percent.
 
It is the console unit that shows frames.

i.e.

[17:38:23] Finished a frame (126)
[18:36:05] Finished a frame (127)


I have QT Pro doing a large video file conversion at the same time, but usually it takes only 20 minutes per frame.
 
From my G5

[00:14:03] Completed 1675000 out of 2500000 steps (67)
[00:20:55] Completed 1700000 out of 2500000 steps (68)

I had a few other apps going during this, but I seem to average 01% every six to seven minutes on each processor.
BTW - Dual 2GHz G5 only 1GB of ram till the end of the month.
 
Originally posted by MacBandit
So how do I know I have the new core. I'm guessing it's still caries the name FahCore_78.exe
Click to expand...

In the console client, after the line "Folding@home Gromacs Core", there's another line which says "Version 1.53" or "Version 1.48" or whatever.
 
Originally posted by bousozoku
In the console client, after the line "Folding@home Gromacs Core", there's another line which says "Version 1.53" or "Version 1.48" or whatever.
Click to expand...

How do I get those lines?

The only commands I know for the console client are.

start
stop
pause
resume
work

[edit] Never mind I just found that I have the new client. I just needed to look at the log on in the F@H folders [/edit]
 
Yeah to restate.

If you have the Console (or mc68k/bous script) you need to trash the FahCore_78.exe while your current unit has stopped or paused.
After doing this Folding will download a new FahCore_78.exe this is better optomized and you will fold faster.


Hope that clears that up.

BTW, the folder is located in your hope directory, aka:
~/F@H (or)
~/F@H1
 
Originally posted by Plutronics
The old '78 Core is 3 Megabytes
The new Core is 2.3 MB with a 10/31/03 Modified Date
:D :D
Click to expand...

I noticed that but the mod and creation date for mine is today the day I downloaded it.

I didn't know what to think of the size difference. I kind of wondered if it increased over time due to archiving history or something.
 
Originally posted by MacBandit
I didn't know what to think of the size difference. I kind of wondered if it increased over time due to archiving history or something.
Click to expand...

Small code is fast code, so thats probably the reason that it shrunk so much.
 
Originally posted by Vlade
Small code is fast code, so thats probably the reason that it shrunk so much.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Forget my original comment it was just stupid. I was thinking that maybe the program stored some sort of data within itself and grew in size over time but then the sizes of everyones F@H.exe file would be different which isn't the case.
 
Well it is definitely faster. I had two units working one on each processor. I had at least 3 24 hour days of work into each of them to get to 66%. After installing the new client they both finised in less than 8 hours.

One of my latest projects is a 51 pointer and in an hour and fifteen minutes I have completed 6%. That's a big increase over what I was getting before. That means I'll complete a 51 point unit in under 21 hours. That's about 1/3 the time it use to take.

Now I just have to go update my commandeered iMac and get 2 or 3 G5s and maybe a Powerbook or two working for me.
 
Finally I get gromacs and see what my g5 can really fold like. I had 9 or 10 70pt tinkers in a row at approx 2 a week processed. Never a gromacs to be seen. Sudddenly I am getting 50 pt gromacs and I have processed 5 in the last 3 days. It has put my production through the roof from 300-350 average a week to 700 since I last checked it 4 days ago.
 
Originally posted by Golem
Finally I get gromacs and see what my g5 can really fold like. I had 9 or 10 70pt tinkers in a row at approx 2 a week processed. Never a gromacs to be seen. Sudddenly I am getting 50 pt gromacs and I have processed 5 in the last 3 days. It has put my production through the roof from 300-350 average a week to 700 since I last checked it 4 days ago.
Click to expand...

What's your machine?

My Dual/1.42 turns out a 60point gromacs at about 8-9 hours/cpu.

I can get about 1100 points a week just off my Dual/1.42.
 
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