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Speeding

P

Plutronics

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 6, 2003
60
0
Illinois
Prelude: 5AM- First cup of coffee - Wife is sleeping - MAc in Bedroom I.E. dark and Shhhh
Setup: OS X GRAPHICAL CLIENT SOFTWARE Version 3.25 -> Terminal -> "Top -u -s10" -> begin loop
Make a change -> watch F@H core CPU% -> record high and lows on Paper (KVM Switch too noisy)
if Wife=up or pot=empty , END else Loop
Results: Docking Folding@home Display ( Push the Yellow Button ) While set to Alpha Trace is Fastest !
98.7% to 99.2% with Terminal + Top using .2% to .3%
I Had Assumed "Hide Application" would fold faster , Wrong , and that Alpha Trace would be faster while active , Correct , but It never occurred to me that Alpha Trace would be faster than the other three while docked. So i've been losing 1% to 2% for 3 weeks. but no more, move over guys, I'm commin' thru!
I Also Came across the fact that top gives total run time of the F@H client for that WU, so with it and the finished % from F@H Display I can calculate the time till completion easier and more accurately than my old method
Later Today I'm installing the Console Client, but maybe this info will help the Team push the limit!
Well the coffee pot is empty, something else is full, so I gotta go!
 
NEWS Flash: PowerLogix today announced lower pricing
http://www.powerlogix.com/press/releases/2003/030822.html

Wouldn't You Know It , I just bought TWO MercuryZA G4/450 Altivec Enhanced ZIF at $179.00 from QWC on the August 21st 2003.
http://eshop.macsales.com/specials/MailList.cfm
the MercuryZA G4/500 ZIF was $260
I had my eye on a PowerForce G3 800MHz / 900MHz ZIF , but they were $300 / $350 !
So i settled for the economy model, and just THE NEXT DAY the PL's dropped to $199 / $249 !
If you have a B&W, that 800MHz will Kick it up Nicely, but the G4's should drop a bit in price shortly Also, you would Think
So the best time to upgrade is a couple days after I do, I'll keep you posted........
 
That's OWC, not QWC. ;)

OtherWorld Computing didn't drop them $100, but only $70. Still, I've been looking at updating my old blue and white machine past the 400 MHz that seems so ancient now. With the L2 cache on-chip, I expect they would run twice as fast. I wish you could tell from PowerLogix's site but it still refers to the G3/500 card. :(
 
Sonnet has a 1GHz G4 Zif for the Beige, Working on one for the B&W, but no word yet on when. I even e-mailed them last week and they basically replied they hadn't a clue; engineering won't say....
The PL G3 @ 800MHZ looks pretty good, but they're still having problems with the 900, and their support is abysmal.
I've had a Gigadesign 1.26 GHZ in my QuickSilver for 6 months without a single crash or other problem, running F@H on it 24/7 while doing many other things at once, tho I have little that didn't come with OS 10.2.6 on it. (F@H - CCCloner - Cocktail + FoldingProgress.jar)
My #1 B&W - 300G3 inherited the 350G3 zif , and it's Waiting for the 450G3 Zif From my Brothers to show up
I'll Probably Buy a CPU upper for #1 early next year, Wait for the sonnet 1GHZ I think.
The MercuryZA G4/450 in my #2 B&W is running F@H 24/7 since 23Aug03 without a hiccup!
I'm Already saving for a Dual G5 Rev b or c, top of the line anyhow, in early 2005

I Buy from OWC all the time..
Oh, and it's not "Queer World Computing ??. :D :D
 
Originally posted by jayscheuerle
The question is whether all these speedily upgraded beige boxes will run Panther, which is requiring a machine with built-in USB...
Click to expand...

I believe that Panther requires FireWire as well, leaving out more boxes, including the Beige and the original iBook.
 
Some Interesting ( to me anyhow) Clippings:
Xbench Has Released Version 1.1 With Minor changes for the G5 http://www.xbench.com/
G5 1.6GHz Xbench 1.1 score = 135 highest 129 Average http://www.chaosmint.com/powermac-g5-16/
G5 1.8GHz Xbench 1.1 score = 'bout 135 average http://www.xbench.com/
G5 Dual 2.0 Xbench 1.1 score = 141 ( only one listed ) ditto^ ( hey, I'm Trying to save some typing time here)
My QuickSilver = 135 (only ran Once), B&W 450 G4 = 51 (only ran Once), Wife's iMac FP700 = 62 (only ran Once)
:D Rev "c" G5 Quad 5.0 GHz = 145,233,459.03 (estimated) shipping soon -> http://www.apple.com/ :D
 
Originally posted by bousozoku
I believe that Panther requires FireWire as well, leaving out more boxes, including the Beige and the original iBook.
Click to expand...

I have B21 running on my iBook 366 SE without Firewire.
 
If I am not mistakened, Panther will only work on machines that originally came with built in USB, not firewire. So this excludes the beige G3's and the pre USB G3 Powerbooks.
 
Okay, I bought the G3/800 upgrade for my G3/400 and it seems pretty good so far. It's working on a Tinker work unit at speeds similar to my dual G4/800.
 
I've Just Folded Space from Kenosha, Wis at 1AM this Morning with the 450MHz G3 in Hand. 4 Hours one way. Gotta Sleep First.......
I've Swaped the 350G3 with the 450G3 In B&W #1, and it's Back to Folding! I'll give you a folding increase % in a day or two...

bousozoku: I hope you keep us posted on the G3/800, I'm Undecided yet on G3/800-900 Vrs G4 550 - 1GHz, but Ive got Time !
 
Well, the Tinker WU I traded with the G4 is a p681. It was taking 14 minutes per frame (4oo frames total) with the G4/800 and 23 minutes with the G3/400. Now, it's taking 11 minutes with the G3/800. :)

We'll see how well it does with a Gromacs WU at some point in time and I don't think I'll be that happy but overall, the system is so nice now. It seems new again.
 
Flash Folding@Home
Flash Folding@Home

I've switched from the Graphic Client running off my hard drive to the Console Client running off a $10 USB 2.0 64Mb QuickiDrive Flash drive! It may not be faster, but it's a lot Quieter ! With 3 Macs on the same workbench it was kind of annoying . It wasn't the volume as much as the changing Sub- Supra- Harmonics of all things combined. Just setting the hard drives to spin down was worse, as I'm Folding on all 3 and every 10 minutes or so one would spin up. Now the QuickSilver is Quiet all night! With 2 hard drives spun down on it and less heat from them and less load/heat from the power supply, it's fan is slower/quieter also. For Me and my fellow Newbies, here's how:
I named the flash drive "Quicki" and made a folder on it called "QDfoldnFolder"
Copied "OSX-3.25" there
Ran "Terminal" from the Applications/Utilities folder
In terminal typed "cd /Volumes/Quicki/QDfoldnFolder/" to change the directory to the folder containing OSX-3.25
Then typed " ./OSX-3.25 -local -config" and away it goes!

Next step is to run the Two Blue and Whites off the same Flash drive over the ethernet!
I'll let you Know how that goes! :)
 
I just got a p638 Tinker WU on the G3. I had already traded one with the G4 because it was taking over an hour at 400 MHz for each frame and was going to be 15 days to finish.

At 800 MHz, it's taking 31 minutes on the G3 and 33 minutes on the G4. :D
 
Feeding the Folder

I have a p638 WU 400 Step running on the OuickSilver 1.26Ghz G4 at 22.3 minutes per frame running off of the flash drive.
A p913 WU 100 Step Running on Both B&Ws and the iMac at:
1.9 Hours Per Percent Complete ( Hrs/%) on the iMac700G4 Flat Panel ( it's The Wife's Unit, Honestly )
2.3 Hrs/% on the B&W450G4 and
2.9 Hrs/% on the B&W450G3 and a
p337 WU 100 Step On the Pismo400G3 at 4 Hrs/%.... The Pismo and B&W-G3 will just finish in time.
I like your Trading Idea...
Let the QS finish a WU and upload it, download a new one, and then Swap it with Whichever of the other 4 is farthest along!
It wouldn't Speed up folding at all, but it would give me a much more steady flow of Points! I've had 2 WUs finish the same day, and then nada for 4 days.
Hey ..... I have the 733MhzG4 CPU out of the QS....hmmm.... e-Bay me a Sawtooth 350G4 and Swap Out the CPUs...hmmm...
And if the wife didn't KILL ME ... Hmmm..... :rolleyes:
 
OuickSilver? There we go with the O and the Q again. :D

I started trading because I got a Gromacs WU on the G3 that took over 4 hours per percent and was going to take over a month to finish.

Of course, having the dual processor machine helps with production but some WUs take so long on these processors that I don't see points for a week.
 
Qoops!

:D Qh you, Ouit that, no flaming allowed, and besides, it was hiding under the White Out so I didn't see it. (The CRT came from a WinDoze User)(Me) :D

I've enjoyed benchmarking and upgrading and then tweaking so I'd have to benchmark again but , Alas I'm about out of Ideas. My 4 port KVM only has 3 computers on it, I'm hoping Plutronics will pick up again soon (he carefully types) so I can fill that void...
But I Transverse Threads
The QS came with an OrangeMicro USB 2.0 card, but as I only had OS9 this spring, It would only do 1.1 so I Pulled it.
Now That I,m up to Jaguar, I downloaded and installed the 2.0 drivers and card which brings me back to benchmarking!
The QuickiDrive did .8 MB/s on USB 1.1 and 3.8 Mb/s when I installed the 2.0 drivers. It's SLOW compared to the WD1200JB hard drives 45 Mb/s, but the Whole F@H folder is only 8MB or 3 seconds Xfer time over 18hours - 5 days per WU, so I'll Take the Performance hit.
 
Crashing

Help!!!
I tried to stop the Console Client to shut down the computer but couldn't guess the command in terminal.
So I quit terminal which stopped OSX-3.25 , Apple is Always gentile about these things....
After I restart the Mac, when I try to run Console , it gets to "Working..." and freezes OSX! I have to force off and reboot. I guess I'll have to "-delete x" and dump 36 hours of folding (24%) and start over. any suggestions before I do?
 
She's Scragged

To Late, I got Impatient and started over. there was no hope for the old WU, I tried to copy the whole folder but it crashed hard trying to copy it!
When I restarted, I got a Box saying "you need to restart your computer" in four languages a couple times then it booted OK. So I re-pre-bound and repaired permissions and restarted just to be safe. I Erased the Flash drive twice as an extra dose and then fired up Folding@Home.
I have a new p638 WU 400 Step running on the QuickSilver off of the flash drive.
Well, at least I got the Pioneer DVR-105 back in the QS and the Ricoh RW5120A back in it's Firewire/USB case. Now I get to back up the Compaq, oh joy!:rolleyes:
 
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