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muyuubyou
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Trying to get into F@H@2630 :)

Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:28 am

I just want to point out a couple of things. I've been trying to set up an office machine to do some folding. The machine in question is an Athlon 900 with enough RAM (256+128) and a Matrox dual-head, running Windows 2000 pro.

The thing is, I've been running F@H there since the "request for help" at the forum (that's 3-4 days I can't remember very well - too much partying in-between :D ). It had a 1% of a single WU this morning - and that's not of much help to the team.

I downloaded the screen-saver version and was wondering why was it so slow. I tried to tweak the configuration yesterday but it didn't change anything. I set up the console version just an hour ago and I've done in an hour more than it had done in more than 2 days - so it has to be the graphical layout or something like that what kept the performance so low.

To make it worse, the screen-saver version turned my computer quite irresponsive so it took minutes to get control back (it didn't quite stop when I started to work). This was very annoying.

I actually prefer the console version, with more statistical information in text rather than the 3D representation. I'm too geeky :).

After the inial downloading stuff, it comes with something like this:

...
[09:32:06] - Frames Completed: 0, Remaining: 400
[09:32:06] - Dynamic steps required: 5000000
...
[09:32:07] TINKER: Software Tools for Molecular Design
[09:32:07] Version 3.8 October 2000
[09:32:07] Copyright (c) Jay William Ponder 1990-2000
[09:32:07] portions Copyright (c) Michael Shirts 2001
[09:32:07] portions Copyright (c) Vijay S Pande 2001
[09:34:44] Finished a frame (1)
[09:37:20] Finished a frame (2)
[09:39:55] Finished a frame (3)
[09:42:31] Finished a frame (4)
[09:45:04] Finished a frame (5)
[09:47:43] Finished a frame (6)
[09:50:21] Finished a frame (7)
[09:52:59] Finished a frame (8)
[09:55:40] Finished a frame (9)
[09:58:15] Finished a frame (10)
[10:00:48] Finished a frame (11)
[10:03:29] Finished a frame (12)
[10:06:18] Finished a frame (13)
[10:09:05] Finished a frame (14)
[10:11:44] Finished a frame (15)
...


I guess it will be faster when I'm not working at the PC.

I was wondering how many people had similar problems and gave out. Try the console mode ;)

I guess an Athlon 900 is enough machine to help a bit. I do mainly programming stuff in it so I don't need an upgrade here. I have some friends at the desing dept. running XP1800+ and the like. I'll see if I can't trick them into F@TR :) My 2600+ at home runs linux so that will be a different story.

Another thing to point out is the minimum CPU required to help about anything. Anything under 600Mhz shouldn't waste electricity because my guess is it won't help anything noticeable. I'd spare all the fuss if I was to do in a month what the other guys are doing in a couple of hours. What do you think?
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pattouk2001
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What?

Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:53 am

Hi. Ok, what problem do you think you've actually got? It's perfectly normal for a work unit to take in the region of 20+ hours. My AthlonXP 1900+ @ 1.64ghz takes on average 10-15 hours to complete a WU. Bear in mind that your Athlon 900mhz will have a weaker FPU (which F@H requires purly) than an AthlonXP and also your Athlon 900mhz is clocked at nearly half the speed of my AthlonXP. Basically matie, there's nothing to worry about, a frame every 2-3 minutes is perfectly normal, nothing to worry about.
 
muyuubyou
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 7:09 am

The problem, mattie, is that's what I'm getting now, but I got just 1% o a WU in 3 DAYS!!!! with the screen saver version (tried almost any configuration after that and no results.) :o

So, with the screen-saver version, I was getting about 1 WU / 300 days!!! . And now I'm getting the same in 20 hours.

I'd say there's a difference :lol:
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muyuubyou
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 7:42 am

We'll see what my 2600+ at home gets, but I've recently moved and I still have no internet connection at home... :oops:
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pattouk2001
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Clear

Fri Jan 03, 2003 8:14 am

So, with the screen-saver version, I was getting about 1 WU / 300 days!!! . And now I'm getting the same in 20 hours.


Hi again, lol, well if you had just said that in the first place instead of going all around the houses to get to the point, I would of understood you, lol. Anyway, I'm glad we've cleared that. Personally, I use the graphical display version of folding.
 
Forge
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 8:43 am

Just a guess....

There's no OpenGL acceleration on your work machine. You were drawing that pretty OpenGL screen saver in software.
 
muyuubyou
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 8:54 am

Yes, maybe. It's a Matrox G550 (2560x1024 dual screen). A typical office machine.

I just hope there are not so many people getting this kind of problems and giving up (or even not giving up, but folding at about 1WU/year).
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muyuubyou
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 9:03 am

Just poke into the stats. We're still nº10 but not for long.

Day totals (top 5):

241.50 Damage
186.39 DiMaestro
166.20 Steel
90.80 HowardDrake
69.50 Kuhtarl

What machines do you guys have to put so many WUs a day??
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muyuubyou
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 11:01 am

[09:32:07] portions Copyright (c) Vijay S Pande 2001
[09:34:44] Finished a frame (1)
...
[14:32:04] Finished a frame (100)

about 5 hours. That's a bit less than 20 hours for a WU. Not bad for an Athlon 900. Definitely better than 300 days.
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just brew it!
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 1:33 pm

Every little bit helps! I've currently got 5 machines running... from a couple of old K6-III+ boxes to my primary workstation (currently an Athlon 1800+). Even the lowly K6-III+ systems generally manage to turn in a WU every 2-3 days.
 
Forge
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 7:14 pm

A little secret: I know Kuhtarl/DiMaestro are both tapped into machines at Kuhtarl's job. Damage just has a ton of machines on it, lots of top-end gear. I'd imagine HowardDrake and Steel are also tapped into workplace machines.

Not to say you can't get big WU totals at home... Damage is. It's just not fair to you or your hardware to compare to the top 10 or so.
 
just brew it!
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Fri Jan 03, 2003 8:18 pm

It's just not fair to you or your hardware to compare to the top 10 or so.

Of course. I was actually quite pleased that I managed to crack the TR top 100 as quickly as I did (currently at #65 and still moving up slowly).
 
muyuubyou
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Sat Jan 04, 2003 3:56 pm

Thanks for the info, Forge. As soon as I get my home connection working (DSL from a company I'd rather not mention :evil: ) I think I'll sum the XP1800+ or the XP2600+ . Maybe the 1800+ just because the 2600+ is too noisy to leave it running.

I have access to 2 other PCs at work. I'll try to get them folding @ 2630 :)
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