SMP 7 and BigAdv

My gaming experience while folding was periodically sluggish for a few seconds. I decided to turn off folding while gaming till I could setup folding with only 7 threads. Now that I finally caught a WU as it was finishing, I was able to setup running on 7 threads. Problem is I'm not picking up a BigAdv WU now that I dropped one thread. I do know that my gaming is much improved now after dropping the one thread.

My question:
Do BigAdv WU's require the use of all 8 threads for the server to assign a WU?

No, as long as the processor has 8 threads or more, the server can assign a bigadv wu. It looks like you just had bad luck with your timing.

Also, you don't need to time things perfectly to "catch" the wu as it finishes. You can stop the client, restart it with the added -oneunit flag, and it will autmatically stop after finishing the current wu. You are then free to make whatever changes you want and restart without the -oneunit flag.

FWIW, the v7 client is coded to only allow an even number of threads to be utilized, i.e. 2, 4, 6, or 8. Because of that, I continue to use the v6 console client for CPU folding, while I let GPUs run under the v7 client.

I've never had any issues receiving BigAdv WUs because of the -smp 7.

I never did pick up a bigadv with the V7 client manually set to 7 threads. I did see and ignore the even number of threads message. However clicking in the box will allow the value to be set at an odd number. I'm not sure what effects manually setting the value to an odd number will have. Everything did appear to run fine other than the fact I never picked up a bigadv.

I'm back to using all threads now.

Maybe I would have had better luck if I had used Tracker V2.

This is relevant if you hadn't seen it. I havn't had any luck pulling a bigadv today.

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1199477

Thanks yodap.

I had seen that thread around the time you first posted. I haven't seen it since then though.

a lot of us have not been getting bigadv lately. Stanford server was down I read but is back up now?
http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=19259
http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=19522

I tried it when v7 first came out. I think if you look at the log file for the CPU slot, the client recognizes the "unauthorized" setting and makes an adjustment to the number of threads. That's what I recall, anyway. I don't remember if it adjusted up or down to make the number even.

I'm not sure what the client was doing. I do know I was folding a regular SMP with 7 threads. With Process Lasso, I could control which 7 threads I wanted to use.