I'm Back!

[catilley1092]

After running my new notebook for a day & a half, with no problems, I decided to go for it. I downloaded the GPU3 Client, and it looks as though it's rolling. The NVIDIA kicked right in, it's currently running at around 209ns/day, and is already at 1000/50000, 2.5% complete, only minutes into the job.

For what I'm used to seeing, it's flying. I also wrote down my previous score, so I'll know fast how I'm doing, as compared to before.

I do have a question, do I need to leave it's display on, or does it do better with the screen off? If I don't need the display, then I'll close it.

That display, with that cluster, and those flying numbers, looks good in the dark!

Cat

 

[Nibiru2012]

Oh man... just leave the screen up and have a couple of beers, twist one up and kick back and watch the light show! LOL!

Ooohps! Wrong person! LOL!

 

[catilley1092]

That notebook sure runs cool while folding, temps around 50C, and is running at a steady speed. Until I go to bed, I'll peek at it some, I'm mainly watching for any signs of overheating. The fan is running underneath it, so that should help.

This GPU3 client, is this a new one? I ask because I hadn't seen it before. The ones that I saw were GPU/GPU2, the high performance CPU's, and the beta versions. For the time being, I don't want to run the betas.

And how do I monitor video card temps, if that's necessary?

Cat

 

[yodap]

Oh man... just leave the screen up and have a couple of beers, twist one up and kick back and watch the light show! LOL!

Ooohps! Wrong person! LOL!

You're killing me! LOL

 

[yodap]

http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-NVIDIA-GPU3

Cat, as I mentioned earlier in the other thread, SpeedFan monitors the temps of all your hardware.

https://www.w7forums.com/speedfan-t7042.html

 

[Nibiru2012]

And how do I monitor video card temps, if that's necessary?

You can use a couple of programs, both of which are free.

First there is GPU-Z from the guys who developed CPU-Z and then there's S.I.W., which I know you're familiar with.

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.

TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.5.3 Download now File size: 917.3 KB

 

[yodap]

Yeah cat, I wouldn't do too much gpu folding until you monitor the temps a little.

 

[catilley1092]

GPU-Z says my GPU temp is 63C. Is that too high?

If so, once this job finishes (83% done), I can install another client.

Cat

 

[yodap]

Not too high IMHO for a laptop. That card probably doesn't have it's own fan. If it did there is something else I could recommend.

I've been folding the smp-2 client on the Dell. Cpu is between 68-71C with a Targus laptop cooler.

 

[catilley1092]

I don't know if the GPU has it's own fan, but it's well ventilated (three vents on the bottom, one on the side). Also, it's sitting on Thermaltake Massive23 LX cooler that I bought with it. For the price ($24.99, regularly $34.99), it was the best one that I could find. And it has a 3 year warranty.

Rosewill had one, but I figured it best to choose a name brand over a private label one. However, I'm not putting down Rosewill, as they have some 5 egg rated products.

I'm going to finish this job, then I have a couple of other things that I need to do, then will resume folding. I just want to make sure that it runs OK before I use my Anytime Upgrade Key to Pro, as if I had to RMA it, the key would no longer be good. It's tied to the key of the installed OS, it can't be used on another one.

If anyone has a better suggestion for a choice of folding client, let me know. There's a new one that uses both the CPU & GPU, but a quad core CPU is recommended. I chose not to buy a quad because of the potential heat issues, although if it were a desktop, I wouldn't have considered anything less.

It'll be interesting to see the points that I get from this job. Plus, I'm using the standard CPU client on my desktop, but don't expect miracles from it. There's just not enough CPU under the hood.

Cat

 

[catilley1092]

I just finished my first GPU job, I got 1348 points for it. It would've took two weeks to complete this many points on the Dell.

And it took less than 12 hours to do it!

Cat

 

[yodap]

Those are the same wu's Cliff and I get all the time on our Fermi cards. Is yours designated as a Fermi?

So 2500-2600 a day ain't bad is it?

 

[catilley1092]

I don't know. I need to look at GPU-Z or SIW to see. For whatever reason, ESET NOD32 doesn't like SIW too good. I believe it's the site that it takes you to.

But I have no reason to believe that it's a unsafe app.

I'll have to do some digging, I cant find whether it's a Fermi with GPU-Z.

EDIT: All that I can find is RAMDAC (video) through SIW (ESET was blocking the IP, saying something about OpenCandy. I've read that OpenCandy, while some AV's reports it as a threat, that the app isn't one. Mainly an ad thing.

Cat

 

[clifford_cooley]

Sweet, those are nice numbers.

The nVidia GeForce 425M is the 4xx series which is fermi.

Now that you have an idea as to the PPD of the GPU. You might consider turning GPU folding off for a day or two and see what you can get with the CPU. Afterward, you would have a better idea as to whether to run with GPU, CPU, or both CPU and GPU.

With a laptop I'm not sure I would run both CPU and GPU, unless the temps stay down running them. On a side note; if you remember the duty cycle, the temps can also be controlled by regulating the clients and not running them at 100% usage.

The CPU after bonuses are added should give you over 4K PPD.
A quick calculation of both CPU and GPU might give around 6K PPD.
The only way to know for sure would be to give them a go and see what happens.

 

[yodap]

Cliff, ms_yodap's core i-5 is running only 1:45 tpf longer than my quad for the same wu (P6064). That should work out to about 4000 ppd if I let run through straight. So far I haven't done that but that's ok because there's no bonus yet.

Cat's bonus is already set. He could get 2000 on his first one.

 

[catilley1092]

Which CPU client should I run?

I looked at the one where both the CPU & GPU ran together, it appears as though a quad core CPU is needed.

It may be to my advantage (hardware wise) to switch things up a bit. When I'm folding with the GPU, my CPU usage is only around 6%.

Cat

 

[yodap]

The SMP-2, but you should install the Gpu tracker program I linked to earlier. Don't be fooled by the name. It auto downloads all the clients (cpu and gpu) and you can run any of them. Easy to start or stop a client, (1 click) Check out Cliffs sticky in the F@H section.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Cat try out Tracker V2, I'm using it to fold with both CPU and GPU.

Running the tracker for the first time will download three clients(CPU, SMP, GPU) to 10 different folders. The CPU folder is for folding on a single-core. The SMP folder is for folding on a muli-core. The 8 GPU folder's are for folding with multiple GPU configuration's. Each GPU in the system has its own folder and can be configured independently.

I only have one GPU so I'm only using the first GPU client configuration in the Tracker as well as the SMP client for multi-core folding .

 

[Full_Taoer]

Cat, congrats on the new hardware!

Sounds like you got a really nice laptop. The graphics integrated in mine just won't fold, no matter what I've tried. If you have to choose between SMP and GPU, do GPU3. It will do much more than what the dual core CPU will do. If it doesn't drive your temps to high, you could do both.

The new v7 client from Stanford is fairly easy to set up for a single client (or what they now refer to as "slots".) It gets a little more complicated when you go to add additional slots. If you have an aversion to beta software, avoid it for now. The Tracker that yodap and c_c suggested is very good, from what I've heard.

There are two nice things about the v7 client:

1) It is all done through one interface

2) It now has a feature that downloads your next WU when the current one gets to 95-100% completion (you can adjust the setting anywhere in that range). It starts the next one folding even before the last one is sent back. With the old clients, the current WU has to wrap up and upload to Stanford before the next one is downloaded. That can really make a difference for someone on a slower internet connection. Even though GPU WUs don't take long to up- or download, it has pushed the PPD I get with my GTX 460 and GTX 570 up about 500-1K a day just by eliminating the delay in starting the next WU.

One last thing: If you are pushing for maximum points, don't use the screen showing the proteins turning. It is pretty and I have stared at it some, but it uses some of your resources to drive the display and reduces your PPD slightly.

Again, congrats!

 

[catilley1092]

Full_Taoer, good to hear from you again! Thanks!

Yes, I think so too, especially for a $750 one. I spent 2 weeks searching, reading & rereading reviews, specs, etc. I done a poor job of shopping for my last one, relying on PC World's advice w/o even researching anything.

I did have to make some compromise, like no eSATA, but USB 3.0 Super Speed will backup almost as fast. Some users says they don't see a difference. And I had to settle for a 5400rpm HDD, rather than a 7200 one, but that can be fixed. The one in here now, I'll leave it as is (once replaced), so that I can quickly restore a recent backup to it, should it become necessary (it usually does).

That's the one thing that's on my wish list, c_c brought it up in another thread, I was skeptical at first, but those hybrid HDD's are attractive for the price. There are 750GB ones for as little as $99, but many users says those larger capacity ones in a notebook aren't as smooth (mainly vibration) as one for a desktop. The 500GB ones (my size) has better ratings (on Newegg), and fewer complaints.

The thing that's appealing is the speed for the price, almost SSD speed, for a little more than a 7200rpm regular HDD. Many are backed by a 3 year warranty, which in itself doesn't mean everything, but at least I'd have peace of mind knowing my back is covered for that long.

You're right, integrate graphic cards don't fold good at all. I tried it on my desktop, no go. Those proteins were turning so slow, and driving my temps way up for nil, so I shut it down. It wont even fold a standard (CPU) client, it's been running all day, and it's only at 340/2000. Mabye sometime tomorrow, it'll finish, then I'll shut that down. I was just curious as to what it could do.

I turned off the screen as you suggested, hopefully that will gain a little speed. Now I need to try out a couple of the suggested clients & try to get the best out of both the CPU/GPU, w/o running them to the max.

Cat