I'm Back!

[yodap]

One last question. did you download the cpu client separately or were you using the one from within the tracker program?

Go ahead and take a break from all this. No need to stress about it.

 

[catilley1092]

I used the one from the program, it downloaded three of them at once, but only the CPU one was running, as I had updated that video driver, and the GPU3 wouldn't run.

The fan was roaring, the Task Manager reported the CPU was running at 100%, and Speecy reported my MB temps at 76, higher than I wanted it to be, or at least what I thought was safe. I decided to terminate the program before I overheated.

I'm taking your advice & leaving it be for a bit. My next WU, I'll be over 200,000 points. Hopefully my bonus will be soon.

Later today, I'm going to the Hospice store and look at their selection of used computers (PC's, not notebooks). To see their selection & prices. If I could find a fairly new one (less then 3 years old) for a reasonable price, then all that I'd need is one of those good video cards that Newegg had on sale. Had I had the cash to spare, I would've bought the card just to have it, for this type of thing.

Cat

 

[yodap]

Okay.

Be aware that the larger GTX and GTS cards have trouble fitting in a micro ATX case You should be looking at mid towers.

 

[catilley1092]

That's what I was going to look for. If I were to find one that I really liked (good hardware, I can use test software from a USB flash drive for this), and it was in a small tower, I'd buy a mid size tower from Newegg to put it in. That way, everything can be cleaned, and I'd have some experience that would serve me well.

I don't care about the installed OS, as long as it's in good shape, and has a good solid dual core CPU (Core 2 Duo or better will do). No single cores will be considered.

I've seen the inside of those small ones before (my mom-in-law's), there's no room for anything extra. Plus, and this was the reason I even opened it from the beginning, was cleaning. I did the best that I could, w/o removing anything to do it, it was a PITA to clean.

The fact that it had set on the carpet for six years didn't help either, it was loaded with dust bunnies. I would've used a computer (or speaker) stand to raise it from the carpet. Or anything that's solid.

One thing that I like about the local Hospice store, they have a layaway option for purchases over $200, you pay 25% down, then have 90 days to finish paying for it. I also know of a few people that bought practically new PC's from there at very low prices.

Cat

 

[yodap]

I did, but I could find no way to control the CPU's load, it was constantly running at 100%. Both cores were on. If I could find a way to reduce this to 85%, that would be good.

Cat

I just found out you can throttle back any cpu in W7. I know I'm slow, but that's beside the point. Again, it could be very useful for folding on a laptop.

Control Panel>Power Options>Change plan settings>Change advanced power settings>Processor power management>Maximum processor state.

I just tried it on the laptop. Went from 100%(default) to 85% and my temps dropped 10C. I thought you should know. I'm going to play with it more tomorrow.

 

[clifford_cooley]

My next WU, I'll be over 200,000 points.

Congrats you just passed 200,000.

 

[Full_Taoer]

Way to fold, Cat!

*sigh* the xcpu stats are on the fritz again. Shame, because I really like them. Had to go to EOC instead.

 

[catilley1092]

I'm still surprised at the power of GPU folding! Thought it would take a couple of weeks to make it this far, but actually done it (the last 9,000 points) in less than 4 days (one & a half days downtime).

Hopefully those failed jobs don't affect my bonus, whenever it comes. I'm not quite familiar with how the bonus works, whether it's after so many WU's, points, whatever.

This was an important milestone for me, 300,000 is my next short term goal. My long term goal is to find another machine, at a reasonable price, to add a performance video card to for max points. This is precisely why I wanted a notebook with a dedicated graphics card, I knew from plenty of reading that it's the sure fire way for lots of fast points. But I didn't know it was this fast.

I looked at that store today, all that they had was junk. The good computers are auctioned on eBay now, for max profits for the charity.

What I may consider is what Nibs suggested, placing my all-in-one into a mid sized tower, and converting it into a full blown PC, if the major parts that I have will allow me to. It would seem that power may be an issue, being that it has a notebook type PSU. Converting that into a desktop PSU may or may not work.

If it would work, then one of those nice cards would be a great upgrade.

Cat

 

[yodap]

200,000k:beer:

Great Stuff!

 

[catilley1092]

Hopefully, not too many WU's from now, I'll see some bonus points. It'll be interesting to see how many I get.

Cat

 

[yodap]

Several weeks ago you got a whopper of a bonus and now you want more? :hmmmm2:

 

[catilley1092]

That was a whopper!

No, I really don't expect that many again, was just wondering how many you get & how often.

Cat

 

[yodap]

They only come with the SMP client. You have already qualified when I helped you in Jan.

Have you tried the SMP client on the laptop yet.

Example: I just finished a SMP wu on the laptop for ms_yodap and she hasn't completed 10 wu's yet so this one is only worth 310 points. If she was getting her bonuses it would be worth about 1300 or more points. And when they do kick in, it will be retroactive back to the first one and they all come pouring in. Then after that each wu is automatically credited with the bonus.

 

[Full_Taoer]

And when they do kick in, it will be retroactive back to the first one and they all come pouring in.

I haven't experienced that, yodap. I've just recently qualified a couple of passkeys for the annual Chimp Challenge and only the 10th and subsequent WUs were credited with bonuses. Nothing was retroactive. I've qualified a couple of other passkeys before and same thing. Would be nice if it did, though.

 

[yodap]

You may be right but I seemed to remember my first bonus points being more than I thought they would be. Coincidentally ms_yodap will be completing her 10th sometime tomorrow so lets keep an eye on that. If XCPUs was up I could go back and look at mine.

FBF F_T

 

[catilley1092]

yodap, I haven't tried the SMP client yet, but I will. I need to practice setting it up on the desktop, so that I'll know what I'm doing. It is a bit tricky, for someone who hasn't done it before.

The main thing that holds me back, is the easy points that I'm getting w/o even heating up the unit at all (in fact, I'd like another one, a desktop that's faster). The fan kicks in once in a while, but not often. When I tried to setup the tracker before, the fan came roaring in. But I didn't know the trick that you showed me in setting up the CPU percentage use.

That SpeedFan app is a good one, but avoid clicking that "Show the Magic" box. I did it on my Dell, it slowed it down. It was locked to it's max, but when I done this, it became variable (the MHz that the core was running).

Full_Taoer, I may be mistaken, but I thought that's what the passkey is for. After so many (I don't know this number) WU's, you get bonus points, provided you enter a valid passkey, everytime you reach that number again.

But then again, I don't know exactly how it works. I did get a huge one two months back, also mabye one other time, I saw these monthly points on Extreme Overclocking, where you get a break down of everything.

I would like one of those DIY kits from Newegg, one of those six (or eight) core AMD's, paired with a 2GB (or 2.5GB) GDDR5 video card, 6GB RAM, a 22" monitor, nothing elegant (no neon lights around the case) one that will just perform. And simple to build. I need to look up some specs, and then I can see the approximate cost.

Cat

 

[yodap]

Coincidentally ms_yodap will be completing her 10th sometime tomorrow so lets keep an eye on that

Arrrrrrrrgh! Not today

Cat the reason graphics card folding is better is because they have more processors than a cpu.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Cat the reason graphics card folding is better is because they have more processors than a cpu.

That's transistors, not processors.

 

[catilley1092]

Whatever, it's quick & easy points w/o heating up your entire computer. Plus, I run VM's, they run faster on my notebook within a VM than on a regular install (even Vista, on this desktop). If I were to do both, 24/7, that would be affected.

I got 10 WU's last night, haven't seen any bonus yet, mabye I won't, but I'm steadily climbing the ranks fast.

Plus, with me & ms_yodap on the team, I've noticed that we're as a team have moved up the ranks a little, as shown on Extreme Overclocking.

Well, after a second peek, I see we're up & down a bit. But we're competing.

http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_summary.php?s=&t=186660

We could use a few more folders here, no matter how few, we all count.

Cat

 

[yodap]

Cores is what I meant to say.