Three clients on one computer?

MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
edited April 2004 in Folding@Home
Lately, I've noticed a few people (Leo, for one) like to run three clients on a single HT P4. Does that make a noticable boost in production? Anything I should do/know before I go and download another client? Does it matter which type of client I get? I'm running two consoles now. Should I overclock a bit to somewhat compensate for shared resources? Contrary to my sig, I'm actually running at stock speeds 'cause the temps started corrupting F@H.

I think It's time I get a new HSF... I've read nothing but good reviews on Thermalright's SP94, except that it's a PITA to install. But that's good. It's secure, and my computer gets moved around a bit. (Lan party once or twice a month) If I get one, what kind of fan should I use with it? One that's at least kind of quiet. With a heatsink like that could I get away with this fan? Does anyone have any suggestions for a fan speed controller? There's only 3 fans in my system, including the CPU fan.

Comments

  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2004
    High Gr81 ...there is no noticable boost in production theoretically from running more that one client per processor (if you count HT as two processors) but there are no drawbacks to production either except that it takes longer to fold a protein. If one processor folds one protein and takes 12 hours then it will take one processor 24 hours to fold two ...theoretically!

    So production wise it is equal so to speak (and without getting too technical).
    The biggest benefit of running two clients per processor is this:

    Suppose processor A folds a protein and turns it in then tries to receive another protein to fold but the server is down (something that does happen from time to time). Well as long as your processor is waiting to download it's next protein (which could take a few days) your client is using 0% processes.

    Now lets say processor B folds using two clients and one client finishes and has the same issues as client A in reguards to a down server ...the second client will take over the share of processes from client A and will now fold at 100% until client A gets more work. Also ...these two clients don't always download from the same server and there is a way to almost insure that doesn't happen which will minimize your chances of having an idle processor.

    So basically you increase the chances that your processor will virtually fold @ 100% - 100% of the time thus you have a more consistant flow of production. So essentially you could say ...you have increased production!

    Having 3 clients on an HT system is a very good idea!! :fold:
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited April 2004
    3 clients on a HT system will only benefit if you have one of those Dgromacs or Double gromacs. Then the CPU wont stay at 100% so a third will keep it at 100%.
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited April 2004
    You sure about that mmonnin? I've got a console running p936 now. It's at a pretty constant 100%, except when explorer or taskmgr need more resources.

    And csi. I don' think it will take twice as long to fold a single protein, because the way things usually work, processes take almost evenly from both processors. I've got a third client now, and they're all running at around 33%.

    Thanks guys!
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited April 2004
    Well its mainly if you have 2 Double Gromacs. Then the CPU usage wont be at 100%.
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