Help! Dual Processor Folding

CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
edited July 2003 in Folding@Home
I'm trying to set up folding for a dual processor system.

On the Stanford Folding FAQ it says the following:
Does Folding@home run on dual processor machines?

Yes, you can. Additional processors must run the console version (with the "-local" command-line argument if run on Windows). First, make additional directories for each processor and copy the FAH3Console executable file into each. Then configure them with the -config switch, filling in settings for each. It is very important to make sure that under the "Advanced Settings" option each copy is given a unique machine ID (from 1 to 4). The first copy will default to a machine ID of 1, so additional copies should be given IDs of 2, 3 and 4. Each may then be run out of their installed directory, using the -local switch on windows. Instances should be attached to different processors, using whatever mechanism your OS provides for this purpose (e.g. Task Manager on Windows).
The question I have is, how do I "attach an instance to a different processor"?????

A quick answer would be appreciated! :confused:

Comments

  • mondimondi Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    what it means is that by running the console with -local and making sure that you configure each client to a different machine id, the instances will automatically be "attached to different processors"...

    to paraphrase the instructions...

    1 - make 2 folders, eg FAH1 and FAH2
    2 - copy the console to both
    3 - in each run the console with the -config switch
    4 - make sure you go in the 'advanced' settings and for folder 1 give a machine id of 1 (default) and 2 for the second
    5 - once your all setup, run as normal, but make sure you have the -local tag included... ie: FAHConsole.exe -local -etc etc
  • NecropolisNecropolis Hawarden, Wales Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Cyrix,

    Who did you kill to get a dual processor system to fold for you :D
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    mondi said
    what it means is that by running the console with -local and making sure that you configure each client to a different machine id, the instances will automatically be "attached to different processors"...

    to paraphrase the instructions...

    1 - make 2 folders, eg FAH1 and FAH2
    2 - copy the console to both
    3 - in each run the console with the -config switch
    4 - make sure you go in the 'advanced' settings and for folder 1 give a machine id of 1 (default) and 2 for the second
    5 - once your all setup, run as normal, but make sure you have the -local tag included... ie: FAHConsole.exe -local -etc etc

    I have done all this, and made sure that each console has a different Machine ID.

    However, it still seems that they are running on one processor (each has 47% of the cpu time). The bit of the quote from Stanford that I made bold is where I'm stuck. They mention fiddling around with Task Manager. The problem for me is that the system it runs on is German, and I don't understand the language therefore don't know how to make each folding program run on a seperate CPU?!!
    Necropolis_uk said
    Cyrix,

    Who did you kill to get a dual processor system to fold for you :D
    LOL, it's not as nice as you'd think. It's actually 2 dual CPU systems, but spec-wise, they're...... wait for it....... P200's!!!!!

    But, that's bettar than nowt eh Necropolis!!

    Seriously guys, I'm still stuck so can anyone still help?
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Hmm, think I'm on to it. I need to right-click the process in Task Manager, and 'Set Affinity' to set it to a specific CPU.
  • mondimondi Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    make sure to check the 'cpu usage history' graph, if both are at 100 or a little less your doing well, i vaguely remember from my old dually p3 500 that if something was at full steam it would only register 50% in task manager, and one of the cpu graphs would be full ... (basically Symmetric MP vs. Asymmetric MP)

    edit: Set affinity seems to switch to Asymmetric Multiprocessing ... ie each process is on its own proc, whereas SMP just load divides... does anyone know if this affects foldng speed
  • t1rhinot1rhino Toronto
    edited July 2003
    Your task manager should have 2 processes running, looking something like this.
    Each of the processes should take 48%-50%.
    What are you seeing in your task manager?
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Well, I managed to change the Processor each instance of F@H is running on.
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    But, now it looks like the one Rhino showed with each on about 50.

    The question I have now, is that when each was using both processors before, would that have been worse than both of them now using their own processor??

    Surely 1 instance of folding would not run on both processors at the same time? Or, was it the naming of seperate Machine ID's that made them run at 50/50??

    I'm confused :scratch:
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    50/50 is correct ...that is how the os measures it in percentages ...so that equals 100% for both. 50/50 = 100% of ea processor.
  • mondimondi Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    csimon said
    50/50 is correct ...that is how the os measures it in percentages ...so that equals 100% for both. 50/50 = 100% of ea processor.

    csimon has spoken ..

    btw.. thats the niftiest german i ever saw
  • NecropolisNecropolis Hawarden, Wales Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    mondi said
    btw.. thats the niftiest german i ever saw

    lol deutschland nippon ;D;D;D;D
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Leonardo over at Icrontic is using affinity set to CPU for each process-- P4 2.8 GHz. I have seen in the Folding Forums that splitting a WU across two CPUS or pipes of a Hyperthreaded CPU in Windows is not yet possible-- client is not HT aware.

    Assymetrical works, pure SMP does not work due to the client ATM.

    Loenardo is also using FireDaemon for one instance, and running the other as a pure service in the services.msc service system console applet. He is getting throughput that says his box is working to max.

    And, the 2-way CPUs (Windows treats each pipe best as a virtual CPU for folding) have twice total capacity as opposed to one-piped Celerons or Willamettes or AMDs (pre-Opteron), but the benchmarks are not capable of showing each pipe as a full CPU-- so, each virtual CPU is now 1\2 of full capacity of physical CPU and shown as 50% of total physical CPU capacity.
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    I am also folding using.... Dual P150 Pro with Japanese 2K!!!!!

    Here is a screenie of the German one...
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited July 2003
    Ageek said
    Leonardo over at Icrontic is using affinity set to CPU for each process-- P4 2.8 GHz. I have seen in the Folding Forums that splitting a WU across two CPUS or pipes of a Hyperthreaded CPU in Windows is not yet possible-- client is not HT aware.

    FAH will NEVER be HT aware. Its sequential. It cannot break fah into two separate processes for dual or HT systems.

    Leo is a mod here at S-M if you didnt know.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Would be a hell of a overclock if they both showed 100% :D
  • redoulentredoulent Michigan
    edited July 2003
    I don't understand the math involved, but couldn't they have cpu0 do frame 1, while cpu1 is doing frame 2?
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Perhaps. The Stanford Folding FAQ says they are working on a multiprocessor version.

    But I don't know if the result of frame 1 is used in the calculation of frame 2.

    It's like having 2 sums and one is reliant on the answer of the other. Although you have two processors available, it doesn't help as you need to calculate the first sum before you can do the second.
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