A Couple of Techie Questions Please?

Mancunian

Hi everyone. I was going to post this on the F@H forum but I thought I'd post it here instead. Hope that's ok? Don't want to get anyones' back up or post in the wrong place so apologies if I am. :o

Basically I'm currently running on a P4 2.4Ghz PC using 768Mb DDR Ram and WinXP Home Edition on SP1 with an official Microsoft hotfix for the known 8E stop error that was fixed in SP2 but which I'm not running.

I am running the GUI version of Folding for the team and so far am not having ANY noticeable problems with it AT ALL, I'm pleased to say. However upon going into Windows Task Manager, I see that FahCore_78.exe is using around 99% CPU (13,460K). Doesn't seem to be slowing other things down too much, although I'm not currently doing anything which is too CPU or memory intensive. Normally when my CPU usage hits 100% in total my PC seems to jam up and takes AGES to do ANYTHING but thankfully that's not the case. I've seen this mentioned somewhere too but having just checked the stickies here plus the F@H FAQ and forums before posting this, I can't find it again.

What I was thinking is that I would like to try to run the console (non GUI) version as well but I don't want to screw up my GUI version as it seems to be running fine. I've read someone who says they regularly get about 600 points PER DAY though and that's taking me about a week I think so I'd like to speed things up a bit more if that's possible but I'm a great believer in the old computer adage that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" so what do you guys think please? If anyone can enlighten me first of all about the above 'problem' (?) that would be great. Does it mean I wouldn't have sufficient RAM left to run another version of the program, albeit a non graphical one? I already understand you can only run one GUI version so that's OK.

All comments, suggestions etc very gratefully received, as always.

Thank you very much.
Nick

PS Sorry I almost forgot ... 2 other quick questions please. Firstly I've ready somewhere this morning about overclocking. As a totally non-techie minded person but fairly well versed with computers (20+ years using them for various purposes) I don't know what this means in relation to folding. Is it something I can adjust and if so how do I do it please? Is there a guide/FAQ somewhere which can explain it and if so can someone kindly point me in the right direction? I'd appreciate it.

Finally, I wrote this post before adding this PS at 11.15am (by my computer clock) but noticed the time of posting according to the forum's clock to be 12.35pm! Is the forum clock wrong or is it set to a time other than UK time? Just curious. I have my profile set up for GMT (with allowance for BST) so I don't think it's that, although I'll double-check that in a moment. Just curious that's all.

Linc

The program is supposed to run at 99% - it releases processor power instantaneously when another program asks for it. That's why you don't notice any slowdown.

Running a second version of the program on the same computer won't speed up the process - each will just run at half-speed. People get scores like 600 points-per-day by installing it on multiple computers with their same username. It takes me 11 machines to do my 800-900 points-per-day.

Overclocking it a way of setting up your computer so that the processor works faster than it is intended to run by default. There is a section of the forums called 'Overclocking" which is where you'd find any stickied info about it and that's the best place to post any quesitons about it as a new thread.

The forum clocks are totally messed up! They have been for quite a while. Adjust your mind to Short-Media time, it's the only solution Seriously though, the admins keep resetting the clock and it keeps getting off again, so they decided to just wait for the move to the new server (which is happening soon) and not bother messing with it anymore. (FYI, they are currently about 1 hour and 20 minutes fast for everyone)

Hope that helped

entropy

It's actually 1 hour and 20 minutes behind me now, due to daylight savings. God I hate that. Lose an hour of sleep every damn spring .

As for the dual folding thing. Really, Keebs? Even if he has hyperthreading? I thought that only let it use 50% of the CPU anyway, so why would it be running half as fast? Unless your commenting based on only his setup (which he didn't say whether he had HT), which I understand

Edit:
Nope. Nevermind. It's still an hour twenty ahead. It just happened that the first post lined up EXACTLY right for when I looked at it to throw me off. And then with my not being used to this DST crap... ay.

Mancunian

Hi Matt. Many thanks for your insightful reply. I appreciate it very much and now understand. In that case I shan't bother installing the non GUI version and will stay with what I have at the moment. To say I'm amazed to hear about 11 computers is an understatement. God help your electricity bills that's all I can say!

I understand about the Forum clock now too. It's not a problem, I was only curious about that so I understand why S-M would wait until they get the new servers running. Makes sense to me.

And Entropy, I have no idea AT ALL if I have hyperthreading or not. I've also seen mention of this around the forums but no idea what it is or whether or not I have it or even how I can find out but in view of what Keebs/Matt has said, I won't bother setting up another version. If each is only going to work at half the speed my existing GUI version is already doing, there doesn't seem much point. I only asked as I'd seen others saying that's what they were running, at least if I understood them correctly.

Anyway once again thank you both.

Take care for now
Nick

mmonnin

If it is using 99% of your CPU you dont have hyperthreading or HT. If you did it would only say 50% and in task manager you would have 2 window panes showing CPU usage.

Running 2 instances of FAH on one computer is really only meant for Dual CPU systems. HT P4s dont gain an extra 50% but do see a nice gain in production. Stanford doesnt recommend it but most people do run 2 instances of FAH on a HT P4.

FAH is mostly all CPU and if its running at 99% then it cant go any faster.

Mancunian

Hello mmonnin. Thank you very much indeed for your very insightful and informative explanation. Makes perfect sense to me so thank you for that. In view of what you say, I'll stay as I am and let it keep folding the way it already is. After all, don't want to upset the apple cart for the sake of the possibility of a few extra points each day/week, do I?