Thought I'd report in. The SMP client won't fly on my dual Xeon rig. It won't finish the 2610's in time. (at least I tried) Right now I'm running on a dual Opty rig, about 25 min per frame on a 2610. This machine has been running the Linux client, but a hard drive failure yesterday made me switch. It will be going back to the Linux client when I get a little time.
Is there still time to get on this bus? Is the Windows Beta nearly not beta now? I might jump on in a week or two if it's still hot.
It takes time to wind down my current WUs. I've been away a while to so should I-
1. Terminate my current processes as a service then
2. Command line> FAH504-Console.exe -pause for each core.
3. Of course then wait for both cores to finish before I install the new client.
I'm not sure about the command line and as a service. You should be able to shut them down and add the -oneunit flag and restart, the client should shut down when finished. you can then uninstall the old client.
The Windows client is still beta, fwiw the XP Graphical client (5.04?) is still listed as beta.
Anyone know if this will run on an old P4 that supports hyperthreading and is only single core? I'm thinking of doing that to get away from these god awful wu's that they have been pushing out.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2007
It probably wouldn't meet deadlines unless you've got a high, rock-stable overclock. What CPU are you intending for this?
2.8ghz prescott. stock dell, can't be overclocked.
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2007
I really doubt it could meet the deadlines, but you can try it. I'd search first at the Folding Community forums. I'm sure someone has already tried it and documented their results.
Anyone know if this will run on an old P4 that supports hyperthreading and is only single core? I'm thinking of doing that to get away from these god awful wu's that they have been pushing out.
I tried it on a HP Pavillion P4 2.8HT and it didn't meet the deadlines. It's a pretty junk computer though, so maybe your results will be better.
I'm not sure about the command line and as a service. You should be able to shut them down and add the -oneunit flag and restart, the client should shut down when finished. you can then uninstall the old client.
The Windows client is still beta, fwiw the XP Graphical client (5.04?) is still listed as beta.
Thanks for that, Do. Yeah, I also noticed that the SMP Beta client is on the main downloads page now too ... 5.91 .
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2007
I tried it on a HP Pavillion P4 2.8HT and it didn't meet the deadlines. It's a pretty junk computer though, so maybe your results will be better.
Assuming the same processor model, about the only thing that would make a difference, Brand A computer versus Brand B would CPU clock speed. I suppose an elevated FSB would help some, but SMP Windows Folding is essentially a CPU brute force proposition. Onboard cache is important too. You didn't state which core your P4 was. If it was a Northwood, that has less L2 cache than the Prescott. But still, it's doubtful DanG's HT 2.8 could complete the work units on time. Slow computer or fast computer - mainly irrelevant. It's mainly a factor of the CPU specifications and the clock speed.
Assuming the same processor model, about the only thing that would make a difference, Brand A computer versus Brand B would CPU clock speed. I suppose an elevated FSB would help some, but SMP Windows Folding is essentially a CPU brute force proposition. Onboard cache is important too. You didn't state which core your P4 was. If it was a Northwood, that has less L2 cache than the Prescott. But still, it's doubtful DanG's HT 2.8 could complete the work units on time. Slow computer or fast computer - mainly irrelevant. It's mainly a factor of the CPU specifications and the clock speed.
It was a Northwood.
~FA
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LeonardoWake up and smell the glaciersEagle River, AlaskaIcrontian
edited April 2007
Anyone know if this will run on an old P4 that supports hyperthreading and is only single core?
Apparently, some users are making a success of Windows SMP with P4 HT processors. Check it out here at the Folding-Community.org. Please read the whole thread if you are serious about HT-SMP folding.
Dan, ensure your motherboard will turn on hyperthreading. A lot of the OEM machines from the P4-HT era did not have a BIOS option to allow HT!
Why not try it with HT turned on? Two virtual and two real cores for four SMP threads.
Somewhere in my reading, (I think it was the Folding Forum) somebody tried this on a pair of 2.8 Xeons and I believe it ran slower with HT enabled. (IIRC like 6 mins. per frame). I tried to run the client on mine hoping the extra 100mhz and the increased fsb would help. ( I believe the 2610's like the larger cache)
After I ran the client a few hours, I did try with HT enabled and it was noticeably slower. I only let it go a few hours before I switched HT back off, so I didn't get a real accurate gauge of the time difference.
Regarding using the SMP client as a service:
As I really like this feature, I managed to make it work, here's now:
First, configured the client via -configonly in the commandline, told it to install as a service... then in the "Services" manager, I edited the properties of the new service. In the "Log On" tab of the properties you can change the account the service logs on as, I changed that to the account I gave to the install.bat. After that, start the service, and it works as it is supposed to (yeah I tried a few times running as a service without changing the username and it didn't work - but this is working quite well, and makes me very happy )
Comments
~FA
So that's why it's on my thread list
WTF is in SM25 to be getting that kind of speed?
~FA
Folding Addict- sweet times on SM25.
It takes time to wind down my current WUs. I've been away a while to so should I-
1. Terminate my current processes as a service then
2. Command line> FAH504-Console.exe -pause for each core.
3. Of course then wait for both cores to finish before I install the new client.
Yes?
Thanks for any input.
The Windows client is still beta, fwiw the XP Graphical client (5.04?) is still listed as beta.
I tried it on a HP Pavillion P4 2.8HT and it didn't meet the deadlines. It's a pretty junk computer though, so maybe your results will be better.
~FA
Thanks for that, Do. Yeah, I also noticed that the SMP Beta client is on the main downloads page now too ... 5.91
I guess that why it is in beta.
Maybe it will work tomorrow.
It was a Northwood.
~FA
Dan, ensure your motherboard will turn on hyperthreading. A lot of the OEM machines from the P4-HT era did not have a BIOS option to allow HT!
I was about 4 hours shy of finishing the 2610's. My processors are clocked at 2.9ghz., HT turned off. It picked that wu as its first. (512 cache)
http://forum.folding-community.org/viewtopic.php?t=19230&highlight=
And there are (were?) more down for maintenance .
They should be back on-line very soon. I still have quite a backlog built up. I think edcentric's news is hopeful.
Somewhere in my reading, (I think it was the Folding Forum) somebody tried this on a pair of 2.8 Xeons and I believe it ran slower with HT enabled. (IIRC like 6 mins. per frame). I tried to run the client on mine hoping the extra 100mhz and the increased fsb would help. ( I believe the 2610's like the larger cache)
After I ran the client a few hours, I did try with HT enabled and it was noticeably slower. I only let it go a few hours before I switched HT back off, so I didn't get a real accurate gauge of the time difference.
As I really like this feature, I managed to make it work, here's now:
First, configured the client via -configonly in the commandline, told it to install as a service... then in the "Services" manager, I edited the properties of the new service. In the "Log On" tab of the properties you can change the account the service logs on as, I changed that to the account I gave to the install.bat. After that, start the service, and it works as it is supposed to (yeah I tried a few times running as a service without changing the username and it didn't work - but this is working quite well, and makes me very happy