SMP beta6 performance increase?

TiberiusLazarusTiberiusLazarus Icrontian
edited March 2008 in Folding@Home
Looked around and haven't seen anything, but did the windows smp beta6 update increase performance? I seem to be able to get a WU done in about 2 days where it used to take me until close to the 4 day deadline, which is awesome.

Comments

  • SPIKE09SPIKE09 Scatland
    edited February 2008
    what window ver 6 smp client is this it doesn't exist, SMP is still on ver 5.91 for windows:bigggrin:
  • TiberiusLazarusTiberiusLazarus Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    SPIKE09 wrote:
    what window ver 6 smp client is this it doesn't exist, SMP is still on ver 5.91 for windows:bigggrin:

    Sorry, guess that could've been confusing. I meant the 5.91 beta6.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    beta6 is practically the same as beta5 as far as I know except for the expiration.
  • WinfreyWinfrey waddafuh Missouri Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    You must just have an adapting CPU jimmy.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited February 2008
    Just upgraded by C2D over the weekend and it looks the same although it only took ~1 day per WU.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Three machines running dual clients and two machines running single clients with 5.91 beta 6: same production rate on all machines as previous beta 5.
  • TiberiusLazarusTiberiusLazarus Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Leonardo wrote:
    Three machines running dual clients and two machines running single clients with 5.91 beta 6: same production rate on all machines as previous beta 5.

    Hmm...ok good to know.
  • TBonZTBonZ Ottawa, ON Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    No performance increase for myself either....
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Is the SMP really that good? I've been using the regular windows client because installing the SMP has been a pain in the sitting tool so far.
  • TBonZTBonZ Ottawa, ON Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Harudath wrote:
    Is the SMP really that good?

    Absolutely!
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    It took me liek a week to install the bugger, and then I didn't even notice any difference, and THEN it stopped working. Pleh. I'll try it when I get home tonight.
  • TBonZTBonZ Ottawa, ON Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Whenever I have had problems with SMP, usually from o'cing or installing & updating to the latest version, everything was easily remedied by doing a few steps which I'll get to after helping you understand a few things that are critical in keeping SMP running properly.

    Firstly, in case you didn't know, SMP is very sensitive to network connections. If your network connection gets disrupted for any reason it can halt SMP in its tracks. The dos will remain to be open and a lot of times no error will be reported but when you check your task manager, the cores will no longer be running. If you are behind a router, the folding client will not be disrupted if the internet connection goes down but it will disrupt if you unplug from your router. I always shut the client down before attempting any changes to my network config. This also goes for just cycling the power on your modem and router. Doing this will disrupt the client.

    Secondly, SMP runs with two services that can be problematic if not understood correctly. SMPD.EXE & MPIEXEC.EXE need to be running or the client will not work. If you run and FAH.EXE and it reports an error, in all likelyhood is due to one of these services not running.

    Ok now, if things aren't going right, these are the steps I take to rectify any problems. I always keep the latest SMP install release handy which is the first step.

    1 - With the client closed, run the setup file and remove the current install and reinstall. Sometimes the services will be running and you will have to reboot in order to complete this. If you had to reboot, run the setup again.

    2 - With the setup completed, navigate to the SMP folder and run "install.bat". This will remove the smpd and mpiexec services and then reinstall them again. Enter your computer account username and password and hit enter to seal the deal.

    3 - Run fah.exe and things should be working properly again. For me, whenever I have had to do these steps, my client always picked back up on the WU I was working on before I had a problem pop up. As long as you catch a problem quick enough, you won't have to worry about the deadline times on finishing the WU. If not, the client will load and and probably spit out the expiration error and promptly download new work.

    Hopefully some of this spiel will help you.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    Tbonz, that was concise, well written. For anyone's benefit here who's running multiple rigs off a outer: assign static IP addresses to your computers. The cleaned up a fairly significant problem with my SMP rigs.
  • TiberiusLazarusTiberiusLazarus Icrontian
    edited February 2008
    TBonZ wrote:
    Firstly, in case you didn't know, SMP is very sensitive to network connections. If your network connection gets disrupted for any reason it can halt SMP in its tracks.

    I used to have the client do that same thing. Never knew it was network related. It makes sense now though as my network used to go off and on randomly.
  • QeldromaQeldroma Arid ZoneAh Member
    edited February 2008
    Leonardo wrote:
    Tbonz, that was concise, well written. For anyone's benefit here who's running multiple rigs off a outer: assign static IP addresses to your computers. The cleaned up a fairly significant problem with my SMP rigs.

    If I remember right, Haru is also running off a wireless. A static IP is a good solution, but he may have to be walked through that process as well.

    If you're interested, Harudath, open up another thread :thumbsup:
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Got the SMP, worked first time with no problems (client wise, although my PC did crash but not the SMP's fault :tongue:). Putting out 3x the folding in the same amount of time :D Thanks guys.

    What are the pros and cons of a static IP?
  • QeldromaQeldroma Arid ZoneAh Member
    edited March 2008
    My understanding is that the client uses the IP and if somehow it changes the client stalls. If you have a "dynamic" IP or one that is DHCP obtained, it may get changed on you automatically with a loss of power to the router, loss of signal to the router, etc. Wireless systems can be way more prone to doing this. A static IP should never change without your intervention.

    The "con" to a static IP is that you have some network configuration issues to set it up in your network.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Cool, although it doesn't sound easy to get up, and although I'm pretty much our home administrator, my dad is still the parent xD So whether I can do it is irrelevant, it's messing around with settings he doesn't want messed around with, even if he doesn't know what they are :tongue:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Setting up a static IP address is actually pretty easy. Here are a couple guides:

    http://www.hotcomm.com/FAQ/FAQ_staticIPXP.asp
    http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_configure_my_static_ip_address.html
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    the SMP is really worth it! :D I've gone from 7.5k to 17k before my 10k has even been added to the milestone list :D My folding relaxes at weekends, but picks up again at the start of the week.


    EDIT: Are there any performance monitoring sites? I want to see how much it's gone up :tongue:
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited March 2008
    folding.extremeoverclocking.com
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