How do I start Folding@Home?

Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
edited March 2009 in Folding@Home
I want to start folding with Team #93 - Icrontic,

How do I get started?

Comments

  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Depends what your hardware is. What are you running, Cliffy? (As if I couldn't guess :p)
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Snarkasm wrote:
    Depends what your hardware is. What are you running, Cliffy? (As if I couldn't guess :p)

    LOL, it qualifies as acceptable I am sure, even by your stringent standards.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    The video card / core count of the CPU will tell us what the ideal configuration for you is.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    ^

    It's not about "acceptable," it's about whether you're running single, dual, or quad core, and how many chips your GPU has in it.

    Multi-core CPUs can take advantage of the SMP (symmetric multi-processor) client, which GREATLY improves production over the single-core client. With a quad, you can even run two of them, if you really want to. GPU clients, meanwhile, will perform wonderfully on a single GPU, but if you have a dual-GPU rig, you can install two GPU Folding clients and dedicate one per core for massive points.

    It's not about adequacy, it's about numbahs. :D
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Snarkasm wrote:
    ^

    It's not about "acceptable," it's about whether you're running single, dual, or quad core, and how many chips your GPU has in it.

    Multi-core CPUs can take advantage of the SMP (symmetric multi-processor) client, which GREATLY improves production over the single-core client. With a quad, you can even run two of them, if you really want to. GPU clients, meanwhile, will perform wonderfully on a single GPU, but if you have a dual-GPU rig, you can install two GPU Folding clients and dedicate one per core for massive points.

    It's not about adequacy, it's about numbahs. :D

    In that case, I am running an AMD tripple core, and I run a single Radeon 4870.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    You need to go here. To download the SMP client that will run on your cpu download the very last item, install it and the icon that you use to launch it on your desktop open the properties for it and the target line add -smp outside of the "" of the target(you might have to make a shortcut and copy in the Start in directory and just use the location of the .exe for the Target.

    The other thing to do is run the GPU client which download and install the very top item from the linked page. Right click the sys tray icon that shows up, if the configuration window doesn't pop up the first time the program runs. Input your user name, same to what you did with the SMP client, and team. Then jump over to the advanced tab and the bottom item on that page, Machine ID, change that to something else anything besides 1 because that ID is the default ID for your SMP client.

    I know its kind of brief but goofing around with the clients when setting them up helps to teach you how to trouble shoot some issues if they pop up later down the line.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Go here and grab the first entry on the page, the Win XP/2003/Vista GPU System tray client - that will be the GPU client that will run on your video card. When you start it, it'll ask for configuration information; just give it any username you like, and where it asks for "Team", just put 93 in there. The other options should be fine at default, but change the Machine ID (towards the bottom on one of the tabs) to 2 to ensure it doesn't interfere with the SMP client.

    Then scroll down on that same page linked above and download the SMP client console version (grab the MPICH version if you're running x64), as well as the Drop-in binary for current Win SMP console client that's linked just below it.

    When you get them downloaded, you need to run install.bat either in Admin mode or in THE admin account; it also requires a passworded acount to run under, so if you're not currently using one on your usual login account, make one. If MPI installs correctly (which is what install.bat was doing), you'll see a positive message to that effect in the cmd window. After that, you can go back and start up the actual fah client (Folding@home-Win32-x86 or what have you), which will bring you to a similar cmd prompt to configure your settings for the SMP client. Put in the same name you used for the GPU client, and use team 93 again. The defaults will be good again, unless it misreports your available RAM. When it asks if you want to set advanced options, say yes, and it will bring you through more prompts; one of them will say "set advanced flags" or something similar - set that to "-smp" to get it to use all of your cores correctly.

    I know, it's a lot to do to get it to work. Give these a shot, though, and if it goes awry, we'll be here to help troubleshoot.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Damn you, k! :D
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Posting that question here is sort of like shouting 'fire' in a theater.
    Both are likely to get you crushed in the stampede.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Thanks Gentlemen,

    I will give it a go tonight. I will let you know if I hit a snag.
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