Windows password for SMP2 Client

clifford_cooleyclifford_cooley Arkansas, USA Member
edited April 2010 in Folding@Home
Requirements for installation

  1. A computer with at least a recent dual core processor or better.
  2. Microsoft .NET framework v2.0 (or newer)
  3. Windows XP Service Pack 3 is strongly recommended.
  4. The Windows user account that will be running the SMP client MUST have a password. The Windows user account that will be installing the SMP client MUST have and have enough administrator rights. Blank passwords will not work and you must have a password only with those valid characters : A-Z, a-z and 0-9.


Does this mean I must insert a password for Windows login?
I have never used a password and never intend on using one if I can get the SMP2 Client working it. First thing I don't understand the requirement.

This is what I have tried.
  1. I've used the standard F@H Clients and completed 4 WU.
  2. I've used the GPU2 and completed 1 WU. However I think I have something configured wrong because I was using CPU cycles.
  3. I've not used any flags at this stage.
  4. I've currently got two CPU2 Clients running because I couldn't get the first client running with the -smp flag.
The SMP2 Client would start with the -smp flag and detect 2 cores and then error out closing the window. Correct me if I'm wrong, I should follow the -smp flag with the number of cores I have in my system (-smp 2). The only option I could get running was "-smp 0". If I am interpreting things correctly, that would be disabling the -smp functions and defaulting to standard operations.

The 1st SMP2 Client is running - core_82(Amber)
The 2nd SMP2 Client is running - core_78(Gromacs)

Why is it MPICH2 needs to login to a domain to run SMP2? I don't understand this login requirement.

I may need a little help/convincing here. :)

Comments

  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    You must use a password if you want to run the SMP client. If you don't want to have to enter a password when you login: Windows Key + R or click Start > Run and enter "control userpasswords2" then clear the box next to "Users must enter a password..." and store a username/password.

    You should also then make sure your screensaver settings don't require a password upon resume.

    I may be a little behind on F@H shtuff, but if you're running the standard SMP client under Windows, you should not have to specify the number of CPU threads unless you have more than 4. I don't think SMP2 requires you to specify. At least, I never did.
  • clifford_cooleyclifford_cooley Arkansas, USA Member
    edited April 2010
    OK you convinced me. :)

    I never used a password to avoid the login screen. It's a good thing the checkbox was an option. I would have been disappointed an give up if I had to login just to be able to fold.

    I now have the SMP2 Client running with the "-smp -advmethods" flags. Fahcore_a3.exe was downloaded and using 100% CPU.

    I must have been confused about the numbers behind the -smp flag. Are the numbers for the number of threads and not the core count?
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    There shouldn't be any numbers behind the -smp flag. Your executable should only have that text: "-smp -advmethods". No numbers at all.

    You may have to include numbers in GPU clients to force it to use a specific GPU core, but that's not required for SMP2.

    Also, what GPU are you running, and what drivers? If we know that combination, we can help minimize the CPU impact that the GPU cores have.
  • clifford_cooleyclifford_cooley Arkansas, USA Member
    edited April 2010
    Snarkasm wrote:
    Also, what GPU are you running, and what drivers?
    Slow Radeon HD 4350
    Outdated Catalyst 9.12

    I was curious to know if this graphics card would fold anything at all. I am thinking about an upgrade for CPU and GPU.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    All right, what processor are you running?

    Also, I just noticed... are you trying to run two SMP2 clients? You shouldn't. You should only run 1 SMP2 client for any number of cores greater than one in most desktops; you should run 1 GPU2 client for every graphics core.

    That said, with a 4350, you're probably killing your SMP2 production by running it at all. I would abandon GPU folding and run ONE SMP2 client using the -smp and -advmethods flags. You're loading your system up way too much - you'll never return useful work units if you're running an ATI GPU client on that card and two SMP2 clients on that machine.
  • clifford_cooleyclifford_cooley Arkansas, USA Member
    edited April 2010
    I only ran the GPU2 client through one WU.

    Now that the -smp flag is working correctly, I'm only running one SMP2 client.

    I'm trying to get a grip on what each client will do. Running one type of client at a time is the only way I know to do this. Getting the GPU2 to run without using CPU cycles is next on my list. First I wait for the SMP2 client to finish.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    Snarky, just out of pure academic curiosity, couldn't you also create a second account, with a password, just to run the SMP client under, set up the client to run as a service at boot time, then leave your actual user account passwordless?

    Not that I'd actually recommend people do that, I'm a huge advocate of having strong passwords on anything you don't want hacked, cracked, broken or borked.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    What was your PPD for the GPU2 client clifford?
  • clifford_cooleyclifford_cooley Arkansas, USA Member
    edited April 2010
    _k_ wrote:
    What was your PPD for the GPU2 client clifford?
    The GPU2 seemed to be better than the standard single core client. However it was using the CPU cycles also. I don't think it will come close to what I will get with the SMP2.

    As far as the actual PPD scores, I'm not used to calculating them yet.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    If you download and setup HFM.NET then it is easy to track. There are ways to get the CPU usage down. The main thing is I am doubting SMP beating GPU2. I have a 2.6GHz, I think its close, amd dual-core that with SMP2 was getting just over a 1,000 ppd.
  • clifford_cooleyclifford_cooley Arkansas, USA Member
    edited April 2010
    _k_ wrote:
    If you download and setup HFM.NET then it is easy to track. There are ways to get the CPU usage down. The main thing is I am doubting SMP beating GPU2. I have a 2.6GHz, I think its close, amd dual-core that with SMP2 was getting just over a 1,000 ppd.
    Actually I downloaded HFM.NET last night. My SMP2 client has about 50% WU completed. The PPD is set to calculate with all frames. At the moment the count is 805 PPD.

    I will need to do another WU with the GPU2 client after this WU has completed. You maybe correct about the GPU2. As I stated earlier, I don't think I had it configured correctly because one of my CPU cores was maxed out through the whole WU.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    You should have it calculate using the previous 3 frames.

    To get GPU2 CPU usage low it takes adding windows system variables so it really isn't anything concerning the client.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    ardichoke wrote:
    Snarky, just out of pure academic curiosity, couldn't you also create a second account, with a password, just to run the SMP client under, set up the client to run as a service at boot time, then leave your actual user account passwordless?

    Not that I'd actually recommend people do that, I'm a huge advocate of having strong passwords on anything you don't want hacked, cracked, broken or borked.

    Possibly, but I password my account anyway, so it had no bearing on me.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited April 2010
    As do I Snark, like I said though, I was only asking out of pure academic curiosity.
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