BOINC Pentathlon 2023

[Skillz]

https://www.seti-germany.de/boinc_pentathlon/
The BOINC Pentathlon starts on 05 May 2023, 00:00 UTC, and ends on 19 May 2023, 00:00 UTC. So, it will run for exactly 14 days. Last year we finished in 1st place.

I will be updating post 1 and post 3 throughout the event as needed. Please check back for updates daily.
The BOINC Pentathlon consists of 5 disciplines:
1. Obstacle Run - yoyo@home (ECM & ECM P2) (14 days, with bonus credits on 3 one-day obstacles) - The bonus points during the Obstacle Run are lowered to 25%, 50%, or 100% this year.
2. Sprint (3 days) - NumberFields@home Start: 13 May 2023 00:00 UTC End: 16 May 2023 00:00 UTC
3. City Run (5 days) - PrimeGrid: only subproject AP 27 Start: 08 May 2023 00:00 UTC End: 13 May 2023 00:00 UTC - OVER
4. Cross Country (5 days) Einstein@Home Start: 14 May 2023 00:00 UTC End: 19 May 2023 00:00 UTC
5. Javelin Throw (5x1 day, only each team's third best daily score counts)- OVER

To make the Pentathlon as exciting and trouble-free as possible while at the same time maintaining a maximum of flexibility, all five projects are chosen by a small group of the organizers this year.
Projects are not eligible if they

• cannot provide a sufficient supply of work units*
• do not support at least Windows and Linux
• provide non-CPU-intensive (NCI) applications
• are test-only projects
• do not allow the creation of new accounts
• do not support WebRPC

*: Because of the way a BOINC server works, even a project with a generally stable supply of work units can sporadically be out of work if too many computers request work units at the same time.

Previous years threads:

BOINC Pentathlon 2022

Obstacle Run (14 days) Universe@Home 1st Place and the GOLD MEDAL Sprint (3 days) SRBase 1st Place and the GOLD MEDAL City Run (5 days) Einstein 1st Place and the GOLD MEDAL Cross Country (5 days) PrimeGrid 1st Place and the GOLD MEDAL Javelin Throw (5 x 1 day, third best daily score counts)...

forums.anandtech.com

Info - 12th BOINC Pentathlon 2021

[URL unfurl=false]https://www.seti-germany.de/boinc_pentathlon/[/URL] from 05 May 2021 00:00 UTC to 19 May 2021 00:00 UTC — 5 disciplines, 1 winner We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 SiDock@home __...

forums.anandtech.com

Info - 11th BOINC Pentathlon 2020

[URL unfurl=false]https://www.seti-germany.de/boinc_pentathlon/[/URL] from 05 May 2020 00:00 UTC to 19 May 2020 00:00 UTC 5 disciplines 1 winner — [overall stats] — [TeAm AnandTech stats] — With ranks #5, #6, #2, #3, and #1 in the five contests, we won Silver in the overall ranking! Thank...

forums.anandtech.com

Discussion - 2019 BOINC Pentathlon thread

Yes, it's that time of year again. Since @petrusbroder is busy, I suppose I should start the voting thread this year. This year's Pentathlon replaces Swimming with something called Javelin Throw. Out of five days in the race, our score will be based on the middle day, not the two best or the...

forums.anandtech.com

2018 Pentathlon Race thread

Ok, folks, I have registered the TeAm for the Pentathlon race. In this thread we can communicate with each other, give advice, ramble, complain and cheer. Let us do it!

forums.anandtech.com

8th Annual BOINC Pentathlon

https://www.seti-germany.de/boinc_pentathlon/start.php?&lang=en It's only 27 days away! This one is always fun, and frustrating. ;) Last year the Marathon project had little to no tasks for the duration, screwing everything up for everyone. The race runs from May 5th to May 19th (my b-day!)...

forums.anandtech.com

7. BOINC Pentathlon 2016

The seventh BOINC Pentathlon is around the corner. As usual, SETI.Germany invites all BOINC teams to find out which team copes best with the challenges of five disciplines at five projects between May 5 and May 19. While there are no major rule changes this year, it is ensured that there will...

forums.anandtech.com

Pentathlon 2015

Once again, SETI.Germany invites all BOINC teams to the BOINC Pentathlon. For the sixth time, the winner is battled out in five disciplines at five projects between May 5 and May 19. After the introduction of Marathon and Sprint in the last couple of years, there will be a new discipline in...

forums.anandtech.com

5. BIONC Pentathlon 2014

For the fifth time, SETI.Germany invites all BOINC teams to the BOINC Pentathlon, a competition inspired by the Pentathlon in ancient Greece. Between May 5 and May 19, five disciplines at five different BOINC projects are held to find the overall winner. Each team that wants to participate...

forums.anandtech.com

4. Boinc pentathlon 2013

:biggrin: Hello TeAm AnandTech, :biggrin: Hello Friends from TeAm AnandTech. Team SETI.Germany continues it's new invented challenge and invites all BOINC-Teams to participate in the 4.rd BOINC PENTATHLON, following the ideals of the ancient Pentathlon. It will start May the 5th 2013...

forums.anandtech.com

 

[Skillz]

Tips
1. If you want a set and forget contribution, we recommend you attach your CPU's to whatever project is announced for the Obstacle Run. This means it should contribute the entire event and won't necessarily require you to do anything but attach and let it run. The more active members will change their pace as needed and add where we need them most. Consider yourself the anchor to hold our position.
2. If you are confused or feel in over your head, please ask for guidance. We have some guys that have a lot of experience that can walk you step by step if needed.
3. Not all projects support GPU's. If you want to support with a GPU, ask us for assistance and we will try and guide you.
4. Don't think that a little contribution doesn't help. Two years ago, we barely got beat for 5th place and just a little more could have gone a long way. If you have ANY hardware that you can fire up for the event, please do so. Depending on the project, old gear might run just as quick as new gear. We will see.
5. Linux almost always performs better than Windows but Windows is MUCH easier to get things happy.
6. You may hear us throw out a term called "bunkering". You don't need to do this if you don't want to be hands on tweaking often and monitoring things. However, if you are willing to get your feet wet and dig in, you can certainly help make gains a lot better for the team during the event. Again, only if you are comfortable and are willing to monitor things throughout each day.
7. You may hear us discuss multiple clients. This is a whole lot of learning. I don't recommend you doing this until you have a pretty good grasp of the BOINC client first.
8. If you want to use your GPU(s), feel free to pick one of the events we list for GPU's (as they are announced) or ask us where they would be best served. We may ask you to switch as strategies shift. We won't be offended if you decide to just leave them on one of your choice.
9. It would be advisable to load up BOINC and test your rigs in advance to the event if possible. This gives you time to make sure that it is stable and can handle 24/7 processing.
10. It is advisable to attach to a project as soon as it is announced in order to get all the necessary files downloaded as soon as possible. You can even speculate on what projects in advance to be ready. You may find the project struggling when first announced as many users will be doing the same and pulling files down can clog the pipeline. It may go on for a while since this is also typically when many people start building their bunkers as well.

Strategies
1. Bunkering is critical for this event. If you are comfortable with the BOINC client, consider delving into some of the intricate ways of strategy. (link will be posted shortly)
2. Multiple clients will most likely become more and more critical with every event. They too are a bit more complex and may need some guidance. If you are willing to delve into such things, reach out to one of us and we will try and walk your through it.
3. Ask everyone you know if they are willing to help out for a few weeks. Even small contributions really help out. Some teams are comprised of mostly small contributing users but are power houses in these events. We can do the same.
4. Mining rigs can certainly help but not all of them are built for DC projects very well. Don't feel bad if you don't get the results you expected. Some GPU work needs a full CPU thread. Small CPU's may not be able to fully utilize all cards. If you bring such setups, feel free to ask for best utilization advice.
5. There are GPU capable projects that older GPU's (typically AMD) work better than some newer projects because of double precision capabilities. There are only a few out there but it does happen. Don't get discouraged if your newer cards aren't performing as well compared to others. Not all hardware is created equal but your contributions still help.

Suggested tactics for the new users -
This section will be updated as more information is provided for the event.
For those wanting set and forget -
Just attach to the Obstacle Run project. You can put all of your CPU's on this project for the entire 14 days.
If you want your GPU to help, you can just pick the project for the javelin throws and let that project run.

For those wanting to contribute a little more.
If you don't want to go too crazy, you could focus the CPU's on the Onstacle Run, but there will certainly be times when we could use them elsewhere. Keep an eye on the announcements and discussion and feel free to toss them wherever we may need some help.
GPU's on the other hand will probably take a lot more planning and strategy. There may be multiple projects overlapping requiring us to choose where to allocate things. Feel free to just pick one in those cases or ask where it will be best served. Sometimes we can direct you to simply "hold the line" while others move their gear around to make things simpler.

Deadlines for Projects:
These will be added as projects are announced

This post and the one before it was provided by one of our [H] friends Gilthanis aka Coleslaw. I just copied his thread.

 

[[H]Coleslaw]

I must say this is probably one of your best posts ever.

 

[StefanR5R]

Back when the text of post #2 — I presume — referred to Marathon instead of Obstacle Run, this was good advice not only for new participants but also for participants with a lack of spare time. Obstacle Run, with which SETI.Germany have been replacing Marathon since last year, is not equivalent. But that's obviously something which the author(s?) of the article in #2 can't do much about.

I am of the kind of people who would describe Obstacle Run differently from how post #1 and SETI.Germany themselves put it: Of the 14 days of its duration, there are 11 days with 50% credit penalty, and 3 days with 38%, 25%, or no credit penalty. (Last year it was 67% penalty on 11 days and 33%, 17%, or no penalty on 3 days.) I can't help myself and either only report results on days with lower/ without penalty or stay out of Obstacle Run. I did the former last year (while using >14 days to actually compute for Obstacle Run) but am still undecided about it this year.

 

[Skillz]

Yes, that is true 100%. However, for someone new who doesn't know much about BOINC, or someone who doesn't want to necessarily bunker, or someone who isn't interested in switching around to different projects but rather just wants a "set and forget" setup then running the Obstacle Run is the way to go.

 

[emoga]

With the Pentathlon just around the corner, it's time for me to go on a scavenger hunt for any spare computing power that might be hiding in the corners of my home.

I've already given my faithful desktop a good dusting and tested it to make sure it's ready to bring its A-game. But who knows, I might need to enlist a search party to help me find all the other forgotten machines that can help us climb the leaderboard.

Speaking of which, I should probably should be doing that right now instead of typing

 

[Markfw]

I have 13-15 more, but I can't power them all up, and if I could, I couldn't afford the electric bill.

 

[Skillz]

With the Pentathlon just around the corner, it's time for me to go on a scavenger hunt for any spare computing power that might be hiding in the corners of my home.

I've already given my faithful desktop a good dusting and tested it to make sure it's ready to bring its A-game. But who knows, I might need to enlist a search party to help me find all the other forgotten machines that can help us climb the leaderboard.

Speaking of which, I should probably should be doing that right now instead of typing View attachment 80148

Don't ask @Icecold as he is notorious for misplacing hardware for long periods at a time.

 

[emoga]

Looks like Jeeper made his first post:

30 April 2023 – Knock-knock​

Get up! Yes, you! Do not look so grim, hibernation is over. Here we go again! The BOINC Pentathlon is just around the corner. Tireless and perpetual. Yes, exactly, you immediately look much better with a smile on your face. And now get out of bed quickly!

There is still a lot to do. Submit a leave request to your boss or partner (or both). Load your children (if any) with as much work as possible and appoint your partner or boss to supervise them. Do not forget that you need a stable supply of food. Also, the electricity use in the house needs to be reprioritized… so the TV remains switched off for wife and children. After all, reading a book is said to be educational, and is somehow romantic in candlelight.

The stove also eats up too much electricity, so the menu has to be changed. And for doing the laundry, the nearest stream and some soap should be enough. This also helps the washing kids, as they get to know flora and fauna better (at least until the soap kills flora and fauna). Of course, the game console remains off, too. There is no harm in playing Halma or Ludo in the moonlight. What is the difference between Ludo and a first-person shooter, anyway? Entirely new horizons this opens up…

And then the main thing: Get your 'puters ready!

The number 14 is supposed to stand for discipline, reliability, and patience. Well, at least only those who maintain discipline to reliably strive toward the goal, and stay patient even in the face of setbacks, will pass the challenges. So do not go soft when your wife, husband, or kids give you the evil eye.

We are living in a so-called modern time, and so I asked ChatGPT: “Do you know the BOINC Pentathlon?” In response, it was proven once again that intelligences are reluctant to admit when they do not have a clue. Our ever-beloved AI just wrote “die” and then went on to knock ifself out.

Even an artificial intelligence cannot capture the spice of the Pentathlon. As long as AI cannot produce the daily bulletin, the rule of Homo sapiens is not in doubt…

Now that the attempt to delegate the bulletin has failed, I will accompany you on this adventure myself once again. Because even my eyes are getting blurry, and my fingers slow down, I will comment on no more than two rankings each day this year. Does this lead to shorter bulletins? Do not bet on it.

Of course, there are again 5 disciplines that pose different challenges for our teams. There are 25 teams signed up so far, including 2 rookies. GPU Users Group (GPUUG) and The PiGyS plunge into this incredible experience for the first time. And with LinusTechTips_Team (LTT) and BOINC@Poland (B@P), we also have two returnees back in the lineup.

However, there are still a few days left to sign up. Did you know that more than 80 teams have participated in the BOINC Pentathlon throughout history? Well, only the tough and well adapted have been able to withstand years of evolutionary pressure and have survived to this day.

I hope you still remember? The elixirs haven't reformatted your memory a bit, have they?

• Can TeAm AnandTech (TAAT) confirm their performance?
• Can SETI.Germany (SG) once again win an overall medal?
• Can Team China (TC) reach for precious metal next year (i.e., this year)?

We will get an answer to all three questions. Currently, two-time champion The Scottish Boinc Team (TSBT) is still missing from the list, which will arouse desires among some teams. This promises an exciting time ahead indeed.

You see it will be exciting again at the BOINC Pentathlon, starting on 05 May with the daily bulletin.

Yours, Jeeper

source: click me

 

[Skillz]

yoyo@home is the Obstacle Run. Load up the computers. It starts in 3 days.

Make sure you only select ECM or ECM P2 tasks ONLY. ECM P2 tasks can take up to 10GB of RAM. So I'd choose ECM if you are low on RAM.

 

[emoga]

Ok, loading up on yoyo@home ECM tasks.

This might take a while...

 

[VirtualLarry]

Ugg, I'm torn. I just finished building my Ryzen 5 7600 rig, with 32GB of GSkill EXPO DDR5-6000 RAM running @ 6000 in an ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 mobo. (This was my cheap experiment to get my toes wet with AM5.)

EVGA Platinum G5 650W PSU. No GPU at present.

How can I make myself useful? I've not done Yoyo@Home before, and I'm not comfortable using VirtualBox VMs for DC, on what might end up being my "main rig" if all goes well.

My 5900X rigs are not really running at par right now that could be utilized for BOINC.

Edit: I need the dumb-as-rox-DCer "set and forget"-type instructions. I'm, not clever enough for the advanced stuff.

Edit: Update, I've got yoyo@home attached to BOINC client freshly downloaded (minus VBox) onto this PC. Says 11 hours for first WU? Does that sound right? I selected only ECM and ECM 2 sub-projects.

Edit: first batch of tasks completed in 1h:27m. I'm using SMT enabled, 100% CPU cores.

 

[mmonnin03]

2.5 days until the Pent start but there are a lot of ppl completing ECM tasks already. Release them after May 5 00:00 UTC or May 4th 8PM EST.

 

[Skillz]

It's impossible to build a cache of workunits on my 256 thread EPYC. I'm getting 1 task at a time every 5 mins. Tasks are completing before the CPU is even fully utilized.

Multiple instances don't work on yoyo.

 

[biodoc]

I seem to remember that you can't run multiple boinc instances on yoyo. Can anyone confirm that?

 

[Skillz]

Ugg, I'm torn. I just finished building my Ryzen 5 7600 rig, with 32GB of GSkill EXPO DDR5-6000 RAM running @ 6000 in an ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 mobo. (This was my cheap experiment to get my toes wet with AM5.)

EVGA Platinum G5 650W PSU. No GPU at present.

How can I make myself useful? I've not done Yoyo@Home before, and I'm not comfortable using VirtualBox VMs for DC, on what might end up being my "main rig" if all goes well.

My 5900X rigs are not really running at par right now that could be utilized for BOINC.

Edit: I need the dumb-as-rox-DCer "set and forget"-type instructions. I'm, not clever enough for the advanced stuff.

Edit: Update, I've got yoyo@home attached to BOINC client freshly downloaded (minus VBox) onto this PC. Says 11 hours for first WU? Does that sound right? I selected only ECM and ECM 2 sub-projects.

Edit: first batch of tasks completed in 1h:27m. I'm using SMT enabled, 100% CPU cores.

That's all you need to do. Just run yoyo on ECM and/or ECM P2, but the P2 can use up to 10GB RAM. I think someone said their most recent P2 tasks used 8GB per task.

Yoyo doesn't use VB, so no worries there.

 

[mmonnin03]

Yes ECM P2 uses a lot of memory all the time. ECM uses several mb then jumps up to 3.5GB. I've had several clients stop and when started again the tasks start over.

Only 1 client instance per machine. Tasks become detached.

 

[cellarnoise]

1st they try and copy the Pentagramathon and then they even pick the same project?

News - Beta-Pentagramathon Halloween Challenge is a GO! BPHC 2022!

Trying to beserk a U.S. witchy event / thing from last year (was FHCHC). I don't see that there are any current d.c. conflicts soon to interfere with a scary week long challenge? Please let me know if you plan on gnawing on otherwise! May start sometime this weekend and run through the dead...

forums.anandtech.com

Well I need to fire up some old Android phones for this one! @Endgame124 , coming for you 😁

Oh, wait, this Pentathlon thing is against other teams. So we need to rally more Anandtech forum members!

 

[pututu]

I tried qemu/kvm virtual machine and it seems to work by not detaching the task on the same rig on another client. Anyway, don't have enough RAM as the memory just yo-yo in size during computation.

I hope the pent organizers don't select NFS for javelin as the high paying sub-project will gobble up tons of memory.

Good luck guys.

 

[emoga]

Seems like the yoyo server has had a change of heart and is now serving tasks out like normal.

@pututu Having NFS along with Amicable Numbers as the cross country would just be mean...I like it

 

[Markfw]

Seems like the yoyo server has had a change of heart and is now serving tasks out like normal.

@pututu Having NFS along with Amicable Numbers as the cross country would just be mean...I like it View attachment 80278

Not to me, still a box with only 20 threads running instead of 30.

 

[emoga]

Not to me, still a box with only 20 threads running instead of 30.

You could start by maxing out your 'Minimum and Additional work buffer' to 10 days or so and see if that helps.

Could also be a RAM setting where you might have a limit on the allowed ram 'while in use'.

Both are found in the boinc manager under 'Computing Preferences'

 

[emoga]

Looks like I have around 700+ tasks per host.

Going to suspend network activity now.

No more leaky tasks from me

 

[Markfw]

I have almost 1000 per host. suspended network.

 

[cellarnoise]

This leg of the challenge is getting easier!!!! LOVE this!

What a great test of my computer equipment, cpu, RAM, heatsink system!!!

And it helps out TeAm-AnandTech. What a great and long D.C. history!!!