F@H 64bit

[Sparky19692]

I know that the final release of XP64 is right around the corning. It seems likt there would be soom major computing benfits to F@H in the 64 bit environment. Is there any rumer of them converting this software over so both 32 and 64 bit users could both work on the same gene string?

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Interesting idea but I can't remember ever having read something about a 64 bit version coming up on the F@H forums.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

the F@H cores would have to be coded to take advantage of the 64bit pathways.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: BlackMountainCow
Interesting idea but I can't remember ever having read something about a 64 bit version coming up on the F@H forums.

They've talked about it, but the big question will be when it ever happens...

They're also talking about an Itanium port, but I really hope they get AMD64 and G5 (64 bit) ports done before working on something that will be 0% useful to 99% of their users.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

I guess they'd rather convert to BOINC prior to releasing a 64bit client ...

 

[MDE]

I remember reading something that Pande wrote saying that they did an in-house 64 bit client and there weren't any performance benefits.

 

[MechEng]

Originally posted by: MDE
I remember reading something that Pande wrote saying that they did an in-house 64 bit client and there weren't any performance benefits.

Just out of curiosity...
What if it's run on those Intels that don't "really" support 32-bit... Is it the Itanium, or ????

 

[ViRGE]

Yea, it's the Itanium.

 

[sduguid]

It's true that they didn't really find any performance benefits with their internal 64-bit client.

On another note, though, they have been working on a GPU client and there should be an announcement in the next couple of months. They are predicting at least the performance equivalent of a fast P4, but only with the latest GPU's able to run the client.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: sduguid
It's true that they didn't really find any performance benefits with their internal 64-bit client.

On another note, though, they have been working on a GPU client and there should be an announcement in the next couple of months. They are predicting at least the performance equivalent of a fast P4, but only with the latest GPU's able to run the client.

Wow, good stuff indeed. Maybe it'll justify us upgrading to 6800 Ultras.

 

[sduguid]

The nice thing about this is that since it will be the only project with a GPU client, pretty much anybody with the right graphics card could run F@H and still run their project of choice on their cpu, with a minimal of loss to their original project....

 

[MechEng]

Originally posted by: sduguid
It's true that they didn't really find any performance benefits with their internal 64-bit client.

On another note, though, they have been working on a GPU client and there should be an announcement in the next couple of months. They are predicting at least the performance equivalent of a fast P4, but only with the latest GPU's able to run the client.

That sounds pretty interesting... I also found this

EDIT:
and this

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: sduguid
It's true that they didn't really find any performance benefits with their internal 64-bit client.

On another note, though, they have been working on a GPU client and there should be an announcement in the next couple of months. They are predicting at least the performance equivalent of a fast P4, but only with the latest GPU's able to run the client.

Hmm, gives me an excuse to upgrade to a newer video card (currently on a PCI Radeon with 32MB). I would like to know, however, if they are going to require PCI-E or if AGP will be ok. I read a few pages from that monstrous thread, but didn't see an answer.

 

[sduguid]

Yah, it doesn't seem too clear yet...I guess we'll have to wait for definitive answers on what generation of cards will be needed and on what platform....

hopefully they'll announce something soon...of course I'm not overly optimistic.

 

[Sparky19692]

IT would be intresting to see what the GPU would do if memory has much to do with it WOW would that help lets face it a 6800gt having a 256 bit memory bus would be a Huge compared to 128bit the cpu has.

 

[sduguid]

I don't really want to wade through the that thread again but I do recall the lead programmer saying that the GPU being the same speed as a fast P4 was conservative. They were hoping for it to be twice as quick as a P4...

 

[GLeeM]

One of the biggest benifits would be new folders. People with 64 bit CPUs and OSes are/will be looking for a 64 bit client. There have been people here looking/asking for a project with one.

Their 64 bit trial didn't help folding much because it doesn't help floating point computations much

 

[Jeff7181]

Seems like it would help a lot, looking at these results, specifically Pi-Bench which is probably a similar workload to most DC projects.

 

[Accord99]

http://forum.folding-community.org/viewtopic.php?t=10239