Some F@H Questions

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
Hello all,

Been away from Folding for a while, but trying to get everything going again.

Just set up a new rig with 2600k@4.4 GHz and a 570GTX. Wanted to ask about temperatures and PPD.
FahMon is showing 12323 PPD for the 570GTX (P6800) and 7671 for the 2600k (P6065). Isn't that a little low for Sandy Bridge? People are posting crazy PPD, something's not right. Do I need to enable -bigadv or -advmethods?

Also, temps are a little high. I'm getting 86 on the GPU and ~76 on the CPU cores. Should I be worried?

Totally irrelevant, but which would be better suited to folding with two 9800GS cards, a 790GX based dual core or an nForce 4 dual core (yeah, Socket 939).

TeAm
 

Lightflash

Senior member
Oct 12, 2010
274
0
71
Are you sure all cores are dedicated to the CPU instead of 1 core to the GPU and the rest to the CPU? I am running at 4.8GHz with my 2600k at around 18k to 22k depending on the WU.

As for temps., what is your ambient and what are you using to cool each?
 

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
SMP F@H running with -smp 8, it looks like it's using everything.

Cooling
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 on the CPU, two 120mm fans push/pull
3 x 120mm fans intake, 2 x 120mm exhaust (Antec P183 V3, I installed a 3 5.25" -> 4 3.5" and put two hard drives in it, should I consider eSATA? Or Panaflos?
eVGA GTX 570 HD, stock cooler, stock speeds.

Looks like FahMon was confused. Now showing 11k on the SMP P6065 WU and 13k on a GPU P6801 WU.
 

Lightflash

Senior member
Oct 12, 2010
274
0
71
Points seem about right then...might have just seen the data from the first few frames which are usually slower than the rest of the WU progression. Only thing to check would be your task manager performance to make sure it is at 100%

You seem to have enough fans in the case and the cooler should be good. How hot has it been in the location that the computer is in? That or dust may cause high temps. for a 2600k, but it may just be the WUs pushing the CPU and GPU harder than some other WUs.
 

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
Points seem about right then...might have just seen the data from the first few frames which are usually slower than the rest of the WU progression. Only thing to check would be your task manager performance to make sure it is at 100%

You seem to have enough fans in the case and the cooler should be good. How hot has it been in the location that the computer is in? That or dust may cause high temps. for a 2600k, but it may just be the WUs pushing the CPU and GPU harder than some other WUs.

Yup CPU usage locked at 99-100%. Sorry, missed the part in your first post where you asked for ambient temp: AC thermostat says 75F, the room with the computer is a little warmer. That might have something to do with it (FL Summer)

No dust of which to speak. Less than a week old, the case came with dust filters.
 

Lightflash

Senior member
Oct 12, 2010
274
0
71
Might want to check your TIM to see if it is fine and that you have proper tightening on the heatsink. Otherwise I would chalk it down to a mix of ambient temps, folding WUs, and the overclock. If it goes higher, I would start to worry but right now it should be fine.
 

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
I used the TIM included with the Noctua heatsink. I know I've got AS5 somewhere, will that work better? My Q9550 never broke 55°C...

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk
 

Lightflash

Senior member
Oct 12, 2010
274
0
71
Probably will be a little better, but I was just saying that could be another thing that is adding to the temps. along with a few other factors.
 

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
Probably will be a little better, but I was just saying that could be another thing that is adding to the temps. along with a few other factors.

Asides from the CM fan in the drive bay, all the fans in the case are Noctuas. Seriously considering Panaflos for the exhaust. Will probably be opening it, rerouting cables, and switching to AS5. Opening the case door gives me 4-5C cooler temps - GPU: 84C, CPU: 73C

Using -bigadv will give you 20% higher base ppd.

Thanks! Got it enabled now, this 600 point SMP WU has estimated 3600 PPD :thumbsdown:. The queued -bigadv WU is nearly 7k points on its own :cool:
:eek: - F@H V7 said it was a 600 pt WU - the log however...
Code:
04:00:12:Final credit estimate, 4146.00 points
 
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Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,039
0
76
Thanks! Got it enabled now, this 600 point SMP WU has estimated 3600 PPD :thumbsdown:. The queued -bigadv WU is nearly 7k points on its own :cool:
:eek: - F@H V7 said it was a 600 pt WU - the log however...
Yes. This is the bonus system kicking in. However, you won't get the 4146 points until you've folded 10 WUs. This is why it's better to stay off bigadv for the time being; on both without the bonus the points are not worth it, but you get 10 out of the way faster on normal SMP so you get the bonus faster. After that, you should add the -bigadv flag.

What you should also do is disable the GPU client, especially after you enable bigadv. Even though it uses 1-2% of CPU, it's still not worth it, because the SMP client is very sensitive to CPU cycles being stolen by other processes. If you want to use the computer frequently, it's more worth it to run the SMP client with the -smp 7 flag, and forgetting about bigadv.
 

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
Yes. This is the bonus system kicking in. However, you won't get the 4146 points until you've folded 10 WUs. This is why it's better to stay off bigadv for the time being; on both without the bonus the points are not worth it, but you get 10 out of the way faster on normal SMP so you get the bonus faster. After that, you should add the -bigadv flag.

What you should also do is disable the GPU client, especially after you enable bigadv. Even though it uses 1-2% of CPU, it's still not worth it, because the SMP client is very sensitive to CPU cycles being stolen by other processes. If you want to use the computer frequently, it's more worth it to run the SMP client with the -smp 7 flag, and forgetting about bigadv.

Until I've folded 10 of any WU? SMP only? I've definitely completed > 10 SMP, GPU, and original WUs. Or does the counter start after folding the first unit with bonus points? I'm lost now.

Really? It generates 12k PPD on its own [along with what seems like ambient temp ++12F], how much does a 2600k running -bigadv? Also, I'm not too sure I want to keep both running, especially at night. In the winter, I may consider a second :sneaky:.
 
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Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,039
0
76
Only the new SMP WUs that use the bonus points system count. Old SMP units don't, GPU units don't, uniproc WUs don't. And you need a passkey, and that passkey has to be entered into the client.

Also, yes. A 2600k at ~4.5GHz should get 40-50k ppd with -bigadv. It's going to get lower because of the continual gimping of the bigadv system as it comes closer and closer to mainstream, but for now it's by far the most efficient client in terms of ppd. You have a few options: running "-smp 8 -bigadv" with GPU, running it without GPU, and running "-smp 7" with GPU. The last is probably best if you use the computer a lot during the day, but otherwise it's not worth it. Between the first two, I don't know how much the GPU will take off from the SMP client, so you should probably ask someone else or run the clients yourself with and without GPU.

Also, if you want power-efficiency, SMP is by far the way to go. If you want a heater (I keep my system folding at night purely because of the heat it generates) then adding a GPU client may be useful, though the noise it generates is a pretty big issue at night when you're trying to sleep.
 

mrSHEiK124

Lifer
Mar 6, 2004
11,491
2
0
Since I'm not gaming anymore - and my GTX570HD seems to like throttling *and* is giving dismal PPD (12k) - would I be better served with 2x GTX 460s?