The 3rd Folding@Home Holiday Season Race in December 2008

[petrusbroder]

This is the official Race thread for the 3rd Folding@Home Holiday Season Race (3rd FHHSR).
In this thread the teams, stats, discussions, :beer: :beer: and will and should be posted. I'll ask the Mods to pin this thread until Jan. 2, 2009.

Here are the rules:
1. Have fun.
2. Let others have fun.
3. Crunch as much as you can, as often as you can and as efficiently as you can.
4. Assimilating computers, adding members to the teams, switching teams, borging is allowed.
5: (Sid's rule) Whistle while you work; DON'T whistle while you sip.
6: (Sid's rule) No pouting.

Time frame:
Start: December 1, 2008, 00:00 UTC
End: January 1, 2009, 13:00 UTC

Teams:
The Folders
TAS

Stickied at the request of OP. Yay contests!
DC Mod Elect Fullmetal Chocobo

Edit December 2, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 3, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 4, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 5, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 7, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 9, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 11, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 12, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 14, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 16, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 17, 2008: Petrusbroder froze the teams. No more new team members
Edit December 19, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 21, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 23, 2008: stats posted.
Edit December 26, 2008: stats posted.
Edit January 1, 2009: stats posted.

 

[petrusbroder]

Here are the team's members:

The Folders:
Assimilator1
Cutthroat
Drsignguy
Gravity
jonesthewine
m1ldslide1
PCTC2
Pokey
TAndy



TAS:
Baldurs_Gate
biodoc
Chocobo Navy
GLeeM
Hurricane Andrew
Insidious (Yes he is a TAS-member of long and good standing!)
Lightstar
Markfw900
Neurodog
Petrusbroder
Philippart
rabrittain



Please remember: this are preliminary team rosters. When the time gets closer to the race (e.g. Nov. 30) I'll balance the teams as to their production during the past week so that at least at the start the teams are almost equally strong. When the race starts all the rules apply

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here are the two teams as of December 2, 2008.
I am missing the numbers from some folders because I do not know which name they are using when folding. Please let me know!

The Folders:
__ PPD _______ Name
_12 855 ______ [TA]Assimilator1
__4 275 ______ Cutthroat
__5 870 ______ Drsignguy
_65 770 ______ Gravity
_14 650 ______ jonesthewine
__3 860 ______ m1ldslide1
_____ 0 ______ PCTC2
__5 385 ______ Pokey_TA
_____ ? ______ TAndy
_____ ? ______ theAnimal (joined December 5, 2008)
__5 510 ______ VirtualLarry
118 175 ______ The Folders


TAS:
__ PPD _______ Name
__ _275 ______ Baldurs_Gate
_13 525 ______ biodoc
_____ ? ______ Chocobo Navy
__2 855 ______ GLeeM
__3 875 ______ Hurricane Andrew
_28 660 ______ Insidious
_10 970 ______ Lightstar
_52 970 ______ Markfw900
__3 565 ______ Neurodog
__ _950 ______ Petrusbroder
_____ ? ______ rabrittain
__1 725 ______ Tom_Philippart
__6 775 ______ TurtleBlue
126 145 ______ TAS

Then we have the missing Folders (who have raced in the past years): CupCak3 and some others!

<<Let the race begin!
Edit: Nov 28, 2008 New members have joined TAS. Welcome Lightstar and Markfw900! Although the teams may look not quite balanced just now, please remember that I will balance them later. Also feel free to recruit members!!!
Edit: Nov 29, 2008 Added Assimilator1 and TAndy to The Folders' team and Philippart to TAS. Ordered team's members alphabetically.
Edit November 30, 2008: added the numbers for rabrittain, PCTC2, Assimilator1.
Edit December 1, 2008: added the numbers for TurtleBlue
Edit December 2, 2008: added VirtualLarry, moved TurtleBlue to TAS, which he is a member of (sorry TurtleBlue!). Some recruiting is going on.
Edit December 5, 2008: added theAnimal to The Folders' team

 

[Insidious]

Ya Hooooo!

We're official :thumbsup:

Thanks for the kick start Peter. Everyone ready for some major TASs kickage!

-Sid

edit:
The NVidia driver version 178.24 is the one that is CUDA enabled and will yield the best PPD from GPU clients at the moment. The newer driver versions (180.xx) work fine, but in their effort to reduce the CPU usage of the GPU clients, the PPD is somewhat lower. But this may be good for windowsXP users who want to run an SMP client alongside a GPU client on a dual core PC.

 

[biodoc]

YES!!! TAS vs. the FOLDERS!!:beer::thumbsup:

Hardware:

3-Q6600s @3.24 GHz
1-8800GT @650 MHz
1-9800GTX+ @740MHz

Hmmm...1 PCIe slot open,

Software:

100% Ubuntu!
wine 1.19 (GPUs)
nvidia drivers all set to go!

FAH:

should be able to do 2XSMP on all three boxes
2 GPU clients of course

Go TAS!!

Edit: oops! the GPUs are MHz not Hz :laugh:

 

[m1ldslide1]

I'm stoked - let the last-minute scavenging for parts and PC's begin!!! :beer:

That's some fine company that I'm lumped in with on the Folders team. I feel so inadequate!

What ever happened to MadMurph??? I tried searching but couldn't find a related thread... He will be missed around this time.

 

[Insidious]

My kid is at boot camp (USN)
I think I am going to try and hijack his MacBook (I hope I don't get OSX cooties) :evil:

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
.
.
.
What ever happened to MadMurph??? I tried searching but couldn't find a related thread... He will be missed around this time.

His production ended at the end of the school year and never returned. I suspect he lost access to the lab(s) he had borg'd

If you're listening Murph... You don't have to crunch to be welcome here! :beer:

-Sid

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: petrusbroder
Here are the rules:
1. Have fun.
2. Let others have fun.
3. Crunch as much as you can, as often as you can and as efficiently as you can.
4. Assimilating computers, adding members to the teams, switching teams, borging is allowed.
5: (Sid's rule) Whistle while you work; DON'T whistle while you sip.
6: (Sid's rule) No pouting.

1. Definitely having fun.
2. I hope I'm letting others have fun.
3. Getting ready to start installing now so I'm not late.
4. mwwa ha ha ha ha
5. The has gotten Christmas songs stuck in my head, so I'm whistling them.
6. Not pouting.

Come on TAS!!!

EDIT: Is there a best version to use for a Windows client? I have no machines running GPU at the moment, but I have several machines with multiple processors and multiple cores.

 

[PCTC2]

Well, looks like I'll have to fill those empty PCIe slots before December... huh. I have 4 empty slots... I wonder what fits in those... maybe a few 9600GSO's?
Also, I have an empty Skt 775. I wonder what fits in that? Maybe a Q6600?

LET'S DO THIS!

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Can we get a link for help with configuration? For those that, um, are not sure what to put for name, and the, um, team number.

 

[Pokey]

Thanks Peter for being the leader of the pack so to speak.......................:thumbsup:

But I don't know if I can abide by ALL of Sid's rules....

In prep for a quick start I have run into a GPU hiccup.............and no I have not been in the :beer:

A lot of EUEs due to UNSTABLE_MACHINE. see below.
the card is throwing a lot of pixel size artifacts on the screen.
The question is this: Will an undersized PSU cause this? I have 250W in lieu of 300w required by the card. (it is what the computer came with)
OR
Is it heat related? The Card is an 8500GT and has a cooling fan.

I have GPU-Z but not in time to get a reading before this thing decided to go on a 24 hour hiatus.

Below is just the last of a long line of EUEs.

[20:20:33] Project: 5755 (Run 1, Clone 111, Gen 1)
[20:20:33]
[20:20:33] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[20:20:33] Entering M.D.
[20:20:40] Working on Protein
[20:20:51] Client config found, loading data.
[20:20:51] Starting GUI Server
[20:34:23] Completed 1%
[20:34:25] mdrun_gpu returned
[20:34:25] NANs detected on GPU
[20:34:25]
[20:34:25] Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE
[20:34:27] CoreStatus = 7A (122)
[20:34:27] Sending work to server
[20:34:27] Project: 5755 (Run 1, Clone 111, Gen 1)
[20:34:27] - Error: Could not get length of results file work/wuresults_02.dat
[20:34:27] - Error: Could not read unit 02 file. Removing from queue.
[20:34:27] EUE limit exceeded. Pausing 24 hours.

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo
Can we get a link for help with configuration? For those that, um, are not sure what to put for name, and the, um, team number.

LOL :laugh: LOL

I can't help you with your name (anything you like... just PM Peter so he can find you in the stats), but our team is 198.

probably the best resource would be to check out these guides

We'll try to field any specific questions the best we can

-Sid

 

[Insidious]

Pokey;

You can end the 24 hour thing by stopping and then re-starting your GPU client.

The answers to your questions are yes.

That does sound like a kind of puny power supply to run a modern video card 100%.

The artifacts... that does sound like heat. Careful... GPUs don't deal well with it. I know there are lots of posts saying a GPU is still OK at 100C, but I say BUNK. 80C scares me!

And the best news of all, there were (and I assume still are) some work units floating around that won't work no matter what you do. /me sighs

I suggest you fire up the GPU-Z then re-start the client. Artifacts Dizn't good!!!

-Sid

edit: you better not be pouting!

 

[biodoc]

I can help out with linux issues. Sid and many others could help out with Windows.

Pokey, I have an 8600 GTS w/ 256 MB RAM that has been spitting out EUE's at about a 50% rate.

The core temp is about 60C and I've tried the latest drivers.

Bottom line for me; I'm taking it offline. Maybe it's because I'm running linux/wine??

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: biodoc
Maybe it's because I'm running linux/wine??

God wants you to buy another video card. :laugh:

 

[biodoc]

Originally posted by: Insidious

Originally posted by: biodoc
Maybe it's because I'm running linux/wine??

God wants you to buy another video card. :laugh:

:laugh:

You know, I had the same thought!!:shocked:

Now, if I could just convince my wife!

I was looking at this one here

I like the quality and extra cooling of some of those ASUS cards.

My ASUS 9800GTX+ here runs cool and quiet!:heart:

 

[Hurricane Andrew]

Let the Games begin! (in a few days, anyway)

:beer:

 

[Drsignguy]

Nice! I will be shutting down until I return on the 30th as I will be going up north. So, I will be looking in to keep an eye on things.

It's going to be fun<-----being away for a bit.......... and the Race!!!

 

[Markfw]

OMG, Gravity and me on the same team ???

And I was all set to get an I7, and 2 more video cards for a total of 10 8800 GT's !! And Gravity can pull miracles with his farms...

Let the slaughter begin !

( I mean the fun begin.....)

And my nemesis MadMurph is nowhere to be seen.

 

[biodoc]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
OMG, Gravity and me on the same team ???

And I was all set to get an I7, and 2 more video cards for a total of 10 8800 GT's !! And Gravity can pull miracles with his farms...

Let the slaughter begin !

( I mean the fun begin.....)

And my nemesis MadMurph is nowhere to be seen.

:laugh::laugh:

blert, are you out there?? TAS needs your help badly!!

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
,
,
,
Let the slaughter begin !

( I mean the fun begin.....)

ACK :shocked:

And I have no upgrade budget

Well, it is Winter time.... maybe if I turn the furnace off.......

-Sid

 

[biodoc]

Originally posted by: Insidious

Originally posted by: Markfw900
,
,
,
Let the slaughter begin !

( I mean the fun begin.....)

ACK :shocked:

And I have no upgrade budget

Well, it is Winter time.... maybe if I turn the furnace off.......

-Sid

:laugh:

Between you and I, we might match one of their PPD!:shocked:

I started a TAS F@H PPD/Help thread here.

Looks like I can do about 25K per day with all but one as good WUs.

I took a fahmon screenshot of my setup and posted it over there.

 

[Markfw]

Whats with that other site ? and I can;t login or register.

 

[biodoc]

That site is for TAS members.

If you want to join TAS, then send Petrusbroder a PM.

 

[Markfw]

oh... Well, as I understand it, TAS does different projects all the time. For me that would be a nightmare, its hard enough keeping all my folders going now.

Thanks anyway.

 

[petrusbroder]

Well, Markfw900, you may end up as honorary TAS-members anyway ...