Whats the optimal folding setup for my rig?

[phaxmohdem]

I have been happily folding away on just my 8800GTX card for a few weeks now, and just doing that (and pausing the folding while gaming) I've been pulling down between 25K and 30K ppw.

I realized, that my rig has other foldable resources inside of it, and was just curious what the best setup for my rig would be:

Currently: just one GPU2 client running on the 8800GTX

Machine has a Dual Core CPU (6000+)
8800GTX card,
8600GT card.

Should I run two gpu clients and two cpu clients to maximize output, or just one CPU client?

What would you all recommend? I need to be able to use my computer as it is my main desktop, but while I'm out and about/asleep, I'd like to put it to as much useful work as possible.

 

[Philippart]

You can run another gpu client on the 8600gt, I think using the console client and a special argument, I'm sure somebody here or at the official foldingforums will tell you.

Furthermore I recommend installing the SMP client for your cpu. All this will give you a big ppd boost!

 

[phaxmohdem]

Thanks Philippart,

I've been tinkering with the console GPU client, and figured out how to run two of those using the -gpu 0 and -gpu 1 flags, however I do not know which GPU is 0 and Which GPU is 1 lol. I assumed it would be the faster of the two, but thus far both clients seem to be running equally slow :S, which makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

I set up two instances of the CPU client, and set machine ID's of 1 and 2 (for each different core) and those seem to be working. Is there a benefit to running the SMP client over two instances of the single threaded client?

 

[Philippart]

Yes, SMP gives you a lot more points than the regular cpu client!

I suppose gpu 0 is the first gpu shown in the device manager or from a hardware point of view the one in the first pcie slot just below the northbridge.

Did you install Fahmon to check your ppd? There should be a huge difference between the speeds of both gpus.

 

[phaxmohdem]

I don't have fahmon, will look into it though. Been running 4 work units, one on each client, and they are only 3% done after 2 hours of processing. is that normal? Seemed like the tray GPU client was flying through them. I'll also give the SMP client a look, is that the beta client I saw on the site?

 

[Philippart]

Windows: V6 Beta SMP/CPU clients

there is something severely wrong with your gpu clients, I have an 8800Ultra and one % only takes a couple of minutes even on the biggest workunits!
Sadly I don't have any multigpu experience, I know you have to disable sli and somehow enable display output on both gpus otherwise both clients will run on the first gpu...

 

[phaxmohdem]

I don't even have SLI setup since the cards are not identical, the 8600GT is just there for extra monitors.... I DL's FAHmon, and the gpu clients are doing terribly... the cpu clients are showing higher ppd numbers, and the system as a whole is only totalling 547ppd estimated. I just closed down all clients, except the one for GPU 0 (which should be hte 8800GTX) to see what happens.

 

[phaxmohdem]

*Update* with only the 8800GTX client running, it is clipping right along now, 1% every minute or two. I'll start up the SMP client and see if that stops progress on the gpu client, and work from there I guess. I <3 troubleshooting. :S

I also forgot to uninstall the old tray folding client before (even though it was not running), so I did that as well to see if it helps any.

-------------
*Update* Got both GPU clients working properly now. Can't get the SMP client to run though. I've installed it several times, and according to the readme doc it should work but doesn't nothing happens, no error statement or anything. Window just flashes momentarily and goes away. Checking to make sure I have the right .NET framework installed now.

I also discovered that one of the CPU clients I was running previously had the same machine ID as one of the GPU clients, which was likely the problem of all the SLOOOOOOWness I was experiencing.

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*Yet another update* I think that the slowness is actually caused by the CPU client. Everything was working well until I started up a CPU console, even with everything having its own machine ID. I think the GPU clients just need that access to the CPU every now and then to keep them going smoothly.

With two GPU clients running by themselves, I'm getting:
~3500ppd - 8800GTX
~1300ppd - 8600GT

With one CPU client running on top of those it drops to:
~2000ppd - 8800GTX
~750ppd - 8600GT

With two CPU clients running on top of those it drops to:
~300ppd - 8800GTX
~250ppd - 8600GT

Not even worth running the CPU clients.

Anyone out there successfully folding on maximum CPU & GPU usage? or is this falloff common?

As for SMP thing, I checked and I definitely have the proper framework. I guess I'll just be happy for now with 2 GPU's going on. Should rack up some modest points for the TeAm

 

[theAnimal]

You need to change the priority of the GPU clients from low to idle (slightly higher).

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: theAnimal
You need to change the priority of the GPU clients from low to idle (slightly higher).

I was scrolling to the bottom of the thread to post this too!

Well..... I still have to post something so......

:beer: :music: :music: :beer:

-Sid

 

[VirtualLarry]

What version of the Nvidia drivers are you running? Versions prior to 180.x required nearly a dedicated CPU core for each GPU client.

 

[phaxmohdem]

I'm rockin' the 185.85 drivers right now. When folding on the two GPU's, CPU usage is minimal to nill... even such once a CPU folder starts up GPU production falls off dramatically.

How do you change the core priority of the GPU folders, short of deleting them and resetting them up? I checked the .cfg file but couldn't find the option.

 

[theAnimal]

Run with the -config flag, then say "yes" to change advanced options.

 

[Insidious]

If you're using the systray GPU client, the option is available by right-clicking on the tray icon and selecting 'configure....'

-Sid

 

[imaheadcase]

I would love to put this extra Nvidia GPU GTX260 card to work i have, but I have no idea how to get it working on Windows Home Server. I tried to install the software for GPU and get a "incorrect OS" error. I could run that card 24/7 since its a server and don't do anything.

Its the exact mirror of the card I have now and i'm always a top 30 producer on chart (dranzerk). If i could get that working man that would be awesome. ANyone have any luck with that?

 

[Philippart]

right click on the .exe file , properties and select to run it in xp mode

 

[imaheadcase]

No run in XP mode in windows home server.

 

[Insidious]

I've seen other threads in the past at the F@H forums asking how to make folding work on WHS. I don't remember any real solutions (although there probably is some way to cobble things up that I don't know of).

I think the most prevalent 'solution' was to run a virtual machine with Linux for folding. But I don't think most machines perform other tasks very well with a VM solution competing for resources.

-Sid

 

[Philippart]

Originally posted by: imaheadcase
No run in XP mode in windows home server.

I've run the client on WHS in the past, if I remember right I ran the installer and the client .exe in xp mode or a similar non-server OS, furthermore I remember that I had to connect a monitor to make it work the first time.

Now that I think about it: I think in the end the gpu console was the only one working, but I'm not sure if the regular client worked too...

In any case try the console client too!