Page 1 of 1

[FAQ] SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) projects and FAH

Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 10:58 pm
by toTOW
This thread is intended to regroup the Frequently Asked Question about the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) projects. Please read it first.

If you don't find your answer here, the next step is to run a Search on the forum to see if some one else had the same issue before.

1. How do I choose to help with the COVID-19 related projects ?
To help in the fight against COVID-19, you need to select
- Webcontrol : "Any disease" in the list "I support research fighting"
- Advanced Control/FAHControl : Configure > Advanced, select "Any" in the list "Cause Preference"
The COVID-19 related projects are on top priority and will be assigned automatically.

2. Can I choose to work only on the COVID-19 related projects ?
No, you can't.
In FoldingHome, you never choose to work on only one project (or family of projects). The setting described above is a preference, but if no work is available to match your preferences, the system is designed to send you what need to be done at the time of your work request.

3. Is my system able to help ?
There are WU available for both GPUs and CPUs. Folding@Home supports nVidia and AMD GPUs through OpenCL on Windows and Linux.
The CPUs are supported on Windows, Linux and MacOS.

4. My GPU is supported, but it not detected.
You need to update your drivers with the latest ones downloaded from nVidia or AMD website.
Windows Updates often breaks OpenCL support when it updates the drivers automatically. To fix it, reinstall the drivers you downloaded from nVidia or AMD website.
On Linux, in addition to the proprietary drivers from the GPU maker, you may have to manually install "opencl-icd" matching with the drivers you installed.

5. Can you add an option to the list of causes to specifically support COVID-19 ?
No the categories are currently hard coded. We are now in the end of the development of a new client.

6. How do I know that I'm working on COVID-19 related projects ?
If you're running a project that's listed here, you're fighting COVID-19 :
CPU : 13862 - 13863 - 14328 - 14329 - 14337 - 14528 to 14531 - 14572 - 14574 - 14576 - 14600 to 14602
GPU : 11741 to 11781

7. How to fix Web control error ?
For: Google Chrome and some Chromium based browsers,
To fix web control,
Hit f12 on browser to enter dev mode,
right click on refresh button and hard reload.
Also try Incognito mode or clear cache.
Firefox is not affected by this bug.

OS X - for Safari change Url from https://client.foldingathome.org
to http://client.foldingathome.org and refresh once or twice.

8. How much does it cost to run FAH on my computer ?
This cost depends on many variables : computer configuration, using CPU and/or GPU, power cost, subscribed power, ...
I sometimes simplify the estimates by saying that 1W used 24/7 for a year will cost about 1€ per year. It could a bit more or less, depending on how much you pay for electricity.

With the following hypothesises (adapt them to your usage/energy provider) :
- regulated power "blue plan" from EDF, with a subscribed power of 3 kVA (0.1546€/kWH in January 2018), the lowest you can get here in France (but with higher kWH rate)
- a computer using 300W when running FAH.

A simple calculation lead to the following estimates :
- running FAH 24/7 will cost a little bit more than 400€ per year, or about 33€ per month.
- if the computer runs only 8 hours per day, the cost goes down to 135€ per year, or about 11€ per month.
- finally, if the computer is run only on the evening (3 hours per day), it would cost ~50€, or a little bit more than 4€ per month.

To be completed ...