Found an old machine and want to fold with it

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sptn.
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:05 am

Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by sptn. »

psaam0001 wrote:When you look at the expert configuration settings, The gpu false setting line can be highlighted and removed. As it should only be set if your graphics card is neither OpenCL v1.2 (or newer); or NVIDIA CUDA ready.

Paul
You mean this is the case for my GPU?
psaam0001
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by psaam0001 »

Right. This will be in the F@H Control Panel (FAHControl). When it opens, click on the Configure tab, then Expert.

Look for a line that says "gpu false" (w/o the quote marks of course). Highlight it, and click on Remove, then Save. Then try to add a GPU slot.

Paul
sptn.
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by sptn. »

After messing around with drivers and CUDA and a not connecting client we rebooted that one time when suddenly everything was running perfectly.

So after all we do not know why it is working now but whatever we are folding!

Thanks for the help to everyone!
kiore
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by kiore »

sptn. wrote:After messing around with drivers and CUDA and a not connecting client we rebooted that one time when suddenly everything was running perfectly.

So after all we do not know why it is working now but whatever we are folding!

Thanks for the help to everyone!
This is good news, had been following this thread closely as this is an effort I think is worthwhile using an old system and adding GPUs, this although obviously not always simple allows people with time and effort to build serious folding machines with less financial input than the latest greatest new build. My first dedicated folding system was 'retired' old P4 system with a modernish (a GT 8800 in 2009) 2nd hand GPU squeezed into it. Also caused a smile that "suddenly everything was running" know that feeling very well.
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HaloJones
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by HaloJones »

If you have the funds and can justify the power bills, using old machines but with newish gpus is a highly effective way to fold. For example, I resurrected an old motherboard with a 2600K (2010!) and with a GTX970 and Linux Mint20 it's hitting well over 600K ppd.
single 1070

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bruce
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by bruce »

HaloJones wrote:...and it's hitting well over 600K ppd.
And the GPU probably only slows up a little when it happens to catch a WU with a small atom-count.
sptn.
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:05 am

Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by sptn. »

I am folding with ~140k PPD right now. According to all the Benchmark lists a 1060 should produce well double the points but I guess due to the very cheap board the PCIe port slows things down a lot.

What I am impressed of is that the CPU is sooo ineffective. I upgraded to a Core 2 Quad with 2,6 GHz and did not expect it to be so slow. Ok it is just the s version due to the Boards 65W power limit but still slower than my mobile i7 with 15 W.
But anyway, got it for 30€ inlc. shipping. Was fun to change. Since it is a lunchbreak project at work now, some colleagues have never seen a PC from the inside.
gunnarre
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by gunnarre »

Can you check that it says "using CUDA" in the logs?
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MeeLee
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by MeeLee »

sptn. wrote:I am folding with ~140k PPD right now. According to all the Benchmark lists a 1060 should produce well double the points but I guess due to the very cheap board the PCIe port slows things down a lot.

What I am impressed of is that the CPU is sooo ineffective. I upgraded to a Core 2 Quad with 2,6 GHz and did not expect it to be so slow. Ok it is just the s version due to the Boards 65W power limit but still slower than my mobile i7 with 15 W.
But anyway, got it for 30€ inlc. shipping. Was fun to change. Since it is a lunchbreak project at work now, some colleagues have never seen a PC from the inside.
A 1060 shouldn't need a CPU upgrade.
Your low PPD may have to do with either over-committing the CPU (eg: folding on all CPU cores while folding on GPU), or if you're using a PCIE 2.0 x1 riser to feed the GPU.
The 1060 depending on if it's the 3 or 6GB version, the 3GB version should average around 300-360k PPD.
sptn.
Posts: 51
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by sptn. »

MeeLee wrote:
sptn. wrote:I am folding with ~140k PPD right now. According to [...]
A 1060 shouldn't need a CPU upgrade.
Your low PPD may have to do with either over-committing the CPU (eg: folding on all CPU cores while folding on GPU), or if you're using a PCIE 2.0 x1 riser to feed the GPU.
The 1060 depending on if it's the 3 or 6GB version, the 3GB version should average around 300-360k PPD.
I upgraded from a two core Celeron. Just thought this would make an improvement over the Celeron, what it actually did, but not as much as I was expecting.
The points do not change if I include the CPU into folding.
I am not using such riser - not that I know. Right now I am glad that it is working anyway. If you have a hint where I could find something to check this.
gunnarre wrote:Can you check that it says "using CUDA" in the logs?
I will check this, but I am sure on first startup, when the whole thing worked together, it said "configuring CUDA". Because I have never seen this in my logs I guess CUDA is in use.
kiore
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by kiore »

The 'riser' referred to is an aftermarket extension to the PCIE slot that lifts the GPU away from the motherboard.
It would look like the thing in the link below, but it doesn't sound like you have one.
http://www.phanteks.com/Riser-Cables.html
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MeeLee
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by MeeLee »

Another possibility is to look if you have correctly filled out your username, and passkey in the configuration settings.
If the passkey is valid and correct, you'll need to fold (I believe) at least 10 successful WUs, before bonuses are assigned.
sptn.
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by sptn. »

MeeLee wrote:Another possibility is to look if you have correctly filled out your username, and passkey in the configuration settings.
If the passkey is valid and correct, you'll need to fold (I believe) at least 10 successful WUs, before bonuses are assigned.
Yep I checked everything is filled in correctly and the points are counted to the correct username.
But
We are not full time folding. That means we shut down the PC over night. So we already have way over 10 WUs folded with the client but not consecutive. When the Bonus program only applies to those who fold permanently than that is the reason.
Additional to that we are switching Users from week to week. This may be another reason why the bonus may not be counted.

EDIT: ah I found the FAH-Page where one can check the accounts Bonus-Status and it is set to TRUE. So shouldn't be the Problem.
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Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by PantherX »

sptn. wrote:...We are not full time folding. That means we shut down the PC over night. So we already have way over 10 WUs folded with the client but not consecutive. When the Bonus program only applies to those who fold permanently than that is the reason.
Additional to that we are switching Users from week to week. This may be another reason why the bonus may not be counted...
There's no requirement to fold consecutively and/or permanently to get Bonus points. Once a specific combination of username/password is qualified after folding 10 WUs and ensuring that the completion rate is more than 80% it simply works.

If you're changing the username on a weekly basis but using the same passkey, then each combination of username/passkey would be required to qualify. Generally speaking, most donors tend to use the same username/passkey combination across all their clients.
ETA:
Now ↞ Very Soon ↔ Soon ↔ Soon-ish ↔ Not Soon ↠ End Of Time

Welcome To The F@H Support Forum Ӂ Troubleshooting Bad WUs Ӂ Troubleshooting Server Connectivity Issues
sptn.
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:05 am

Re: Found an old machine and want to fold with it

Post by sptn. »

PantherX wrote:
sptn. wrote:[...]
If you're changing the username on a weekly basis but using the same passkey, then each combination of username/passkey would be required to qualify. Generally speaking, most donors tend to use the same username/passkey combination across all their clients.
Yep when we change Users we also change the passkeys accordingly.

And we all have 100% completion rate, no WUs expired EVER... wannabe top pupil
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