Advise on my system, which client and how much

[shadowofdust]

Hi, I'm new to f@h,

I have downloaded a classic f@h and a gpu f@h. Both of them work but not together. Which is best?

Second, it only use about 13% of my cpu, can I get it to use more? I have set the priority in taskmanager to high.

My system info:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz 2.67 Ghz
6 GB RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
ATI Radeon HD 4870

My user is shadowofdust if you wanna see my stats.

Thankyou

[PantherX]

Welcome to the F@H Forum shadowofdust,

Based on your system (specifically, the CPU), I would recommend a single instance of SMP2 BETA Client v6.30. Please read this post and if you have further questions, feel free to ask.

EDIT -> You may want to use -oneunit flag (method) on your Classic and GPU Client so that they finish the current WU and exit. After that, you can uninstall the Classic and GPU Client and start the installation for SMP2 BETA Client v6.30.
Please note that although the GPU Client can work with your GPU, it requires some additional steps which may seem complex to a new F@h Donor. However, if you're interested, we can provide additional information to help you.

[jrweiss]

I agree. Get the SMP client running first, and learn a bit about the operations by reading the guides and skimming through these forums. Pay attention to the Passcode requirement for bonus points, and get a passcode.

Learn more about the GPU client with the ATI GPUs by searching on Environment Variables (EVs) and digesting that info (not all is cut-and-dried). Understand the concept of Machine ID and the use of the Console client and the -configonly menu.

After all that, you should be ready to try the GPU client alongside the SMP client. However, the GPU client is not as stable as the CPU or SMP client, so stick with the SMP only until you're ready to tinker a bit.

[haines@speedway.ca]

Hi:

I have read the threads and have similar questions.

My machine is a win 7 64 running on Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40
8.0 GB mem and a Nvidia GTS250

The machine runs 24/7 and is internet connected.

I need the machine approx 30 mins every 24 hours.

Obviously a serious underutilization condition, hence my wish to effectively donate this mch to the project.

I have utilized the classic client but would like to step up in terms of my contributions.

Which client should I install?

Thank you

[PantherX]

Welcome to the F@H Forum haines@speedway.ca,

For your CPU, please consider the SMP2 BETA Client v6.30 -> viewtopic.php?p=160908#p160908
For your GPU, please consider one of the following:
GPU2 Client (no longer being developed) -> viewtopic.php?p=160905#p160905
GPU3 BETA Client (successor to GPU2 Client) -> viewtopic.php?p=160906#p160906

However, please ensure that you use the -oneunit flag (method) on the Classic Client and one it exits, you can uninstall it and continue with the above mentioned F@h Clients.

[shadowofdust]

Great! Thankyou.

I installed the smp. I installed it as a service and restarted the computer.

Additional client parameters []? I wrote '-smp' hope that was the right thing.

After the restart, my computer launched the GPU client and not the SMP client. I forgot to remove GPU client from startup dir.

Then I started SMP whith the fah6.exe file in the fah folder and quit the GPU client.

Now it has completed 4% it tells me in Comand Promt. FahMon tells me 2%.

It uses 100% of my cpu now. When I look at Task Manager it shows two FahCore_a3.exe processes, one for SYSTEM and one for me.

SYSTEM is 64%, Me is 32%. Is that right?

If I can get more out of my computer by running both smp and gpu then sure, but I do not have too much time to look into it all, so it needs to be somewhat simple.

Thanks again

Edit: ps. Mashine id is 3 for smp and 1 for gpu.

[jrweiss]

If you have 2 _a3 processes totaling about 100%, the SMP client is running properly. When you get a chance, add -verbosity 9 to the config settings so your log shows more complete information for later troubleshooting. To do that, run a second instance of the SMP client in a Command Prompt window with the -configonly switch. In the Advanced Options, change the parameters to -smp -verbosity 9. Hit Enter until the client exits. Restart the Service or reboot the computer. The new configuration takes effect when the client is restarted.

When you say "GPU client," do you know which client you were actually running previously? The SMP and GPU clients should run alongside each other IF a separate Machine ID is set for each instance.

If it is the GUI ("Systray") version of the CPU client, then stop the SMP service and run the Systray client until the current work unit is finished (using the equivalent of the -oneunit switch in the Systray client menu), then retire it while the SMP client is working. EDIT by Mod: That "equivalent" is the "Pause when done" menu option.

If it really is the GPU client that runs off the graphics card, the SMP and GPU client should run alongside each other, if the GPU client is set to the "slightly higher" priority in the config. If the Machine IDs of the 2 clients are different, you should be able to restart the old client with the -oneunit switch to finish the old work unit, or even continue to run both clients together.

[shadowofdust]

It completed the first WU on smp. But I am not sure that it did finish it up right, can you see from this code whats happend?

Code: Select all

[14:56:22] Completed 500000 out of 500000 steps  (100%)
[14:56:23] DynamicWrapper: Finished Work Unit: sleep=10000
[14:56:33] 
[14:56:33] Finished Work Unit:
[14:56:33] - Reading up to 3699072 from "work/wudata_01.trr": Read 3699072
[14:56:33] trr file hash check passed.
[14:56:33] - Checksum of file (work/wudata_01.edr) read from disk doesn't match
[14:56:33] 
[14:56:33] Folding@home Core Shutdown: FILE_IO_ERROR
[14:56:37] CoreStatus = 75 (117)
[14:56:37] Error opening or reading from a file.
[14:56:37] Deleting current work unit & continuing...
[14:56:43] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[14:56:43] Cleaning up work directory
[14:56:43] + Attempting to get work packet
[14:56:43] Passkey found
[14:56:43] - Connecting to assignment server
[14:56:44] - Successful: assigned to (171.64.65.56).
[14:56:44] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[14:56:44] Loaded queue successfully.
[14:56:48] + Closed connections
[14:56:53] 
[14:56:53] + Processing work unit
[14:56:53] Core required: FahCore_a3.exe
[14:56:53] Core found.
[14:56:53] Working on queue slot 02 [October 25 14:56:53 UTC]
[14:56:53] + Working ...

[PantherX]

[14:56:33] Folding@home Core Shutdown: FILE_IO_ERROR -> Your WU has been lost i.e. you will not get any FAH Points or anything.

What anti virus/maleware, etc application are you using?
Have you added the FAH Folder exception to it?
When was the last time you ran chkdsk?

[shadowofdust]

Antivirus: Avast
FAH Folder exception: How do I do that?
Chkdsk: Never how do I do that?

Edit: I am running chkdsk now... windows has cheked the file sytem and found no problems.

[bruce]

FAH has more than one way it can be installed. There's important information on the first page of FAHlog or we can get it from the information in the shortcut that you use to start FAH.

Avast has been known to discard virus-free files that FAH needs from the \work folder. I don't run Avast, but there is a way to tell it not to look for viruses in the FAH folder . . . once we know where that data is being stored. You may also be able to find that information if you look at Avast's log.