I want to Fold only on my GPU at least for now

[SaulLC]

Hi, kinda of new here, I've Fold before on GPUs long ago, just so you know. Now I'm participating with WorldCommunityGrid.org that mostly uses my CPU, so for now I don't want to use my CPU for Folding@Home, but I will on March as I've planed so. My problem is I've installed the Automatic Client and order it to stop after it finishes, and found the removing of the CPU slot 0, so is it OK for me to remove the CPU slot 0 to only Fold with my GPU? or I need to install the Shortcut Client?

[bollix47]

Welcome to the foldingathome support forum SaulLC.

You do not have to run both GPU & CPU folding slots ...

Keep in mind that a CPU core will be used to 'feed' & 'unload' the GPU while GPU folding.

[SaulLC]

Thanks. Yes, I'm aware of it, WCG does the same, it uses 0.95C(ore) according to its own reporting, I see it as too much, since it's a GPU processing; the thing is, I really need separate controls for CPU and GPU, if I pause or resume is for both, I was hoping to control that from the Automatic Installation App and not learn a bunch of switches for the Shortcut Installation and have to reinstall for the shortcut version, I hope this could be done in the future; 'coz I had no control over the initialization of the Folding App, it just started to download and ran almost immediately, so admin is really lacking. This is why I like BOINC better, and I really wish you could use it too, 'coz I can have a default config profile and 3 others I can use, and add profiles; also I can individually use: CPU, GPU and Network, anyway; I also need to control when each should stop on the APP, I don't trust the Web Interface, I set it to: Finish then Stop, every time I open my browser, why it doesn't save that config? does it even work? did it passed to the Client? if it did, why it doesn't show when it's open in my browser again? As you can see this are simple admin questions that are out of Common Sense and is what any user would need when not running standard, I wish your dev team could address these ASAP.

Regards.

Update: Gave 4% of my CPU (i5-10400F 6C/12T) and it was more than enough, CLient 7.6.21 uses 2-4%, mostly 3% which is 36%T, really low,so my WCG client is at 96%

[BobWilliams757]

SaulC,

Are you using the new V8.1 Beta client, or just using the web control on an older version? In short, what version are you calling the "automatic client?".

Using FAH Control with the 7.x.x versions of the client you can modify and save a number of parameters. This includes making any slot pause on start so folding with never start without a command, limiting or deleting a slot (depending on version), the number of CPU cores you wish to use if you do fold with it, and other small details, such as setting when the next work unit is downloaded as a percentage of the completed work unit.

Though it doesn't have any timers or such, you can set it to finish and it does so. If you wish to pause a slot, you can pause any slot in use individually, as well as the same being applied to the "finish" command.

[SaulLC]

I use the official 7.6.21 which has 3 installation modes as described on the FAQ; the automatic installation is the default one, 2nd is As A Service and 3rd As A Shortcut.

Well this client started processing pretty much immediately, I could have stopped it, but the work-unit would have been rejected and I didn't come here to not do the processing, so I let it be until finishing, a few hours later, then on the Client this time, as I don't trust the web interface, clicked Pause, both parts stopped (CPU & GPU), the clocked Finish; when the CPU finished, then I went to config to remove the slot, but checked the Edit of it, and it had a: Pause | False, so I changed to True, saved everything and the CPU slot was not there any more, and then finally clicked Fold and the GPU part continued; no problem, but 'coz I'm a PC tech and I'm very curious about computers, and experienced with them I could do this out of 100% ignorance of the app, I was lucky, and fearful all the way, so your software interface is hostile to the average user, so it presents challenge, it doesn't have an introductory wizard or a tooltips explaining or asking anything; I understand the sense of practicality but this is too much, lacking bedside manners IMO.

Also it lacks a buffer/queue for work, BOINC has 2 queues, 1 for processing 0.5d and additional 0.5d queue; the config you write of, nowhere to be seen, is not obvious at least to me.

[bollix47]

FYI
Right clicking on a slot in FAHControl gives you independant control of that slot, i.e. if you had a CPU slot that you wanted to finish and not download a new WU you could right-click on the CPU slot and select Finish. After it finishes you can again right-click on the CPU slot and select Pause which will ensure that a reboot won't cause it to start folding again.

Unfortunately the documentation could be better on some of the more obscure techniques.

[SaulLC]

Ignore this, I was wrong. Where is the strike option?

No, as I wrote twice already, I did exactly that and both parts were paused when I clicked pause, even when I right-clicked on the CPU slot.

[Joe_H]

No, as I wrote twice already, I did exactly that and both parts were paused when I clicked pause, even when I right-clicked on the CPU slot.

Don't know why it worked that way for you, everyone else can start and stop the slots individually using FAHControl by right clicking on the slots. It does not work that way using the Web Control in a browser. The main Pause, Finish and Fold buttons of FAHControl will override the individual slot settings.

Also it lacks a buffer/queue for work, BOINC has 2 queues, 1 for processing 0.5d and additional 0.5d queue; the config you write of, nowhere to be seen, is not obvious at least to me.

F@h does not have queues intentionally due to the nature of the WUs. Each slot of the v7 client will download a WU, process it and return it. By default a new WU will be downloaded when a WU is 99% complete. That can be adjusted between 90-100%, and a download is not done if a slot is set to Finish.

F@h WUs have both a parallel and serial nature. Each project has multiple Runs with different starting conditions, and each Run has multiple Clones which vary some of the other parameters. That is the parallel portion of the WUs. Then each Run and Clone starts with Gen 0, the results of that are used after being uploaded to create the next Gen WU. That is the serial part of the WUs. Because different projects vary in size and number of atoms simulated, it would be difficult to determine which WU can be done in less that a certain timeframe on different hardware ahead of time.

As for the configuration referred to, that can be set through FAHControl either for each slot individually or for all through the Expert settings. Guides to do that are here and elsewhere depending on what you are trying to set.

Some of what you appear to be looking for is available in the v8 Public Beta client. There for instance is a settings page where use of CPU and GPU can be set by clicking radio buttons and the number of CPU cores set through a slider.

[SaulLC]

I got confused with the other buttons; so yes, it works as you say.

I understand, but I found an error in functioning: In the CPU slot 0 Configuration Edit: is still set to Pause=True, but I restarted my PC and it started another WU, gave it Finish again, yeah, I'll be switching to v.8b as soon as I'm over with these.

Thanks for all the assistance, cya on the Fold

[calxalot]

v7 doesn’t truly pause a slot after a finish. It will start folding again on reboot / client restart. You have to manually pause or use option pause-on-start true.

v8 will change to paused after all work units in a group have finished.

[BobWilliams757]

I simply use the Pause-on-start option for both slots. That way when I have to reboot or do any system work I know nothing will start unless I want it to. Much easier overall, and would probably be a good idea for most folders.