Points Discrepancy

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Cerberus200x
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:31 am

Points Discrepancy

Post by Cerberus200x »

Hi,

I'm new here, so I apologize if this question has already been answered. I was trying to keep a manual record of my folds and the number of points awarded for each via the Project Summary page. (I'm a bit of a stat geek.) I had been doing well with my tracking (i.e. all my numbers were syncing up), when I noticed that my points according to the stats page are 220 points higher than my records showed. I went through the Project Summary to see if I had mistyped somewhere in my records, but I had copied everything correctly. The only thing that had changed was that project 4436 is no longer listed, so I assume it finished.

Are there "bonus points" given if a project is completed and you did some of the work? Is there another explanation for the point deviation? Or should I keep quiet about this sort of thing and enjoy it? :)

Also, I have an additional active processor showing up on my stats page, and I haven't run project 3798 or anything like that. I only run a laptop and a PS3. Are there additional explanations for why this might happen?

Thanks!
John_Weatherman
Posts: 289
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:31 am
Location: Carrizo Plain National Monument, California
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Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by John_Weatherman »

Sounds like some else has folded for you by mistake. They must have (or had) the same user name. If you let us know your username, the person responsible might confirm this, or at least let them know to change their username.
Cerberus200x
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:31 am

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by Cerberus200x »

Cerberus200x is my user name. And I don't think that someone else has folded for me, because I've kept track of the number of WUs, and they match up. The only things that seem off are the point total and the active machines.
whynot
Posts: 91
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:02 pm
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by whynot »

--
I'm counting for science.
Points just make me sick.
bruce
Posts: 20910
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:13 pm
Location: So. Cal.

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by bruce »

You have one PS3 folding for Cerberus200x plus two Windows clients with UserIDs 9C59A54362XXXXXXXX and 293F556243XXXXXXXX.

If you go to the official stats pages and look up your name, there will be a list of projects, grouped by the thousands digit. Clicking on those groups will give you a count of every WU that has been credited. Do those numbers match your records?

It's probably futile to keep track of your stats manually. If you happen to process a WU that ends with an error, you'll get partial credit and it'll take a sharp eye to make sure you know how many points were credited for each one of them.
Ize
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:00 pm

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by Ize »

Sorry, I will loan this thread for my points/score question ...

This might have been explained elsewhere in details, but I do not still understand the point grounds explained in Folding FAQ.

I have had PC (~1GHz P3) running Folding at Home for 3 years now, I would say that average is 6 hours per day. PC is used only for small office work or just standing by, so 95% is left for FaH. From that with app. 120 WUs I have scored 17000. Now what makes me wondering is that how come when I have had 4 weeks PS3 running also FaH (average 8-10 hours per day) it has scored already 15000 with 60 WUs?

WU count I understand, PS3 is folding very efficiently but I feel that for some reason PC stats (score) is not correct, shouldn't it be in a way that donated CPU time is counted, not how efficiently you have coped with WUs?
bruce
Posts: 20910
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:13 pm
Location: So. Cal.

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by bruce »

The benchmarking philosophy has not changed, but when newer hardware produces scientific results faster than older hardware, it naturally earns points at a faster rate.

The work accomplished by the P3 is useful work but it is relatively old technology and newer hardware is much faster. If you choose to upgrade, you can get a modern multi-cored computer that will earn points many times faster, or you can continue to contribute with the hardware that you have.

The PS3 hardware is capable of folding faster than even the most modern computer.
Ize
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:00 pm

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by Ize »

Yes, I'm aware of number cracking capabilities of PS3, but just have thought that score would be something that is not WU related. Well, and it isn't since in fact my dear old war horse has received app.100 points per WU when shiny PS3 has got nearly 300 points per WU. And also what makes me wonder is that I think I received in first year already over half of the PC's points and then gradually it has gone lower and lower, but I can't be sure about that. Well, anyway I fold with both still. :)
codysluder
Posts: 1024
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:43 pm

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by codysluder »

It's really not about how many points you get per WU, it's about how many points you get per day (or hour). Most of the PS3 WUs are worth 250-300 points. A few are worth 1250 points. The WU that earns 1250 points should run exactly five times as long as a WU that is worth 250. The only difference is whether you upload/download once or five times during that time.

I do not believe that the points per day on a PC have changed although the number of days that a single WU runs may have, along with a corresponding change in the number or points given for that WU. The only real exception may be that more WUs benefit from SSE exceleration, and I don't think your P3 can use SSE.
Ize
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:00 pm

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by Ize »

Yes, no SSE on P3.

And I got it now, my brains just refused to understand this first. It isn't matter of how much (in WU nor in processor time sense) you have donated for FaH, it's a matter of how fast you have given it. Which I of course logical after all, if someone wants to get as much as much WUs counted you give more merit to the ones that use latest and fastest technology and in this way encourage people to change their gear. :)
Flathead74
Posts: 266
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Location: Central New York
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Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by Flathead74 »

Sorry guys, Pentium III's do have SSE, it is SSE2 that they do not have . :wink:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_III

http://www.intel.com/support/processors ... 023730.htm
codysluder
Posts: 1024
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:43 pm

Re: Points Discrepancy

Post by codysluder »

codysluder wrote:I do not believe that the points per day on a PC have changed although the number of days that a single WU runs may have, along with a corresponding change in the number or points given for that WU. The only real exception may be that more WUs benefit from SSE exceleration, and I don't think your P3 can use SSE.
OK, the PIII has SSE but not SSE2. The exception is still true. If your hardware lacks any feature that prevents it from using the optimized code, you'll get reduced performance whenever you're assigned a WU that uses that feature. Performance on hardware that has no SSE will suffer on all Gromacs, and if you have no SSE2 it will suffer on DGromacs.
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