Boost Your PPD with VMWare - Look inside for easy guides!

[chriskwarren]

Originally Posted by geokilla

Are you using Windows XP and the 180+ drivers?

I heard that the VMware method from the EVGA forums crashes if left unattended for long periods of time. Anyone experienced this?

Using it on two rigs. One is XP Pro 32-bit, and the other is Vista 64-bit. Both using 180.+ drivers. All running non-stop since yesterday am.

[Dwayne]

Originally Posted by chriskwarren

Using the vmware method from the Evga link you provided has increased my overall PPD, but my two GTX 285s are about 2500-3500PPD lower than usual (I think...I usually use FahMon, but have been using FahSpy last few days instead). I think if I can get the core priorities right I can get a couple extra 1000 PPD out of my two rigs.

I am seeing the same thing with my GTX 295, both GPUs' PPDs are lower and the GPUs are not running full bore as the temps are about 10 deg cooler than before I started running the VMware on the CPU. Although my overall PPD will be up because of the added CPU program, it is not up the full amount because the GPUs look CPU starved.

I downloaded the PriFinitty2 program and set the GPUs to Below Normal and the VMware to Low priority, set the Afinity to both cores for all programs... we'll see what that does.

Do I only set the priorty and affinity on the FAHcore_11 or also on the folding@home programs as well? Any know?

[chriskwarren]

@Dwayne: I am not actually sure. I just set the priority for both!

On a *hopefully* unrelated note, I have seen this error twice on the vmware clients: [22:13:57] Client-core communications error: ERROR 0x0
The client just downloads a new core, and starts folding again at 0%. It does manage to get some WUs done, but not sure why this happens yet.

[3.0charlie]

I've had tha too, and increased the ram amount to 1024Mb. Hasn't happened again. Though I had to shut down a Client because of this.

[zlojack]

Mine has been pretty much smooth sailing since I set it up with PriFinitty and stuff. The only annoying thing is that the wireless sometimes drops on the backup rig and I have to go reset the adaptor to make sure it hands in the work!

But the VMs and the GPU clients are going along just fine! I can't wait to get my other 295 up and running!

[ImmaPC]

How do I know that the VM's are folding? Does it automatically start when you log in, or does it start when the client boots up? Do I have to tell it to start folding? I dunno if it's actually folding but when I go into task manager with 4 VM's it says that CPU Usage is at 100%, does this generally mean I am folding or does it just mean that the CPU is overloaded when virtualizing 4 VM's at the same time? How can I configure FaHMon to monitor these if I am folding on multiple VM's?

[zlojack]

Originally Posted by ImmaPC

How do I know that the VM's are folding? Does it automatically start when you log in, or does it start when the client boots up? Do I have to tell it to start folding? I dunno if it's actually folding but when I go into task manager with 4 VM's it says that CPU Usage is at 100%, does this generally mean I am folding or does it just mean that the CPU is overloaded when virtualizing 4 VM's at the same time? How can I configure FaHMon to monitor these if I am folding on multiple VM's?

As long as the VM is running, you should be able to see your CPU usage at 100% which indicates it's folding.

I suggest you use FAHSpy rather than FAHMon as FAHMon doesn't read the VMs properly and returns a false *hung* message.

You need to put in the IP of the VM like this in FAHSpy \\<YOUR IP>\c\etc\folding\1\

[chriskwarren]

If your CPU usage is way up then its folding. However, it is an smp client so I have two instances running to use up all 4 cores. Each instance utilizes 2 cores. It does start folding right away. However, you need to enter the configuration page, to ensure that you enter your own username and team number.

I used the first Evga guide that zlojack linked to in the first post of this thread. That guide gives you the location of the log files that FaHMon and FahSpy uses. For one of my clients, the folder location is \\192.168.1.106\c\etc\folding\1\ . The first set of numbers is the IP address of the vmware client. If you look closely at the black vmware screen console, you can see the IP address that client is using. My second instance uses \\192.168.1.107\c\etc\folding\1\ (the first one is 106, the second 107...these will be different for your particular network setup).

Hope this helps!

[ImmaPC]

Great, so I got FAHSpy going...but it says that from this I'm only getting...465 PPD total!?! WTF???

[geokilla]

I think you need to start up the VMware, or at least set it up as a service. I have yet to hear of people running VMware folding as a service.

@ImmaPC. What's your system rig? Do you have the -smp flag?

[chriskwarren]

What cpu you have? How many instances of the vmware do you have up?

[chriskwarren]

Originally Posted by geokilla

I think you need to start up the VMware, or at least set it up as a service. I have yet to hear of people running VMware folding as a service.

@ImmaPC. What's your system rig? Do you have the -smp flag?

As far as I know, if you use the Evga setup zlojack mentioned you don't need to set the -smp flag.

[ImmaPC]

My rig is:

Core i7 920
eVGA X58
6GB DDR3-1600
4850

..Currently running 4 VM's at once...

I don't know if I have the -smp flag, how can I check and how can I set it to that flag? I used the second guide (i.e. NOT the eVGA one).

There's a line in FahSpy monitor that says:

Arguments: -local -forceasm -smp 2

I guess it means that they have the smp flag. They are all under the same Machine ID, is that why? How can I change the machine ID?

[geokilla]

Try using the Legit Reviews guide. 400+ PPD is definitely wrong for a Core i7.

I don't know how to use the first guide because it doesn't work with my rig in sig. You could try using the Legit Reviews guide. There's been some members on my team who use that guide and their VMware runs just great.

[3.0charlie]

Originally Posted by ImmaPC

My rig is:

Core i7 920
eVGA X58
6GB DDR3-1600
4850

..Currently running 4 VM's at once...

I don't know if I have the -smp flag, how can I check and how can I set it to that flag? I used the second guide (i.e. NOT the eVGA one).

If it helps at all, it says that it is using the GROMACS core...shouldn't it be using SMP? Am I totally talking out of my rear?

Wrong core. Should be GROCVS. Use the evga forum thread. Works like a charm.