Checkpointing Interval; Anybody Else Play With It ??.

[LCB001]

Don't know if this was posted already but has anybody else changed the default checkpointing interval on their -bigadv rigs and if so did it make a difference ?.

I happened to notice while running a regular smp that on some frames the tpf would jump to more than double, turns out it was every 15mins which is the default checkpoint interval.

I don't remember what the change was on the smp but changing the checkpoint interval to the max. 30min seems to have dropped between 20 - 25 secs off of my -bigadvs' avg tpf adding 2.5k+ ppd on the faster rig while Folding a 6900 wu...

YMMV

[_dangtx_]

leave it on max. the less it checks and writes to disk the better.


unless you have many spontaneous reboots.

[lowfat]

checkpoint=3

Does that mean mine is set to 3 minutes?

[_dangtx_]

i dont have a bigadv next to me but if thats 3 mins coddamn! and ouch your ssd!

[LCB001]

Originally Posted by lowfat

checkpoint=3

Does that mean mine is set to 3 minutes?

I do believe so.

Did you change it during config, default should be 15mins...

[ilya]

IMO I wouldn't go any lower than my current 5 minutes, like LCB001 I have noticed that checkpoint frames do increase in completion time. Not by that margin though, more like going from 3:04 to 3:07 for one frame on SMP. (which isn't very significant if you don't have a frequent checkpoint) I haven't really had the patience to watch bigadv frames yet.

[LCB001]

Originally Posted by ilya

IMO I wouldn't go any lower than my current 5 minutes, like LCB001 I have noticed that checkpoint frames do increase in completion time. Not by that margin though, more like going from 3:04 to 3:07 for one frame on SMP. (which isn't very significant if you don't have a frequent checkpoint) I haven't really had the patience to watch bigadv frames yet.

Why do you have your checkpoint time so low, try it at 30 min and see if it makes a diff.

With a bigadv having it at every 5 mins means its writing an awfull lot of checkpoints per frame...

[ilya]

Originally Posted by LCB001

Why do you have your checkpoint time so low, try it at 30 min and see if it makes a diff.

With a bigadv having it at every 5 mins means its writing an awfull lot of checkpoints per frame...

I do SMP on weekdays and bigadv on weekends for energy costs and so I meet deadlines. I stop the SMP clients pretty often to work/play and sometimes have issues with the client saving work so I set the checkpoint as low as I found reasonable. It works out to a ~1-2% production loss on most SMP's so I think the added reliability is worth it since I don't use a UPS. Bigadv would be worth looking into though.

[4DoorGTZ]

I have always changed this to the minimum of 3mins, for the simple fact that it saves more info when (not if) you have crashes and random resets. I guess if you have a stable rig that can fold for weeks on end without problems increasing this is beneficial.

$0.02

[Rison]

The problem with having a short backup time, is the chance for corruption increases. If your PC power flickers (or UPS dies, w/e) while doing a backup.. the work unit is lost. The shorter the backup time = the better chance that if you lose power / PC freezes up you'll be backing up a WU.

That, and the tpf as others have mentioned. All my bigadv systems are set to 30 min, as they are on UPS' and mainly just crunch numbers all day.