New Beta Client v7! - ATI folders rejoice!

[Keywork]

Hey guys, looks like the new all in one client was released today!

Download here:
https://fah-web.stanford.edu/project...ki/BetaRelease

And read more here:
[Official] The new Folding@home client is here! - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

Note: This is mainly the new client for AMD/ATI GPU's!! Not currently recommended for SMP users!

People are getting some solid PPD out of their newer ATI cards but apparently it's pretty taxing on the CPU.

[lowfat]

OSX and Linux clients as well.


OMG this thing rocks. It detected both of my HD6950's automatically.

EDIT: Doesn't look like GPU's are supported in OSX, just SMP.

EDIT2: Uninstalled. On OSX this thing sucks as I have to have the application Window open in order to run. Back to the old client for me.

[Wi-Fuzzy]

So...this is an all new everything. I am interested in seeing if there is any point trying this. Will be watching this thread to see how things go with it. I do not have any ATI cards....but maybe there are some improvements for us Nvidia and -bigadv folders....or maybe not...?

[Eldonko]

No improvement for nvidia cards?

[chrisk]

Exciting! Will have to spend most of the night watching the various forums to see how this pans out before jumping in.

Interesting note on the ATI folding using CPU cycles....hopefully there are optimizations to be had in the core, and this is not some kind of 'bone' thrown at ATi folders...

Note: HFM.NET IS NOT SUPPORTED. I don't have the client with me now to try, but it seems that bonus calculations and such are not done in the monitor that Stanford supplies in v7.

*** Features ***
The new client has too many features to list but here are some of the highlights:

• Improved Windows installer with support for Windows XP, Vista, 2008 and Windows 7.
• 64-bit OS-X install package. (32-bit in the works).
• Debian/Ubuntu and RedHat/Fedora/CentOS 32-bit and 64-bit Linux packages.
• Low priority background operation has very little impact on your computers usability. You should hardly notice Folding@home is running when using other applications.
• A more compatible and stable 3D protein viewer with several view modes, rotation, zoom, online help and interpolated protein animations.
• Separate but integrated console client (FAHClient), user interface (FAHControl) and 3D protein viewer (FAHViewer).
• Novice, Advanced & Expert user interface modes. (See drop down list in FAHControl.)
• Support for more than one Folding Slot (UNI, SMP or GPU).
• Ability to monitor, configure and control many remote folding clients from a single computer.
• Very low CPU overhead for FAHClient, FAHControl and FAHViewer. 3D viewer overhead can be minimized by disabling rotating and protein animation.
• Single client for normal (Uniprocessor), SMP (Multiple CPUs) and GPU (Graphics Processors) folding.

*** Bugs/Tickets ***
The V7 client has undergone months of testing but due to the complex nature of distributed computing, the many features provided by the Folding@home client and the difficulties of simultaneously supporting software on Windows, OS-X and Linux there are still some open bugs, feature requests and likely other as of yet undiscovered issues. The beta testing process will help us test new features and fix any remaining bugs before we make a full public release. That said the open-beta V7 client is very usable and has many advantages over the previous client releases.

[_dangtx_]

wait so well be getting 2k ppd on the top ati cards or thats the value for each completed wu?

[lowfat]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

wait so well be getting 2k ppd on the top ati cards or thats the value for each completed wu?

Scroll over. The overclocked HD5870 does 10k ppd or so.

[_dangtx_]

sweet jesus!

[Wi-Fuzzy]

..ummm...that chart shows a 6870 with a 5736 point WU getting 28,000 PPD....me thinky thats not right.

[ilya]

In terms of PPD/watt, ATI/AMD cards are on par with Nvidia it seems. Great news for folders that don't mind second hand hardware though, considering how much the resale value depreciates compared to Nvidia. A 5970 should get about ~25% less PPD than a 590 while consuming ~25% less power, pretty darn good for a previous gen card.