Need a Folding guru to spend some time getting me up to speed

[Linus]

I want to do a F@H "how to" episode for NCIX Tech Tips and would love if someone could get me caught up on the latest in folding (maybe a phone call?). Need to keep things efficient though so unless you're an ub3r expert, please leave it to someone else.

Will be featuring a dual 16 core Opteron machine for the video that will serve as my "ultimate folding rig" and I'll throw some video cards in there as well to basically get the highest feasible PPD in a pedestal form factor.

Want to include information in the video like

"What are points and how do they work"
"How to join a team" (will obviously include plugs for both the NCIX and HWC teams)
"How to monitor your performance" (there are apps for this right?)
"How to configure for optimal F@H ass-kickery"
"Why this is all important"

[chrisk]

I would help you but I am no expert on the 16 core Opteron setups. They can be tricky though, moreso than a typical GPU setup.

Actually, are any of the 16 core folks even using GPUs as well? The 16 core folks are using Linux for the most PPD, with no GPUs at all as far as I know.

You might want to do a Linux and Windows setup.

The guys with more experience on those Opteron rigs might want to chime in here on how to approach this.

[Silent_Avenger]

Great to see that you will be having a folding segment in your tech tips. Sadly I'm no master at F@H another point you may want to cover is points per day per watt(PPD/Watt) for those who want to make the most energy efficient folding machine.

[PerryC]

Umm..can I have that machine after you are done your segment?

Seriously... DT, 3.0, Rison, Brain are the first one that come to mind on the monster folders....though they will probably kill me for throwing their names out there. I don't mean to belittle anybody else's contribution either.

[supaflyx3]

And maybe add a bit featuring HPCS and how it can be a cost effective solution if you don't want to spend thousands on hardware.

[Linus]

It will be dual 16 core setup, so there may be some trickiness involved.

[3.0charlie]

Then get your Linux skylls up-to-speed, 'cause you'll need it. MP boxes = Linux folding.
And a dual Opty is not a "ultimate folding rig". It's a very decent, potent folding computer, very efficient in ppd / W. Ultimate folding rigs can be defined as quad-590 GPUs on a single board, or a 4P rig using 6176s (48 cores).

This was my quad-9800GX2 rig back then:


This is my 4P rig, using quad 6174s:


This is my ex-2P, what you have in mind:


What do you intend to use for the 2P rig, and maybe some GPU folding? If so, stick to nvidia please...

You could do 3 episodes: 1 for MP folding using Linux, and monitoring via a Windows machine using HFM, 1 for SMP folding in Windows with the V7 Client, and 1 with a multi-GPU setup using the same V7 Client.

So.

"What are points and how do they work": Folding@home - FAQ-Points
"How to join a team" (will obviously include plugs for both the NCIX and HWC teams): Folding@home - FAQ-main
"How to monitor your performance" (there are apps for this right?): hfm-net - HFM.NET - Client Monitoring Application for the Folding@Home Distributed Computing Project - Google Project Hosting
"How to configure for optimal F@H ass-kickery": overclock the CPU and GPU until they scream. Memory speed has shown some improvement. Use 'TheKraken' and 'Langouste' in Linux to decrease tpf and increase ppd.
"Why this is all important": because some of us have lost close ones to Cancer, and some of us have actually beaten the darn thing. Also, Folding@home - FAQ-main.

It's a start.

[G777]

I'd suggest a good person to talk to would be Dead Things, he's currently the top folder on the Ncix.com forum folding team... maybe send him a pm

Edit: Oh...awesome idea by the way!!! Been wishing you'd do something like this for quite a while

[4DoorGTZ]

Linux tools that help ppd are "The Kraken" and "Langouste"

I'm not gonna come off like I know all about these tools, the jist of it is the Kraken keeps cpu usage at 100%, while Langouste offloads the uploading of finished units so that F@H can download a new wu instead of waiting for the finished one to completly upload (-bigadv units can take 5-15mins to upload depending on your connection)

I followed Musky's guide over at the [H] Ubuntu Desktop Installation Guide for F@H - [H]ard|Forum

with 2p/4p systems since you're operating on server boards there is very little for Overclocking opportunities... Most of us are unwilling to risk the stability.... there are ways, but they're more advanced then what most people do with desktops. Custom bios flashes, and flashing your memory's spd values..... not for the faint of heart but there's a couple over on the [H] that have gone this route. For the most part the only speed increases are buying faster cpu's or buy faster ram. I gained 2-3% by getting CL7 ram in place of my CL9 stuff. Instead of OC'ing my chips i've undervolted them, saves some power, runs cooler.

[Tim_H]

I have a 4p 6174 folding for the NCIX team, also some other rigs doing regular linux smp and other windows machines doing a both smp and gpu. I wish I could upload bigadv in 15min mine are more like 40min for 6903/4. The completed units can be really big, in the range of 200-225MB. I only have a 1megabit upload so it's slow.

3.0Charlie has a good point about the different episodes. Each setup can be independent of each other, could possibly combine the last two.

Musky's guide is a great resource!! Same one I used for my setup.