Join the MicroCenterOfficial Folding@Home Team: #257944

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  • cine_chris
    cine_chris ✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Likes Photogenic
    Question for those who know better than I:
    I've gotten an old Core2Duo system resurrected with a Linux OS.  The graphics card is too ancient to fold and this CPU doesn't eek out enough points to justify its power drain.  Anyone know of a cheap PCIe GPU that would work in this clunker to make it worthwhile?  Don't want to spend much since folding is the only use this box will ever get.
    A GTX 750Ti will do ~100k PPD.  The GTX 1050Ti will do ~200k PPD, neither of these cards require a pcie pwr plug.  Folding maintains a list of GPUs  & pwr efficiency https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRcR50eJc1MC60klR5d8R1jeYspg3RAMbeEeguvybakdmy0kM3E-_IDcjbsUwhzhGrzhgSpPRqEQ7Ek/pubhtml
     
  • cine_chris
    cine_chris ✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Likes Photogenic
    Well we may be down to 48.6% of the total users we had but we are still turning and burning
      GO TEAM
    Spotted this on the Overclockers site.  Looks like they do this monthly.
    https://www.overclock.net/forum/55-overclock-net-folding-home-team/1747616-may-2020-foldathon-monday-25th-wednesday-27th-1200-et-1600-utc.html
    Not meaning to sound critical, but MC could likely find several options for sustaining interest for the team folders.  Even achievement certificates would be nice, t-shirts, hats, gift certificates, etc 
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    ryau said:
    Interesting, not sure I want to switch to Linux, but I did manage to fine tune my config to get about a 20-25% increase in PPD. I have a 3950X (16C/32T) and found running multiple CPU slots with 4 threads each seems optimal. I've also applied a mild CPU OC, but am leery of pushing it too much as temps climb pretty high for not much performance gain.
    Now is it more efficient to break up the cpu on a intel chip as well just wondering because I just left it as it was when I installed the f@h app? 
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    edited May 2020
    Well we may be down to 48.6% of the total users we had but we are still turning and burning
      GO TEAM
    Spotted this on the Overclockers site.  Looks like they do this monthly.
    https://www.overclock.net/forum/55-overclock-net-folding-home-team/1747616-may-2020-foldathon-monday-25th-wednesday-27th-1200-et-1600-utc.html
    Not meaning to sound critical, but MC could likely find several options for sustaining interest for the team folders.  Even achievement certificates would be nice, t-shirts, hats, gift certificates, etc 
    I'm diffidently up for taking part in it if we can do it as a team.
  • cine_chris
    cine_chris ✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Likes Photogenic
    edited May 2020
    CRANK It uP!  Look at the teams we're chasing: Reddit, Ukraine, Brazil, Hewlett Packard, Google, ASRock.
    Check out the Overclockers Top 100 analysis page:
    https://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_list.php

  • ryau
    ryau ✭✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary 5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    Well we may be down to 48.6% of the total users we had but we are still turning and burning
      GO TEAM
    Spotted this on the Overclockers site.  Looks like they do this monthly.
    https://www.overclock.net/forum/55-overclock-net-folding-home-team/1747616-may-2020-foldathon-monday-25th-wednesday-27th-1200-et-1600-utc.html
    Not meaning to sound critical, but MC could likely find several options for sustaining interest for the team folders.  Even achievement certificates would be nice, t-shirts, hats, gift certificates, etc 
    Interesting idea... I'll see what I can do.
  • ryau
    ryau ✭✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary 5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    ryau said:
    Interesting, not sure I want to switch to Linux, but I did manage to fine tune my config to get about a 20-25% increase in PPD. I have a 3950X (16C/32T) and found running multiple CPU slots with 4 threads each seems optimal. I've also applied a mild CPU OC, but am leery of pushing it too much as temps climb pretty high for not much performance gain.
    Now is it more efficient to break up the cpu on a intel chip as well just wondering because I just left it as it was when I installed the f@h app? 
    It's been many years since I last folded on an Intel CPU, so I'm not sure. Maybe @TSMichaelB might have some insights?

  • Kirito
    Kirito ✭✭
    5 Likes Name Dropper First Comment
    Something I have been following loosely...

    The number of exabytes is down to 2.1.  We were folding over 2.4 at the beginning of my journey here.  This means every team is losing members.  FAH needs to get itself back in the press again.  More importantly, there needs to be a way to find a community that hasn't been tapped to help out.  MIght I suggest a few ideas...

    Stadiums and Arenas: (When not in use there are hundreds of computers sitting idle in a stadium)
    Start a town computing project:
             Every town that has a library or town hall take one computer and set it up to run FAH.  As of 2018, there are 19,495 incorporated cities, towns and villages in the United States. 14,768 of these have populations below 5,000.  Presume 15000 computers at a minimum of a Core2Duo.  That's 60,000 cores producing 20 Petaflops.
    Hospitals and clinics:
           There are over 7000 hospitals and clinics in the US.  Imagine if every hospital and clinic contributed one computer to the cause.
    Corporations:
          There are tens of thousands of corporations across the US.  Some are small, some are huge.  Most have an IT department.  Take one scrap computer (or more) and set up FAH stations around the company, showing how they are supporting the fight against disease.

    I don't have the connections to get these ideas to people except on a one on one basis.  As a grass roots methodology I am just one person and I have tried to encourage people to join this fight.  Others are in better places to make changes, and kick this up to WSU for them to consider.  I presume WSU has a marketing team?  I'm just an idea guy.  Maybe someone here knows how to run with it.

    Be cool,

    Kirito






  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    edited May 2020
    I'd also add to that list every towns schools as well as colleges and university's.
    There are so many places that have the cpu and gpu that could be put towards the efforts. The only thing is getting the media attention that it deserves is going to be at best difficult for those that do have connections in the industry. @ryau Would you by chance have any contacts you could use?
  • cine_chris
    cine_chris ✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Likes Photogenic
    edited May 2020
    @Kirito As an engineer (retired) I like to look at the efficiency of the system & impact +/- overall.  In general, most CPUs aren't efficient folders on a PPD/$ or PPD/watt basis.  So, ganging hordes of inefficient systems, especially during summer months doesn't appeal to me, nor would it appeal to corporations or municipalities that are forced to consider the logistics and answer to shareholders or voters that see no immediate benefit.  Leveraging gaming platforms makes the most sense to me.  Getting  Xboxes or Playstations to Fold, perhaps adopting legacy gaming boxes could make a huge difference as a research tool.  Perhaps a virtual world where you need PPDs to recharge your laser cannons, energy xtals, or life support system.  
  • cine_chris
    cine_chris ✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Likes Photogenic
    @kmiller922 
    While participation has dwindled, MCO must be fairing better than other teams, as we are at #20 for the week, up +12!!! 

  • Big drop in points today across the board. Wonder if the servers are having issues again.
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    edited May 2020
    Big drop in points today across the board. Wonder if the servers are having issues again.
    I noticed most of my units are timing about the same crunch time so points might come as big burst. There was also a line of sever storms that came through and is still going through about half of the country some producing sever damage which might be the cause as well for the point drop off also.
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    @kmiller922 
    While participation has dwindled, MCO must be fairing better than other teams, as we are at #20 for the week, up +12!!! 

    It does seem that way. I took notice that we picked up a few new people as well which of course is great!
  • Kirito
    Kirito ✭✭
    5 Likes Name Dropper First Comment
    @Kirito As an engineer (retired) I like to look at the efficiency of the system & impact +/- overall.  In general, most CPUs aren't efficient folders on a PPD/$ or PPD/watt basis.  So, ganging hordes of inefficient systems, especially during summer months doesn't appeal to me, nor would it appeal to corporations or municipalities that are forced to consider the logistics and answer to shareholders or voters that see no immediate benefit.  Leveraging gaming platforms makes the most sense to me.  Getting  Xboxes or Playstations to Fold, perhaps adopting legacy gaming boxes could make a huge difference as a research tool.  Perhaps a virtual world where you need PPDs to recharge your laser cannons, energy xtals, or life support system.  

    I agree.   Last I heard Sony wasn't going to embed anything new and the PS3 isn't really efficient anymore.  I am not much of a gamer and have no experience with X-Box.  It would be nice if Microsoft could help.  While CPU's might not be the most efficient answer the goal of using a distributed computing system is to have more systems online.  If we could get a full scale bitcoin mining warehouse on this (1000 GPU networked system) we could possibly model the Singularity, but unless there is compensation no one is going to contribute that.  My logic is to get more systems online from people and places who will ultimately benefit from the solutions found in FAH.  Sure, I would love to get some nice GPU's.  My Lenovo Think-Stations do not accommodate them.  I don't have the money  for them.  I have 52 cores across four computers I can contribute so that is what I do.  I believe others could contribute what they can and if they did we would have that many more weapons to use on this disease.

    This is more of the social model of helping people to see the value of the technology beside surfing YouTube and checking email.  This also distributes the power costs over a broader range of people.  This logic could also be applied globally.  "What if they gave a war for a virus and everyone came?"  Declaring war against Covid-19 as a full political model, and then develop strategy and tactics appropriately we could be more efficient about beating it.

    Defense:
         Social Distancing
         Face masks
         Working from home
         Contact tracing
         Support Systems (Hospitals, Testing)
         Home front contributions
                                 FAH, Making Masks, Ventilators

    Offense:
         Intel:        Scientific research, data sampling, Virus Modeling
         Attack:     Vaccination, Medication
         Weapons:     Distributed computer modeling, scientific research facilities, pharmaceutical plants
         Support systems:     IT, FAH, Communications

    We are just one part of this war.  We do our job.  We need more Rosie the Riveter's, one rivet at a time, helping to find the answer to this.
    FAH gives people a way to contribute, to fight the war, instead of being locked in their house and powerless.  We may not be the most efficient, but when we work together we can overwhelm the problems.

    So in the end it may be less about efficiency, and more about pulling people together.
    Like I said, its just an idea.  I just don't know how to reach a broader audience with it.  I am just a geek with a few computers.  I'm not a salesman.  I just operate equipment.  I just think it would be better if we had more weapons at our disposal.

    Kirito

  • Tramp78
    Tramp78 ✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment
    We are 30th in active users
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    @MightyMayfield congratz on making it to 600 there bud.
  • Question for those who know better than I:
    I've gotten an old Core2Duo system resurrected with a Linux OS.  The graphics card is too ancient to fold and this CPU doesn't eek out enough points to justify its power drain.  Anyone know of a cheap PCIe GPU that would work in this clunker to make it worthwhile?  Don't want to spend much since folding is the only use this box will ever get.
    A GTX 750Ti will do ~100k PPD.  The GTX 1050Ti will do ~200k PPD, neither of these cards require a pcie pwr plug.  Folding maintains a list of GPUs  & pwr efficiency https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRcR50eJc1MC60klR5d8R1jeYspg3RAMbeEeguvybakdmy0kM3E-_IDcjbsUwhzhGrzhgSpPRqEQ7Ek/pubhtml
     
    For just a few dollars more than a GTX 1050 TI, a regular GTX 1650 doesn't require a power plug either.  It's only when you get to the 1650 Super does it require a 6 pin power plug.  I guess it all depends on what your definition of "cheap" is.  :#
  • ChrisHarshman
    ChrisHarshman ✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    edited May 2020
    I have a GPU card which seems to be stuck on Download status.  Has anyone else seen this behavior?  The only thing I see in the log is when I tried to pause and unpause it.  This looks different than when it can't find a work order to download:
    ******************************* Date: 2020-05-24 *******************************
    ******************************* Date: 2020-05-24 *******************************
    03:42:42:FS01:Paused
    03:42:48:FS01:Unpaused
    ******************************* Date: 2020-05-24 *******************************
    ******************************* Date: 2020-05-24 *******************************
    03:42:42:FS01:Paused
    03:42:48:FS01:Unpaused
    ******************************* Date: 2020-05-25 *******************************
    work server is: 206.223.170.146
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    you might try a memory purge by rebooting make sure you pause folding before you do when your system comes back up it will restart.
  • cine_chris
    cine_chris ✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Likes Photogenic
    I have a GPU card which seems to be stuck on Download status.  Has anyone else seen this behavior?  The only thing I see in the log is when I tried to pause and unpause it.  This looks different than when it can't find a work order to download:
    Windows? Yes. In 2nd slot. Device Mgr showed error 43 (iirc) Had to install Nvidia, update drivers, fixed it. Worked OK in 1st slot.
  • @cine_chris, thanks for the response, but this is a Linux machine, I guess I should have specified that.
    @kmiller922, after pausing, updating, and rebooting, then the control program couldn't talk to the client program.  I verified client program was running, but at OS command line it wasn't responding if I tried stop, restart, or even log.
    Digging around I found the log file before what I posted, which confirms it did start downloading the next work item but never finished:
    10:04:33:WU00:FS01:Download 11.84%
    10:04:40:WU00:FS01:Download 12.67%
    ******************************* Date: 2020-05-24 *******************************
    ******************************* Date: 2020-05-24 *******************************
    ******************************* Date: 2020-05-24 *******************************
    03:42:42:FS01:Paused
    03:42:48:FS01:Unpaused
    I tried to re-install the client program, and after that the CPU slot picked up where it left off, but the GPU slot seems to have lost whatever it was trying to download before and is now looking for new work.  I guess it's better than sitting there idle
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    I had that happen as well on my windows system, it happens sometime that the preverbial bit bucket happens to appear out of no where like a rouge comet. Sometime all we can do is a fresh install or reload of drivers to get it back on course.
  • The battle between Duluth and Secretlab is real.


    @MightyMayfield congratz on making it to 600 there bud.
    Thanks!
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    edited May 2020
    I'm currently sneaking up on Houston155 slowly but surly. LOL.  I never thought I would ever be up at this level. I'd say rank 6 - 9 is some serious competition atm.
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    Our next teams to over take are:

    Top 5 Conquests and Threats!
    Team
    Name
    Rank
    Diff
    Points
    Diff
    Gain
    Daily
    Date
    Overtake
    ASRockMania2-279,814,13842,520,26206.01.20, 4am / 6.6 Days
    Macrumors.com - Team Folding6-997,196,125154,766,82206.01.20, 1am / 6.4 Days
    NVIDIA USER 2 USER FORUMS5-812,226,069155,282,51605.30.20, 8pm / 5.2 Days
    NCIX.com Forum Folding Team3-485,300,235166,893,30205.28.20, 12pm / 2.9 Days
    Google1-9,244,560149,237,71605.25.20, 4pm / 1.5 Hours
  • cine_chris
    cine_chris ✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Likes Photogenic
    edited May 2020
    If you're running multiple systems it's useful to get the remote comm working (green box).  Not obvious is the summation window in the lower left (orange box), which makes it easy to see your current total estPPD and spot if something isn't working.  Like, shown below, estPPD had dropped, when I checked, it was a nominal send/download cycle.  It's often a non-loading slot, which a slot right-click, pause/fold cycle will often nudge into loading.

  • cine_chris
    cine_chris ✭✭✭✭
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Likes Photogenic
    @Yellowbillycat 100M !!  A 'lone-wolf' shout out.

  • @Yellowbillycat 100M !!  A 'lone-wolf' shout out.

    @cine_chris Thanks!  Though I also used that milestone to shutdown my folding machines. 
    The temperature in the Zwift Cave is now officially (Northeast) unbearable.  First 90 degree day here. 
    When the first floor AC gets repaired next week I will restart the folding heaters.
  • kmiller922
    kmiller922 ✭✭✭
    5 Likes First Comment Name Dropper
    @Yellowbillycat congratz hope your back up soon
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