Guide: Setting up notfred in VMWare Player

i'm running 5 in my current folding box so 4 shouldn't be an issue, however ram can become an issue unless your running a 64 bit os.

I can only run one vm on my main box because 2 gx2 and a 9800gtx doesn't leave me enough ram to run 2 vm's without killing gpu ppd.
 
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Ok, well I think I got it lol...im sure I will be asking if I need help once I get more GPUs, do you think 4 is too many? lol...

To many GPUs........

Your talking to people that cram 6 and 8 GPU cores into a single boxen. :D

In short, no there is no such thing as to many, unless you start tripping breakers :eek:
 
^^^^ indeed unless you custom drug new circuits it doesn't count :D
<----- has 3 20's in my comp room so i hope i'm ok for now.
 
i'm running 5 in my current folding box so 4 shouldn't be an issue, however ram can become an issue unless your running a 64 bit os.

I can only run one vm on my main box because 2 gx2 and a 9800gtx doesn't leave me enough ram to run 2 vm's without killing gpu ppd.

RAM is not an issue, and the second part was kinda what I was getting at. I dont want to have starved GPUs just to be running the VMs
 
the reason i can only run one vm at the moment is i haven't installed a 64 bit os if i did then running 2 wouldn't be a concern at all.
 
32 bit is not that big a deal for me, 2xGPU2 and 2xVMs at 640 M each.

stupid vista32 my 4G is really 3070, but even at that I only use 2200 of it.

hopefully the win7 RC will have drivers for my USB/serial adapter. Its the only thing that is holding me back from upgrading to win7 and 64 bit. I can't justify paying $200 for vista ultimate for the 64bit with win7 just around the corner
 
32 bit is not that big a deal for me, 2xGPU2 and 2xVMs at 640 M each.

stupid vista32 my 4G is really 3070, but even at that I only use 2200 of it.

hopefully the win7 RC will have drivers for my USB/serial adapter. Its the only thing that is holding me back from upgrading to win7 and 64 bit. I can't justify paying $200 for vista ultimate for the 64bit with win7 just around the corner

I hear ya. It is DAMN expensive. The only good thing I did this year was get an MS TechNet subscription for my biz. As many Retail CD Keys as I need. I'm hoping Win7 is as good as everyone says it is. I'll be switching over my laptop and main rig when it is RTM or just wait for full retail. I can't afford any instabilities on my laptop as I use it for work so RC1 is not an option for me.
 
Just wanted to chime in with my own experience - if you reboot a client with VMplayer's Troubleshooting->Reset function, it will reset the affinity and priority of the client's vmware-vxm, and WinAFC will not catch this. I realized this after my SMP clients would report uneven PPD on (basically) identical work units.
If VMWare resets its affinity without actually creating a new process, WinAFC in normal mode will not detect it. If you add the attribute "force=yes" to the vmware-vmx.exe profile, then it will detect it. Like so:
Code:
*\vmware-vmx.exe := PAIR0+PAIR1 [assign=2,priority=idle,force=yes]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Beat me to it^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Quad0 is only for AMD systems
Intel Systems use Pair0, Pair1 etc.

I dont have one, but its only a matter of time before someone ask....What if I have a Triple Core AMD system?
That is mostly correct. PAIR0 and PAIR1 are for the Intel Quads. This is not something random. It is because the Intel quads before Nehalem were built out of two dual-cores, packaged together. The two PAIRs correspond to the two dual-cores.
The AMD quad core is monolithic. There are no asymmetries between the four cores. Therefore the heuristic finds only one QUAD logical CPU named QUAD0.

For a triple-core it will find a CPU cluster of size 3, which is called TRIO0.

For any type of CPU you can use shorthand "ALL" to refer to all CPUs. It does not matter how many cores you have, or if you have an Intel or an AMD system.
So for two VMs and any number of GPU clients on an Intel quad core you can write:
Code:
*\vmware-vmx.exe := PAIR0+PAIR1 [assign=2,priority=Idle,force=yes]
*\FahCore_11.exe := ALL [priority=High]
*\FahCore_14.exe := ALL [priority=High]

Same clients on an AMD quad core:
Code:
*\vmware-vmx.exe := ALL [assign=2,priority=Idle,force=yes]
*\FahCore_11.exe := ALL [priority=High]
*\FahCore_14.exe := ALL [priority=High]
For the AMD system it makes no difference if you say QUAD0 or ALL because there are no asymmetries between cores.

For the Intel quad you get better performance out of the VMs if you use the PAIR0+PAIR1 [assign=2] construct. But if you want the GPU clients to float on all cores, you can just say ALL instead of PAIR0+PAIR1, it makes no difference.
 
I've got 2 of the clients set up on my Q6600 and they keep getting hung. What causes this?

(sorry if I missed it in this thread)
 
Crazyjeeper - What error occurs? Also, how much memory do you have allocated to each vmware? Are you running 32bit or 64bit?
 
Crazyjeeper - What error occurs? Also, how much memory do you have allocated to each vmware? Are you running 32bit or 64bit?

FaHmon says *hung* under the eta. I have 1024 memory for each instance, Vista x64. I'm also running 3 GPU clients. If I use the reboot option in the web config, it fixes itself.

It just hung again. Here is a screenie.

 
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try FAHSpy, I had probs with fahmon

Also what does the console say in vmware?
 
FaHmon says *hung* under the eta. I have 1024 memory for each instance, Vista x64. I'm also running 3 GPU clients. If I use the reboot option in the web config, it fixes itself.

It just hung again. Here is a screenie.


When using FaHMon (this issue does NOT exist in FaHSpy), you must click "Client is a VM" or some such. This will prevent the hung state.
 
When using FaHMon (this issue does NOT exist in FaHSpy), you must click "Client is a VM" or some such. This will prevent the hung state.

I'll just switch to Fahspy, seems to have more information too. I also can't find the VM box to check on fahmon.
 
I'm not sure what version it was introduced, but I believe it's been there for a while. I can't confirm (or deny) as I normally use FaHSpy.

Can anyone that uses FaHMon chime in :D
 
I'm not sure what version it was introduced, but I believe it's been there for a while. I can't confirm (or deny) as I normally use FaHSpy.

Can anyone that uses FaHMon chime in :D

I use Fahmon. When you right click on a client and click edit, it will bring up a box with 5 options

1. Client Name
2. Client Location
3. (checkbox) Client is on a Virtual Machine
4. Ok
5. Cancel

Im not at home, so I cant verify 4 of 5 but they are trivial :p
 
I downloaded a new version of fahmon and it has the VM checkbox. I like the interface better than fahspy, its cleaner.
 
fwiw, the new monitoring tool is a cross between the 2, but its still in testing so take it with a pound of salt
HFM Thingy

just putting that out there
 
Hey. Getting back into folding and trying to get VMs working. I'm running Win7 x64 on a Q9450, and both VMs launch as "fold" running two instances each of the standard client, and refuse to do "fold64"/SMP client on account of detecting only an i686 processor and not x86-84. numvcpus is set to "2" in the .vmx's.
 
That's a new one on me. I've not actually encountered that. Is Virtualization turned on in the bios? If not, try turning that one. Thru the Web Interface, is it configured for 2 CPUs?
 
Hey. Getting back into folding and trying to get VMs working. I'm running Win7 x64 on a Q9450, and both VMs launch as "fold" running two instances each of the standard client, and refuse to do "fold64"/SMP client on account of detecting only an i686 processor and not x86-84. numvcpus is set to "2" in the .vmx's.

That happens on one of my machines and I have no idea why. VT is turned on in the BIOS. I've never messed with it so I don't know how it could get turned off. Hey, capreppy, I couldn't stay away any longer and switch my main machine back to VM's from WinSMP. I gave each VM 1024MB of RAM. We'll see how it goes. Man, points are addictive!
 
It is VERY addictive. I've been planning my next boxen and just need the funds to come around so I can build.
 
Yeah, that was it. Have GPU2 running at ~3100PPD on my 4870, and two VMs at ~1200 and ~1800 respectively, according to FahMon.

 
Very glad to hear!!! What is your Q9450 clocked to? I assume that is where the VMs are running
 
two VMs at ~1200 and ~1800 respectively, according to FahMon.
That seems a bit low. Are you running at stock speeds? If so, you could get a nice boost from overclocking. I'm doing about 3000PPD on each of the two VMs I'm running on my 3.8GHz Q9550.
 
I'm only running a very mild OC at 2.8, and my temps are 56-58C. My problem is that I'm in a military barracks, bottled up in a tiny room that gets blazing hot very quickly with multiple machines folding away. (And no air conditioning.) So that limits my ability to OC. But thankfully I'm out of here in about 6 weeks.
 
The 1800 sounds ok (still a little low, but depending on WU, is probably in range). I know my PpD tanks when I get a 1760 point A1 core WU.
The 1200 I think may be due to the ATI GPU2 client in that it needs almost a full core to run.

Overall, that may be about right. On a Q6600 @ 3.2, I normally get between 2600 & 2800 PpD out of each VM, but I'm running exclusivly nVidia GPUs that use very few CPU cycles
 
where ya stationed at? you there for training since your only there for 6 weeks? what branch?

Sry, Army here, very nosy lol

Anyways, look into the ATI guide here to kill that whole needing one core thing, that will give you a boost on 2 instances (GPU and one VM) and also, are you running WinAFC? Im getting 2k a VM out of a stock Q66, (2.4Ghz) so you should have no problem over doing that

EDIT--
DAMN, beat to the punch lol, thats the guide!
 
where ya stationed at? you there for training since your only there for 6 weeks? what branch?

Sry, Army here, very nosy lol
I'm stationed at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, AK. 6 weeks is because I'm going on terminal leave soon, my 4 years AD conclude in September.

EDIT: In case you were wondering why there's no AC and assumed it's because this is the military, I would like to note that "air conditioning" is a bizzare, unknown concept in Alaska. Almost nobody here has it.

Anyways, look into the ATI guide here to kill that whole needing one core thing, that will give you a boost on 2 instances (GPU and one VM) and also, are you running WinAFC? Im getting 2k a VM out of a stock Q66, (2.4Ghz) so you should have no problem over doing that

EDIT--
DAMN, beat to the punch lol, thats the guide!
I am using WinAFC setting vmware-vmx.exe to Idle and FahCore_11.exe to Normal. I just made the changes in that guide and it has lowered the GPU2's CPU usage from 25-30 to 4-7, so hopefully I see some shifting in PPD numbers over the next few days if that was starving the VMs a bit.
 
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ooo, AK, I turned down my shot there, Im a bitch in the cold now, spent too many years in GA lol
 
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