5.3 Months Until ...

[EvilAlchemist]

5.3 Months we will no longer be the #1 Ranked Team in Folding@Home.

EVGA is getting around 3.7 million more points per day then we are.

They also have 270 more active users on their team then we do.
We are down to 850+ members --> from 1000+ when I joined [H] in Jan 2008.

We need to do all we can to boost our points per day numbers and get more members on our team.

 

[lehmann]

I should be at 50-60k a day by next week.

 

[capreppy]

Active recruiting is difficult at best. eVGA "buys" their teammates with all of the promotions that they run.

I've been trying to increase my PpD, but frankly it is getting expensive. I've increased my PpD to over 110K, but with TX Summer coming in, I may need to drop the GX2's to keep temps in check. I am hoping (crosses fingers) I can get an SR-2 in place by the end of summer with a pair of E5650's, but again that cost money. Obviously the reduced electrical costs of getting rid of the GX2's will help a lot.

 

[Vaulter98c]

We should put in our next shout out on the front page just how grim the situation really is. Right now it just says join the team

sad thin is, that's about the most advertising we can get, unless maybe we can get an announcement in the forums, kinda like the gmail thing, only for a week tho

beyond that, I don't know what to say. Almost all my SR2 parts are here now, just waiting on the board itself, then I make my push for over 100k, hopefully by months end

Maybe we should do a competition or a team rally or what not, see how many of te 20 can top 100k, or just how high we can make 20th place
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[CraftyOtter]

+1 Vaulter98c

and maybe a recruiting post in the Video/Processor forums as well.

 

[zero2dash]

Active recruiting is difficult at best. eVGA "buys" their teammates with all of the promotions that they run.

+1
I'm at my max, guys...no more D from me anytime soon, sorry.

I've been trying to increase my PpD, but frankly it is getting expensive. I've increased my PpD to over 110K, but with TX Summer coming in, I may need to drop the GX2's to keep temps in check.

another +1
I'm in MO, our mobile home's AC does not really cool off the computer room and it's already been a furnace in there (earlier this week it was mid 80s outside). When full blown July/August rolls around and we're in mid 90s+ I may have to shut down also (hopefully gpu only unless I can weasel in some aftermarket coolers for the 260s).

 

[capreppy]

Last summer was barely bearable, but I was on the road alot. We're down to 3 days a week onsite so Thu & Fri I am working from my home office. I'm not so sure how I feel about that with 3 x 9800GX2's, 3 x GTX285's, 2 i7 920's and my laptop helping to keep me really warm in 100+ degree TX summers.

The only way to keep up the PpD, but reduce heat is go SMP/Big Adv.

 

[Vaulter98c]

Yup, that's why some of us are going SR2, just running 2 GX2s is making it toasty, don't want to think what will happen if I try to fire up the others

if the new opty prices are matched well against the xeons, we may see some price drops, and if that happens, SR2 and some cheap 5530's might be within the reach of more folders
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[zero2dash]

I'd like to see the upcoming PhII X6 be priced aggressively, depending on F@h performance that may give me a reason to possibly sell off an i7 and buy an X6. All depends on the PPD though.
IMHO dual cpu boards are still far out of reach of most people. Granted prices are cheaper than they used to be, but you're still talking about double the price of a single socket x58 board, plus you have to buy more ram and cost of that goes up exponentially.

SR-2 is a neat board, but due to costs it's still going to cater to a niche crowd. Of course if you've got many gpus and you can sell those to try to alleviate the "upgrade" costs of going with an SR-2 system, then price isn't as bad of a concern. Really the only reason I have any gpu folders myself is because they were bought for gaming first.

 

[Vaulter98c]

I doubt it will top an i7, especially with the way their turbo works, but It will put up a good fight

 

[musky]

I think we are missing a very big potential gain - helping our current active menbers optimize ppd with their current equipment. These are folks that took the time to go to the Stanford site, download a client, and run it. My guess is that the majority run the basic system tray client. I also would bet that the majority of them run multi-core computers these days, and based on the nature of HardOCP, they are also at least to some degree computer enthusiasts with faster machines, possibly overclocked, with a higher end graphics card or cards. Let's spend some our resources catering to them. A couple of ideas:

- a one-click Windows SMP client installer script/batch that will minumize to the tray, making it almost as easy to run the SMP client as it is to run the basic client

- a simple setup script to install and run multiple GPU clients for SLI/Crossfire systems.

- an easier service installer for Windows to make it a piece of cake to set up an SMP and/or GPU client on your kid's/parent's/friend's computer.

While figuring out how to get Vaulter's future SR-2 rig maximized or how to get lehman's I7 machine to run bigadv without issue or how to keep capreppy from roasting himself this summer is fun and interesting to those of us who are active in this forum, it is no the best way to maximize the team's output. If we could get a few hundred of our current memeber to bump there output from a few hundred to a few thousand ppd through using the "high performance" clients, that would be a very good move in the right direction.

I don't think that is an unrealistic possibility. Think about it - let's say I have Core 2 Quad system of some type with a couple of video cards for SLI and I came to HardOCP or the Hard forum for some help/advise/whatever on this system and stumbled onto the DC forum. I read through some of the posts and think to myself that these people are nuts putting that much time and money into this, but I like the idea of it so I will participate. I go to Stanford's site and download the most basic thing I find for Windows and install and run it. I am doing my part, and getting a couple hundred ppd on that system. How much better could that system do with an SMP client and a couple a GPU clients? What are the odds that I would take the time to get all of that set up? What are the odds I would if there was a link in one of the sticky posts that said "if you have a multi-core processor and SLI, download and run this script to set up F@H automatically"?

Just a thought.

 

[404 - File not found]

I definitely agree with you musky.

Looking at the stats, there's a lot of >1k, 2k ppd members, not that their contribution isn't important, but they could be running more efficient a3 clients, they probably have dual/quad cores by now.

It's a bit hard to start folding with all these terms "smp, bigadv, a3" when you're not familiar with them, so how about stickies like "Easy steps to run Folding@home on a CPU" "...GPU". Maybe a welcome newbie thread?

Also, in the 15k-20k range I'm sad to see there's only but a few people. Hundreds/thousands of [H] users have an i7 system. A lot of these people could be recruited for some vmware bigadv. There should be a lot of users in that range.

Look at overclock forums. The forum is filled with sig/avatars inviting to join folding. We should really start having F@H sigs.

 

[nitrobass24]

While we techincally cant make an installer, because that would violate the stanford EULA.

But what we can do, it create a .vbs script that can be run after the user has run stanfords installer.

For someone who has vbs scripting experience it should prove to be an easy task. Have some popup dialog boxes so they can enter their users/pass for MPI, and Folding user/passkey, and if they want to install as a service.

GPUs would actually be even easier.
When i get home i will upload what i use and it makes Mutli-GPU a breeze

 

[SmokeRngs]

The biggest problem is the total number of active folders on the team. This team has always been carried by the "silent little guys" and with the number of active users so low, it hurts a lot. If you take the average PPD per member and multiply that by the 200 or so users we are down from normal and you get a huge amount of points. No, it's not enough to stop the overtake, but it would be a big boon.

Simply put, I find that the current client lineup Stanford has is a big hurdle which can be difficult to overcome. GPU clients do interfere a lot with basic things. My GUI is rather slow when the GPU client is running. It's not enough to make me stop using it, but it's definitely noticeable when the client isn't running. The SMP clients are definitely not user friendly with regards to setting them up and are also not install it and forget it. The only client which stays the hell out of the way is the old uniprocessor client. The major problem there is the crappy PPD you get from running it and the need to install multiple copies to utilize all cores.

I'm sure plenty of people want to help out, but getting things setup decently is a severe pain in the ass for someone who does not already know what they are doing with these clients. The almost constant upkeep needed for the GPU and SMP clients is also a pain in the ass. It was a hell of a lot easier to recruit people when the installation and maintenance of the clients was a lot simpler.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of us in here already know what we are doing and it's simple to us because of that. For someone who has never messed with this stuff, it can be very daunting. Not everyone on this forum or who reads the website is as technically inclined as many of us. For example, those of you who have spent time in the *nix part of the OS subforum will know that there are a shitload of people averse to even looking at a command line prompt much less trying to use one. Some people are scared of it and some people shit on it because they think it's old and has no use. Hell, I've seen some of the same in the DC forum. Now, look at the current client lineup Stanford has. The majority of the high performance clients are CLI based. Since the majority of the clients aren't click to install and run, you're not going to find a lot of people who want to mess with the hassle of trying to install and run them.

I don't have any solutions, but I thought I would point out some of the major problems.

I almost forgot something else. Keep in mind that a lot of people turn off their machines when not in use. That obviously affects the SMP client a lot with regards to points and deadlines. Considering the short deadlines of the GPU work units, that can also be a major problem. You have to remember most people are very different from us. Many of us have multiple boxen and are trying to squeeze out every last point from them but most people don't do anything like that.

 

[Kendrak]

Once the SR-2 comes ill have more "D".

Musky and Nitro your spot on.

I would aslo like to do a system givaway.
Brand new parts and all. That should get front page attention. If done rite we should get an influx of new memebrs. I just need a away to fund this project.

 

[Nathan_P]

The biggest problem is the total number of active folders on the team. This team has always been carried by the "silent little guys" and with the number of active users so low, it hurts a lot. If you take the average PPD per member and multiply that by the 200 or so users we are down from normal and you get a huge amount of points. No, it's not enough to stop the overtake, but it would be a big boon.

Simply put, I find that the current client lineup Stanford has is a big hurdle which can be difficult to overcome. GPU clients do interfere a lot with basic things. My GUI is rather slow when the GPU client is running. It's not enough to make me stop using it, but it's definitely noticeable when the client isn't running. The SMP clients are definitely not user friendly with regards to setting them up and are also not install it and forget it. The only client which stays the hell out of the way is the old uniprocessor client. The major problem there is the crappy PPD you get from running it and the need to install multiple copies to utilize all cores.

I'm sure plenty of people want to help out, but getting things setup decently is a severe pain in the ass for someone who does not already know what they are doing with these clients. The almost constant upkeep needed for the GPU and SMP clients is also a pain in the ass. It was a hell of a lot easier to recruit people when the installation and maintenance of the clients was a lot simpler.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of us in here already know what we are doing and it's simple to us because of that. For someone who has never messed with this stuff, it can be very daunting. Not everyone on this forum or who reads the website is as technically inclined as many of us. For example, those of you who have spent time in the *nix part of the OS subforum will know that there are a shitload of people averse to even looking at a command line prompt much less trying to use one. Some people are scared of it and some people shit on it because they think it's old and has no use. Hell, I've seen some of the same in the DC forum. Now, look at the current client lineup Stanford has. The majority of the high performance clients are CLI based. Since the majority of the clients aren't click to install and run, you're not going to find a lot of people who want to mess with the hassle of trying to install and run them.

I don't have any solutions, but I thought I would point out some of the major problems.

I almost forgot something else. Keep in mind that a lot of people turn off their machines when not in use. That obviously affects the SMP client a lot with regards to points and deadlines. Considering the short deadlines of the GPU work units, that can also be a major problem. You have to remember most people are very different from us. Many of us have multiple boxen and are trying to squeeze out every last point from them but most people don't do anything like that.

several good points here, i usually run both, one boxen 24/7 and my daily driver when its on, so i occasionally get caught by deadlines.

CLI for windows should be a no-no, *nix is different and people who want to play *nix should be comfortable with the command prompt but joe on his win box should just be able to click the icon and let rip to the best of his machine's abilities.

I find my GPU/SMP clients to be stable - most of my issues have come from either a dodgy router or blocked heat sinks on the 8800gt's that i used to use but i do realise that not everyone is so lucky.

Hopefully this provides some good news in the long term

http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14027#p137961

 

[Nathan_P]

I was planning on joining [H] later on this year once i got my second rig up and running but someone trashed my main rig that runs for team 56895 whilst i was away so i need to get that repaired first. Once i can get over 25k ppd on that though any extra will be heading this way but at the moment i can only guess that it won't be for several months yet.
In the meantime i will read all the sage advice that is on here and chip in when i feel able

 

[sirmonkey1985]

several good points here, i usually run both, one boxen 24/7 and my daily driver when its on, so i occasionally get caught by deadlines.

CLI for windows should be a no-no, *nix is different and people who want to play *nix should be comfortable with the command prompt but joe on his win box should just be able to click the icon and let rip to the best of his machine's abilities.

I find my GPU/SMP clients to be stable - most of my issues have come from either a dodgy router or blocked heat sinks on the 8800gt's that i used to use but i do realise that not everyone is so lucky.

Hopefully this provides some good news in the long term

http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14027#p137961

if a universal client happens ill probably put more time into F@H but at this point im pretty much ready to throw the towel in on F@H completely.. so sick of dealing with nvidia drivers.. having to change my clock speeds when i want to game and when i want to fold.. having to completely close the F@H gpu client to play a game then sit there and turn it back on and hopping it doesnt crash my drivers when it starts up because i have some flash application running on FF.. its become a friggin choir at this point to keep doing this..

 

[musky]

if a universal client happens ill probably put more time into F@H but at this point im pretty much ready to throw the towel in on F@H completely.. so sick of dealing with nvidia drivers.. having to change my clock speeds when i want to game and when i want to fold.. having to completely close the F@H gpu client to play a game then sit there and turn it back on and hopping it doesnt crash my drivers when it starts up because i have some flash application running on FF.. its become a friggin choir at this point to keep doing this..

And herein lies the rub...sirmonkey is WAY more patient with F@H stuff than most people would be. If it is not a rock stable thing that is completely invisible to the user, it is not worth doing. The WinSMP client seems to be in this category. The GPU client is not. The question is, is there a way to install the GPU client so that it would be stable in (almost) all circumstances and the expense of some ppd? Something like running it at a lower % so it never loads the card(s) more than 50-75%?

 

[sirmonkey1985]

And herein lies the rub...sirmonkey is WAY more patient with F@H stuff than most people would be. If it is not a rock stable thing that is completely invisible to the user, it is not worth doing. The WinSMP client seems to be in this category. The GPU client is not. The question is, is there a way to install the GPU client so that it would be stable in (almost) all circumstances and the expense of some ppd? Something like running it at a lower % so it never loads the card(s) more than 50-75%?

no not really.. only way to make it seemless is to never overclock your gfx card.. which well this is [H] and that sure as hell aint happening.. lol

 

[zero2dash]

Keep in mind that a lot of people turn off their machines when not in use.

Kinda goes hand in hand with summer coming around too. Those that have their systems in their basement or whatever don't apply obviously, but the "average Joe and Jane" folders out there aren't that [H]ardcore, and they're the ones that make up the majority of our team.

I hate to be coming up with these downers and whatnot, I guess I'm just playing devil's advocate today.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

Kinda goes hand in hand with summer coming around too. Those that have their systems in their basement or whatever don't apply obviously, but the "average Joe and Jane" folders out there aren't that [H]ardcore, and they're the ones that make up the majority of our team.

I hate to be coming up with these downers and whatnot, I guess I'm just playing devil's advocate today.

not really downers just need to find ways to improve on the negatives.. it at least shows where the problems are as a team and where we need to improve on it as well..

 

[metallicafan]

Has anyone thought of doing an external website that we could link to one of the stickies? If someone had a spot to host a few small webpages we might be able to get more info to new or potential folders. Something thats short and sweet but grouped together well and gives new people a lot of concise information without having to read through 500 threads. There could be a page on recommended hardware, one page on installing/configuring clients, a page giving estimates on PPD for specific hardware. If we have any CompSci students around here who need a class project? This would be perfect for them.

There is a ton of great info here on the forum and great people who are willing to help out but sometimes its hard for them to find that info.

 

[musky]

Has anyone thought of doing an external website that we could link to one of the stickies? If someone had a spot to host a few small webpages we might be able to get more info to new or potential folders. Something thats short and sweet but grouped together well and gives new people a lot of concise information without having to read through 500 threads. There could be a page on recommended hardware, one page on installing/configuring clients, a page giving estimates on PPD for specific hardware. If we have any CompSci students around here who need a class project? This would be perfect for them.

There is a ton of great info here on the forum and great people who are willing to help out but sometimes its hard for them to find that info.

I have the space if anyone is interested in something like this. I think I can set up some FTP accounts to access it. I'd even spring for a domain name for it.

 

[Vaulter98c]

No need to pay all by yourself, and we'd need a handful of people who could put up articles and whatnot, it would be too big a task for one guy I think.

I like the sounds of this, I considered a free-bee version of this a while ago, but it's been a few years since my last HTML class lol

Wonder if we could get props from big brother Kyle? Not web space obviously, but maybe a link on the front page

fwiw, why not just a total rebuild of hardfolding? Already got space for that...
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[APOLLO]

As of last update the overtake period has dropped to 5 months. At this rate, my prediction of an early summer overtake doesn't seem too far off the mark for them if they continue climbing. They have ramped substantially the past few days even though we have a steeper production graph, and they are nearly doubling our production. I don't know where the extra production is coming from because their top 20 hasn't changed.

I also believe that a sticky in the video forum will make a difference and been mentioning this since last year, but doubt it will happen. The fastest way we can make a difference is to get as many peeople with recent video cards to come aboard as possible. There are vastly more video cards out there than there are i7 processors, and there's no need to tinker with Linux and VMs. It's much more straightforward to set up, especially for the impatient.

I like some of the ideas presented in this thread. We definitely need to think outside the box.

if a universal client happens ill probably put more time into F@H but at this point im pretty much ready to throw the towel in on F@H completely.. so sick of dealing with nvidia drivers.. having to change my clock speeds when i want to game and when i want to fold.. having to completely close the F@H gpu client to play a game then sit there and turn it back on and hopping it doesnt crash my drivers when it starts up because i have some flash application running on FF.. its become a friggin choir at this point to keep doing this..

You could turn off the GPUs if they are really giving you a hassle but have the CPU clients working, and leave everything operating on your secondary machines. That will reduce heat and the problems you're having.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

As of last update the overtake period has dropped to 5 months. At this rate, my prediction of an early summer overtake doesn't seem too far off the mark for them if they continue climbing. They have ramped substantially the past few days even though we have a steeper production graph, and they are nearly doubling our production. I don't know where the extra production is coming from because their top 20 hasn't changed.

I also believe that a sticky in the video forum will make a difference and been mentioning this since last year, but doubt it will happen. The fastest way we can make a difference is to get as many peeople with recent video cards to come aboard as possible. There are vastly more video cards out there than there are i7 processors, and there's no need to tinker with Linux and VMs. It's much more straightforward to set up, especially for the impatient.

I like some of the ideas presented in this thread. We definitely need to think outside the box.

You could turn off the GPUs if they are really giving you a hassle but have the CPU clients working, and leave everything operating on your secondary machines. That will reduce heat and the problems you're having.

i only run the gpu client.. i run boinc on my CPU for a different team.. and honestly the cpu clients not an option for me anymore and i no longer have any secondary machines because i am now using that system after killing my motherboard in my main system..

 

[deweatherly]

I know this sounds very n00bish, but what are the minimal requirements to fold? i do not have much to offer but if its not a big strain on my laptop i would be happy to donate. If i would make a difference, just trying to help out [H].

 

[sirmonkey1985]

I know this sounds very n00bish, but what are the minimal requirements to fold? i do not have much to offer but if its not a big strain on my laptop i would be happy to donate. If i would make a difference, just trying to help out [H].

depends on the processor of the laptop.. if its just a basic dual core you could run the standard client but really for the PPD(yeah i know any PPD counts) it may not be worth it for the amount of strain put on the laptop components.. but thats just my opinion.. if it was a desktop id say go for it and see what you can possibly get out of it..

 

[Kendrak]

Almost any system can fold.

You want the SMP client if it is a dual core or better.

Just make sure your lappy can breath (prop it up or use one of thoes lappy fan stations)

Needs anymore help? Just start a thread, we are happy to help.

 

[deweatherly]

Thanks guys, i'll do a little more research, but i'm going to need a LOT of help setting this up. i'll start a thread when i know for sure i want to do this.

 

[capreppy]

eVGA is ramping up because of the chimp challenge. I am over ther a lot because I'm reading up on the SR-2. I do pop over to their F@H forum (not DC because they only do F@H) to see how the competition is doing (Sun Su: know thy enemy).

There does seem to be a lot of talk of the SR-2 over there as a foldng platform. I gotta think there may be a few SR-2's popping up on our radar here in the upcoming weeks.

 

[APOLLO]

There does seem to be a lot of talk of the SR-2 over there as a foldng platform. I gotta think there may be a few SR-2's popping up on our radar here in the upcoming weeks.

I expected as much. They are a very large folding team and have a lot of big producers. A new enthusiast motherboard manufactured by the same company that's hosting the forum was bound to enlist a good number of buyers there.

I don't see the SR-2 or any other high end component as a 'weapon' to thwart their advances, because in truth every team whose members can afford the expenditure will be capable of buying whatever components any manufacturer releases that can fold. So, there is an equalizing effect even if we are a bit more CPU-based. The only way we can honestly hold on is to recruit more members and as others have mentioned, maximize the folding we are doing right now. There is no silver bullet.

 

[Mox]

I started folding again (a few days ago) after a few years because I noticed we were going to be overtaken. The main reason I stopped was there was no client for my 9800gt back then, my dual core wasn't cutting it anymore. I think that the client is the most important part, it will be really nice when there is a client that will run any card to it's max, and all we have to do is upgrade our video card drivers.
Maybe it is possible to send an email to all of our inactive members to see if they can come back to help out?

 

[APOLLO]

I started folding again (a few days ago) after a few years because I noticed we were going to be overtaken.

Thank you and welcome back to the [H]orde!

Maybe it is possible to send an email to all of our inactive members to see if they can come back to help out?

The main obstacles I see with emailing former folders is the sheer number of them (~14,000) and the bigger issue of identifying team members since many don't have the same folding username. The mods could correct me on this but I also believe the administration would not desire to undergo the daunting task of mass emailing; it might even be contrary to policy.

Perhaps, what we can do on a personal level is contact people we have known or communicated with in the past who aren't currently folding, and politely inquire if they'd be interested in folding again? I think that would be the best way to get old folders back even if it might only garner a handful.

 

[Vaulter98c]

I'd say anyone in the top 200-300 would be more likely to come back than anyone of the 14,000
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[Dephcon]

I'm back, for now. Got two HS22s rocking bigadv. That's all I can get my hands on at the moment.

 

[ghost6303]

I think we are missing a very big potential gain - helping our current active menbers optimize ppd with their current equipment.[.....]

How much better could that system do with an SMP client and a couple a GPU clients? What are the odds that I would take the time to get all of that set up? What are the odds I would if there was a link in one of the sticky posts that said "if you have a multi-core processor and SLI, download and run this script to set up F@H automatically"?

this is a very good idea. i can say that ive been running the regular cmd based client for many years without even thinking about it before i recently started looking at all the different clients and options there are. if there were a thread that could say "you should run this specific setup if you have this specific set of hardware and these -flags for the max ppd" i think that would be very helpful to a lot of people.

im still not exactly sure if my computer is getting the most ppd possible.

 

[APOLLO]

I'm back, for now. Got two HS22s rocking bigadv. That's all I can get my hands on at the moment.

Hey, welcome back!! That's awesome and hope you can get your hands on more hardware in the future.

 

[musky]

While we techincally cant make an installer, because that would violate the stanford EULA.

But what we can do, it create a .vbs script that can be run after the user has run stanfords installer.

For someone who has vbs scripting experience it should prove to be an easy task. Have some popup dialog boxes so they can enter their users/pass for MPI, and Folding user/passkey, and if they want to install as a service.

GPUs would actually be even easier.
When i get home i will upload what i use and it makes Mutli-GPU a breeze

So how does finstall or the eVGA VM get away with this? The VM has the client included, and finstall downloads it as part of its install. Do you only have the problem if you have a true installer? I was thinking more of a batch script or something that would use the command line client and install it as a service similar to finstall. Do you agree to the EULA when you download the command line client?

i can say that ive been running the regular cmd based client for many years without even thinking about it before i recently started looking at all the different clients and options there are. if there were a thread that could say "you should run this specific setup if you have this specific set of hardware and these -flags for the max ppd" i think that would be very helpful to a lot of people.

im still not exactly sure if my computer is getting the most ppd possible.

That is exactly why I am even a part of the [H]orde. When I upgraded to a quad core Phenom back in December, I installed the F@H Windows installer client and noticed that my processor was only loaded to 25%. I then figured that I would need to run 4 classic command line clients like you used to have to do for SMP in the old days. That got me to wondering if there was a better mousetrap for this since about all new porcessors being produced these days are multi-core, which brought me to the [H]ard Forums for advise. At that time, all of the guides were prominantly stickied, so I fairly easily found the Windows SMP guide and was set up pretty quickly. I also figured that this was as good a time as any to switch teams.

I am more patient than most, so the easier this is, the better. Even now, you would need to dig for the guides to set up GPU/SMP. Streamlining this processes to get new and existing people optimized as painlessly as possible has got to help. Hell, integrated it with a web page that can read your current system configuration. Click here, you open a page that says you have xxx processor and yyy video cards - click here to set up F@H, and you are done!