BOINC Pentathlon 2015

Gilthanis

Gilthanis

[H]ard|DCer of the Year - 2014
Joined
Jan 29, 2006
Messages
8,735
The BOINC Pentathlon registration has begun.
Registration page: http://www.seti-germany.de/boinc_pentathlon/anmeldung.php
Main page: http://www.seti-germany.de/boinc_pentathlon/22_en_Welcome.html

6th BOINC Pentathlon - Team finished 8th over all
from 05/05/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/19/2015, 0:00 UTC
5 disciplines
1 winner

WCG was chosen as the Marathon project.

Marathon - Team finished in 7th place
World Community Grid
from 05/05/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/19/2015, 0:00 UTC

City Run
malariacontrol.net - Team finished in 6th place
from 05/07/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/12/2015, 0:00 UTC

Cross Country
Einstein@Home - Team finished in 21st place
from 05/09/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/14/2015, 0:00 UTC

Swimming - Team finished in 10th place
yoyo@home
from 05/10/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/17/2015, 0:00 UTC

Sprint - Team finished in 6th place
LHC@home
05/16/2015, 0.00 (UTC)
05/19/2015, 0.00 (UTC)

Stats and points here for the team -- http://www.seti-germany.de/boinc_pentathlon/statistiken/teamstats_en_6_[H]ard|OCP.html
WCG
teamdaily.php
outputh_avg_6_2015-05-16-04_boinc_1.png


MalariaControl
teamdaily.php


Einstein
teamdaily.php


YoYo
teamdaily.php
outputh_avg_6_2015-05-16-04_boinc_3.png


LHC@Home
teamdaily.php
outputh_avg_6_2015-05-16-22_boinc_5.png
 
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I am currently waiting for registration confirmation.
 
Disciplines

When do the disciplines start?
The exact time for each discipline will be announced together with the project. Therefore, no team will know the complete Pentathlon schedule in advance.

How does the Marathon work?
The Marathon is running during the whole Pentathlon. The team with the most credits earned at the specified project during the 14 days wins.

How does the Sprint work?
Running for only three days, the Sprint is the shortest discipline. The team with the most credits earned at the specified project during the specified period wins.

What is the *Surprise*?
Details on this new discipline will be announced before the Pentathlon starts. It will take place at a CPU project an run for at least 5 days in total.

How does the City Run work?
The City Run is a discipline with the well-known duration of five days at a CPU project. The team, that earns the most credits, wins.

How does the Cross Country work?
The Cross Country will also run for five days, but at a project that supports graphics cards. The team, that earns the most credits, wins. Credits earned with a CPU application, if the project has any, do count as well, but keep in mind that graphics cards are more efficient in most cases.
 
Statistics

How are the overall stats calculated?
Overall points are awarded for the first 25 teams in each discipline according to this table. The team with the most overall points from all five disciplines wins the Pentathlon.

When are the stats updated?
The overall stats and the stats for all running disciplines are updated on the hour.

Do work units downloaded prior to the start of the discipline count? How about pending credits?
Credits granted while the discipline is running are counted. It does not matter when the work unit was downloaded. Also, pending credits cannot be taken into account.

What happens if a project's server breaks down and stats cannot be updated?
This can be a problem if it happens at the start or end of a discipline. Only credits granted after the first successful update after start and before the last successful update before end of the discipline can be counted. So, if you want to make sure that your credits are counted, you should return them after the first successful stats update but well in advance of the end.

Are there individual user stats?
No, the Pentathlon is a team competition. Hence, there are only team stats.
 
I went ahead and chose the selection our team was voting for as it is short notice and we don't have a lot of forum activity when it comes to the various challenges as is.

I chose:
WCG, GPUGrid, and Malaria Control as we are already pretty heavy in those projects. I also suggest CitizenScienceGrid as it would be nice to stress test their work and ability to keep up with high demand for potential inclusion to DC-Vault.

Now, this does not mean we will get our way. I just felt that we already have a strong userbase in 3 of the 4 and wouldn't have to do much convincing to get the team to participate that way.
 
I'll contribute what I can when the time comes... hopefully I'll have some new toys to play with by then. :)
 
Figures... I am going to be in Florida on vacation this entire time, so I won't be able to participate. Sorry, team!
 
Exactly! I typically use one computer to control all the others... so remote into "the one" and then control "the others" from there. Easy Peasy. Heck, I run Team Viewer on my Note3 all the time; would be even better from a tablet. (this is presuming that doing things via a phone/tablet will be easier than a laptop... lol)
 
Yeah, I have thought about doing it remotely, but I am not really comfortable leaving everything running while I am away, with no one at the house to keep an eye on things. I may be paranoid, but I tend to err on the side of caution.

I will admit I am looking forward to an electric bill that is less than $350 for the first time in a couple of years. I am sorry I will miss this competition, though.
 
WCG was chosen as the Marathon project.

Marathon
World Community Grid
from 05/05/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/19/2015, 0:00 UTC

Now for a heads up. The only work that counts are work units that credit DURING the challenge. So, any work units that are pending at the end don't count. We can't control those. However, you can do a few things to increase your chances.

1. Start crunching WCG now. Any work units that have a wing man dragging their feet are likely to validate during the competition.
2. Start with a larger cache as those work units are more likely to have others finish them (wingmen) during the challenge.
3. OET tends to be a hot item for many now, so it still validates quick. I will have to double check on which projects don't need wingmen.
 
The next category has been announced. It is our other strong project right now.

City Run
malariacontrol.net
from 05/07/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/12/2015, 0:00 UTC
 
It appears that WCG has something going on as most people are reporting no new work is being sent out. If you didn't already have a cache set up in advance, you may run dry. If this is the case, I would recommend you have MalariaControl set up to pick up the hungry cores as those can take a few days to validate. Or if you are planning on bunkering, use this as an opportunity to load up on your bunkers for Malariacontrol. I will post again if I see any change.
 
For those new to bunkering. One way to bunker but still try to pull work when WCG starts up again is to set up a VM. Load up on MalariaControl work in the VM and then set it to No New Work after you get a few days worth built up. Leave the BOINC client on the host OS asking for only WCG work. That way when WCG has work again, you will immediately start pulling it. Then you can let the VM run alongside and clear its cache or you can choose whether to cancel the leftover work and what not.
 
Cross Country
Einstein@Home
from 05/09/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/14/2015, 0:00 UTC

For those new to BOINC, Einstein can use CPU and/or GPU. For those running the other projects on CPU's, please run your GPU's here.
 
Only a few more hours to go. If anyone still has questions on project setup or strategies, now would be the time to start asking.
 
I added malariacontrol but it looks like it too over the systems where I added it. Any way to balance the resource sharing between projects? WCG has WU waiting to process but only malariacontrol is being processed.
 
BOINC will manage the times on its own and will try to balance the over all run times. So, even though it may be running all MalariaControl now, it will balance it out over time. MalariaControl may also have a shorter deadline than WCG, so it may try to run it first. There is a way to limit the number of work units that runs from a project at any given time but really shouldn't be necessary for this.This is where the cc_config and app_config options come into play. Since WCG has work right now, you should probably set MalariaControl to No New Work as the MalariaControl part of the challenge won't start for a few days. WCG will start within the hour.
 
Our team currently has the highest RAC at MalariaControl because of brilong. So, depending on how teams shift their strength, that may be our best chance of taking a Gold in one of the categories. MalariaControls portion of the challenge starts on the 7th. I recommend anyone switching over to load up like 4 or 5 days cache right before it starts so that when you complete your work, there is a good chance the wingmen will also be finishing them up. It will also help defend your progress against other teams using bunkering as a way of blocking work from getting completed by others.
 
I haven't switched over to anything yet. Never worked with MalariaControl... so am thinking of switching to that. Thoughts?
 
Read my post above. If you believe in bunkering, then by all means start now with MalariaControl. If you don't believe in it, then start with WCG and then switch to downloading MalariaControl the day before and cache up to like 4 days worth.

If you have any GPU's at your disposal, keep Einstein's start date in mind to run alongside whichever CPU projects you choose.

There are still 2 more categories that haven't been announced yet. So, with the 3 projects presented, MalariaControl probably has the best possibility of us getting a Gold.
 
Correction, YoYo has been chosen for the Swimming

Swimming
yoyo@home
from 05/10/2015, 0:00 UTC
to 05/17/2015, 0:00 UTC
 
MalariaControl's portion starts in ~12 hours. You can either switch to this one, stay with WCG, or do both. Personally, I think this is the project we stand the best chances at getting a ranking with.
 
Their seems to be a buildup of pending validation at Einstein right now. If you haven't started switching your GPU's over to it, you might want to. I'm sure there are quite a few teams that are bunkering up on it, so there may be a lot get validated rather quickly at the beginning. Just a helpful tip.
 
Gilthanis said:
MalariaControl's portion starts in ~12 hours. You can either switch to this one, stay with WCG, or do both. Personally, I think this is the project we stand the best chances at getting a ranking with.
Click to expand...

Except thus far getting a good amount of WU's has been next to impossible. I've been babysitting it on a box or two and there's no way I have a day of WU's built up... especially since all the WU's seem to be fairly short.

Truth be told, competitions like these should not permit bunkering. Unless the new WU was sent and the completed received during the time frame, then it shouldn't count. Simple. Also means that a lot more people will be able to compete at anytime vs. struggling to get WUs due to all the bunkering crap that went on during the week prior.

JMHO.
 
fastgeek, that is exactly the concern many crunchers have. And it is a fair one. However, unless the project themselves are issuing the challenges like PrimeGrid tends to do, there is no control mechanism to prevent the behavior. And how BOINC is set up, the export data does not show work units sent/recieved as that would be way to much to put into the exports file. So, we do the best we can with what we have.
 
Just keep crunching. I do both right now to ensure I'm doing something productive.
 
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My GTXes are transitionning from GPUGRID.net to Einstein@home. (WCG running as always on CPUs)
 
That is awesome. We will need all of the GPU horsepower we can muster since this is the only GPU project in the challenge.

To those currently dedicating their resources elsewhere, Einstein is a project that supports the Intel GPU's/APU's, so if you have one sitting idle, please consider running it for this challenge.
 
einstein it is,
just 10 cores and a gtx660ti though
 
Day 1
Newcomers [H]ard|OCP are valiantly holding on to #11 followed by Russia.
Click to expand...

Day 2
Then, behind a little safety buffer, Ukraine have settled at #10, but [H]ard|OCP don’t want to be kept at #11 and are attacking the Ukraines.
Click to expand...
All eyes are still on the Marathon but this is due to change in a few hours. The classic City Run will premiere malariacontrol.net. Obviously, the general favourites are expected to perform but when I look at the updated project stats, no obvious favourite stands out. Pentathlon newbie [H]ard|OCP will surely look forward to this discipline as motivation must run high after their successful fight for #6.
Click to expand...

Day 3
Just behind at #5 are the newbies from [H]ard|OCP.
Click to expand...
Coming ever closer in seven-league boots are [H]ard|OCP and also the Ukraine (#11).
Click to expand...
Russia and [H]ard|OCP are two teams at #7 who could be a worry to AF.
Click to expand...

Day 4
On the other hand, Russia (#8) should be careful as [H]ard|OCP is dashing up from behind.
Click to expand...
H]ard|OCP (#5) and Meisterkuehler (#6) are currently on almost equal points whereby MK appear to slowly lose power.
Click to expand...
A great rank for [H]ard|OCP at #7, a really classy performance. It remains to be seen if this can be retained.
Click to expand...

With these highlights, I still think that those running CPU should really focus what they can on MalariaControl and then have the others as backup CPU. Einstein of course will need full GPU support. I only stress MalariaControl because we have a very strong shot in taking a top 3 position in that category which would award us a "medal".
 
The unfortunate thing about MalariaControl is the lack of Linux WUs. Moved over a couple of the big boxes to Linux for doing NFS... looks like I need to convert them back to Windows. Will see what can be done. :)
 
Two Titan X's and a 290X are now dedicated to Einstein. Let's destroy the competition.
 
Glad to see them come on line. That's exactly what we need.
 
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