Guide: Setting up notfred in VMWare Player

[Avrithor]

About an hour and a half later, my GPU2 PPD has nosedived to 1900, and the VMs are up to 2500/2300.

 

[Zero82z]

About an hour and a half later, my GPU2 PPD has nosedived to 1900, and the VMs are up to 2500/2300.

What GPU unit are you running? And open up Task Manager to double-check the priorities of the VMs and the F@H core and make sure they're set correctly.

 

[Avrithor]

What GPU unit are you running? And open up Task Manager to double-check the priorities of the VMs and the F@H core and make sure they're set correctly.

I upped FLUSH_INTERVAL to 128 and am now sitting at GPU 2100, VMs 2400/2200. This may be the best balance I can find. The GPU is crunching a P4754 WU worth 477 pts.

Strangely enough, when I checked them in Task Manager, the affinities were set right on the two vmware processes, but one of them was set to Idle/Low and the other was set to Normal for priority. I manually bumped that one to Low. We'll see what happens.

EDIT: Looking better already. GPU 2700, VMs still 2400/2200.

 

[Zero82z]

Yeah, that's more similar to my numbers. I'm getting more PPD than you, but that's most likely because of my overclock.

 

[Avrithor]

Wow. Okay, according to FahMon, the GPU is tearing it up now at 3800 PPD. I guess those environment variables and having the proper priorities set really makes a difference! (I do also have a mild OC on the 4870 at 760/920 in CCC. There's probably headroom for more there.)

 

[Vaulter98c]

glad to see it all coming together for you!

 

[capreppy]

Nice numbers!!!

 

[Avrithor]

It seems to be widely variable based on the project. It blasted through that one at 3800, and now I'm looking at it and the last one it finished was a 5737 unit worth 511 pts., at 2612 PPD.

 

[Zero82z]

Yeah, the 511-point units run a lot slower than everything else. Your speed looks normal to me.

 

[Avrithor]

Bwahaha. One of my VMs just finished a WU and FahMon got way confused for a moment until it picked up the start of the next WU.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn312/Avrithor/fahmon_bug.jpg

If it completed 1,717,986% of a 1920 point WU, shouldn't I have gotten 32,905,331 points for it?

 

[tjmagneto]

Bwahaha. One of my VMs just finished a WU and FahMon got way confused for a moment until it picked up the start of the next WU.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn312/Avrithor/fahmon_bug.jpg

If it completed 1,717,986% of a 1920 point WU, shouldn't I have gotten 32,905,331 points for it?

Only if I can too. My FahMon client gets a little confused and throw out bogus percentages once in a while too. It's kinda funny.

 

[SilentLunatic]

I am confused on how to set up the WinAFC txt file.

I have a Phenom II and it says PAIR0 and PAIR1 not valid.

Do I change this to CPU0, and CPU2?

 

[capreppy]

Phenom X2, X3, or X4?

X2: should be PAIR0 (or you can use CPU0, & CPU1
X3: should be CPU0, CPU1, CPU2 (don't know of any other values)
X4: should be PAIR0 & PAIR1 (or you can use CPU0, CPU1, CPU2, & CPU3).

after I wrote all of the above, I took the time to read your sig

For the AMD Phenom II X4 940 (I have one), use QUAD0 (or you can use CPU0, CPU1, CPU2, & CPU3). The AMD 940 is a true quad in that it isn't two C2D stuck together like the Intel C2Q's. Therefore there are no PAIRs.

 

[SilentLunatic]

Ok, I did that.

Now in the VM itself, when I launch it I should run fold64?

I also remotely configured and rebooted the machine but do not know if it is folding as I cannot get FahMon to monitor it.

 

[capreppy]

It should automatically choose fold64. I've not actually heard of anyone running notfred's and it not choosing that.

Depending on how your network is setup, you may need to change the workgroup to whatever your machine is set to. Default is Diskless and it may not work with your network.

 

[SilentLunatic]

What is the purpose of WinAFC?

Program reads "Cannot elevate priveleges to handle affinity for processes in other user accounts."
No processes found for profile vmware
********************************* Fah core 11
********************************* Fah core 14

How to I point FahMon to monitor this VM?

Also why did I lose my current work on my GPU2Client?

 

[capreppy]

WinAFC is supposed to "lower" the affinity of the SMP clients so that the GPU2 client doesn't starve for CPU cycles. Also helps to make the box a little more responsive.

Check the section for monitoring your VM near the bottom of the guide. It's pretty self explanatory, but can answer specific questions.

Are you running the GPU2 clients as services? If so, what user? WinAFC may be limited to the user that you log in as. I've not set anything up as a service, so may not be able to help you on this one.

 

[SilentLunatic]

My GPU2 client is not running as a service.

My VM files folder is on D:/FAH/VMServer

Should Fah mon have \\fold-[IP ADDRESS FROM VM]\D\FAH\VMServer

 

[capreppy]

"\\fold-XXXX\C\etc\folding\1\" where XXXX is the host name you took note of from the VMWare Player Console

If you open up the IP Address of the VM in IE (or FireFox), it'll give you the name of the VM. It will say fold-xxxx. This is the value that you into FaHMon.

 

[SilentLunatic]

We have FAHMon up and running!!!

Thanks!!

So it has completed 2% so far, with 2920ppd estimate compared to the three seperate 500 pps processes running.

Now I need to get WinAFC figured out so I can launch a GPU2 client....correct?

Can I delete my uni-processor folders and their work since I am now running the SMP client in a VM?

Do I need to make the VM use 3 cores rather than 4 since the Ati card will need one core?

 

[Zero82z]

Now I need to get WinAFC figured out so I can launch a GPU2 client....correct?

Yes. Are you using an Administrator account? Are you running Vista or Windows 7 with UAC enabled? If the answer is yes to that last part, you may have to elevate WinAFC to Administrator privileges. You can do that by going into the properties for the WinAFC EXE file and checking off "Run this program as an administrator" on the Compatibility tab.

Can I delete my uni-processor folders and their work since I am now running the SMP client in a VM?

Yes.

Do I need to make the VM use 3 cores rather than 4 since the Ati card will need one core?

No: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1419852

 

[SilentLunatic]

I am about to get some sleep. I understand what WinAFC does now.

However, it finds FAH_Core11

And does not find FAH_core14 or the vmware-vmx

So I am assuming it is setting my GPU client to High Prioity and to three cores?
And is not modifying anything else?

##################################################
##          Application Profile lines
##################################################
#
# An application profile is specified on a single line. 
# An application profile includes the following information: an application
# name, a CPU mask, and optional attributes in the following format:
# C:\Path\To\Application := CPU0+CPU1 [attr1=val1,attr2=val2]
#

*\vmware-vmx.exe := CPU0 + CPU1 + CPU2 [assign=2,priority=Idle]

*\FahCore_11.exe := CPU0 + CPU1 + CPU2 [priority=High]

*\FahCore_14.exe := CPU0 + CPU1 + CPU2 [priority=High]

# Check the documentation and the provided examples for more 
# information about these fields.

 

[Zero82z]

Fahcore_14.exe is used only by the nVidia GPU client. You can remove that line.

Also, why are you assigning both the GPU client and the VMs to the same three cores and leaving the fourth idle? You should follow the instructions in the link I gave you in my last post, which will reduce your GPU client's CPU usage and allow you to run two VMs across all your four cores. Then you can use WinAFC to set the priority and affinity for the different .exes. You should have it set up like this:

*\vmware-vmx.exe := QUAD0 [assign=2,priority=Idle]

*\FahCore_11.exe := QUAD0 [priority=High]

Or if you want to keep the GPU client locked to a single core:

*\vmware-vmx.exe := QUAD0 [assign=2,priority=Idle]

*\FahCore_11.exe := CPU3 [priority=High]

 

[SilentLunatic]

Fahcore_14.exe is used only by the nVidia GPU client. You can remove that line.

Also, why are you assigning both the GPU client and the VMs to the same three cores and leaving the fourth idle? You should follow the instructions in the link I gave you in my last post, which will reduce your GPU client's CPU usage and allow you to run two VMs across all your four cores. Then you can use WinAFC to set the priority and affinity for the different .exes. You should have it set up like this:

*\vmware-vmx.exe := QUAD0 [assign=2,priority=Idle]

*\FahCore_11.exe := QUAD0 [priority=High]

Or if you want to keep the GPU client locked to a single core:

*\vmware-vmx.exe := QUAD0 [assign=2,priority=Idle]

*\FahCore_11.exe := CPU3 [priority=High]

Thanks, I have lowered the Ati CPU usage. I removed that one line for the nVidia client. And FAHMon has is monitoring the two clients.

 

[SilentLunatic]

One final check before I get some shut eye.

VMware is running AMP client.
GPU2 Client is running.
FahMon is monitoring.
WinAFC has GPU2 client locked to one core with VM on all 4 cores.

But why does the VM never go over 50% CPU usuage?

 

[SilentLunatic]

I cannot believe for the last month I have missed out on tons of potential I could have used. My PPD jumped from 3,200 to 5,400 by doing this!

 

[Zero82z]

But why does the VM never go over 50% CPU usuage?

Because each VM can only use two cores. That's why you're supposed to run two VMs.

 

[SilentLunatic]

I have two VMs up and running but it seems as if it killed the performance of the other VM and GPU2 client. Unless this is made up for by the increase points from the second VM I may just run one VM and the GPU2 client.

 

[nitrobass24]

You will get moar D with two VM's and 1 gpu client.

They will run slower, but you get more points

 

[capreppy]

Post your affinityinput.txt file. With WinAFC running, that should NOT be happening.

 

[Zero82z]

You will see some slowdown but you should still get at least 2000PPD or so from each VM and probably around 1500-2000PPD from the GPU.

 

[swoody]

Wow, this is a great guide. If I wasn't running Ubuntu VM's I'd really give notfred's a shot

 

[capreppy]

Updated FAQ section with instructions on how to up the memory that the VM uses and therefore what notfred's has available to it.

 

[nitrobass24]

Having some problems with Hyper-V

Its running and I have it set to use 4 cores
but when I open task mgr on the host i have 5% cpu usage.

Is there something else that has to be done?

 

[Nessus85]

Will someone post their Notfred and Winafc settings for an i7 in windows7 64 bit if anyone else has that configuration. I am trying to get back into folding but am having nothing but trouble. I have my i7 set to 3.6 and the most I can seem to get out of this rig is 7k with it mostly hitting 5k.

 

[nitrobass24]

well for an i7 you need to run at least 2 VMs
Also are you running GPUs?

 

[Nessus85]

Not right now I have a 5850 so it isnt working with the current core. I have tried 1vm, 2vm's, and even 4 vms.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Will someone post their Notfred and Winafc settings for an i7 in windows7 64 bit if anyone else has that configuration. I am trying to get back into folding but am having nothing but trouble. I have my i7 set to 3.6 and the most I can seem to get out of this rig is 7k with it mostly hitting 5k.

It may be easier for you to post what you've done, rather than for us asking you useless questions that make everyone frustrated and annoyed.

 

[Nessus85]

It may be easier for you to post what you've done, rather than for us asking you useless questions that make everyone frustrated and annoyed.

Well, I actually think I figured out most of my problem. I don't remember ever having to open the vmx file in wordpad and editing it but it was set to 2 processors so I changed that to 4 and now have 2 VM's going at about 4300ppd.

 

[Kendrak]

Well, I actually think I figured out most of my problem. I don't remember ever having to open the vmx file in wordpad and editing it but it was set to 2 processors so I changed that to 4 and now have 2 VM's going at about 4300ppd.

Good deal.

Yay for more ppd!.