freeloader1969
2[H]4U
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Hey....I can't even get any of the -bigadv units. I give up on attempting. Not worth the aggravation anymore.
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Windows BIGADV is Here
- Thread starter amdgamer
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tjmagneto
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Freeloader, the bigadv units are out there. I just picked up one just a little while ago. Not knowing your rig's specifications you will need a minimum of an i7 with hyperthreading which gets you "8" processing cores (unless it's a 980x which has 12 with hyperthreading on).
My client for the main rig listed in my signature is set up with A3 core version 2.22 and the flags are set up as follows:
Also be sure that you have a passkey from Stanford. If there's any doubts about which core you are running, just delete the FahCore_A3 file and the client will pull down the 2.22 core.
Good luck and don't give up on bigadv.
My client for the main rig listed in my signature is set up with A3 core version 2.22 and the flags are set up as follows:
-verbosity 9 -bigadv -smp 11
Also be sure that you have a passkey from Stanford. If there's any doubts about which core you are running, just delete the FahCore_A3 file and the client will pull down the 2.22 core.
Good luck and don't give up on bigadv.
Do what I did and either remove the -advmethods flag from your shortcut (easiest) or change the client type in the client.cfg file if it's set to 3. I had both and they negate each other from the looks of it, so I couldn't receive the -bigadv WUs until I changed it. You have nothing to lose by removing that flag. I got a -bigadv WU right away when I restarted the client.
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I did a semi detailed comparison in the skynet thread, lower temps and flucuating but lower draw too
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Out of curiosity, are they running low on bigadv work units? I checked my log this morning and noticed that after it finished the 2684 Bigadv, it spent a very long time trying to grab a work unit by getting the "no work to do" message. It finally got one a few hours later after countless attempts.
This is exactly what I did. I did have -advmethods on my shortcut, but after getting rid of it, both BigAdv rigs picked one up pronto. I have to agree that the -advmethods flag negates the BigAdv flag
I may be seeing one or two degree lower temps, but it is pretty insignificant. I can't speak to draw as I don't measure it (nor do I want to know)
My Main Rig is driving 3xGTX285's @ 3.89 and gets similar output to my second BigAdv unit @ 3.6 driving one 9800GX2. Both are getting ~17K PpD.
They are definitely stable, but I would have hoped for a little higher PpD. Overall, I am down 10K PpD between the two Big Adv rigs.
I agree. Having the client committed for so long to each WU, any unintended downtime and there goes your bonus. Doesn't seem sensible to me. Precisely why I suggested in the 6701 thread that there should be more criteria determining the value of WUs besides TPF, or whatever Stanford uses to evaluate them.
Just a small update:
I was wanting to start/stop client to adjust cores when gaming. Thank you "mplee", I have been able to start/stop the WU while switching from 8 to 6 cores and then back to 8 without any problems. (Have done so a few times).
"jebo_4jc", I know you recommended I not stop and just let it run while gaming. I do notice stutter during many of my games if I leave the client running (also, Alt+Tab will normally crash the game). Some games more than others, but even the slightest stutter can leave me (or my friends) dead. : ( It was worth a shot, but didn't work out.
The priority is set to low, I think that CPU spikes in games are too fast for windows to adjust. Running at 6 cores while gaming is very smooth. I lose a few minutes per hour but better than completely shutting it down. I don't like how long the 2684s take, went from 33 minutes to 44min per update.
I was wanting to start/stop client to adjust cores when gaming. Thank you "mplee", I have been able to start/stop the WU while switching from 8 to 6 cores and then back to 8 without any problems. (Have done so a few times).
"jebo_4jc", I know you recommended I not stop and just let it run while gaming. I do notice stutter during many of my games if I leave the client running (also, Alt+Tab will normally crash the game). Some games more than others, but even the slightest stutter can leave me (or my friends) dead. : ( It was worth a shot, but didn't work out.
The priority is set to low, I think that CPU spikes in games are too fast for windows to adjust. Running at 6 cores while gaming is very smooth. I lose a few minutes per hour but better than completely shutting it down. I don't like how long the 2684s take, went from 33 minutes to 44min per update.
Having the priority set to low is great on a dedicated machine because it will drop the TPF several minutes, but that is probably the reason you were experiencing problems with your games. If you set the priority to 'idle,' Windows should take care of most of your issues by dynamically assigning higher priority to the processes that are demanding more of your CPU. I don't play games and this is just how I see things with other apps.
Alternatively, running a process manager and assigning higher priority to your game is probably something I would do if I found switching flags tedious, or setting the client priority level to 'idle' increased the TPF too much. I would recommend trying a priority tool like Bill2's Process Manager to see if it will grant you the best of all worlds. There's more you can try to strike the perfect balance.
I uploaded results earlier today as well but I'm far from content. It took way too long and that stalled me from performing needed maintenance on this particular machine. Worse still, the 2684 performs slower in Windows than native Linux on my system even with a higher OC - go figure. The saving grace of Windows A3 -bigadv is its solid stability. There's just no comparison in this regard compared to what we went through in Linux previously.MIne finally posted today, 58k update. Pretty happy with that since I was still able to game a bit during the 3 days I had it and still had about 7 hours before deadline.
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After the WU uploaded, I shut down for some maintenance and removed two modules from the system hoping the much lower heat, and fewer number of modules will aid to increase the OC. For now, I'm only testing with standard SMP WUs to see how much further I can increase the frequency. The weird thing is the SMP client seems to be performing slower with half the number of RAM modules. That's confounding me, and it really seems that I cannot win with these A3 WUs no matter what I do...
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Your situation makes no sense Apollo, everyone else seems to be doing much better than you lol, we gotta figure this out
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What would probably help is someone with similar machines to compare their results with mine and figure out a solution if there's actually a problem. So, if anyone has any dual socket Core2 systems in their inventory, don't hesitate to post.
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Gawd
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Have you tried unchecking a thread in process manager? (see my previous post)
Crashing in/out of games doesn't sound right. Do you have enough ram? Is your RAM and CPU o/c stable?
I've been gaming while folding for years. At one point o even ran a bunch of benchmarks and found around a 0 - 5% decrease on performance at maximum. I was evenrunning bigadv in a cm while gaming....needed 12gb RAM to pull that off though.
Bottom line, it shouldn't be a problem to game and fold simultaneously.
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tjmagneto
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In the past I've let my VMs run while gaming but I would pause/quit the GPU client. At some point during a game the screen would flash and the GPU would throttle back.
I'm with Apollo in suggesting setting the CPU client to "idle" which is what I have mine set at and it works quite nicely while gaming.
I'm with Apollo in suggesting setting the CPU client to "idle" which is what I have mine set at and it works quite nicely while gaming.
This works AWESOME!!!!!
BY FAR the best solution!!!
No starting and stopping your folding!
10 seconds and your done.
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My Gulftown continues to pump out good points. Windows based -bigadv is stable as hell. I can also game when I want to without problems.
tjmagneto
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This might sound dumb dut I gotta ask: Is this with the -smp 7 flag set as well?
tjmagneto
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Uh oh, I'm not able to download any new projects. Anybody else?
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got one on second try 50 minutes ago, but i dropped it, im going back to A3 to get a better OC
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Gawd
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Nope, with smp 8.
For long-term, you'll be better off starting folding with smp 7 with Core 1-7 affinity (tiny increase in performance), but I only game 2 hours a day so this works best.
sirmonkey1985
[H]ard|DCer of the Month - July 2010
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Depends, if you game a lot see above, no
but it seems to be fine for daily drivers now
I'm not sure the break down on an i7 but for me, some A3's got up to 42k while others only got 26k, big adv got me a solid 38k
plus, lower temps (2-3*) and lower draw, so for a dedicated rig it made sense to go big
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but it seems to be fine for daily drivers now
I'm not sure the break down on an i7 but for me, some A3's got up to 42k while others only got 26k, big adv got me a solid 38k
plus, lower temps (2-3*) and lower draw, so for a dedicated rig it made sense to go big
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I would reply with another question, how close are your system(s) to the bonus deadline and is it that much more productive than regular A3? If you're running only a few hours up to half a day before the deadline, it may not be worth it for only a couple thousand more in PPD. Any unintended or unexpected downtime could risk you losing the bonus credit, which would not have occurred had you been running standard A3 instead. That's why OCing is more crucial than ever not only for the greater bonus, but to increase the buffer of time before the deadline. This was also the case with the original -bigadv units but the 2684s take much longer to complete.
On my dedicated i7 i see im getting about 1000 ppd over regular A3 on average. wu's like 6013 and 6701 im getting about 6000ppd more
I have to say that in native Windows SMP, it is possibly worth it as it is rock solid stable. However, it is only going to be worth it on a dedicated folding rig. For Core i7 folks, you are also going to need a very decent overclock. I'm still trying to weigh the 2k ppd extra I get doing Windows bigadv against the losses I would see if there was unanticipated downtime as that would cause me to miss the bonus.
Have you had any luck getting a new project yet? I'm hoping they havn't run out of stuff to do, although isn't it supposed to default back to standard A3 work units if there are no bigadv WU's to assign?
This would be the key - the best regular A3s have about the same production as bigadv A3s. If you run bigadv, you would see more consistent output on the high end of the A3 spectrum. With regular A3s, you see up to a 9K ppd fluctuation.
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It's worth it for a dedicated box just to get a stable output. 6701 brings skynet down hard, can only assume it's the same on i7's
43.4k ppd down to 26k ppd, staying at 39+k ppd on bigs
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43.4k ppd down to 26k ppd, staying at 39+k ppd on bigs
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It looks like the faster you box, the more 6701's hurt you. My I7's loses 6Kppd, my dually loses 9K, your SR-2 loses 17K (WOW!) on these things. So, the faster your machine, the more you have to gain (or the more you have to not lose) with bigadv.
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Never noticed that... That should be addressed
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Yes, that's because of proportions, meaning the same percentage 'loss' on a faster machine translates to a greater reduction in total output running the slower WUs, but the faster machines still outproduce the slower ones by a substantial margin even with the undervalued WUs. For those people who have invested in new high-dollar hardware, definitely should be running -bigadv if you are assured little to no unintended downtime.
tjmagneto
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Nope. I switched back to regular A3s last night and let it run until this morning. When I switched back to bigadv all I got were the no work available messages.
My folding rig finished the 2684 Windows bigadv this morning and it did manage to pick up another one, although that was after 8 tries. For now, I guess I have no worries for the next 3.7 days or so.