Below expected performance

[Solo-Ion]

I've been regularly folding for almost 5 years now, and thought it was about time to upgrade to the latest client. But after installation, I noticed that the thread count was different to how it used to be.

I'm folding with a i7 that's hyperthreaded to 8 cores. I have my folding power set to light, and before I upgraded the client would fold using 4 cores. But when I started the new version, it was folding with just 3 cores using about 38% of my CPU. Once the first WU had finished, I increased the folding power to medium. The client said it was using 7 cores (same as when I set it to medium on the previous version) but CPU usage was still at 38% For later WUs. I put folding power back to light and manually set the number of cores to 6, but CPU usage is still at 38%.

Any idea how to get better performance?

For the record, I'm on Windows 7 64bit with 8Gb of RAM & i7-2600 processor.

[Joe_H]

There have been changes to both the client and the server for folding that could be causing what you are seeing. The effects of the server end changes may have been partially masked from view in the older client. We would;ld need information from the beginning section of your log file through the client configuration to figure out what is going on for you.

First though I will mention some changes that might explain part of what you are seeing. On the client side WU's are now assigned with a maximum number of threads equal to or less than the number set at the time the WU was requested by the client. So if it was assigned with 3 as the max, then changing the number of threads to a higher number will not apply to that WU, just to one downloaded later.

In connection with that change on the server, the current client will negotiate with the server to get CPU WU's that will use as many of the threads as possible in case no WU's are available for the exact number of threads set.

CPU projects no longer run on thread counts that are multiples of prime numbers 7 and greater. Some projects still get assigned to run on multiples of 5, but others are restricted from that due to excessive errors.

Are you folding with a GPU? The client will reserve one thread for each GPU detected on installation, Light uses half the remaining threads.

[Solo-Ion]

Thanks for your reply. Before I posted, I had started at least one WU with 7 threads selected, and it still was folding with 3 threads. I resumed again this morning with threads manually set to 6. It continued to fold with just 3, but I noticed the following in the log.
21:29:37:WARNING:WU00:FS00:AS lowered CPUs from 6 to 3
I let the WU finish, and when a new one came through it was folding with all 6. So it seems to be running as expected. From now on, I'll manually set my core count to 6, 4 or 2 depending on how hot it is.

But I still wonder why it auto-selected 3 out of 8 cores in the new version? I'm not folding with my GPU; it's underpowered.

Also, how often should I update my client?

Here's the beginning of my log if you want to have a look:

Code: Select all

*********************** Log Started 2019-07-19T21:26:57Z ***********************
21:26:57:************************* Folding@home Client *************************
21:26:57:        Website: https://foldingathome.org/
21:26:57:      Copyright: (c) 2009-2018 foldingathome.org
21:26:57:         Author: Joseph Coffland <[email protected]>
21:26:57:           Args: 
21:26:57:         Config: C:\Users\Shannon Hamilton\AppData\Roaming\FAHClient\config.xml
21:26:57:******************************** Build ********************************
21:26:57:        Version: 7.5.1
21:26:57:           Date: May 11 2018
21:26:57:           Time: 13:06:32
21:26:57:     Repository: Git
21:26:57:       Revision: 4705bf53c635f88b8fe85af7675557e15d491ff0
21:26:57:         Branch: master
21:26:57:       Compiler: Visual C++ 2008
21:26:57:        Options: /TP /nologo /EHa /wd4297 /wd4103 /Ox /MT
21:26:57:       Platform: win32 10
21:26:57:           Bits: 32
21:26:57:           Mode: Release
21:26:57:******************************* System ********************************
21:26:57:            CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz
21:26:57:         CPU ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7
21:26:57:           CPUs: 8
21:26:57:         Memory: 7.96GiB
21:26:57:    Free Memory: 5.44GiB
21:26:57:        Threads: WINDOWS_THREADS
21:26:57:     OS Version: 6.1
21:26:57:    Has Battery: false
21:26:57:     On Battery: false
21:26:57:     UTC Offset: 9
21:26:57:            PID: 6872
21:26:57:            CWD: C:\Users\Shannon Hamilton\AppData\Roaming\FAHClient
21:26:57:             OS: Windows 7 Professional
21:26:57:        OS Arch: AMD64
21:26:57:           GPUs: 1
21:26:57:          GPU 0: Bus:1 Slot:0 Func:0 NVIDIA:3 GK208 [GeForce GT 730]
21:26:57:  CUDA Device 0: Platform:0 Device:0 Bus:1 Slot:0 Compute:3.5 Driver:10.1
21:26:57:OpenCL Device 0: Platform:0 Device:0 Bus:1 Slot:0 Compute:1.2 Driver:418.91
21:26:57:  Win32 Service: false
21:26:57:***********************************************************************
21:26:57:<config>
21:26:57:  <!-- Network -->
21:26:57:  <proxy v='155.247.166.220:8080'/>
21:26:57:
21:26:57:  <!-- Slot Control -->
21:26:57:  <power v='light'/>
21:26:57:
21:26:57:  <!-- User Information -->
21:26:57:  <passkey v='********************************'/>
21:26:57:  <team v='48028'/>
21:26:57:  <user v='SOLO-ION'/>
21:26:57:
21:26:57:  <!-- Folding Slots -->
21:26:57:  <slot id='0' type='CPU'>
21:26:57:    <cpus v='6'/>
21:26:57:    <pause-on-start v='true'/>
21:26:57:    <paused v='true'/>
21:26:57:  </slot>
21:26:57:</config>
21:26:58:Trying to access database...
21:27:00:Successfully acquired database lock
21:27:01:Enabled folding slot 00: PAUSED cpu:6 (by user)
21:29:37:FS00:Unpaused
21:29:37:FS00:Finishing
21:29:37:WU00:FS00:Starting
21:29:37:WARNING:WU00:FS00:AS lowered CPUs from 6 to 3
21:29:38:WU00:FS00:Running FahCore: "C:\Program Files (x86)\FAHClient/FAHCoreWrapper.exe" "C:\Users\Shannon Hamilton\AppData\Roaming\FAHClient\cores/cores.foldingathome.org/Win32/x86/Core_a7.fah/FahCore_a7.exe" -dir 00 -suffix 01 -version 705 -lifeline 6872 -checkpoint 15 -np 3
21:29:38:WU00:FS00:Started FahCore on PID 3876
21:29:41:WU00:FS00:Core PID:6636
21:29:41:WU00:FS00:FahCore 0xa7 started
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:*********************** Log Started 2019-07-19T21:29:42Z ***********************
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:************************** Gromacs Folding@home Core ***************************
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       Type: 0xa7
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       Core: Gromacs
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:    Website: https://foldingathome.org/
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:  Copyright: (c) 2009-2018 foldingathome.org
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:     Author: Joseph Coffland <[email protected]>
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       Args: -dir 00 -suffix 01 -version 705 -lifeline 3876 -checkpoint 15 -np 3
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:     Config: <none>
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:************************************ Build *************************************
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:    Version: 0.0.17
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       Date: Apr 25 2018
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       Time: 11:02:26
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7: Repository: Git
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:   Revision: fd11abfb405c921e66db1226933e9dd2d18d2acc
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:     Branch: master
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:   Compiler: Visual C++ 2008
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:    Options: /TP /nologo /EHa /wd4297 /wd4103 /Ox /MT
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:   Platform: win32 10
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       Bits: 32
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       Mode: Release
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       SIMD: sse2
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:************************************ System ************************************
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:        CPU: Unknown
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:     CPU ID: 
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:       CPUs: 8
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:     Memory: 7.96GiB
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Free Memory: 4.47GiB
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:    Threads: WINDOWS_THREADS
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7: OS Version: 6.1
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Has Battery: false
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7: On Battery: false
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7: UTC Offset: 9
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:        PID: 6636
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:        CWD: C:\Users\Shannon Hamilton\AppData\Roaming\FAHClient\work
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:         OS: Windows 7 Professional
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:    OS Arch: AMD64
21:29:42:WU00:FS00:0xa7:********************************************************************************
21:29:43:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Project: 14153 (Run 15, Clone 362, Gen 51)
21:29:43:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Unit: 0x000000430002894b5c6fca896f26b395
21:29:43:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Digital signatures verified
21:29:43:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Calling: mdrun -s frame51.tpr -o frame51.trr -cpi state.cpt -cpt 15 -nt 3
21:29:48:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Steps: first=255000000 total=5000000
21:29:50:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Completed 4293702 out of 5000000 steps (85%)
21:29:53:ERROR:Receive error: 10053: An established connection was aborted by the software in your host machine.
21:30:03:Removing old file 'configs/config-20190711-052449.xml'
21:30:03:Saving configuration to config.xml
21:30:03:<config>
21:30:03:  <!-- Network -->
21:30:03:  <proxy v='155.247.166.220:8080'/>
21:30:03:
21:30:03:  <!-- Slot Control -->
21:30:03:  <power v='light'/>
21:30:03:
21:30:03:  <!-- User Information -->
21:30:03:  <passkey v='********************************'/>
21:30:03:  <team v='48028'/>
21:30:03:  <user v='SOLO-ION'/>
21:30:03:
21:30:03:  <!-- Folding Slots -->
21:30:03:  <slot id='0' type='CPU'>
21:30:03:    <cpus v='6'/>
21:30:03:    <pause-on-start v='true'/>
21:30:03:  </slot>
21:30:03:</config>
21:31:09:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Completed 4300000 out of 5000000 steps (86%)
21:41:14:WU00:FS00:0xa7:Completed 4350000 out of 5000000 steps (87%)

[Joe_H]

Yes, the first message:

Code: Select all

21:29:37:WARNING:WU00:FS00:AS lowered CPUs from 6 to 3

indicates the was downloaded from the servers with a maximum thread count of 3, that overrides the client setting. The WU resumed from a checkpoint at 86%.

Why it used 3 instead of 4 on Light I am not sure. The older version documentation would have had it calculating the threads to use as (8 - 1) / 2 = 3.5 and then round up to 4. That may have changed to round down and I missed that in the changes between 7.4.4 and 7.5.1. During installation there is or was an option to indicate you were only configuring for CPU folding, and the client would ignore the presence of a GPU. But the default is to detect them and reserve a thread.

As to how often to upgrade the client, usually a release version has come out very few years. In this case 7.5.1 came out in May last year. If a new version comes out, it will first be announced here as a public Beta.

[bruce]

FAH has detected a supported GPU, a GT 730, which is rather slow compared to most other GPUs, You may decide to fold with it or not fold with it. In any case, the default setting will attempt to reserve on CPU to supply data to the GPU so it can fold. Thus the maximum number the client will set (when the folding slider is a FULL) is 7 ... which, as Joe has said, is prohibited. You can manually configure the CPU slot for either 6 or 8, depending on your preferences.

Older GPU drivers did use 100% of one CPU. Newer GPU drivers may or may not. I have not tested a GT730 in conjunction with an i7 set for 8 or set for 6 so I can't recommend which combination of settings will be best for your system. Inasmuch as each project may behave slightly differently, precise testing tends to be quite a challenge.

[Solo-Ion]

Thank you for both of your responses.

I'm aware that my GPU is underpowered. I don't have any GPU slots for that reason. I suppose there must be something somewhere else in configuration that's causing the issue with auto allocation, but I'm happy to manually set my thread count.

[toTOW]

You should configure your CPU slot manually so that it uses all available threads ...