Are work units checked for errors at submission?

[woodworth1]

Hi, I recently started folding, I am using an i7 6800k and a GTX 1070. There is an unknown issue with my motherboard, which makes it so my system won't boot if I change UEFI settings, like the ram speed, or fan settings, which limits my ram speed to 2133 mhz. But my system appears to work fine when the UEFI settings are on default. Swapping the motherboard for another X99 motherboard isn't an option right now, but I am planning on building a new system later this year. I'd like to keep folding in the meantime, and my current system is successfully completing work units and getting points for them, but my question is, are the work units checked for errors before points are awarded, and are the points only awarded for "good" work units? I'd just like to be sure that the unknown issue with my motherboard isn't introducing undetected errors into the work units. Forgive me if this is an unfounded worry, as I am new to folding, and I don't want to have a detrimental impact on the project.

Thanks,
woodworth1

[JimboPalmer]

Welcome to Folding@home!

Yes.

While your Work Unit is running the there are 'sanity checks' performed to be sure the data is valid. If the WU goes badly, you often see errors like NaN (Not a Number) or invalid enum (a number is passed to a subroutine that is not a valid parameter choice)

Immediately they are checked for transmission errors at the server, and then once it is successfully transferred it goes through a sanity check on the server.

[woodworth1]

Thanks. So are the points only awarded if the WU passes the on-server sanity check?

[PantherX]

Yep, for a WU to get full credits, it needs to pass all validation checks. There are some occasions where you get a bad WU in which case, you might get partial credits.