Incredibly Low PPD on Laptop

[Gatormaniac]

Recently, I decided to start folding, and am limited to a select few machines so I selected the best one that I own, my MSI laptop.
It's got some pretty amazing all around specs, an RTX 2070 Mobile and an i7 8750H 6 Core CPU.
I have folding power set to Full and both CPU and GPU folding simultaneously. Windows power plan has been set to High performance and I've set my fans to maximum.
Temperatures so far are normal, 90C on the CPU and around 80C on the GPU. However, one thing that I do see out of the ordinary is that the GPU in task manager shows that only 30% to 35% of power is being used, while in all other programs it shows 95% usage.
My PPD is an abysmal 177794 right now. It's been running for more than an hour. Sources on forums say that a 1050 Ti would be singlehandedly outperforming my $2.3K gaming laptop.

How can I fix this?
Thanks.

[JimboPalmer]

However, one thing that I do see out of the ordinary is that the GPU in task manager shows that only 30% to 35% of power is being used, while in all other programs it shows 95% usage.

A much more honest utility for windows is GPU-Z in the sensors tab
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

An RTX 2070 Mobile and an i7 8750H 6 Core CPU.

A RTX 2070 mobile should get 6.636 TFLOPS if unthrottled, compared to a GTX 1050 ti at 2.138 TFLOPS so in theory 3 times as impressive.

While a i7 8750H has 12 threads, F@H reserves one to feed data to the GPU, so 11threads.
Sadly F@H uses a package called GROMACS that 'hates 'large' prime numbers and their factors. So 11 and 10 are not good numbers, either.
So if I was you I would choose 9 threads for the CPU.

Beyond that advice, I would need the first 200 lines of your log, here is a link on how to do that.
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=26036

[foldy]

Did you add a passkey yet? Then you get the FAH bonus points.
https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/points/passkey/

[Neil-B]

Task Manager "lies" or actually obscures the truth ... look for the little drop down arrows next to the graphs and try selecting the others ... can't remember which one shows a better graph but iirc one does.

A passkey is required for QRB along with a qualification of 10 completed WUs for each passkey username pairing ... this can make a huge difference (10× or more) over base points for fast systems ... look at the points FAQ one level up from the previous link to points for a full explanation of QRB and how to qualify for it.

[Shirty]

Just to be clear, I believe Neil-B has nailed it with the passkey suggestion above, those look like non-QRB figures.

However, just one thing to bear in mind regarding laptops is that many models will share a heatsink between the CPU and GPU, with only higher end models generally offering truly distinct cooling for each. Although I suspect yours does have two exhausts, it's worth being aware that on laptops where the cooling resource is shared you can hit a thermal dead-end very quickly when maxing both CPU and GPU.

[Neil-B]

Not sure how long you have had your laptop but another thing worth doing if you aren't already is regularly cleaning the cooling system - laptops by their nature have very restricted cooling vents/paths and tend to also collect dust/hair/stuff quicker than desktops ... This will minimise any thermal throttling that may occur by maximising cooling.

[Gatormaniac]

Just to be clear, I believe Neil-B has nailed it with the passkey suggestion above, those look like non-QRB figures.

A passkey is required for QRB along with a qualification of 10 completed WUs for each passkey username pairing ... this can make a huge difference (10× or more) over base points for fast systems ... look at the points FAQ one level up from the previous link to points for a full explanation of QRB and how to qualify for it.

Ahah.... yeah I see. I've created a passkey for my account and will test it ASAP.
I see you mention multiple "passkey username pairings"? I looked online for more stuff about Passkeys (https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/points/passkey/) and scrolling all the way down there is a Note saying that there is no benefit to using multiple passkeys and there's even disadvantages. Just wanted to know how that would work.

However, just one thing to bear in mind regarding laptops is that many models will share a heatsink between the CPU and GPU, with only higher end models generally offering truly distinct cooling for each. Although I suspect yours does have two exhausts, it's worth being aware that on laptops where the cooling resource is shared you can hit a thermal dead-end very quickly when maxing both CPU and GPU.

Not sure how long you have had your laptop but another thing worth doing if you aren't already is regularly cleaning the cooling system - laptops by their nature have very restricted cooling vents/paths and tend to also collect dust/hair/stuff quicker than desktops ... This will minimise any thermal throttling that may occur by maximising cooling.

AFAIK my laptop has two seperate cooling systems for each of the component; MSI decided to dedicate a fan for the CPU with 3 heatpipes and another 2 fans for 3 heatpipes for the GPU (and an extra heatpipe for the VRAM). There is one shared heatpipe which connects the two components together but theres a fan in between so... not sure if thats a problem

It's not really new, it's about a year old now. I had a few problems with it before concerning a hinge a month or two ago and sent it back to MSI where I would assume they took it apart and cleaned it out before working on it. That said, I haven't seen any thermal issues out of the ordinary, but will definitely take it apart later to take a look at it.

[Joe_H]

Each username and passkey pair needs to complete 10 WUs to start receiving the bonus points. The same passkey can be used with different usernames. In addition, there used to be the option to search just by passkey, that may be restored in the future. That option would allow finding all points and the WU total associated with that passkey.

[Gatormaniac]

Each username and passkey pair needs to complete 10 WUs to start receiving the bonus points. The same passkey can be used with different usernames. In addition, there used to be the option to search just by passkey, that may be restored in the future. That option would allow finding all points and the WU total associated with that passkey.

So that wouldn't really be a benefit if I'm only folding with one machine under one passkey/username pair, right?

[aetch]

You're perfectly fine to just be using one machine. Work units are the individual tasks your computer is assigned to fold and receive the points for.

I folded with a laptop for a period, here's some of the things I did with it:-
Lifted it up to expose the fan intakes so the airflow was less impeded.
Installed MSI Afterburner to monitor the graphics card and to allow manual control of the cooling fans (fans don't always spin up when the graphics card reaches temperature, they can throttle the card back instead)
In task manager for the GPU individual graphs click the heading in the top left corner to get the drop-down, you're looking to change it to Cuda, failing that you're looking for Compute_0


I didn't know you had to complete a minimum number of work unit before getting bonuses.

[Joe_H]

So that wouldn't really be a benefit if I'm only folding with one machine under one passkey/username pair, right?

That's right. Some with more than one machine will have separate usernames to track the different contributions. Most with more than one just use the same username and passkey.

I didn't know you had to complete a minimum number of work unit before getting bonuses.

That part is explained in the Points FAQ - https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/points/, the other link was the FAQ for getting a passkey.