Are The 511 Point Units All That's Left

[Sophocles]

Is their a reason why I'm getting 511 point WU's almost exclusively on all of my rigs when other members of my team are receiving 480 and 384 point units? Is this happening to anyone else? I don't mind the loss of points but the wear and tear that these units exact on a system running 24/7 is a little much without an occasional break.

[P5-133XL]

Obviously not if others are getting other WU's with the same client.

Next, is the wear and tear issue: A specific WU is not going to change the amount of wear and tear that occurs. A WU will always try to use all the resources it can, so a 511 will do the same wear and tear as a 384 point WU over a given time interval., it will just take longer to complete and thereby you will get fewer WU's but they are worth more so it all evens out.

As to the reason you are getting only 511 point WU's. It is all just random chance. The assignment server, just doles out WU's that are appropiate to the client (for example, ATI GPU's get different WU's than Nvidia) and then it simply gives out what it has. There is no specific prejudce that will make it so you just get one type of WU.

You really don't have any control over the WU's you are getting, so really you need to just live with it. You are in the same boat as everyone else ...

[Sophocles]

Next, is the wear and tear issue: A specific WU is not going to change the amount of wear and tear that occurs. A WU will always try to use all the resources it can, so a 511 will do the same wear and tear as a 384 point WU over a given time interval.

That is simply not true, and it's a point that has been made by others several times in this forum. The 511 point units do in fact increase heat by as much as 6C over other units, and they create a lag that affects ones ability to use their computer for other purposes which requires me to "pause work" periodically. This extra heat and lag effect is considerably less to non existent on the 480 point and 384 point units.

You really don't have any control over the WU's you are getting, so really you need to just live with it. You are in the same boat as everyone else ...

Again, I can "roll with the punches" but I was curious as to why I've been running them almost constantly for the last 48 hours when other team members see a mix of units.

[MtM]

You're right on the higher usage, and thus higher temps and 'wear and tear'. Still you should be able to fold on them without having to worry about wear and tear, as AMD markets these cards with CTM and therefore warrant their operation with it ( this offcourse doesn't cover running overclocked/overvolted ).

The other is just luck of the draw I'm afraid

[Sophocles]

Still you should be able to fold on them without having to worry about wear and tear

Wear and tear is a fact of life but added heat running 24/7 will speed up electromigration considerably. I don't use AMD cards for folding although they are my HTPC and gaming preference, and as you know Nvidia has had a rash of failed GPU's due to the type of solder used. My cards are exceptionally well cooled and rarely rise above 62C (54-57C on other units), but there are many others operating with much higher temperatures (70c+).

I had hoped that whoever is designing these units will pay attention to this point made by me and others, and will make the necessary adjustments. I used to be a member of the old beta team and the point of beta testing is to report any potential issues as the arise.

[MtM]

Meh Nvidia / Amd same thing

They already did btw, I mean notice the increased temps Still, the chips are rated to run much higher then what you're reporting, and the nvidia card's you talk about ( I haven't seen any of them at all actually ) should be coverd under their rma policies.

[bruce]

Is their a reason why I'm getting 511 point WU's almost exclusively on all of my rigs when other members of my team are receiving 480 and 384 point units? Is this happening to anyone else?

OK, let's go back to the original question.

Notice that Stanford is on holiday schedule:
http://folding.typepad.com/news/2008/12 ... edule.html

You'd be really unhappy if the servers ran out of new WUs during the holidays so people have worked really hard to be sure the servers will be able to provide plenty of work without any more hiccups than necessary. That is probably contributing to a mix of projects that is stranger than normal. Depending on who is working on certain days, they might not be one of the folks that can add new WUs or new Projects for your favorite client.