Multiple Foldings

[BigApplePi]

I would like to run multiple foldings, if possible, on one computer having multiple cores. What can be done with a quad? I have an NVIDIA card and XP is my operating system. What are my options?

For a duo and SMP, is the answer only one folding because it uses 100 percent of the cpu or does the NVIDIA card affect the answer? Which is "better", a duo or a quad ..... if that question is not too general?

[bruce]

The NVIDiA client uses almost zero CPU, so you can run the same clients on the quad that you would if you were not running the GPU client, too.

You have two options. If you configure four CPU clients (uniprocessor clients) and all five clients run in different folders and all are configured with different MachineIDs you'll have almost no problems and the CPU will be at 100%. If you run one copy of the -smp client (plus the GPU), you'll earn somewhat more PPD but you must be aware that the Windows SMP client is called beta for a very good reason: It's a challenge to run. If you choose the latter, be sure to read the lists of known bugs.

[mexpedip]

Run:
1 GPU client
2 x smp client thru vmware (1 client per 2 cores)

the virtual smp client will yield much higher points then the straight smp client, it is much easier to install and it scales (not sure if that is the correct term) much better then the standard smp client. With the standard smp client I was getting 1800ppd and had many problems with eue's etc. ISince installing the vm smp client I have not had 1 eue and now I am getting 6k ppd from my cpu. Here are a couple of links that will help, a lot.

basic index of everything folding, q&a, f@h tools etc.
http://www.overclock.net/overclock-net- ... reads.html

there are several versions of vmware f@h (notfred's, error10 etc). I use notfreds mostly because that is the first one I found, it was easy to install and it works great. I have two sons who think the comp is a big PS3 and they could really care less what I have running. While I would not recommend it, my sons have started and stopped this 4-5 in one wu with no issues.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=599272

[rpmouton]

Run:
1 GPU client
2 x smp client thru vmware (1 client per 2 cores)

Snip remainder...


I agree with mexpedip whole heartedly. The notfred VMware appliance has both made my life easier and improved productivity by a factor of of almost 2 compared to the windows SMP clients which are still in beta and will have to be updated in just over a month.

This is another guide by capreppy from the {H}ard guys that I found helpful:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1410289

regards,

[mexpedip]

excellent guide. that is the one I was looking for but i did not bookmark it after using it. :0

the only part of install I found tricky was getting the user settings (changing user name, team number etc) to stick. The one way I found was to make sure that after following the indstructions I had to do a complete shut down of the vmware application. before the shut down you need to change your vmware player preferences to "power off" instead of "suspend".

[Christopher N. Lewis]

The NVIDiA client uses almost zero CPU, so you can run the same clients on the quad that you would if you were not running the GPU client, too.

You have two options. If you configure four CPU clients (uniprocessor clients) and all five clients run in different folders and all are configured with different MachineIDs you'll have almost no problems and the CPU will be at 100%. If you run one copy of the -smp client (plus the GPU), you'll earn somewhat more PPD but you must be aware that the Windows SMP client is called beta for a very good reason: It's a challenge to run. If you choose the latter, be sure to read the lists of known bugs.

Make sure you are running the latest CUDA drivers; the older ones (before 181) do not release the CPU properly with XP

[DanGe]

If you use vmware to run SMP, make sure you have enough RAM. Each virtual machine eats up a lot of RAM. I'd say for XP, probably 2 GB of RAM is the bare minimum to avoid swapping if you run 2 virtual machines to cover all four of your cores (each vmware virtual machine has a maximum of two cores), but I I'm just guessing since I haven't used XP for ages..

[Leoslocks]

I recently installed VMware and opted to try the Ubuntu 9.0.4 operating system on two vm machines within Windows Vista. I am trying to learn the use of this Linux operating system . Having no experience with DOS makes the command line options of interacting the the OS challenging to say the least. I am using 4 GB of ram and suspect I need more to keep the VMware from being laggy. I would convert another dedicated folding machine to this method except for the fact it needs a 64 bit operating system to function.
If you are not using XP 64, opt for Burce's suggestions.
If you are not able to monitor the SMP client closely or do not tolerate computer/Network issues well, opt for the 4 classic clients and the GPU client.

There may be issues with installing the Classic clients and the GPU in the System Tray. The GPU in the System Tray makes it easy to manage. Installing the Classic Clients as console clients and configuring them to start as a Service puts them out of the way but trickier to change any settings. I would suggest starting with the GPU client and adding a CPU client after you were comfortable with the GPU running stable.

[Zagen30]

Hm. Not sure that 4 GB is what's holding you back, assuming you're running some sort of 64-bit Windows. I run one VM through 32-bit Vista w/ 2GB RAM, and the computer's not all that laggy, even though I give the Linux box a whole gig of RAM to itself. Assuming you haven't assigned like 2 gigs to each VM, RAM shouldn't be the problem, and you don't need more than 1 gig per VM.

The Linux SMP client does need to be run on a 64-bit version, but if you're VMing it, the main OS (probably Windows) doesn't have to be. As I mentioned above, I run 64-bit Linux through 32-bit Vista, and it runs just fine. And the Linux client is much more tolerant of network changes/sudden power outages than the Windows version, so issues like that shouldn't acutally be much of a problem.

[Leoslocks]

Assuming you haven't assigned like 2 gigs to each VM, RAM shouldn't be the problem,

I may have assigned 2 GB ram to each VM. This illustrates the point I am trying to make. If I had tried to start folding with Linux or even in a Virtual Machine, I would have had limited success. I did not even realize that you could use 32 bit OS to install 64 bit Linux in a VM. Well over a year into my Folding experience, I am starting to attempt the more complicated setups. Success breeds success. I wish BigApplePi a long and prosperous folding career. I will start my own VM thread and see if I can convert some Vista 32 machines to VMware SMP clients.

Thanks.