Folding Forum

Hi.
On my new machine, immediately after a bootup, I start folding at home, and the work unit is going really well, but about a minute later, it slows down, and all subsequent restarts of FAH result in the work unit running at the same speed, until I reboot the machine, then immediately start up FAH after windows loads, then the WU runs at a higher speed for a minute or so, before slowing down again.
I don't know what is causing this, but, is there a way to get my machine to always fold at this faster speed?

Not sure how you are evaluating folding speed. The points per day will vary up and down and takes time to stabilize after starting a work unit and varies from one project to another.

A utility such as HWiNFO will show if the CPU is overheating and the boost frequency is being throttled or if the power use is being limited.

https://www.hwinfo.com/

Well, I am partially deaf and I use a hearing aid that has a telecoil setting, which makes it easier to hear the telephone conversations.
If I turn on the telecoil setting and put my ear near the CPU while FAH is running, I can hear FAH working. It's like when you tune a pocket radio on to the AM or FM setting and put it near an electronic item, like a cellphone, or a desktop.
So I boot up my computer and immediately start folding straight after windows 10 loads, but then a minute later, something kicks in and lowers the speed, the buzzing and Humming decreases in pitch.
Of course, if I boot my machine and for example, wait half an hour and then start FAH, the program will start folding at the lower speed, so I know the throttling isn't related to FAH putting strain on the CPU.

and, I only just got the computer, and the house is quite clean, so I don't think the problem is related to too much build up of dust.
I even downloaded an app called throttle stop, but no setting I change seems to increase the speed.

For windows 10/11 users, try this experiment.
1. power down your computer.
2. turn it back on and wait for the system to finish booting
3. Immediately, after windows 10/11 loads, start FAH with a unit that is CPU, not GPU.
4, grab a radio and put it near the machine, listen to the noise that folding at home makes, and wait a couple of minutes to see if the pitch/and/or speed decreases or slows down.
I don't know if it's my motherboard, or a windows update, or even my intel drivers that is causing this, but I'd really love to know why this is happening.

Your answers might lie in the software suggested above. You could also use Windows Task Manager Performance tab to see if the loads are changing in any significant way during that time period in question.

With the change being that quick, it could be that Windows is still loading various background tasks using both memory, CPU power, drive access, and possibly causing the machine to boost. It's not uncommon for a machine booting up to run a bit warmer and more loaded for a brief period of time. Depending on the various settings and hardware in the machine, at times I've also had a slight fan bump when certain project create a checkpoint. This is just a matter of projects being different, and in some cases my settings are right on the border of a fan curve bump for some of the more demanding projects.

And as asked by bikeaddict, what metric are you using to determine that folding is slowing down?

I guess he's seeing the bug that show bad PPD estimates after a resume from checkpoint of a CPU WU ... since the first % after a resume is not a full %, PPD are inflated until the client progresses a couple more.

But without precise numbers or logs, we can't tell for sure.

wow. you're right, I rebooted my machine and without starting up FAH, I opened up task manager and clicked on the performance tab and within a minute or so, the CPU speed dropped from 5.11ghz to 4.2x GHZ. This is really curious.

Many systems won't stay at boost clocks long, and F@H is a unique use and demanding on CPU. Many systems will throttle to prevent damage, in some cases partly due to things like fan settings, in some cases it's something you can't avoid. It is a longer and harder load as compared to a lot of other normal computer processes.

With machine specs we might be able to help more, but my guess is you have F@H starting so quickly that it's loading while other stuff is still loading, and the machine is still running in boost to load the other stuff. But it could be a cooling thing as well, probably less likely but possible.

I always start up FAH manually. As I said before, the experiment I tried last night did not involve FAH, I simply loaded up task manager without loading up FAH, and clicked on performance, and saw the GHZ go down after a minute.
So the machine is "running on boost" as you put it, even without BOINC or FAH loaded.
It's an ASRock Z790 PG Lightning/D4
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Z790 (Raptor Lake-S PCH)
Processor Name: Intel Core i7-13700F
Original Processor Frequency: 2100.0 MHz

CPU ID: 000B0671
CPU Brand Name: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700F

Monitoring the CPU temperature would show if it's reducing the boost due to hitting 100C. A large CPU cooler will allow the system to boost higher for longer.

With a 13th gen CPU, you will want to use a tool like Process Lasso (https://bitsum.com/) to keep the FahCore process using only the performance cores so work units aren't slowed down by the efficiency cores. And the number of threads should be manually set to 16 or less in the FAHControl slot settings.

Oh wow. Thank you so much for that little bit of software.
It's amazing.
Cheers.

Some of the new gear is too efficiency oriented, and it makes folding a bit more complex to set up. But glad you are figuring it out, there is nothing like thinking you are losing available performance.