EggXpert

My first project 5902 just went in and register, so hopefully no one have problem with the WU being registered.  I was playing around with the smp clients adding the -advmethods in, but doesn't show any differences. Lost about 18hrs of work load.

All I had to do was type it in .... didn't have to erase any files.

Taking about 10 hours for each of my 8800GT's to get though them VS 3 hours for the 511 point runs. 

GPU-0 is running 3c cooler on the new 1680 and GPU-1 is running 10c cooler .. so some of them might still get you heated up PRTUC2

 

Seems there are two versions of it ... the 5902 and the 5903 ... there both 1680 points ... but the 5903 takes allot longer to get through than the 5902

I got a few requests to put up a VM guide for Windows, before I start VM is stand for Virtual Machine most like a server type of program for increasing productivity.

Before the guide here are some pros and cons of running VM client setup.

VM client pros
- doesn't required a password to setup/run
- use less power to run than SMP client because all folding processor is not takening place on the HDD
- faster than SMP client
- once is install more stable to run

VM client cons
- hard to setup
- there is still some errors within the system, I been trying to figure out the errors I might able to find a way to fix it just let it run few days longer to confirm
- use a lot of ram (expect no less than 1GB of ram use running 2 VM clients)

Source: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=571616

 How to set up Notfred's VMWare Virtual Appliance with VMWare Player.

1. Obtain and install VMWare Player. (VMWare) (Filehippo) Filehippo doesn't require registration. I think the only option during install is the install directory. Other than that, any good firewall will probably pop up asking if you want to allow the newly added virtual network cards to have access to your computer or LAN. Make sure you allow these.

2. Obtain the virtual appliance image. (link)

3. Open the zip containing folding.vmdk and folding.vmx. Extract these to whatever directories you want to use, say C:\folding\vm for example. If you have a quadcore and are planning to use 2 VMs with static IP addresses (suggested, for monitoring purposes), name it something like vm1 and make a copy of it and call the second directory vm2. If you are using DHCP you can copy it AFTER you make the configuration changes in step 8.

4. (Optional) for management purposes, you may want to change the name of the VM. Right click on the .vmx file and open it with wordpad. Where it says displayName = "Folding@Home", you can change what is in the quotes to whatever you want to help you keep track of which is which if you have a quadcore and are running 2 VMs. You need to do this for both directories.

5. You can now run the virtual machine by double clicking the .vmx file or by opening it through VMWare Player. (My virtual machines randomly stopped working by opening the .vmx file and I now have to run VMWare Player as Administrator, then open the virtual machine) At this point it will boot up and detect your architechture and launch the appropriate configuration. Assuming it has access to the internet¹, it will download what it needs and start folding (under notfred's username). Consult the Errors and solution parts below whenever reconfigure setting.

6. When the VM boots up, take note of the IP address

given on the console. Now go to your web browser and go to http://<IP address of VM>. It will bring up the status page. Click "Reconfigure this host and any USB drives". This page is where you will configure your VM.

7. Configure it however you'd like. Remember to change the username and team! Here are some of the options that might not be obvious.

• SMP Instance per - This is how many CPUs to use. I don't think there's any point in using more than 2, as VMWare Player won't use them.
  
• Remote Reboot - This enables a link on the status page that will let you reboot the machine.
  
• Install to USB drives on boot - When the VM boots it will try to install to a USB drive for use on another computer or on the same computer for diskless folding. I've never messed with this, so I don't know if it works.
  
• Console blank time - Simply blanks the VM's window.
  
• Windows Networking - This will enable samba file sharing on the VM, so you can browse its files from the computer it's running on.
  
• Login shell - This enables you to login from the VM to run commands. It's very limited and you probably won't need it, but it doesn't hurt to enable it.

8. Click reconfigure. It will tell you it has to reboot. Let it do its thing. After a few seconds it will be back up and folding under your name. You can double check this on the console in the area marked in blue on the picture below.

9. Repeat 4 - 9 if you have another static IP VM to set up. If you used DHCP, now would be the time to make a copy of the first VM and get it up and running.

¹ If it doesn't have access to the internet, try switching between bridged and NAT and rebooting the VM. You can switch between bridged and NAT by right clicking the two computes in the bottom of the VMWare Player window. This is circled in red in the image below. Also make sure your firewall is allowing it out. It will probably ask you if you want to allow it's virtual network cards when you install VMWare Player.

Some visual clarification:

Here is the reconfiguration should looks like:

Username: or your username
Team: or your team number
Passkey:
Backup interval (in minutes, 0 to disable)
Big Work Units:
Big (>10MB)
Normal (5-10MB)
Small (<5MB)
Advmethods requesting new advanced cores and/or work units if available:
Enabled
Disabled
Memory, in MB, to indicate (leave blank for auto-detect): <<--- this at initial setup is blank you need to type this in yourself
SMP instance per:
8 CPUs <<--------- recommend 8 due to the fact it will give you the -smp 8 flag when you folding, but whichever you choose don't affect performance much I try them all
4 CPUs
2 CPUs
Remote Reboot:
Enabled
Disabled
Install to USB drives on boot:
Enabled
Disabled
Console blank time (1-60 minutes, 0=disabled):
Windows Networking:
Enabled
Browsing disabled
Disabled
Windows Networking Workgroup:
Proxy Hostname (blank if no proxy):
Proxy Port (blank if no proxy):
Proxy Username (blank if no proxy or proxy doesn't require username and password):
Proxy Password (blank if no proxy or proxy doesn't require username and password):
Interface(blank for DHCP round-robin):
Static IP (blank for DHCP):
Subnet Mask (blank for DHCP):
Default Gateway (blank for DHCP):
DNS Server IP (blank for DHCP):
TFTP Server IP (blank for DHCP):
Login shell:
Enabled
Disabled

On the startup of the VM player, it will ask you "boot" depending on the OS version, using 64-bit type "fold 64" using 32-bit type "fold 32".  Sometimes if you struck can't get out the VM player hold "ctr + alt" or if you want to go type in the player click the player or hold "alt + G".

Possible Errors and Solutions:
Like I said in the cons listed up there, errors still occurs (out of memory) but at a much less frequent ways if you tune the ram usage up at least 1024mb.
The most common error I had encounter is "out of memory" which you can use the reconfigure to set it to whatever 1024mb is the least I recommend.

To reconfigure your setting you must follow this steps or the reconfiguration never change:
Look closely at the image I posted above you see a red circle around the bottom of the software, each time you make a configuration change in the "reconfigure setting".
First click on that red circle area (the first looks like PC on the far right) you get the follow options: Disconnect, Bridged, NAT, Host-Only.  As soon as you click on the "Reconfigure" button in the website, open up the red circle area and click on Disconnect, then after 1-2secs click the red circle again now picked Reconnect.
Now go to the directory where you install the VM clients and inside the folder delete all the files inside except: .vmx and .vmdx file bluish colors.  And after you only have .vmdx and .vmx inside the folder now double-click on the .vmx to open up VM.  Refresh the website where you reconfigure all the new setting should be changed to your new input.

Currently testing the hypothesis whenever this solve the "out of memory" problem or not, so keep updating this post as time goes by make sure to check back.

I am sure this is a tough setup for most people to handle, if you encounter problems with setup feel free to questions.  If you see me in the Chat room perhaps that is the best place to ask, since I can give you helps right there making it much more efficient.

Good luck and enjoy the awesome PPD, just for those people who expect to see the PPD here is mine:  http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3135/fahmonppd.jpg

 And by the way, the VM player on the right always show that if you got fahmon you can see the folding progress there or go to the ip address link inside the VM player shown above.

FAHMON
To get fahmon to detect the VM client use another tricks, when you open fahmon click on add a client you should able to see a checkbox on the bottom say " check VM client" or something of that sort.  Make sure you check that and here what you put in the location of the VM client \\<IP address>\c\etc\folding\1\ <<--- put your own IP address but everything else don't change.

Just updated how to startup the VM player, if you guys see anything missing let me know after was typing this up 5 in the morning.

Ok, this post is for "Question and Answer" regarding F@H and here are some questions I got so far:

Q: How to get folding@home in the sig?
A: http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/?nav=IMAGES, if you look closely at the first or all other methods in the website just type at the end.  Here is an example: <<<-- there should be no space between IMG and the rest of the text in order to get the sig fully display , but noticed the last part u=xxxxxx you need to change that to your username number in EOC website just look under eggxpert click on your id and look at the top of the website you will see your u number.

Q: How to balance performance between CPU and GPU client running together?
A: Right click on the .vmx file with wordpad and at the end of the file add the following code:

priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "idle" 

Q: What do I do when it ask to login as "root"?
A: You don't have to do anything, if your screen looks like the same picture shown below:

this shows that it is already running there are two ways you can track the progress one is the using the ip address method, another way use fahmon if you get it to work.  Noticed: username and team number must be edited to your team and username or else you just folding under norfred.

I found this thread it might change some people's mind about cpu folding.

http://www.overclock.net/overclock-net-folding-home-team/607465-guide-vmware-3-0-8-core.html

http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=11314

The amount of bonus points are very high.

Kinda makes me wish I had an I7

 

You can use a quad if you want, I am testing it out right now.  As long as you can complete one frame under 57mins through the WU you will get the bonus point.  But, the quicker the more bonus factor.  It seems to pick up the 1920 points WU for now, I report back if I started folding the 25043 points WU.