Taking a bow...

[drshivas]

Team,

I'm bowing out from FAH for a while. I'm cutting back on the GPUs to save some electric. I'm proud of my long running contributions to Stanford and Team 32, and hope to be back some day. For those that don't know, I fold under the handle cshive5.

This is what happened. We had a warm spell a couple weeks ago in MD, and a some machines went into a tizzy- GPU fans got loud and VMs hung. The simple solution of course is to back off the OCs, which I did, but the then the electric bill came. Sound familiar?

Apparently, the previous three bills were 'estimated' bills, and my current bill was an actual meter reading. The amount due was up 100%, and to quote Clarence Boddicker, "Okay, fun's over." As a result, I shut down GPU folding all together and have sold off all non-essential GeForce cards. For me, I can't justify the expense and trouble anymore.

That leaves me with the quads and VMs. Since Standford is putting their chips on the GPU, I figure I'll shut them down too, and put them to use elsewhere where they'll have more impact. The next logical use for me is Rosetta.

For a few months now, I've become spoiled running BOINC folding for the Rosetta Project. So I plan on shutting down my VMs and switching my three other quads over to full-time Rosetta. So in a sense, I will still be folding, but in a different way.

Just wanted to share. I'll still be around, actively watching the FAH project and its advances. And if one day the power requirements and clients become more manageable, I'll consider coming back.

Decided to stick around a little while longer :)

Fold On!

drshivas

[ihrsetrdr]

drshivas,
I'm sorry to see you as a long time folder leave, but yes- I understand the issues involved. Folding is my main hobby, and compared to some hobbies that men my age pursue, the amount spent on the equipment that I buy to support my folding pastime is negligible; that in itself keeps it all in perspective.
I struggle every month to maintain electrical consumption at an acceptable level, and am always looking for ways to fold-more-for-less.

When the time is right, we hope to see you back in full-fold. :beer:



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[orion456]

I must be missing something....the electric bill is too high....ok makes sense you need to cut back....but then you are switching 3 quads to full time "folding" for another project....sounds like electric use to me :confused:

Why not just use the standard folding client and just fold away on one core, saving 3/4 of the power, but still contributing? :confused:

As far as quads go, my quads make almost as many points folding under Linux as the GPUs and the point values are changing to even things out even more; so I don't see the huge advantage GPUs used to have, at least not on my machines.

We would all be sorry to see you move on......

[SniperXX]

That sucks. Well hopefully you are able to return at some point.

[Adak]

Good luck with Rosetta!

[Edward2]

I can certainly understand the electric bill issue. I think we all struggle with balancing point production and electrical consumption, especially with summer quickly approaching for a lot of us. Even Atlas Folder talks a lot about how he designed his mammoth system based on PPD versus electrical consumption. Not to get off track, but maybe that is something that we should collect some data on (PPD vs electrical consumption for various folding clients). I know that was a spreadsheet put together for GPU only clients a while back, but maybe we should try to update it and add some of the CPU client info.

Any way, take care and definitely stay in touch.

[harlam357]

It makes me sad to hear that bro :( ...but, I completely understand.

Hopefully you will be back with us soon... until then, keep 'em Folding (in whatever form) and don't be a stranger. :)

[Jolly-Swagman]

Soryy to here you go from FAH Team drshivas,, and understand the issues with electricity costs,, and believe me you got it better than we do here Downunder, as far as Costs go.

But,, I do find your statement very contridictory as with the newer FAH/GPU clients of late they use less CPU cycles (SMP-VM Fah @ 84-90% GPU @ 1-3%) and less heat produced than Rosetta running 100% all of the Time with more heat produced and of late with the new Rsetta clients again more problems too.

Dont get me wrong I too have both FAH and Rosetta, but with the Summer Running observations from my rigs the first to get shut down were the Roseeta Machines,
And actually the one on one rig is down due to M/B RMA and the Wife,s has been shut down due to problematic clients causing issue,s with what she is doing, with her PC (Application wise)


Folding is folding though whichever client/project you go with, it all aids science research,

Fold on!

Edit - Electricty bill here went from $475AU now up @ $620AU/3months and that,s after our Pensioner Concession Discount of 10%

[drshivas]

"The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

After considering my options, I've decided to keep the VMs chugging, and move my Rosetta boxes over to FAH to help fight off MPC. I am still selling my 8800GT and 2 8800GSs to help mitigate the electric bill, but have my 8800GTS 512 and 9600GT back in the fold. I figured I'll cram as much folding fun under this power envelope as possible. I also am running 4x single clients on the opty and e6320. Hopefully I'll pull down some of these new big WUs.

@ Orion456 & Jolly-Swagman:

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize the point rebalance has set in as much as it did. My rationale for keeping the quads online is that I was fine with the electric bills before I got into GPU2, and those boxes double as servers, HTPC, etc, so they're always in use. That's how I justify the electric on them.

@ Jolly-Swagman:

Thanks for the additional info on Rosetta. I'll be sure to keep an eye on the heat and observe their clients this summer and compare them to FAH.

@ all:

Thanks for the words of encouragement. We have a good team here. Now let's kick some MPC @SS! :beer:

[torin3]

Whoo-hoo!!!

Welcome back!!

[orion456]

Excellent. Great you found a way to stay with us! :beer:

[benbaked]

If only Pande Group would embrace BOINC...then you could easily do a 50/50 timeshare with folding and rosetta.

Hopefully we'll see you back folding with us on the rosetta team in the future. Good luck with your power bill situation. :thup:

[SniperXX]

Woo! Glad your not leaving, we could use all the PPD and members we can get.

[Computekinc.us]

Glad to see you stay and help fight off MPC, Takes every one of us :) (United we stand, Divided we fall)

[harlam357]

Whoo-hoo!!!

Welcome back!!

Word. :beer:

Man... we really had a go at some neck and neck Folding there a while back bro... even though the banter was kept to a minimum, I had a lot of fun competing with you. That's why I was very saddened to see you say you were leaving. But, now I can put my :) face back on.

:beer: all around for dr! :D

[ihrsetrdr]

Whoo-hoo!!!

Welcome back!!


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