Folding in VM+ Primary = more PPD?

[chuckerants]

My primary PC:
HP Pavillion
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (OCed to 2.8Ghz)
Windows 7 x64
6GB RAM
Nvidia 9500GT

I'm running 2 instances of F@H as a service.

Would running additional Folding programs under VM increase my PPD?

Also, can I run Folding using the 9500GT AND the CPU at the same time?

TIA

[dark bishop]

I would ditch the ones running as service and install a windows smp or VM+NotFred's and a gpu client. yes you can fold on the cpu and gpu at the same time.

[HayesK]

The X2 5200 suports virtulization, so go with the VM to get A2 WU and 2x ppd.
http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=39

[chuckerants]

It took a while, but in the middle of studying for my midterms, I was able to get 1 VM of Ubuntu 9.04 running F@H and now I'm trying to get the 2nd VM running. I'd like to get the 9500GT folding, but that's already at 60C just piddling around surfing the net.

[dark bishop]

you have a dual core, you should only run one and let it use 100% of both cores.

[ChasR]

With the new a2 core, 2.10, you must run only 1 VM on a dual core.

[chuckerants]

Maybe that explains why it shut down one of the primary F@H when I got both VMs running F@H.

Ok, I'll go back to running 2 F@H on the primary OS and 1 VM F@H. When I get that running, I'll try to get the GPU running.

Thanks guys.

Also, should I be setting the -advmethods flag to yes in either the primary OS or VM?

For the 1 instance of F@H in VM (ubuntu), I used the command: ./fah6 -smp -verbosity 9 - is this ok?

Thanks again.


With the new a2 core, 2.10, you must run only 1 VM on a dual core.

[deadlysyn]

The clients running as a service are most likely the uniproc clients. I would recommend stopping the service, add the -oneunit flag, and let them finish what they have, and then go with the client in the VM. The reason for that, is that the client in the VM will net you better PPD, and if the VM's priority is set too high, the uniproc clients won't get any work done, which is bad for the progression of the science. By keeping the uniproc clients running, you will be hurting your output one way or another. As far as running the GPU2 client, there shouldn't be any problems, since the newer drivers allow it to use almost no CPU to feed the GPU, especially in Vista and Win7.

[chuckerants]

So, #1. no F@H on the W7 OS. (will stop services after the current unit ends)

#2. 1 SMP F@H on the Ubuntu VM. (running now)

#3. Run GPU F@H (will do ASAP).

Thanks guys.

On a related note, did I sound like a total geek when I was talking about protein folding in my Anatomy & Physiology class or what? lol

[chuckerants]

Well, I just couldn't wait, so I installed the GPU F@H and now I'm getting around 1200+ PPD on the 9500GT. I'm also folding in VM as SMP, though I don't know what my PPD on that is.

When I was just folding using the CPU I was only getting around 400~600 PPD. :)

Thanks for your help everyone.