quad core and ATI

ok, a fellow team member is planning on buying a dedicated folding box, a quad core. he asked how it would be best to set it up, running the SMP under linux, or running 3 standard clients and 1 GPU client via windows. the other option would be 2 smp clients via vmware as well as the gpu client.

I told him SMP in native linux would be best but after posting that started thinking i could be wrong. what would you do? how should it be setup? there arnt many people running quad cores so info on this seems to be hard to come by.

thanks!

If I were running a quad-core dedicated folder, it would be running SMP Native Linux, I would find a different rig to run the GPU on....but since it is a dedicated folder, then there is no need for windows, so yeah....If it was in need of windows I would run GPU + 1 uniprocessor + SMP via VMWare, but since Its a dedicated folder (for the third time I'm saying that ) I'd go naked and SMP

Native Linux Hands down.

Quad core on normal WUs will make 70ppd/GHz/Core added to the best vid card production of about 840ppd will net you about 1400 ppd while the SMP client will be over 3000ppd.

Standfords SMP Folding client is already for Quad cores. (recommended too)

but it will run on Dual Core, but with some possible problems.

Do a native Ubunto 6.06 or 6.10 AMD 64 bit install and then install the Standford SMP client.

Watch the WU's Cheesey Poofs FLY !!!!

i am running 2 SMP clients (vmware) and a GPU client on my quad.....lovely

lee

while the SMP client will be over 3000ppd.

Click to expand...

Quad core

It would have to sit on a on the floor by itself tho , since thats my whole budget for a PC.(Shucks)

I think the best answer is SMP native linux ATM. Never know what the points changes will do.

I have been running mine with 2 linux smp clients under vmware with a gpu client but i expect to change that shortly.

That mix has worked well when at least one of the smp clients is getting a 302x.

However, when it is running 2 2604 or 2605's the GPU client slows to a crawl so i stop running it until another 302x shows up. Not sure that i will keep doing this since the gpu hasn't been getting much utilization lately.

So unless your friend has some other need for a gpu that can fold, I too think running native linux with 1 smp client is the way to go. Also, as a dedicated folding rig, there would not be any need to buy a copy of windoze asumming they don't need windows for other reasons. And of course, the cost of a gpu capable of folding would be saved, or the GPU could be used in a non-smp capable rig.

Of course, the smp wu mix could change as well as the points, so they might want to run it differently later.

And if it won't be a dedicated folding rig, and they need windows, then 2 smp vmware clients is probably best atm.

Fiesty Fawn 7.04!!!!

Yes dreaming of quad core and preparing the wife for the expenditure for when they come to us AMD "fan-boi's".

alright, thanks guys. i figured SMP would be the best bet but wanted to make sure. i'll tell him to either take the money that would have been spent on a highend video card and put it towards a faster cpu and/or better cooling if he wants to overclock, or tell him to throw the video card into an older machine and run the GPU client on that.

thanks again!

Actually, i just did some timings ... and with 2 x 2605 wu's that I was running under vmware and then switched to running 1 of them alone under native linux, it turns out that ppd was actually slightly higher running 2 of them under vmware by 360 ppd on this 2.9 ghz q6600.

The tpf with 2 vm's running them under wxp was 14:11 = 1787 ppd X 2 = 3574 ppd total for the rig.
The tpf for 1 2605 under native linux was 7:53 = 3215 ppd.

The tradeoff is a large negative impact to the science due to the nearly doubled elapsed time for the wu, for only about a 10% improvement in ppd. So to me this strongly favours folding native linux.

Since my primary reason for running vmware on this rig was to also run the gpu, and since the gpu folding isn't efficient running alongside 2 vm's, I guess this gpu is gonna have to find a new home. This rig will continue to run native linux.

I will let it finish this WU and then pick up one of the quad only WU's to see what its ppd measures.

If someone needs Windows for non gaming uses, you can alway install the Linux version of VMWare Server and install Windows in a VM.