Offical Winter Blaze Contest Rules and Info

[ozzlo]

I love all the EUE confessions i'm getting I appreciate all the honesty.

EUE's do not hurt this contest because of the way it is designed but EUE's do hurt the science...

 

[harlam357]

This is a great Question for harlam since it's his rule...

I think this mattered more when the contests were based upon workunits instead of points... I think a EUE still counts as a completed workunit, you just get no or reduced score for em so in theory you could run your system on the brink of bluescreening every couple of min and do "100's of workunits" an hour because your machine just calculates the first line and then it dies... Such a thing would show up as a very low Points/Workunit average... Again, I'm definately not the EUE expert but such are the things I assume...

That's pretty much correct. In the contests I ran that were based on WUs, someone who EUEs a storm could have their entry count skyrocket. During those times the GPU2 Cores weren't as stable as they are now, so it was quite an issue. The issue with server blocking is still valid... however, its more of a deterrent than anything that can be enforced, as there's no way to prove it by looking at the publicly available stats information.

 

[ebug122]

If our GPU2 core freezes (in terms of several hours up to a day). Are we allowed to cancel it and start a new one?

 

[torin3]

That's pretty much correct. In the contests I ran that were based on WUs, someone who EUEs a storm could have their entry count skyrocket. During those times the GPU2 Cores weren't as stable as they are now, so it was quite an issue. The issue with server blocking is still valid... however, its more of a deterrent than anything that can be enforced, as there's no way to prove it by looking at the publicly available stats information.

The GPU2 also didn't have a 5 EUE in a row = 24 hour timeout safety lock on them either. I got about 1000 EUEs overnight due to a problem on one of my clients durring a contest. I reported it, and we took them out. Stanford added the lockout shortly after.

 

[harlam357]

If our GPU2 core freezes (in terms of several hours up to a day). Are we allowed to cancel it and start a new one?

Freeze? How does it freeze?

If you repeatedly see this message, EUE limit exceeded. Pausing 24 hours., at the end of the log file when it "freezes", then there may be an issue with your GPUs stability.

The GPU2 also didn't have a 5 EUE in a row = 24 hour timeout safety lock on them either. I got about 1000 EUEs overnight due to a problem on one of my clients durring a contest. I reported it, and we took them out. Stanford added the lockout shortly after.

So very true... I believe this 'EuePause' (as I call it in HFM) is what's happening to our friend ebug here.

 

[ebug122]

Freeze? How does it freeze?

If you repeatedly see this message, EUE limit exceeded. Pausing 24 hours., at the end of the log file when it "freezes", then there may be an issue with your GPUs stability.

It doesn't happen very often but the progress will just stop at a certain point. Sometimes in the middle, sometimes at 100%. I have to close the client and re-open it for it to continue.

 

[harlam357]

As long as it's not EUE'ing, you're ok. However, if you're card is OC'd beyond the manufacturers spec, then you may want to try returning it to its stock settings to see if that clears up your issue. It should not just hang like that.

Lastly, noticed your stats link in your sig. There's a newer version of HFM available (0.4.6.99) if you'd like to upgrade.

http://code.google.com/p/hfm-net/

 

[AmbientFiction]

It doesn't happen very often but the progress will just stop at a certain point. Sometimes in the middle, sometimes at 100%. I have to close the client and re-open it for it to continue.

I've had the same issue with SMP and GPU clients and as ChasR told me just wait it out. I'm sure if you get up to like 30 mins without anything shut it down wait about 3 mins and fire it back up but if you kill the client too soon and restart it right back up it can and will about 50% of the time eat you WU ranter than sending it back to stanford.

 

[gottcha]

Do i need to with my entry post with my points total as of dec 7?? and how do i find that total?? I thought i saw a post with the points total for the 66 entries some where.

 

[Bobnova]

It doesn't happen very often but the progress will just stop at a certain point. Sometimes in the middle, sometimes at 100%. I have to close the client and re-open it for it to continue.

Mine'd do that in conjunction (usually, not always) with a VPU recovery popup. My GPU's memory was running hot and dropping bits, causing total annihilation of the folding progress, but without an EUE.

 

[gottcha]

Whens the Drawing

 

[ozzlo]

already happened results as soon as I get around to it.

yes... that means I know who the winner is and you dont

 

[sneakysnowman]

Now that's just sadistic

 

[Bobnova]

It's me, right?

 

[Outback_Jon]

It's me, right?

Nah, ozzlo won and is trying to figure out how to break that news to everyone without it sounding like the contest is rigged.

 

[ozzlo]

Nah, ozzlo won and is trying to figure out how to break that news to everyone without it sounding like the contest is rigged.

nah, if I wanted to be really evil I could send my address to the donors and claim that's where the winner lives

... oh wait... I'm a contest donor...

in other news I have video of the drawing which will be posted up in a couple days, i'm swamped with work atm...

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Ever hear of random.org? I'll likely be using it for frontpage contests soon, they perform the drawing for you, and they provide you a link so participants can verify results. Not sure what your current process is, but it might be something to check out down the road.

For my use, I believe I'd have to pay a nominal fee to run the contest, but I think it's only like 5 bucks for a reasonable amount of contest entrants.

Refer here:
http://www.random.org/draws/

 

[ozzlo]

I currently build a spreadsheet and each person is assigned a range of numbers based upon the number of entrys they have earned.


Say the first person earned 10 entrys, then they would get numbers 1-10
say the next person earned 100 entrys, then they would get numbers 11-110
and so on
and so on
(spreadsheet formulas do all the work for me )

I then take the total number of entrys and plug it in as the max value on the random.org number generator and it spits out a number.

I take that number back to the spreadsheet and see who owns that number and they are determined the winner.

Essentially it's just like the random.org draw service but I do all the work and thus don't have to pay the 5 bucks.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Wonderful.

I'll pay you 4 bucks if you'll handle any drawings we do.

Do you accept monopoly money?

 

[gottcha]

already happened results as soon as I get around to it.

yes... that means I know who the winner is and you dont

OMG thats EVIL

Take your time.... I can wait a few more hours