Right, so I've just finished setting up my first bigadv system based on two Intel Xeons. I installed the client, configured it as usual, then added -smp and -bigadv to the shortcut and ran it. It promptly downloaded a normal work unit (A3). I then deleted it and tried again, making the sure all settings were correct. Still the same thing. I removed -advmethods, as I've been told this can conflict with -bigadv. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong? I'm on Windows 7 btw. Is it just that bigadv work is low on the ground at the moment? Should I be running -advmethods AND -bigadv?
General_Confusion, is that on any PC with your passkey or on that specific CPU? Does it tag the CPU or something? Because I've done loads of WUs on my other folding rigs already.
You need a passkey to get the bonus points, not sure if you need it to get the big WU's. I believe it does tag the cpu.
I've had a passkey for ages on all my folding, so that's fine. OK well I'll hammer out 10 A3 WU's on the Xeons (shouldn't take long, seems to be about 2.5 minutes per frame) and see what happens then.
I just think that the servers are not issuing bigadv work due to being in short supply. I've been after one for my 950 since Thursday evening. I was 86% through a P2686 just about 7 hours short of completion, expecting about 72k bonus when it failed after a restart.
Ah fair enough. Do you run your bigadv rig with -advmethods or not? I've removed it for now, but I'm wondering if it fails to get a bigadv unit, will advmethods not being there still imply -advmethods thanks to the bigadv or not?
When you use bigadv if none are available it defaults to advmethods yes. I did make the mistake of leaving advmethods on within the client config initially when I built my x58 rig & was also wondering why I was only receiving standard projects.
Not for a while now. The Linux -bigadv WUs have been stopped (problem with the a3 core on Linux), and Windows -bigadv have been around for some time now too. No, you only need to complete 10 WUs to qualify for bonuses. You can get -bigadv WUs at any time. However, it does make sense to do 10 normal SMP WUs first, then get -bigadv. Anyway, OP, yes, -advmethods conflicts with -bigadv. Remove it and just have -smp -bigadv. There is a shortage at the moment though, so it might be a while before you get one.
I got a bigadv this morning, yay. Shame it's a P 2684, PPD is not much better than standard A3 projects. Unless you're comparing with P 670x in which case it is better. P 2686's yield the best points, over 30% better than P 2684, on my machine anyway.
Well, I got my first bigadv this morning. TPF is almost an hour, so I have no idea if that is within the deadline or not. I'm considering leaving it running -advmethods instead if it's bad. Any thoughts?
The bonus disappears at just over 57 mins so it depends how close to an hour the tpf is. Play around with times and project numbers using this tool to see if it's worthwhile. Don't forget to factor in upload time which very much depends on the speed of your connection.
Damnit, I'm over the preferred deadline limit by 0.13 days (current TPF is 59m 31s)! Hmmm, I might have to settle for another -advmethod SMP I guess, as it's a Dell T5500 which isn't exactly brilliant at overclocking features I'll do one -bigadv and see how it comes out and that should tell me if I can run bigadv or switch back to advmethods
Which model of xeon did the T5500 come with and which bigadv unit are you folding? If it's a 2684 wu there may be hope as that's the slowest. I know you won't be able to overclock but is there turbo boost available/enabled? Is HT enabled? Looking at task manager are there any other processes consuming CPU resources eg GPU folding? Sorry, not that familiar with Xeons.
I'm running 2 of these: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=40711 They don't support a lot of the options I would like, but I got the system for free, so I can't really complain There's no GPU folding going on, and I did a fresh Windows 7 install to make sure there's no branded software from Dell on it. I guess I'll have to just run it as another advmethods machine and build myself another system for -bigadv.