Hoping that this post will be helpful for windows users who want to fold using SMP but want to get full use out of their hardware when using CPU folding Due to the way MPICH or Deino works it is very un-optimised for windows OS (I am thinking of Work done here) was going to stop them as my GPU2 clients did Far better but the link below at custom pc/bittech made me have an go at Linux in an Virtual Machine, I was very surprised once it started doing work using NotFred linux SMP in Virtual Machine (VM for short and will only type VM from Now on) is like running the 1 GPU client for some or some times like 2 for lucky i5 or i7 users at high clock speeds, you get far more work done As most do not want to use Linux as there main OS you can use an OS called NotFred (there are others but this one is made Just for SMP only and meant to get up and running in Very short time) it made to be disk less so you can run it off an CD or an USB Pen drive or in an VM for the Task that i made this Guide for Running it in an VMware player program (supports 4 cores each VM) or VMware workstation 6.5.3 or newer(supports 8 cores each VM useful if you have an i7 with HT) so this means you do not have to mess with partitioning your hard disk or even need to learn how to use Linux The new VMware player now that supports 4 cores (its free as well) so you no longer need to run 2 copy’s of VMware player to use 4 cores on an Quad CPU so less ram is now needed to run VM NotFred or your VM linux box, it is also far simpler to run it as well, with what I did below you can be up an running in 1 reboot and 5-10 mins and it serves the Folding@home project far better due to work units can be turned around far faster (up to 2x faster then the WinSMP until they bring an windows optimized SMP client but the Linux SMP may always be better) http://www.overclock.net/overclock-net-folding-home-team/592866-now-use-4-cores-vmware-player.html Make sure you have at least 2-4gb of ram and an 64bit OS is recommended, as the VM can use up to 1.2gb of ram (if your doing GPU folding as well you may need 4gb of ram most likely) 1. Download the below http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ or get VMware workstation 6.5.3 {tested} or higher (mite be needed for 8 core systems or i7 systems with 8 threads) http://reilly.homeip.net/folding/vm.html (this is Notfred it supports 2-4-8 cores) 2. And edit the folding.vmx file (3KB not the 20mb one) in windows 7 and 2003 server i had to use wordpad to edit my folding.vmx (due to notepad merging all the lines) 3. change the below numvcpus to 4 (allows 4 core to be addressed only on VMware player, if your useing i7 or 8 core system you can test 8 if VMware work station is been used) memsize to 2000 (allows 2gb of ram to be used, the Default is to low and may crash) add line at bottem (make an new line) priority.ungrabbed = "idle" Prevent slow downs more important if your doing GPU2 folding as well, as Norm priority {default} impacts on GPU2 progress speeds, you should not need to mess with GPU2 as i have not on 2 systems and they get the same PPD with or with out the VM running, when set to idle 4. Start the Notfred VM (open the folding.vmx with Vmware player or workstation) if it works you see an ip address like 192 if that's your routers DHCP server IP (not 169. as that be failed to get IP address) it takes about 30 secs to norm boot to the login part (do not login not needed) 5. To access notfred use Internet Explorer or Firefox web browser and type fold-xxxx into the address bar (not the search box) press enter or go (look at your VM notfred for the host name) if that fails login via the IP address (look at VM for IP Address) you must do this on your Windows PC (the VMware Notfred is ready when it gets to login part in the VM box, do not try and login its not needed, its done via web browser settings) 6. Press Reconfigure this host and any USB drives and put your name that you want and your team name, put your pass key in if you want to, make sure SMP instance per CPU its set to 4 (i7 or 8 core systems try 8)Go to the bottom and press Reconfigure and then press {Remote reboot: enabled} button and when it starts back up, it start with your settings, 7. If you need to power it down it just stop the VM make sure the disk light is not flashing on the VM or the backup it makes be broken, notfred makes an backups every 15 mins when the VM starts back up it restore that data so you lose at most 15 mins of work (norm 1-3% for most) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fahmon setup To monitor the program using program like Fahmon \\fold-xxxx\C\etc\folding\1\ , xxxx being the host name in the VM notfred (Look at the VM Notfred box)if that fails you need to use IP instead of fold-xxxx, unlike windows linux on restart will norm not always get the same ip address so the host name is the better option, you need to do the below if you want it static IP (you can just try setting the workgroup to match your systems workgroup on Vista and win7 its norm workgroup then you may be able to access the web page then) (do below if your ok with setting IP address) you understand how to use the reconfigure part of notfred, set the IP address manually (norm 192.168.x.201-250, between 201-250 must not match any other IP on your network) gateway point that at your router (norm 192.168.x.1 BT routers some times use 254) and DNS (192.168.x.1 norm points to the router, some point to the ISP DNS) the x is router Dependant most routers go between 0 and 1 belkin norm 2, you can check this by checking your ip address on your windows system (fast way start > run > CMD > type ipconfig /all press enter and look for the one with 192 in you see gateway and DNS there), once you done that you should be able to use the IP address all the time (fahmon add it as \\<IP-ADDRESS>\C\etc\folding\1\ ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Stanford prefer to get work back as fast as it can it is better to use 1 VM Notfred at an time (as i found 2 VM are likely going take 2.5x longer to send the work back) Code: i have some issues on my QX9850 the time clock in the VM looks like is going 1.5x slower when 2 VMs are running (clocks counting to fast), in FAHmon as it thinks the % times are faster then what it is i am guessing it may be slower to use 2 VMs then one only (i watch it in an bit to log the real time when its working), i recommend to only run 1 VM notfred Ok do not run 2 notfred VMs as it takes a lot longer to complete each work unit 11hrs on one VM (thats 2 per day) on 2 VMs it takes 33hrs (thats about 2 per day and an half, so 20 hrs is wasted) do not be fooled into that your getting high PPD when running 2 VMs, its FAHmon is been miss lead, in this case due to the fact that when 2 VM's are running it runs 2x slower Time speed so it says 10 mins per frame but its really 20 mins real time but FAHmon thinks its 10 mins as its only looking whats in the folding logs (so it makes it look likes its doing more work) ---------------------------- FOR I7 or 8 core users -------------------- if you have an I7 system or 8 core system you can get Vmware workstation 6.5.3 or newer to use all 8 thread, set it to use 8 threads via numvcpus to 8 in the fold.VMX (this is untested need feedback), , {need info on how to edit the init file so to make -bigadv work as i7/i5 with high clocks may want this} ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
thanks leexgx ive setup 1 vm on 2 cores on my i5 750 insted off 2 win smps and am getting just over 2400ppd insted of just over 900 for 2 winsmp single cores
2 VMs run slower then 1VM (the clocks run at half speed when running 2 VMs so it makes FAHmon report good times when its not) only run 1 VM, 2500 PPD is very slow for an i7/i5, kill the second VM notfred box (if you had an I7 maybe run 2 VMs but need reports on that)
PriFinitty2 as i just found out, the NV 1888 pointers makes the GPU cores drop in speed a lot add core 11 and 14 to high priority and make sure the VM is set to Low via the edit i posted in this Guide i update the guide soon to point this out if GPU folding is going on at the same time (only affects the 1888 pointers the 383 and 787 are not affected but i still set them to high any way FAH11 core)
Pardon me for being ignorant, your guide is supperb, but what do I do after I set everything up? I mean I followed everything and it worked nicely, then I get to this part: If I leave it it does nothing, if I type root it gives this and then nothing: What do I acctually have to do to start folding?
you better using WinSMP if your doing SMP folding as the A3 cores run faster under windows then under linux running an windows VM you need an passkey as well or you not get A3 work units you using advmethod flag as yes and remove the bigadv flag (quite sure an i5 cant get bigadv work units as it only has 4 threads ? and winSMP does not have big adv projects yet) ----- not as important looks like you skipped step 5 you log into it via your web browser in your case http://fold-98f4 or http://192.168.1.36
Ok, I turned off the advanced, but still nothing. And no, I did not skip the step 5 (unless I misunderstand something), mine looks like that: I also reconfigured it as you advised. So what am I missing here?
It is working, it is just that it does not show any folding information in its window. If you log in then type cat unitinfo.txt that should show you how folding is progressing. Sometimes mine gives an error message and I type it again and it works. Also, it is notorious for messing up its clock by several hours. Sorry, I am not actually running notfred at the moment, I shut down that PC to save on my electric bill.
you can use HFM.net to monitor it ( \fold-xxxx\c\etc\folding\1 ) Replace XXXX with your host name thats in the client (or IP of the client) or read whats in there to monitor it (same as above but i made it for users who need to do it line by line)
It does take a while for it to download and then pick up the fact that it is ready to run. I have Coretemp open next to the VM to monitor temps but also because it monitors CPU usage as well and you can see when it picks up the WU and begins to use it, when it max's @100% (well it does on mine anyway - i7 8 cores Win 7(64) but only approx 52% 9550 4 Cores Win XP) Also if you look at the image in Synays reply just below where it says Instance 1, if you click on Folding Log File it will take you straight to the FAHLog text file to see how things are progressing, same as if you double click on the entry in HFM will take you to the Folder where the Log file is held...
Apart from that even after 10 minutes CPU usage is 0 and if I click on the log link it gives error not found.
