920 @ 4Ghz... time for bigadv?

S

sdy284

Gawd
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
601
well i finally got rid of my crappy ECS X58B-A mobo and replaced it with a P6T6 and my what a difference. That being said, I've got my 920 @ 4Ghz and it's churning through A3's as we speak.

w0tfk8.jpg


I'm pretty sure i want to go with bigadv but I have a couple questions:

1. Can i just use vanilla ubuntu? or will going with a "fah" distro yield noticable ppd increase?

2. I'm currently in the process of playing Mass Effect 2. Obviously i can't play it in linx so i would be dual booting, i understand that with big adv, the earlier the better, but if I game for a few hours then go back to folding... will i still make the deadline?

I've installed ubuntu a few times on other laptops/pc's so i'm fairly familiar with it. Any important tips i need to know?
 
Last edited:
1. I've not tried a vanilla setup but as of right now I'm using the EVGA setup to run -bigadv in a VM just fine.
2. I game off and on for about 5-10 hours a week and still do OK with getting the WU done to get the bonus just fine.
 
I wouldn't even bother with dual booting and just run a VM in windows. I say this because I game a bit too on my PC and I think its a PIA to switch between OSs just to game. Also, you can fold WHILE you're gaming as I do. I just run the VM with a priority of "idle" and it doesn't affect any of my games (or any other desktop apps) at all at the expense of a PPD hit while you're gaming of course, but you're still gonna be folding more while gaming with a VM than you would switching OSs and stopped completely. Plus, I'm pretty sure running native linux isn't going to give you a significant PPD increase anyways and even if it does, it prolly won't make up for the downtime spent gaming.

Just my opinion on how to do it.
 
T4rd said:
I wouldn't even bother with dual booting and just run a VM in windows. I say this because I game a bit too on my PC and I think its a PIA to switch between OSs just to game. Also, you can fold WHILE you're gaming as I do. I just run the VM with a priority of "idle" and it doesn't affect any of my games at all at the expense of a PPD hit while you're gaming of course, but you're still gonna be folding more while gaming with a VM than you would switching OSs and stopped completely. Plus, I'm pretty sure running native linux isn't going to give you a significant PPD increase anyways and even if it does, it prolly won't make up for the downtime spent gaming.

Just my opinion on how to do it.
Click to expand...
Very true. I tested out running the VM while playing BFBC2 the other day and didnt notice any performance issues with the game. Of course I had to pause my GPU clients for a short time, lol.
 
It all depends on how many cycles the game needs to run at full speed.
If it does not need that many cycles then I just run it.
If it needs a lot then I just switch my VM from 8 cores to 7 cores.
Then once the game is fully loaded, atl-tab out and lock the game to the empty core.
I'll drop the VM from ~25k PpD -> 19k PpD doing that.

Luck .......... :D
 
While I would be the first to recommend native Linux (as I watch my 3.8GHz I7 turn sub-30 min frames on a bigadv), in your case, I would use a VM in Windows. It will be way less aggrevating that way.
 
i mean i probably only game on my PC once per day... but still getting SOME crunching done while gaming does sound good...
 
Gaming and crunching bigadvs with a VM has been working out for me. I have 2 GPUs in my system but I don't SLI so I only need to pause one GPU client while I'm gaming. The PPD hit to the bigadv isn't much since I don't put in long sessions gaming. Us older guys need their sleep.
 
is there a guide anywhere for setting up the vm? i poked around and didn't see one
 
now my big question, how can i get HFM to monitor this?

duh... nevermind

well i got it working so we'll see how it goes :D
 
Last edited:
23k7o75.jpg


:D

kinda surprised my TPF isn't below 30 though, considering musky is @ 3.8Ghz and getting sub 30m TPFs... i guess thats the benefit of going native linux?
 
sdy284 said:
kinda surprised my TPF isn't below 30 though, considering musky is @ 3.8Ghz and getting sub 30m TPFs... i guess thats the benefit of going native linux?
Click to expand...
That's likely the reason. Believe me, that's not too bad. I'd be very glad to get anything close to 30 min TPF since all of my archaic systems are doing much higher. A minute here and a minute there doesn't make much of a difference until you're in the low 20s. :cool:
 
Those are very good frame times for a VM inside of Windows. Keep in mind that if you turn the monitor on to my I7 (you'd have to connect one first), you would see exactly what you see in your VM. No GUI, no nothing. I am getting 500 more ppd on a slightly lower overclock, but I can't do anything else with mine. That is the difference between a dedicated folder and a daily driver. I'd be happy with the performance if I were you.

 
sdy284 said:
23k7o75.jpg


:D

kinda surprised my TPF isn't below 30 though, considering musky is @ 3.8Ghz and getting sub 30m TPFs... i guess thats the benefit of going native linux?
Click to expand...

not sure if you pay for your electric but looks like its time to retire the opty. if your folding with the gpu on the i7 thats what's giving you a slight slowdown.
 
Looks like his 260 is in the opty rig. Also, it looks like the opty is chewing on an A1 in that screenshot.

 
musky nailed it. the 260 is in my opteron rig. and if the damn thing is going to be on, the CPU might as well be folding ;)
 
sdy284 said:
musky nailed it. the 260 is in my opteron rig. and if the damn thing is going to be on, the CPU might as well be folding ;)
Click to expand...
Atta boy! I like the way you think. I have one borg at my parents house, it's a 3.0 GHz P4 that gets shit for points. However, my parents leave the machine on 24x7 and hardly use it so it may as well be folding!
 
lol yea the rig just sits in my basement, i keep an eye on HFM and if i see anything fishy i just use ultravnc to look @ it
 
arg bigadv's take so loooooooooooooooooooooooong, i enjoyed my sub 3min A3 times :D.

i know the points are worth it but i like having a pretty EOC graph, not one that looks like an ekg :p
 
Give it a week and you'll Luke your average ppd better:)
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Simple fix....
Build a secon i7 rig ans off set it 24 hours.

Nice smooth graph now :D
 
great, shutdown the vm to run pcmark vantage & now i lost all my progress on my WU. i was like 85% complete.... wtf
 
sdy284 said:
great, shutdown the vm to run pcmark vantage & now i lost all my progress on my WU. i was like 85% complete.... wtf
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, -bigadv is still somewhat sensitive to shutdowns before WU completion. The best way to stop a VM running -bigadv is to suspend it. If a shutdown of the Linux OS within the VM is required, then it's best to wait for the WU to complete and upload results first.
 
You can either suspend the VM and then close VMware player, or hit Control+G (or click on the VMplayer window to input into the VM) and then hit Control+C to close the client. Once it's finished (you'll get a bunch of core/thread shutdowns), shut down the VM and then close VMware player once it gets to the VM selection 'home' screen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top