Bjorn3D's guide to folding and FAQ

[Blacksmith1]

Bjorn3D's guide to folding and FAQ

this thread is consolidated from several others to put everyting in one place

This page is geared for users wanting to know more about Folding@Home, and first time users looking to get started. This is by no means supposed to be the most comprehensive guide to folding ever written. It's purpose is to get you started relatively painlessly. First thing we recommend is that you get a passkey, this will qualify you for bonus points on several of the folding clients.
You can find more information about Passkeys at http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/cgi-bin/edit/English/FAQ-passkey,

Our Folding guides include

Linux SMP Folding in Windows with VMWare Server

Folding@Home GPU2 &3 (both systray and console clients)
Setting up multiple cilents for GPU2 & 3

Folding@home Windows SMP (both systray and console clients)

Easier methods include the v7 beta from Stanford (which will be added here when it gets out of beta or I get to it, which ever comes first)
And the GPU tracker v2(link) which will download, install, and configure all the clients with only a minimal input from you. just make sure you put your user name, passkey, and team # (41608 ) in, before configuring the clients to run. And check for typo's. nothing hurts worse than finding out that you folded all day as someone else.

FAQ

Original post from Kougar on 07-22-2008 (updated as necessary)
Unfortunately, there is no quick answer. There is so much information that Stanford had to create a FAQ just to list all of their FAQ pages! To help narrow things down for you, their FAQ index very likely holds the answer to any questions you may have:

Folding@Home Master FAQ Index -> http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ

Another helpful site is the wiki. This provides a short synopsis on what Folding@home is and does, and importantly links to the results achieved from all the Folding@Home work!

Folding@Home Wiki -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@Home

First time users should at least read the Main FAQ here: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-main


This guide assumes you have read the Main FAQ page and know what Folding@Home is about, and will attempt to answer any lingering or other questions you may have.

Q: Does it cost anything or require anything from me?
A: No, the project and software are free, but do require the time to install and set up the software. Once set up F@H will run automatically in the background upon being launched. As Folding@home will fully load your computer it will have a small impact on your electric bill, mostly seen by those users that choose to leave their systems on to fold 24/7.

Q: What can I fold on?
A: Folding@Home can be run on almost any OS on any computer using the CPU and graphics card (GPU). It can even be run on your PS3. Linux, OS X, and Power PC based computers are supported but require specific builds that can be found on the Stanford download page.

GPU folding can run on Windows OS systems that have an NVIDIA GPU 8000-series (8600 and up recommended) or newer, and for ATI 2000-series and up. Support for dual-GPU is supported but has special install instructions. You should get updated drivers, links are availible at the bottom of this post and several places in this thread.
Newer ATI Cards (6000 series for sure, and possibly 5000 series) should use the v7 client to get the core_16 WU's which will maximize their PPD

The same user name can be run on multiple machines if you wish.

Q: Is my XYZ computer fast enough? What do you recommend?
A: Work units (WU's) are time sensitive and have deadlines that they need to be returned within. The bare minimum hardware would be a Pentium 3 or 700Mhz Athlon assuming it is left to fold 24/7.

Personally we do not recommend using anything slower than a 2GHz Pentium 4 or 1.5GHz Athlon for CPU folding. Slower computers than these would need to run for over 24 hours to complete a single WU, and burn through a significant amount of electricity in the process for little gain.

Suggestions for folding are Athlon X2, Phenom, and Core 2 Duo/Quad CPUs and 8800 (8600 and up recomended) or greater model graphics cards for NVIDIA or ATI’s 4000 model graphics cards. Any system from the last 4 years should do just fine.
Overclocking can affect the stability of a system. If the client's get errors, try turning down the overclock first.

Q: How will it impact my computer?
A: Having a stable system is critical. Running F@H will load the CPU and/or GPU and will generate moderate levels of heat in addition to loading down the computer's power supply. Computers with poor airflow could possibly overheat, and no-name "cheap" brand power supplies may not be able to handle the load. Otherwise for normal, stable computers there should be no impact whatsoever provided you set the clients to run on "idle" system processes.
turning off the GPU clients for gaming is recommended, the CPU clients will automatically give up whatever system resources you need without any effort or action on your part.

Q: Will folding affect my internet speed?
A: No. The only time Folding projects consume any appreciable bandwidth is during the uploading of completed work units, which takes roughly a minute or less depending on size. Otherwise except for very brief kb-sized project and core downloads at the start of a new WU the internet connection is not used. Broadband users will not notice anything unless they are in the middle of a game where the upload may raise their ping slightly for a brief period.

Q: Anything I should know before configuring Folding@Home?
A: Usernames are CASE SENSITIVE, and only letters, numbers, and underscores ( _ ) are supported. For Bjorn3D contests it is recommended that your B3D forum name and F@H name match, but this is not mandatory. The clients do not check for typo's as they have no idea how you want to spell your user name, So double check it.
Make sure that if you wish to join our team that you input the Bjorn3D team number! 41608. Double check this also.

Q: Is it possible to run multiple F@H clients on a single computer?
A: Short answer, yes! Long answer, each client must be configured to run as to not interfere with other F@H programs.

Each F@H program uses a "Machine ID" ( 1-16 ) to uniquely identify itself to the host Operating System. Each install must therefore be given a unique number to not conflict or corrupt other F@H programs. By default the SMP client uses a Machine ID of 1, and the GPU client uses a Machine ID of 2.
An install on second system has no effect on the machine id #'s of the first system.

There are many combination's that can work effectivly ask in the forum if you want to know what is best for your system. One (or more) of our Team members will help you out.

Q: I am noticing EUE (early unit end) or NaN (Not a Number) messages, what does this mean and what should I do now?
A: First, don't ignore this! EuE/NaN's are useless for Stanford's research and also mean any work done on the Work Unit before it ended prematurely was wasted. Even if other WU's complete fine they are likely based on incorrect calculations and detrimental to the Folding@home research.

In almost every single case these arise from the computer hardware not being stable. (most likely due to overclocking) In the case of the SMP client it could mean the program was not installed properly. For the GPU2 client if it occurs after installation it can also mean supported graphics drivers were not used. However, 98% of the time, it is an unstable machine or unstable overclock.

In very rare cases these issues can be caused by "bad WU's" and core library bugs, however when these are detected they are quickly removed and or updated to fix the problem. We have been folding for several years and only recall EuE's occuring for this reason a couple times.

If you believe the hardware to be stable then please check the Stanford forum for known issues with your particular client. 9 times out of 10 the problem and solution has been posted about already.

Q: How do I get that nifty box with the folding stats I see in peoples sig's?
A: go to your settings/profile page and find the link to edit your signature. click the box that looks like this and add the following;

{URL="http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?u=usernumber"]{IMG]http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/sigs/sigimage.php?u=usernumber&t=41608[/IMG][/URL]

There are 2 places you will see { replace it with [. I had to do this to keep the vb forum code from making the box and hiding the neccessary code.
Replace usernumber with your user number which can be found at the EOC stats pages. find yourself on our team page (clicky), click on your name, and in the address bar you will see something that looks like this http://folding.extremeoverclocking.c...y.php?u=507655. the # at the end will be your user # (that example uses mine)
Please be aware that you will not show up on the team page untill you have completed at least one WU, and the page has updated. This could take up to 3 hrs after the compleation of your first WU. DOUBLE CHECK your F@H config for typo's!!! BEFORE you start folding.

More helpful URLs:

Personal and team stats can be checked at quite a few places:

Stanford: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Stats
ExtremeOC: http://folding.extremeoverclocking.c...php?s=&t=41608 (most of our team members use these stats, and they are used for our folding contests.)
Hard Forum: http://www.hardfolding.com/fh_stats_test/index.php?pz=101&tnum=41608
Kakao Stats: http://kakaostats.com/t.php?t=41608

Other usefull links:
Please read!Best Practices FAQ: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-BestPractices Please read!
Folding@home Points FAQ: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-Points
Official Stanford Folding@home support forum: http://foldingforum.org/index.php
Folding Server Status can be found at: http://folding.stanford.edu/serverstat.html

Some info from Nvidia on the Folding at Home program: http://www.bjorn3d.com/articles/NVID...U_QA/1416.html

Get the Nvida drivers here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
Get the ATI drivers here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

Some info on the v7client : (from a post in the stanford folding forum)
by bruce » Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:34 pm
The original announcement of the V7 beta client can be found in the News blog. You'll also find a special announcement about the FahCore_16 which can be used with your (ATI) GPU.

The rest of the information about V7 can be found here in this forum.

V7 makes installation very easy for the new donor since there is only one client to install. It can simultaneously manage assignments for GPUs and CPUs (including either Uniprocessor or SMP assignments). Rather than installing a separate V6 client for each type of WU you wish to receive, you create separate "slots" in the one V7 client. The 3rd party monitoring tools don't work with it yet and the log is difficult to read, but it does provide a GUI interface that can tell you what's being folded and from which you can control everything.

V6 will continue to be supported, so for many people with established installations, there's no real urgency to convert. For those who want to use the latest FahCores, including OpenCL assignments for your HD 6950, I'd recommend converting your V6 GPU client first. As you gain familiarly with V7, you can decide what makes sense for the rest of your V6 clients and proceed at your own pace.

The V7 client is now out of Beta and we will be updating this guide soon.

Updated 4/20/2010 (SonicWRX): Now reflects proper GUP information. (update of original thread)