Maximum PC

Just joined the MaxPC F@H team. I'd heard of folding before but never really investigated it until I recently read an article about it. Trying to figure out exactly what I'm doing still, but couldn't pass up an opportunity to help a great cause. Looking forward to contributing...............

I know this pun has probably been done to death, but...welcome to the 'fold'!

Once you've cranked through some WUs, you can head over to this thread to request a team badge for the forums, if you want.

Again, welcome to the team!

Welcome

Post if there is anything we can do to help

Thanks for the welcome folks. I'm sure I'll have some questions along the way. I've got two old machines laying around that I may put back online and get some use out of them. One's an old single core proc and the other is a dual core circa 2007. Might as well put them to use since they are just collecting dust in a closet. Anyone else running old machines just for the heck of it?

Thanks Dex!

When I first got bit by the folding bug, I started folding on every piece of hardware in the house, including a little atom netbook running the single-core CPU client and a couple first-gen core-duo laptops and an athlon 64 x2 desktop. Then I got the electric bill and decided to pick my battles. Right now I try to stick with 4+ core SMP folding and GPU folding for machines that I keep powered on 24/7 anyway. Means I had to lose a lot of my daily points potential (not folding on my overclocked Core 2 Quad desktop or the Phenom II X6 1090T + GTX 260 i built for my wife, since it only wakes up when needed ) but I had to balance the cost with my desire to help the project as much as possible. I'm sure a lot of folks are in a similar boat as well. A trend I've seen is the desire to maximize points per day (PPD) per watt of electricity consumption. My sandy bridge laptop was great for that, but I can't keep it cool enough for comfort.

Like Scottie said, anything we might be able to do to help, give us a shout!

Ah! Well played sir. I didn't think about the electric bill going up. I think I'll stick with my one quad for the time being. Good call...........

Thanks again for the info!

Scout1811,

Welcome, nice to see a new face. There are many knowledgeable folks here, I know they would be only too glad to help if you need it. Just curious, why did you decide to start folding? I did because it is a way I can help with my limited skill set to hopefully help folks out. My mother-in-law had "dementia" or as I am pretty sure now, Alzheimer's disease. Really a wonderful woman who always had a smile for all she met. Fortunately she never lost that, we did lose her a little over two years ago now. That is why I continue to fold. You are right, it really is a great cause! Cheers,

Danners

Thanks for the welcoming Danners. Honestly, I decided to start folding because my machine runs 24/7 and, once I understood what folding was about, I thought it was a great way to put idle technology to use. Seemed like an inexpensive hobby that provides a great way to give something back. I think we've probably all have, or will be, touched by one disease or another at some point in life. At least I can look back and know that I tried contributing to the solution.

And I'm a whole two work units in

BTW,

Do you get one WU per completed project? I don't quite understand how the point system and WU's work.

here are your personal stats, may answer a few questions http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?s=&u=623075

Thanks for the link. That does help put everything into perspective. Much appreciated.

Welcome to team 11108 MaximumPC Magazine Scout1811

This is a link to help with some of your questions: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-Points

For the most part you get points for completed WU (work unit, points are given on the complexity and time needed to finish the WU) .

If you have more then one processors in a computer you can run SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) in this case you will earn bonus point if you finish the WU quickly. You do need to have a pass key (GET IT HERE: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/getpasskey.py ) The faster you complete it the more points you get. You will need to finish 10 SMP Work Units before the bounus kicks in.


There is also a Big Advance(BigAdv) but it takes much more power then I have, if interested ask about it.

You can also have a GPU (http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-ATI) Fold for you?

What folding client are you using?

Thanks for all that information EE. Much appreciated. I am using the windows client that Stanford distributes from the F@H website. Are you using an alternative?

Scout1811, welcome to the team!

Clients should always be downloaded from the Stanford site, so you did right there. Even an approved "alternative", like FAH GPU Tracker 2, downloads from the Stanford site, then manages the install and offers a monitoring application.

There are a few versions of the folding client available. The latest is the v7 client, which includes an installer and does a good job of setting up a standard install. Chances are this is the one you have. Some of the users here still prefer the command line interface of the older v6 clients, which have separate clients for CPU and GPU folding. The v7 handles both in one client. I've used both, even at the same time. For a while I used v7 for GPU and kept the CPU folding on v6.

Like EasyE said, that passkey is the gateway to higher bonus points. If you haven't already, get one and add it to your configuration.

If you have concerns about power usage, stick to CPU folding and see how much impact it makes after a month. Add in GPU folding if you feel comfortable with your electric bill. It does make a bit of difference. Considering the cause, I think it is a worthy donation.

Glad you took the time to try out folding, and certainly glad you chose to fold with MaxPC!