Maximum PC

New to Folding? Please stop here for orientation.
Welcome to Team 11108
Here is the - Link -to Stanford where you can download the software to get started.
If you want to know more on the background of the team and folding, read on



We are all happy to see you give folding a try.

We have around 750+ members and are the second team in total points in the folding world.

That leaves a little room to grow, with your help.

Here is a little new folder information you might enjoy Click Here

We hope you got a chuckle out of some of that and also learned a little basic background regarding folding.

Folding has many choices on what clients to run and flexibility in setting them up best for your situation.

It takes several weeks to feel somewhat comfortable with folding and a while longer to meet all the regular posters.

Ask questions any time, someone will be along very soon to answer and happy to do it.
You can post them here, but on the main forum is best because the most people will have a shot at responding and you will get the best answer much sooner.


We have lots of other activities:



Contests where you can win some pretty nice prizes.
The biggest of the year will start in the next few weeks and run all summer.
All the new folders should be able to enter after reading the details and getting down to folding.

Games - you never know when one will pop up.
Guess the car was a hit (from just seeing a piece of it).
Who the heck is that ran quite a while, guess who the folder is with more hints as time went on.

What's Happening - Monthly it lists, you guessed it, What's Happening.

How Well do you know your Team??? A fun quiz that sees if you're keeping up on What's Happening.

What's Playing - What music do you have on right now.

Folder of the Month - A new one honored every month and you get to vote or even be voted for.

SpotLights - Near 40 of them now, where you can learn lots of details about some of your team mates.

Yearly Chimp Race - just ended.
We race other teams to an agreed on number of points.
Three races so far and your team won two of them.
This will make more sense later.

Something new may start at any time and who knows, you may be the one to start it.

Of course we talk about folding an awful lot.
Complain about new work units taking so long or not be given enough points.
Complaining is part of the human condition and we have some fun with it also.

So, we would love to get to know you, if you want to introduce yourself, please do.

Whatever you say, be ready for lots of welcomes from many on the team.

If you're more comfortable just reading other's getting welcomed for a while - no problem.

I'll ask that someone on the team post here daily to keep the thread high for new folks to see more easily.

Once you post you will get an email for every post and can welcome any new folders to the team.

Fun and Folding - That's all we do on purpose.

Thanks for folding for MaximumPC, Stanford and the Cures - G


Extra Credit Reading:

Wondering how to get started folding - read on

First let me say welcome and thanks for folding for MaximumPC, Stanford and the Cures.

There are a number of clients a person can run depending on what processor they have, the amount of memory and their Operating System.

In the beginning:

There were only single core procs available and a few clients to run on them.

The single core GUI client and the single core console client.

Procs were slower than today and the deadlines for getting Work Units back were long (30-45 days).

The GUI client is extremely easy to install (like any downloaded program).
It puts an icon in your tray that you can give commands through.

The bad news is many games can have problems with it running and other users on the machine may mess with it and cause you problems.

The console client is installed through a run command and after you configure it a reboot will install it as a service.
The good news is games are not effected by it running and other users will probably not even be aware of it's existence.

The long deadline times meant Stanford could require two years to complete a project and issue results to the world of interested parties.
You could actually not run 24/7 and still produce results in a timely manner in this environment.

Both clients still exist and are run by many folks.

There are many different projects running under these clients.

As time went on:

New clients were developed to take advantage of faster procs and even dualcore procs.

Initially a client called smp would only run under Linux, but later it became possible to run it under windows also.

It has very short deadlines, 3-4 days, I said they were short.

The points associated with these work units (WUs) were 10 times larger than the average single core client discussed above.
Why you may ask?
They produce that much and more results for Stanford.
They have a test bed process where they determine the impact of a client and it's impact on your machine and points are determined in that matter.

Because of the short deadlines, these clients must run 24/7 to meet them.
The good news is, results for a project can be done in 6 months and out to the world at large sooner.

This client is meant to be run with 4 core procs, but can simulate it on a dualcore.

WUs have become more demanding of resources in the smp world as time has gone by, but you have configurations options that can control what your machine will receive.
Actually thats true of most clients.
You can even control the CPU resources the client gets when your machine is idle.
Some use to lower it to reduce heat or noise in certain operating environments.
Today some will reduce it to run on a portable.
Most people leave it at 100% to get the WU done ASAP.

And then there were new and unusual clients:

Sony worked with Stanford and a client was developed for the Play Station 3 (PS3).
You can't fold on it and play games at the same time, but when not gaming it can fold like a bugger.
I'm told it's an easy setup and runs without intervention required.

And finally:

The GPU client runs on your graphics card and requires one core in addition.
Many on the team don't feel the points are proper for the client.
Stanford also uses the flexibility of the client in it's calculations.

**** Tedster's GPU folding guide - Click Here -****

The PS3 and GPU clients are very fast, but only lend themselves to processing certain kinds of work.
The smp client on a quadcore proc is the king of flexibility and results and the points currently reflect that is the case.

You forgot Macs fellow:

I didn't cover Mac clients, partly because I know squat about them, but also because not many on the team have a Mac.

When you're making your client choices at Stanford - Discussed next, you will see the Mac clients.

If you have questions ask on the forum.

Where do you get these clients you talk about?

At the Stanford Homepage, under Downloads (in the choices along the top).

Stanford realizes that clients can be confusing for many folks when they are just getting started.

They came up with something new not long ago.

They highlight the clients that you probably will want to run on the Operating system you are currently running.

But that's just a suggestion.
A windows machine will be presented with the GUI and console clients as recommended by highlighting.

You might decide to go with the smp client which is still in beta.
You have to go down the page to a link to find it.

OK - armed with all the knowledge in this thread you are ready to take on the client choices over at Stanford for the first time.

Take a deep breath and Click Here

If it still looks confusing, take your time, read all they offer and feel free to come back to the forum and ask questions.
There should be someone along soon to help.
We all like to show off that we know something about what's going on around here.

I almost forgot:

They have a help aid for finding a unique folding name for you.

If you can use the same name for your folding name and your forum name it makes it easier in many ways.
If you can't it's not the end of the world.

Folding and fun are what we do around here.
After you get folding you can start investigating the fun, allow considerable time for that part.

this is entirely to long, i fell asleep twice trying to read it all. when i woke up i couldnt remember what i read.

GM is an old guy and gets tired very easily.

You new folders are thirsting for information and absorbing it like a sponge.

Let it all hang out, just post and say Hi, I'm (place your name here),
this looks like fun, either that or you people are all crazy.

I think helping find the cures and saving lives is a good use of my idle cycles.

OK, say anything you like, just say something.
I get paranoid that no one is out there and I'm talking to myself again.

You new peeps will quickly notice that G is very long winded

Seriously tho...make sure you ASK QUESTIONS! I started folding about a month and a half ago now and these guys have been great on answering questions. The forums over at Stanford are a good place to look for troubleshooing/setup of the clients.

Oh, and Welcome to the forums!

Cheers!
Tom

We welcome all folding n00bs to these forums and invite you to kick the tires of the world's greatest folding team.

We are available and happy to answer any and all questions you may have.

Stick around awhile, big contest coming up this summer, win BIG prizes for what you'll find to be low-stress participation.

Welcome to all.....

Welcome To all the new folks that saw the info about Folding in their latest copy of Maximum PC magazine.

Folding is an enormously worthwhile hobby and you will meet some extraordinary people here.

No team has more FUN than 11108!

Check out the first couple of Forum topics here in the Folding section - lots of How To's and Helpful Hints on the whole Folding process.

And, as always, Please Ask Any Questions (no matter how basic) We are Here To Help.

Gary

it is a bit of headache to get through, still not sure what folding is, can someone explain it in very simple terms?

Folding@Home is a distributed computing client (basically multiple computers together) in which contributors donate their excess CPU or GPU cycles to Folding@Home in hope for cancer research. People running the Folding@Home software get points in return, which is the main form of competition among other Folders (people that run Folding@Home).

You may also want to have a look at the Folding@Home Dictionary at the top of this page (it is a sticky).

Welcome nerdzilla1130

This orientation was not intended to explain folding from scratch.

It assumes you have started and are ready to learn more.
Most new folders have read a promo in the magazine, been to the Stanford site, decided to fold, downloaded a client and are running.

It was probably not the most efficient client for them to run, but they have a lot to learn at that point.

It's like you picked a college, someone paid the tuition and here you are on the first day.

You need to know where the library is.
Also nice to locate the café and the bathrooms.
Might be nice to know a little history of your school so you can start to take pride in it.
Who the trouble makers are, here it's the monkeys.
Who is this loudmouth called G who doesn't use emoticons.
Is he kidding with some of those statements (he's always kidding).

Hi, I'm Wes,
this looks like fun, either that or you people are all crazy.

Lol...
What team number should I use for the points?

Thanks,
Wes

Hello Wes! Welcome to the team! When you start folding, go ahead and use whatever name you would like, but the team number should be 11108, that will get you folding for Team Maxim PC... hope you have a load of fun, and if you have any questions, go ahead and ask away...

Hello Wes

Team number 11108
Pick an easy to type and say username and you are off to the races.

Read about the Summer Sizzle contest ASAP and see if you can enter before the deadline.

The more you get involved, the more fun you can have.
The one who has the most fun wins -G

dose folding@home put older computers through hell and back?

i put it on my older comp, p4 2.0a ghz, 768mb of ram, geforce fx 5200 graphics card, and as it starts, my comp locks up completely, can't even move my mouse, that isn't what it is supposed to do right?

what O.S. and which version of the software did you install?

and yes it is like running a benchmark program all the time. but this one is a very low priority, and gives up its cpu cycles to anything that wants it.

memory is another issue though.

windows xp 32 bit

version 5.03

5.03 has expired, you need the 6.2

Welcome cruiserclass! It honestly depends on which videocard you have whether or not you should Fold SMP or GPU2.

Care to give us all your system specs so we can give you a solid recommendation?

n0b0dykn0ws

Welcome cruiserclass

What n0b0dykn0ws said, plus we are all glad to have you folding with us.

Lots to learn about:

Stats
monitoring
Other teams
Races
Contests
SpotLights
Joke thread
Games
Rankings
and the list goes on

You should never be bored folding with MaximumPC.
If there is not enough going on some time, make something happen yourself. problem solved.

Folding and fun - all we do here -G