Maximum PC

I just posted some data over at the Stanford Forums for another folder looking at Llano but without using GPU. I don't have a lot of data, as I just installed HFM last weekend, but the data I do have is quite interesting.

Data is for this setup: (This is the computer I'm building for mothers day)
Gigabyte A75M-D2H Motherboard
AMD A8-3870K APU - 3GHz Quad-Core CPU + 6550 GPU
4GB DDR3-1600 RAM (1GB shared with GPU)
120GB Mushkin Chronos SATA III SSD (will not be in final build)
Windows 8 Customer Preview (final build will be Win 7 Home Premium)
Antec NeoHE 550 Watt PSU

Some data on work units previously folded (with GPU folding on) but now with GPU folding shut down: (black #'s in parenthesis are with GPU folding enabled on Llano, while the red #'s are folded on my 1055t 6-core at 2.8GHz for comparison)

Project ID: 8001 Core: GRO-A4 Credit: 88.59 Frames: 100
Name: A8-3870K Slot 01 Number of Frames Observed: 300

Min. Time / Frame : 00:01:16 - 5,533.1 PPD (4087.6 / 8747.9)
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:01:17 - 5,425.6 PPD (3959.2 / 7509.3)

NOTE: folded 4 of these since the change over so the data above is strictly with GPU folding off.

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Project ID: 8012 Core: GRO-A4 Credit: 180.6 Frames: 100
Name: A8-3870K Slot 01 Number of Frames Observed: 199

Min. Time / Frame : 00:02:22 - 6,298.7 PPD (4488.0 / 9365.8)
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:02:46 - 4,983.4 PPD (4376.9 / 8642.5)

NOTE: this was the WU that was running when I shut down the GPU folding, IIRC it was already at about 43% completion at the change over.

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Project ID: 8013 Core: GRO-A4 Credit: 180.6 Frames: 100
Name: A8-3870K Slot 01 Number of Frames Observed: 200

Min. Time / Frame : 00:02:28 - 5,919.6 PPD (4526.1 / 8872.9)
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:02:44 - 5,074.8 PPD (4413.4 / 8531.0)

NOTE: only 1 WU folded since turning GPU folding off, average time is an average between 1 WU with GPU folding on & 1 WU with GPU folding off.

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That's the end of the common data, I do have 2 additional WU that have been acquired since shutting GPU folding off: (numbers in red are from 1055t 6-core SMP)

Project ID: 8024 Core: GRO-A4 Credit: 185 Frames: 100
Name: A8-3870K Slot 01 Number of Frames Observed: 200

Min. Time / Frame : 00:02:26 - 6,150.1 PPD (9404.1)
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:02:30 - 5,905.7 PPD (9153.4)

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[b Project ID: 8026[/b] Core: GRO-A4 Credit: 87 Frames: 100
Name: A8-3870K Slot 01 Number of Frames Observed: 300

Min. Time / Frame : 00:01:09 - 6,218.9 PPD (10081.6)
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:01:13 - 5,714.8 PPD (8738.6)

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If this were setup as a dedicated folder, it would be worth looking into the old Radeon CPU utilization fix to see if it might still work. But since I'm just stress testing to ensure everything is in working order before giving computer to mom, I won't bother.

Still even without the CPU utilization fix, the average PPD gain from SMP with GPU folding off is only about 1/2 to 2/3rd the PPD lost from shutting down GPU folding, and power draw only dropped from 155 Watts to 125 Watts, so the GPU is using just 30 Watts or 0.72 KWh per day (measured by Kill-A-Watt meter) to produce 2,867 PPD --- That equates to 3982 PPD per KWh

There is one additional Work Unit that I've only folded on the A8-3870K while folding on the GPU:Project ID: 10085 Core: GRO-A4 Credit: 600 Frames: 100
Name: A8-3870K Slot 01 Number of Frames Observed: 100

Min. Time / Frame : 00:05:16 - 7,791.5 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:05:20 - 7,645.8 PPD

I'd love to see that folding while GPU folding is shut down, & would also love to see it on my 1055t...

Last but not least, the only GPU work unit I seem to get on the Llano:

Project ID: 11293 Core: OPENMM_OPENCL Credit: 1835 Frames: 100
Name: A8-3870K Slot 00 Number of Frames Observed: 136

Min. Time / Frame : 00:08:16 - 3,196.5 PPD
Avg. Time / Frame : 00:09:13 - 2,867.0 PPD


Kill-A-Watt Meter Data before turning off GPU folding: Includes occasional down-time & pausing folding for driver upgrades / software install, and system shutdown to swap RAM from the 2GB I had in there to the 4GB it will have when mom gets it, probably 2 - 6 hours of total folding "down-time"
316 hours
43.6 KWh
Average Watts used: 137.9

Not that it would matter as a dedicated folding box... but current config at idle uses just 60 Watts, her current system uses 128 Watts at idle, but that's also with an add-in GPU, 2 hard drives, DVD burner, & 4 sticks of DDR-400 RAM.

EDIT: When compared to the 1055t, it doesn't look like a bad processor, with 50% more cores, the 1055t in several of the WU's gets about 50% higher ppd. Sure it would have been nice to see a little better performance from a newer generation product with a slightly higher core speed, but considering it's a very different approach, IMO, it's not bad at all.

So, it looks like you do produce a few more points per day total with the GPU folding on. Based on the first data point, which seems like the most reliable of them since the others are skewed a bit, you're looking at roughly 6800 ppd from folding with both. That's getting within spitting distance of your 1055, really.

So, yeah, they're worth folding on, certainly, but I don't think I'd turn off GPU folding, unless the system overheats. Even with AMD coolers, I doubt that you could run both clients 24/7 on stock cooling. That's more of an aftermarket-cooling arena.

All in all, though, certainly more attractive than folding on Intel's GPU...lol.

There used to be a workaround to the Radeon CPU utilization problem while folding. If it still works on the newer Radeon hardware, it could bump up production another 1200 - 1600 ppd! But I'm just about done folding on this machine anyway, by months end for sure, possibly sooner. As I start to get the final components in & system finished before Mothers Day, the plan is to complete testing with the finished system, ensuring it will work how mom will be using it, and no, folding will not be included when she gets it.

RE: Stock cooler Can't even browse the internet on stock cooling... well maybe, but the stock cooler is truly pathetic. It looks like the coolers they included with single-core Sempron CPU's. In under 15 seconds of starting F@H temps skyrocketed up past 60C with the stock cooler. Danged computer started beeping at me, I checked temps & in 3 seconds, temps went from 66C to 68C, & the GPU client wasn't even running yet at that point... I immediately shut-down & began looking for a different heatsink to use. Luckily I still had the retail cooler from my Athlon X2 4400+ to swap out, it at least has a larger & more powerful fan & 4 heat pipes. Keeps the CPU down in the low 50's while SMP & GPU folding. This is one case where I would suggest to everyone to buy OEM version of the CPU (if there was one) & get a cooler designed for multi-core processors to go with it.

I don't have the WU data readily available, it's at home, I'm at work... but the last 7 days (including through Noon today) of production have exclusively been done by the A8-3870K overclocked to 3.18GHz (30*106MHz).

Total Production last 6.5 days: 55316 points = 8,510ppd (& it looks like the last WU I completed is missing)
Total Running Time: 770 hours
Total energy used: 100.12 KWh
Average KWh per day = 3.12KWh
Average PPD per KWh = 2727.56

At my current cost of $0.1685 per KWh (including taxes & fuel surcharge), that brings my PPD per $1.00 of electricity up to 16,187.30