TPU's WCG/BOINC Team

[manofthem]

My numbers will be down a bit for a few days. I have to shut down one system for awhile while I configure that awesome Kreij #5 rig and get it ready to give to the daughter.
Once I get it configured and set up, the other rig will be fired back up and my numbers will actually be gaining in the long run.
She doesn't know it yet, but it will be crunching 24/7 as well.

I like that idea right there


I'm having a little difficulty on my main rig. Since last night, it's been acting funky, almost like it's infected with something. I did a system restore earlier, but that didn't work. I've done a few scans today: file system, malwarebytes, panda av, windows defender... A few little things popped up and subsequently killed, so time will tell if the problem is gone. However, I don't think it's over yet...

Things seem to have gotten a little better, but one thing remains: ccleaner can't seem to clean out IE History. I don't even use IE, but when it gets to that point, it just sits and sits, then eventually freezes. very weird. Just uninstalled ccleaner so maybe reinstallation will help.

Eh, gotta love pc issues



edit: ccleaner reinstall didn't resolve it; still craps out. Control Panel won't open, just a blank screen. My Computer is doing the same thing again, nothing shows when it's opened. I read that it was related to Network Discovery, and while I've tried turning that on and off, issues are still there.

I'm thinking about wiping it all out, but it's going to have to wait til tomorrow.

 

[stinger608]

Okay @manofthem this is what you do brother

Download, update, and run SuperAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html Very awesome program

Download and run Combofix: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/ Very important note; do not run Combofix if your running Windows 8/8.1!!!

Keep us updated Matt!

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I am just at the end of this semester of school and took a nutrition class, and now I understand what folding in a computer computation stand point is after the protein unit. Main reason why I want to crunch 24/7 now. I actually know what the hell it means by folding proteins

 

[manofthem]

Okay @manofthem this is what you do brother

Download, update, and run SuperAntiSpyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html Very awesome program

Download and run Combofix: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/ Very important note; do not run Combofix if your running Windows 8/8.1!!!

Keep us updated Matt!

Thanks buddy

Downloaded and running the first one, but I'm skipping the second since I'm on 8.1.

Sucks because I got so mad so I went ahead and uninstalled all my games, programs, stuff, backed up documents and some random things to the hdd. Now I'm planning on wiping the system and reinstalling, resting a bookable usb drive right now on my other pc. Agh, so mad because I don't even know what started this.


Edit: scan just finished and found nothing. Bah

Edit 2: reinstalling Windows 8 currently, disappointed to say the least

 

[m&m's]

Using MBAM, did you do a threat scan or a custom scan? If you did a threat scan, do a custom scan and check every options and drives. If it finds nothing, your safe.

 

[twilyth]

I use Kaspersky with MBAM. I would get the licensed version of MBAM so that you can run scheduled scans and updates. You do need to tweak both since I don't think either will scan for rootkits by default, just as an example. And for Kaspersky, it doesn't use the highest heuristic level by default. Plus MBAM has some protection features you can enable.

If you shop around you can get both for a pretty good price. I'm not sure but I think I got Kaspersky for 3 PCs for 3 years for around $150. That sounds like a lot but it really isn't considering what it can save you and the fact that it's one of the best av's out there. MBAM is way cheaper. Try Retailmenot for coupons or just search each with the word discount or coupon and the site will be one of the first hits. Costco is also a good bet especially at this time of year.

 

[manofthem]

Using MBAM, did you do a threat scan or a custom scan? If you did a threat scan, do a custom scan and check every options and drives. If it finds nothing, your safe.

I did the full scans, not the custom ones. It didn't find anything, but it's all good because I already reinstalled. Now it's off to update windows, download updates, try the Omega driver again...stuff like that. Still sucks though, reintsalling everything takes forever for me, i hate doing it.

I use Kaspersky with MBAM. I would get the licensed version of MBAM so that you can run scheduled scans and updates. You do need to tweak both since I don't think either will scan for rootkits by default, just as an example. And for Kaspersky, it doesn't use the highest heuristic level by default. Plus MBAM has some protection features you can enable.

If you shop around you can get both for a pretty good price. I'm not sure but I think I got Kaspersky for 3 PCs for 3 years for around $150. That sounds like a lot but it really isn't considering what it can save you and the fact that it's one of the best av's out there. MBAM is way cheaper. Try Retailmenot for coupons or just search each with the word discount or coupon and the site will be one of the first hits. Costco is also a good bet especially at this time of year.

I'll take a look around over the next few weeks and see if I can find a deal. I haven't run any AV in a long time, but it may be nice to get something agian.


However, i'm not convinced it was a virus; it may have been some other software issue, something may have gotten screwed up or something. It just wasn't worth it to try to figure out anything more at that point, less headache to reinstall.. I won't get it all done tonight, but still, I should have BOINC running again.... I hope

 

[theonedub]

Once the PC is up and running, make an image backup so if it happens again you'll have an easy time restoring.

 

[manofthem]

Once the PC is up and running, make an image backup so if it happens again you'll have an easy time restoring.

Indeed so, very good advice. I thought I had done that before, but apparently I was mistaken; I did look for a backup but all I could find was a backup from my other pc.

And can you believe MS makes you update Win 8 w/ 100+ updates before being able to update to 8.1? I never realized that before but thought it was silly.

And no boinc tonight. Left 8.1 downloading and I'm off to bed, another terrible day tomorrow at work

 

[xvi]

When I see malware and/or issues:

 

[stinger608]

When I see malware and/or issues:

Speaking of funny a$$ animated clips, this is a real old one from the original Counter Strike days. Funny as hell!

 

[Norton]

That clip was good right until the end- I live too close to Newtown, CT

 

[Nordic]

I have been seeing some server racks for 4u/2u/1u servers or what not on my craigslist. It would be cool to get one and fill it. One can dream.

 

[TRWOV]

I will wind down starting this weekend for the holidays. Gonna be back on full force on January.

The 3770K is throwing good numbers but I don't think I'll get the 5K I was hoping for, maybe I'll try Linux later and see how they compare. Still, it seems that W10 offers more performance than 8.1, specially on the FPU front:

 

[manofthem]

If you get this error when attaching WCG to BOINC ver. 7.4.27:

-1 missing or bad parameter: email_addr

do the following:

1. Go into your WGC profile ( Settings > Profile on the WCG page) and look for your account key.
2. Have boinc running and open a command prompt with administrator privileges (Win key, type cmd, right click and select "Run as administrator")
3. On the command prompt, go to your Boinc install folder ( C:\Program Files\Boinc in W7/8)

cd c:\program files\boinc

4. Run the following command:

boinccmd.exe --project_attach www.worldcommunitygrid.org youraccountkey

After that WCG should be attached to your Boinc client.

Got this again, not sure why. So I came here to get this info and fix my issue

 

[xvi]

So, what's the consensus on HyperThreading these days? Is ~130% the performance worth 150% the price as far as WCG is concerned? I know the difference is moot as far as gaming is concerned.

 

[twilyth]

I thought that virtual cores where very close to actual in terms of performance with WCG - and that was as of a couple of years ago. I'm sure things have improved by now.

I searched host stats on boinstats and found this AMD 6274 Interlagos based server - http://boincstats.com/en/stats/15/host/detail/1980163

It averages about 12kppd with 32 cores. The chip was introduced in Nov 2011. The Xeon 2687w I have has 32 threads and averages about 16k ppd. It was introduced about the same time - Q1 2012.

There is a difference in clock speeds though. The 6274 tops out at about 2.5ghz when running more than 8 cores while the 2687w has a max turbo speed of 3.8 ghz or about 50% faster. So I guess if you take 50% of 12k and subtract that 6k from the 16k you would get about 10k. That implies that the Xeon's virtual cores are about 83% as effective as the Interlagos' physical cores.

Of course these are just rough estimates and both chips are nearly 3 years old.

 

[stinger608]

great post @twilyth !!!
I suppose a person could check the PPD difference between an i5-4670K and an i7-4770K to get an idea as well. They are newer chips and might shed some more light on this.
I myself have often pondered this same question.

 

[twilyth]

great post @twilyth !!!
I suppose a person could check the PPD difference between an i5-4670K and an i7-4770K to get an idea as well. They are newer chips and might shed some more light on this.
I myself have often pondered this same question.

Oh . . . D'oh. Yeah. I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to compare HT vs non-HT intel chips. For some reason I keep thinking that all of their chips have HT even though I'm constantly reminded that they don't.

Didn't there used to be charts that plotted ppd on WCG by host type? I hate to go and start picking ones at random. There used to be a spreadsheet that someone maintained where you could list your machine, the clock speed, ppd and some other information and it was really easy to get an idea of average performance. Does anyone know if that still exists?

 

[Nordic]

I thought I read @Norton saying it was about 10%. I am really unimpressed with the ppd from hyperthreading compared to overclocking from when I had a 4770k.

 

[Norton]

I thought I read @Norton saying it was about 10%. I am really unimpressed with the ppd from hyperthreading compared to overclocking from when I had a 4770k.

I don't think it was me?

I would tend to say around 30-40% boost for hyperthreading with a similar boost for Linux (depending on workload and architecture)

My 2600k (stock) and i7-970 (3.6Ghz) get around 7k ppd- both run with hyperthreading on and are running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (not sure what they would get for ppd with hyperthreading off and/or in Windows)

 

[xvi]

I recall HyperThreading bringing about a 30% bonus for SETI@Home back in the Pentium 4 days and seem to recall seeing that ~30% number generally holding true in the newer processors. If WUs can keep cores fed these days, I don't see HT bringing much improvement. Assuming the respective i5 and i7s overclock about the same, the only difference would be the 6MB L3, in which case I don't think it'd be worth trading a large stack of cash for a large stack of cache. (See what I did there?)

My main concern is that with Skylake on the horizon (and also being LGA1150 and Z97 compatible), the Devil's Canyon processors won't hold their value. I was going to say I'll just go for an old Ivy or something, but I didn't realize those are a different socket.
If there's not much BOINC performance to be had with HT and if the value won't hold once Skylake hits, the i7s don't sound too sensible.

 

[mstenholm]

Oh . . . D'oh. Yeah. I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to compare HT vs non-HT intel chips. For some reason I keep thinking that all of their chips have HT even though I'm constantly reminded that they don't.

Didn't there used to be charts that plotted ppd on WCG by host type? I hate to go and start picking ones at random. There used to be a spreadsheet that someone maintained where you could list your machine, the clock speed, ppd and some other information and it was really easy to get an idea of average performance. Does anyone know if that still exists?

Boincstats stopped updating the CPU stats around two years ago. A shame since my E8400 was doing so well. The one E8400 I have running now does around 700 PPD per core @ 3.6 Ghz. If a HT CPU should be anywhere close to that I should get 9333 PPD on my i7 970 @ 4 GHz. I get 5700 PPD on 11 threads so 6630 PPD on 12. That is roughly 50 % less or core times 0.7. Facit a HT CPU can/will yield 70% more than a non HT CPU.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

get around 7k ppd

Then what am I doing wrong? 2600K @ 4.2 under Mint is averaging 6255. My 2600K @ 4.4 W7 system, that's also Folding, so therefore is only using 7 threads is averaging 5872. The only thought I have is that I am pushing CEP because I'm behind (must have run times even, ya know) with CEP. (currently only accepting work from CEP, UGM and OET)
@xvi I was seeing about 2000 ppd more for my OC'd i7's than I was for my i5-3450.
I would like to see someone put up 2 identical systems, at the same time, running the same profile, one with i5 and one with i7 and see what the real differences are, including electrical usage.

 

[twilyth]

I recall HyperThreading bringing about a 30% bonus for SETI@Home back in the Pentium 4 days and seem to recall seeing that ~30% number generally holding true in the newer processors. If WUs can keep cores fed these days, I don't see HT bringing much improvement. Assuming the respective i5 and i7s overclock about the same, the only difference would be the 6MB L3, in which case I don't think it'd be worth trading a large stack of cash for a large stack of cache. (See what I did there?)

My main concern is that with Skylake on the horizon (and also being LGA1150 and Z97 compatible), the Devil's Canyon processors won't hold their value. I was going to say I'll just go for an old Ivy or something, but I didn't realize those are a different socket.
If there's not much BOINC performance to be had with HT and if the value won't hold once Skylake hits, the i7s don't sound too sensible.

I guess I tend to focus mainly on multisocket server chips which I assume all have HT. I think there are some single socket Xeons that don't but I dont' recall seeing MP chips that don't.

Anyway, I'm curious about Skylake. I haven't really kept up with the tech and I need to get back into that to some extent, so what makes it so special as compared to Haswell. I know from wikipedia and couple of other articles that it's a die shrink but I didn't see anything about performance improvement. I noticed that it will have an on-die GPU with multiple EUs but unless those can be used for crunching, I'm not sure what makes the chip worth waiting for. Thanks.