World CEP2 Challenge (6 october - 14 october)

[Peter1986C]

I henceforth announce that we will run the "World CEP2 Challenge" from 6 october 2013 @ 0:00 UTC until 14 october 2013 @ 0:00 UTC, more or less in paralel to the World Solar Challenge 2013, which is by the way not officially affiliated with TPU, The Clean Energy Project nor the World Community Grid.


Further info related to the World CEP2 Challenge

The CEP2 Challenge will be be a CEP2 runtime challenge, to have a small break from the "points" challenges TPU usually participates in. We will assist science to develp the solar cells of the future. Photovoltaic cells made from materials abundantly available to us, Earthlings, that are at least as good at genereting electricity as the current silicon based stuff but is way cheaper to produce. This should make "solar power" within reach of much more people, and hopefully also take away some of the environmental impact of the production procedure of solar cells.

It will be a CEP2 runtime challenge, but team members, existing, new, or returning, should be given the option to either run All Projects or CEP2 exclusively. We have seen several discussions going on that address various means of handling more CEP2 work as well as some of the difficulties in doing so. All of these tips (or links) can be found in the OP for the challenge thread.
New/returning members contributing in either format will also enhance our challenge and our WCG performance.

There will be two different prize pools in this challenge; one will be team prizes and one will be internal prizes. TPU is being excluded from the team prizes for diplomatic reasons.

Team prizes:
I will add a small PP donation of €10 for a lucky draw among the lower 50% of the participating teams, as long as they have a runtime of at least 1 day during the challenge. I will leave it up to their respective captains to decide how to divide the money within their team.
The top 50% will be able to win a small PP donation of mine as well, a slightly bigger one than the aforementioned (€15). Once again, I will leave it up to their respective captains to decide how to divide the money within their team.

Summarised: I will exclude TPU from this draw, because we are having a prize draw of our own. I will add €15 and €10 to the prize pot for the top ranks resp. lower ranks draws. If anyone else want to contribute to the "team prizes", let me know.

Internal prizes:
We will use the different prize requirements for the TPU prize draws compared for the Team prizes. With other words, the minimum is 1000 BOINC credits for the duration of the challenge (based on stats provided by Free-DC and BoincStats). This is because there is no way to track individual crunchers' runtime (only team runtime).

The internal prizes will be:
- $25 Paypal gift - provided by Norton
- Windows 7 Pro key (x2) - provided by [Ion]
- Windows 7 Pro key - provided by Bow
- CM Sentinel Advanced 2 (mouse)
--US: free shipping
--Canada/Mexico: winner pays 1/2 shipping


Useful links:
About the World Community Grid
About The CleanEnergy Project
About the BOINC software
How To: Getting BOINC setup for WCG
Want to run 100% CEP2 WUs? Here's how...
World CEP2 Challenge Link
Link to thread over at the WCG Forums

Project Status and Findings:
Researchers at Harvard have published a free database (www.molecularspace.org) cataloguing the electronic properties of over 2 million organic, carbon-based compounds and their potential for converting sunlight into electricity. These compounds were screened by volunteers on World Community Grid and this initiative is believed to be the most extensive investigation of quantum chemicals ever performed.

About 36,000 of the compounds analyzed show potential to perform at approximately double the efficiency of most current organic solar cells in production. Scientists can use this information to continue investigating the most promising candidates for use in cheaper, more efficient and more flexible solar cells. Thanks to World Community Grid volunteers, the computations for this project, which would have required 17,000 years on a single PC, were carried out in only three years, and the results are now available to stimulate research in the next generation of solar energy solutions.

The research project is ongoing, and new compounds will be added to the database as they are analyzed.

Additional information on The Clean Energy Project can be found on these pages, including the project's News & Update page. You may also visit The Clean Energy Project website to learn more about the project and read the latest status updates. To discuss or ask questions about this project, please visit The Clean Energy - Phase 2 Project Forum.

Mission
The mission of The Clean Energy Project is to find new materials for the next generation of solar cells and later, energy storage devices. By harnessing the immense power of World Community Grid, researchers can calculate the electronic properties of hundreds of thousands of organic materials – thousands of times more than could ever be tested in a lab – and determine which candidates are most promising for developing affordable solar energy technology.

Significance
We are living in the Age of Energy. The fossil fuel based economy of the present must give way to the renewable energy based economy of the future, but getting there is one of the greatest challenge humanity faces. Chemistry can help meet this challenge by discovering new materials that efficiently harvest solar radiation, store energy for later use, and reconvert the stored energy when needed.

The Clean Energy Project uses computational chemistry and the willingness of people to help look for the best molecules possible for: organic photovoltaics to provide inexpensive solar cells, polymers for the membranes used in fuel cells for electricity generation, and how best to assemble the molecules to make those devices. By helping search combinatorially among thousands of potential systems, World Community Grid volunteers are contributing to this effort.

Approach
Researchers are employing molecular mechanics and electronic structure calculations to predict the optical and transport properties of molecules that could become the next generation of solar cell materials.

a) Phase 1 performed molecular mechanics calculations: In the first phase of the project, the computations focused on understanding how hypothetical candidate molecules pack together to form a solid (either crystal, film, polymer...) and to predict if that solid would have the right electronic properties to possibly be used in solar cells. These calculations were carried out in phase 1 of the project using CHARMM, a molecular mechanics software package developed by the Karplus group at Harvard University. For more information, please see The Clean Energy Project - Phase 1.

b) Phase 2 is performing electronic structure calculations: To obtain more accurate optical, electronic and other physical properties of the candidate solar materials, quantum mechanics calculations are being performed for each of the candidates. These calculations will be performed with the Q-Chem quantum chemistry software, developed by Q-Chem, Inc. This work will result in a useful database of information about the properties of a large number of compounds. This phase will also provide direct input to experimental groups to aid in their design of improved solar cells.

------------------

 

[Peter1986C]

FYI- There are some short CEP2 work units popping up- around 1 hr each on my rigs. I have run a few of them but I have little knowledge of what they are or how long they will be running.

Keep an eye out for them and if any pop up in your BOINC Manager please post a screenshot of them running

Would be nice if these become regular for a while- more crunchers will be more likely run them as they could help avoid the large upload and long runtime issues of the original wu's.

I felt like quoting this here. ^ I cannot confirm the truth of what's in that quote, however at the moment.

List of those who joined "for the prizes" (WIP)

[table="head"]TPU Internal Prize Drawing participants | Points @ 5 Oct (Free-DC/BOINCstats) | Points @ 15 Oct (Free-DC/BOINCstats)
[Ion] |77,540,226 / 77,540,226.32 | / 78,263,045.09 |
adulaamin | 2,197,352 / 2,197,351.83 | / 2,227,230.23 |
AlienIsGod | - / 4,876,750 | / 4,957,197.21 |
AnnCore | 1,618,642 / 1,618,641.58 | / 1,645,500.50 |
Arjai | 89,396 / 89,396.41 | / 96,349.49 |
BowHunt3r (Bow) | 3,791,962 / 3,791,962 | / 3,796,427 |
Brandonwh64 | 7,311,270 / 7,311,270.31 | /7,327,591 |
Buck_Nasty | 7,513,187 / 7,513,187.26 | / 7,726,808 |
Chevalr1c | 439,344 / 439,344.48 | / 444,822.60 |
Chicken Patty | 14,703,369 / 14,703,368.58 | / 14,818,986|
Norton | 48,484,569 / 48,484,569.38 | /48,763,662 |
manofthem | 39,850,689 / 39,850,688.83 | /39,920,051 |
mauriek | - / 2,921,459 | / 2,939,109|
sabre23 | 2,772,259 / 2,772,259.14 | / 2,791,647 |
Stinger608 | |
t_ski | 51,151,297 / 51,151,297.02 | / 51,246,429 |
ThE_MaD_ShOt | 17,394,698 / 17,394,698.16 | /17,486,326 |
TRWOV | 11,980,390 / 11,980,390.24 | / 12,110,084|
librin.so.1 (Vinska) | 2,117,344 / 2,117,344.04 | / 2,201,705|
xvi_tech.kyle (Xvi) | - / 2,101,339 | / 2,173,351|
[/table]

Additional stats:

 

[Chicken Patty]

Awesome. I'll create the thread over at the WCG Forums later when I'm home, THANKS!

 

[Arjai]

I'm in. I'm gonna burn this sucker to the ground, or not. I seem to have cured the heat issue, thanks to a coffee shop friend giving me his little wooden wedge that props my lappytop up enough to breath better.

I had a slight bump in temps yesterday, while playing Limbo while crunching. So, I have now found one of the limits to this i5's abilities. Fortunately it's only an air flow limit, I have yet to have trouble with streaming, watching DVD's, or anything while crunching at 100%.

Oops, a little off topic, sorry. I haven't had enough coffee yet, still a bit rambling.

Just happy, very happy, with the performance of this under watt-ed, 17W, i5 in this thing!

 

[Chicken Patty]

Count me in as well.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I'll be crunching away.

 

[Norton]

I'm in as always.... working on getting two more systems up and running too for an additional 12 cores/18 threads

*Note- I'll grab a screenshot of the those smaller CEP2 work units if I can when I get home this evening. I saw one running on one of my FX-8350 rigs this am

** EDIT**
Posted some screenshots here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2985820&postcount=13

 

[TRWOV]

Count me in.

 

[sabre23]

I'm in.

Thanks for the Warmup Challenge, now i have more understanding of CEP2 WU's.

Just a question though: How we will calcuate CEP2 points and run time? Do we have to start earlier than 6th Oct(more like 1st-2nd Oct) to get validated results in time?

 

[Peter1986C]

I'm in. I'm gonna burn this sucker to the ground, or not. I seem to have cured the heat issue, thanks to a coffee shop friend giving me his little wooden wedge that props my lappytop up enough to breath better.

I had a slight bump in temps yesterday, while playing Limbo while crunching. So, I have now found one of the limits to this i5's abilities. Fortunately it's only an air flow limit, I have yet to have trouble with streaming, watching DVD's, or anything while crunching at 100%.

Oops, a little off topic, sorry. I haven't had enough coffee yet, still a bit rambling.

Just happy, very happy, with the performance of this under watt-ed, 17W, i5 in this thing!

Those low power CPUs are truly amazing in terms the punch they pack. It has no trouble keeping up with my E8400 or (in case of BOINC) even beating it. Amazing how the laptop/embedded market has developed over the last couple of years.

I believe you can get four CEP2 WUs done in about 14 hours, mine tends to do two in about as much time. Toning it down to load each core like 80-90% might be better for that lappy though, it would be a waste if the heat shortens its life.

I'm in.

Thanks for the Warmup Challenge, now i have more understanding of CEP2 WU's.

Just a question though: How we will calcuate CEP2 points and run time? Do we have to start earlier than 6th Oct(more like 1st-2nd Oct) to get validated results in time?

WCG will measure the runtime just like it does with points in the previous challenges.

Edit: I added in some extra info into the OP for this thread. @CP, no need to add that block to the thread on the WCG forums I think.

 

[Chicken Patty]

I went ahead and added a link to the challenge as well as the thread over at the WCG forums at the end of the OP.

 

[Arjai]

Those low power CPUs are truly amazing in terms the punch they pack. It has no trouble keeping up with my E8400 or (in case of BOINC) even beating it. Amazing how the laptop/embedded market has developed over the last couple of years.

I believe you can get four CEP2 WUs done in about 14 hours, mine tends to do two in about as much time. Toning it down to load each core like 80-90% might be better for that lappy though, it would be a waste if the heat shortens its life.

I actually finish four in an average of 12:15 to 12:30 hrs. I had one, two days ago, that finished in 11:50, exactly.

The Turbo on this hits 2.4GHZ with all four logical cores running, like now. I ran a single job last night, for a few hours. Using a single core, it ramps up to 2.53 and hits 2.55 for a few seconds, every so often.


Heat wise it rarely goes past 82.2C and is usually hanging around, 78C. I think, if I remember right, the point of throttling down is 98.8C. So, unless I leave it crunching and start gaming, I have had no issues. I have Real Temp set at 87.8C, that's what I hit playing Limbo for about 40 minutes. So, it's more tongue in cheek-ing about burning it down.

But thanks, for your concern!

 

[Norton]

Smaller CEP2 work units- info

See below for screenshots from my rigs that have the smaller wu's....

From the BOINC Manager on my 2nd FX-8350 rig:

Spoiler

Work unit details:

Spoiler

All of them are coming back valid so far:

Spoiler

There's a thread on the WCG forum that seems to mention something about it*
* hopefully we'll see some technical details or additional info
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread_thread,35638

 

[AnnCore]

You'll have at least 1 PC of mine working on CEP2.

 

[Bow]

I am all in.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

With the cooler weather coming, I will be easing back into Folding/WCG. I will be leaving for vacation on Oct 5th and since the heat will not affect me while gone, I will crank up both 48 core servers for the duration of the challenge. Now I only have to figure out how to run CEP2....

 

[adulaamin]

I'm in as always. I only crunch with a single rig but as long as I'm helping/contributing, I'M HAPPY!

 

[[Ion]]

Woot
I'll have to work on device profiles and figure out what will be doing what, but I'll definitely switch at least some of my systems over to a FAAH + CEP2 mix
I may also throw the Atom back into the mix--it doesn't do great, but it's at least another 4T setup

 

[Peter1986C]

With the cooler weather coming, I will be easing back into Folding/WCG. I will be leaving for vacation on Oct 5th and since the heat will not affect me while gone, I will crank up both 48 core servers for the duration of the challenge. Now I only have to figure out how to run CEP2....

The links to our "documentation" is in the OP, let us know if you have further questions. :tioast:

Thanks for joining BN!

Woot
I'll have to work on device profiles and figure out what will be doing what, but I'll definitely switch at least some of my systems over to a FAAH + CEP2 mix
I may also throw the Atom back into the mix--it doesn't do great, but it's at least another 4T setup

Thanks bud!

I'm in as always. I only crunch with a single rig but as long as I'm helping/contributing, I'M HAPPY!

Thanks!

 

[Norton]

Less than a week to go and 15 Teams are signed up!

 

[TRWOV]

Ready for the challenge

 

[manofthem]

I'm pretty much ready for the challenge
And getting ready for the game giveaway. Looks like another chance to win some games in on horizon!

 

[Peter1986C]

All that want to be eligible for the prizes have to be posting in this thread so that I can put you in the list in the OP.

 

[AnnCore]

So one post saying were taking part in the challenge and one post saying we'd like to be eligible for prizes, eh?

 

[Peter1986C]

I assume that if you state you are "in", you are joining for the prices. Else one could also silently continue crunching for Team TPU.