A3 Core Is it worth it?

didgemaster · 18 Feb 2010 at 12:06

I have just move my Rig at home over to the new A3 core. This is not on 24/7. As I understand it the new bonus system 80% of the A3 work units that I receive must be retuned before the preferred dead line.

Is there a minimum quantity of units I have to return within a specified time frame or is it simply on a per WU basis?

I have a laptop with a T7250 (2GHz) duo core running in it and this is on 24/7 is it worth changing this over to the A3 core? Would it complete the WUs in time?

If the bonus is calculated on a minimum quantity of units then do both machines contribute to this minimum or are all machines treated separately?

SiriusB · 18 Feb 2010 at 12:26

As far as I am aware the bonuses are on a per-WU basis.

I couldn't really say if the A3 units are worth it for you as I don't know how quickly your CPU will munch through them. Using this calculator http://www.linuxforge.net/bonuscalc2.php for Project 6012 I found that if you take more than 8 minutes per frame [on average] [or about half a day for the full WU], then you probably shouldn't bother.

didgemaster · 18 Feb 2010 at 15:13

To give you some idea of the performance the laptop is currently crunching an smp wu from Project: 2653 (Run 34, Clone 138, Gen 142).

It is getting about 1200 PPD and TPF is 21:15

SiriusB · 18 Feb 2010 at 15:21

21 Minutes for a frame? That's about 35 hours for a single WU. The A3s will probably be quicker but i really don't know.

To give you some idea, most of the A3s I have done so far have a TPF of about 3 minutes [a tad more now I have lowered my OC

], whereas a couple of the A1s I landed were taking 6 minutes per frame.

If that translates accurately to your laptop that means you will be doing 10 mins per A3 frame... which would get you 2.8K PPD according to the calculator.

It is all speculation though. I wont know for sure how much PPD you'd get without you actually getting an A3 WU.

dekez · 18 Feb 2010 at 15:41

Interesting, I wondered this myself as my SMP machine is off and on, between 5 and 15 hours a day.

didgemaster · 18 Feb 2010 at 22:11

So if our theory is right I should be able to shut my folder off after it has finished and uploaded a unit and this won't effect my bonuses providing it doesn't download a new unit?

SiriusB · 18 Feb 2010 at 22:20

Yep, each WU's bonus is calculated individually. As long as you get it done sooner rather than later you should get better PPD than A1s.

dekez · 18 Feb 2010 at 23:24

didgemaster said:
So if our theory is right I should be able to shut my folder off after it has finished and uploaded a unit and this won't effect my bonuses providing it doesn't download a new unit?

I guess if you set the ask before sending / fetching work units option to yes, this would mean you wouldn't have to keep an eye on it quite so closely.

didgemaster · 19 Feb 2010 at 00:18

dekez said:
I guess if you set the ask before sending / fetching work units option to yes, this would mean you wouldn't have to keep an eye on it quite so closely.

Not used this feature does it ask for sending and receiving separately? or does it ask for both in one question?

SiriusB · 19 Feb 2010 at 00:36

I would assume at the end of the WU it will ask "OK I'm done, shall I upload and snag another, boss?"

Snapshot · 19 Feb 2010 at 06:57

Or use the -oneunit flag so the client shuts down after it's uploaded a completed WU and it's then up to you to restart it for the next WU.

didgemaster · 19 Feb 2010 at 07:29

Snapshot said:
Or use the -oneunit flag so the client shuts down after it's uploaded a completed WU and it's then up to you to restart it for the next WU.

Perfect - this should stop partial units

I think I will let my i7 rig get some bonuses to have some kind of base line then change over my laptop to see if it effects the bonuses received

didgemaster · 23 Feb 2010 at 12:53

Does anyone know if it is possible to check that you are being awarded bonuses for the completion of A3 cores?

dekez · 23 Feb 2010 at 17:10

didgemaster said:
Does anyone know if it is possible to check that you are being awarded bonuses for the completion of A3 cores?

No idea, but I would like to know this as well. I'm still not sure I'm getting the bonuses, but it is hard to tell, with my other clients getting delays with network issues my PPD is all over the place.

I might get my SMP folding under a different username for a couple of days to see if there is no other way.

didgemaster · 23 Feb 2010 at 18:08

dekez said:
I might get my SMP folding under a different username for a couple of days to see if there is no other way.

Please do and let us all know - although you will have to keep an eye on the amount and types of WUs you crunch

Snapshot · 24 Feb 2010 at 07:14

I don't think it's a problem as long as you've completed your initial ten A2 or A3 WUs. I get around 2500 points for an A3 core with bonus on a stock Q9450 instead of the standard 480-ish. It shows up pretty well on EOC stats unless you have a large number of WUs going through.

johnerz · 8 Mar 2010 at 14:08

I recently changed over from VM notfreds at about 6k ppd to these on smp and my ppd for the cpy is now 8+k ppd so its worth it
Issues or requirements :
you need to use a passkey - very easy to do look on the link
http://foldingforum.org/viewforum.php?f=58&sid=259778ecb323ad446a80f9fcb3e31889

You need to complete 10 WU before you get the bonus and complete over 80% of the WU's received from adding the passkey
FAHMON does not compute the bonus but other programms do
you can always jusy use this:
http://www.linuxforge.net/bonuscalc2.php

didgemaster · 8 Mar 2010 at 14:44

I have tried using A3 cores at work and my laptop (a Core 2 duo T7250 2GHz) hardly gains anything. I have decided not to use them on this machine