Best crunching method for me?

stormduck

stormduck

stormduck

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21 Mar 2008
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I've got smp for windows running, one client on a quad core and fahmon says 2630PPD.

I understand that vmware running linux and smp with 2 clients is possibly the best setup, but i get the impression that being able to use the pc for anything else is not possible as vmware/smp linux doesn't back off the processing when something else in windows demands it, unlike smp windows - can anyone confirm this? And is there a way around this?


Also, can anyone give me a definitive version of linux to use, the guide that 'cob' posted a link for states that ubuntu is easiest but i get the impression it's a big install with unneccessary components, another posted link from cob states using arch is a lot 'thinner' but someone else stated they had nothing but problems from it...the whole thing sounds very confusing and i'm just after a point in the right direction!? Many Thanks!!!
 
If you have enough memory to dedicate to a VM then it's certainly the best method. You can set the VMWare process to run on the lowest priority, and the linuxSMP client is pretty much bug-free.

Ubuntu Server is the most sensible 'nix distro to use. Arch is great, but it's only slightly faster (like a few seconds per frame) and it's nowhere near as user-friendly as Ubuntu. You can literally set up Ubuntu Server to Fold by using only the instructions given on SirusB's guide. Arch requires a little more setting up.
 
+1 for Ubuntu server.

I'll write you a KISS guide of how I set it up - got it down to about 8-10 minutes total now (with two tea breaks as the pc load VM and the linux kernal)

I've not acheive anything clever like a samba install so windows Fahmon and monitor Ubuntu - but useing the command nano unitinfo.txt or nano Fahlog.txt are good enough.

KISS - Keep it stupid simple
 
If ^ can do it......

:p


Samba's pretty simple to set up providing you use the same username and password for Ubuntu as you do for Windows. I always meant to write a short guide for it. It's usually only a case of uncommenting three lines in the config file, and that gives you full read and write access to the home folder.
 
right...

what's affinity changer!?

So it sounds like vmware should be okay to run at the lowest priority, even if i want to say, encode a divx file to a dvd overnight, or jump on it to go on the net etc. I have 4gb ram so i'm guessing it's alright.
 
shadowscotland said:
I'll write you a KISS guide of how I set it up - got it down to about 8-10 minutes total now (with two tea breaks as the pc load VM and the linux kernal)
Click to expand...

Makes me proud to be English. 10 minute job and we still find time to fit in two hot beverages. :cool::D

I'd go 2x Ubuntu Server VMs too. In my experience the "skinnier" flavours only give a very small increase in ppd (my notfred frametimes were pretty much identical to my Ubuntu ones) over a full feature install.

The PC is still usable for web browsing and I only have 2GB RAM (running on Vista too) but if I want to do some encoding I close the VMs because it's crashed on me before now.

It's definitely worth it just to put your CPU to 100% load.
 
stormduck said:
right...

what's affinity changer!?

So it sounds like vmware should be okay to run at the lowest priority, even if i want to say, encode a divx file to a dvd overnight, or jump on it to go on the net etc. I have 4gb ram so i'm guessing it's alright.
Click to expand...

You'll never have any issues surfing the net. CPU intensive tasks such as video encoding will take a fair bit longer than usual tho.
 
theheyes said:
Makes me proud to be English. 10 minute job and we still find time to fit in two hot beverages. :cool::D.
Click to expand...

The total time is about 20-25 min's, but only 10minutes of that you need to spend infront of the screen, saying yes to most of the defaults.

theheyes said:
I'd go 2x Ubuntu Server VMs too. In my experience the "skinnier" flavours only give a very small increase in ppd (my notfred frametimes were pretty much identical to my Ubuntu ones) over a full feature install.
Click to expand...

Only run one VM with one ubuntu server - (E6600) - and It's about 200-300ppd quicker than full ubuntu. 2200-2450 with server. 1950-2150 with ubuntu.

This uses about 92-98% with give the wife a few cycles to play with, but she shuts it down when doing any photo work (thankfully shes a star and remenbers to start it again after, well most times anyways :D )
 
i have two win smp's running on my quad with the affinity changer - averaging about 3800ppd. I have no clue what so ever about linux etc etc so just sticking with win smp.

Encoding/gaming/surfing/watchin films etc - i just leave it running in the background and have zero issues/stuttering etc with it.
 
Standard client - set and forget - limited ppd 500 plus on quad (250 on C2D)
WindowsSMP - for a easy life and lots of ppd 3k plus on quad (1800 on C2D)
VMware/Ubuntu SMP - even more points but some hassle 4k plus on quad (2400 on C2D)
native Linux SMP- dedicated cruncher uber points 5k plus on quad (2800 on C2D)

Points based on Intel running around 3.2 and rounded down for easy comparison
 
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stormduck, it may be worth having a look at the diskless if you have a USB key spare. I believe it will be easier to setup than a vmware/linux setup since its simply a case of plug everything in, make sure it picks up the USB key and away you go. It sets up Samba for you as well for monitoring.
 
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