i7 @ 4.2 - only 25% work

Madals

Madals

Madals

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Joined
2 Aug 2010
Posts
141
Location
Sussex
So, I am new to the folding scene but am running F@H on my GPU (480gtx overclocked) and its working lovely.

HOWEVER, I am trying to get the CPU client to work and frankly I can't seem to get it to do anything close to that of the GPU client.

I dowloaded to smp2 for high preformance and set it up following the guide on their site and also on the sticky in this forum (really helpful).
-bigadv is on but for some reason fahcore_a4.exe is only running at 25% of the CPU no matter what I do. I am running an i7 930 at 4.2Ghz

Could anyone advise me how to get this up and maximise my computers power :D
 
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fixed the problem - was missing the -smp 4 tag.
Just checking - I do want to be using -smp 4 even though i7's have virtual cores and also is having this running at 100% all the time the system is on OK when it is cooled by a H70?
 
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Update on the temps - after an hour of solid work all the cores are at 88-90 compared to a normal idle of 78-80.
Frankly, I don't want to burn out my rig or anything so would really appreciate some advice as to if its worth lowering the max CPU use or anything?
 
88-90 degrees seems excesively hot. If your running bigadv you will more than likely need to use -smp 7 allowing one core for the gtx480.

And welcome to Team 10

Providing your tempss are ok folding 24/7 is absolutely fine, pretty much all the team members here run permanently'
 
Hey welcome :)

To get bigadv running you will need to use the -smp 7/8 tag. You will also need to complete 10 work units with a passkey, info here, before you can get the bonus. So it is best to run the -smp 8 tag with out the bigadv for 10 units then add the bigadv tag.

As for the cooling, you're right it's not worth killing your rig for it, I'm not sure what the safe temp is for your chip but that sounds quite high. You can reduce the % of the cpu used or reduce the number of cores with the smp tag, but you won't get through a bigadv work unit quick enough to get the bonus, so you would be better off removing the -bigadv flag and just running the normal SMP.

Or if you want to run bigadv 24/7 for maximum points you would need to improve your cooling.
 
Well from the advice I have disabled -bigadv. With SMP 4 I was getting around 1% complete in 8mins.

As for the temps I will keep an eye on them tomorrow to see what its like with just smp4 - Is there really any advantage to using the virtual cores or will this just increase temps?

I am fine having my rig running at about 80 as it is a high overclock and always has run at these temps (75 when in moderate use) and is very stable.

Is there anything else you think I should do to improve my contribution?
 
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As said runnig the virtual (HT) cores you will improve completion rates by about 30% so its well worth running SMP -7/8. Thats the only thing you can really do to improve your output other than purchasing a 6 core chip or getting another GTX480
 
Madals said:
Well from the advice I have disabled -bigadv. With SMP 4 I was getting around 1% complete in 8mins.

As for the temps I will keep an eye on them tomorrow to see what its like with just smp4 - Is there really any advantage to using the virtual cores or will this just increase temps?

I am fine having my rig running at about 80 as it is a high overclock and always has run at these temps (75 when in moderate use) and is very stable.

Is there anything else you think I should do to improve my contribution?
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Do you have HT enabled in the bios? you must have at least 8 threads if you want to run bigadv, if the server sees you have only 4 cores you'll never get them.
I wouldn't feel comfortable running those temps 24/7, I would get better cooling or lower the OC, you can still complete bigadvs in time @3.8Ghz.
 
So, the temps on the CPU are still concerning me. I have just turned my computer on and the i7 @ 4.2 is running at a cool 50-55 across the cores.
Turn on the CPU F@H client and within 5mins the temps are up to 80degs and after about 30mins they will hold steady at 85-90 which seems rather hot (and higher than what I am comfortable with). Should I be concerned with these temps and do you think its worth knocking down the CPU usage to about 90%?
 
Madals said:
So, the temps on the CPU are still concerning me. I have just turned my computer on and the i7 @ 4.2 is running at a cool 50-55 across the cores.
Turn on the CPU F@H client and within 5mins the temps are up to 80degs and after about 30mins they will hold steady at 85-90 which seems rather hot (and higher than what I am comfortable with). Should I be concerned with these temps and do you think its worth knocking down the CPU usage to about 90%?
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If it were me, yes I would. Knock down the OC until you're hitting 60/70 degrees at least and look at improving the cooling before you get it back up. As a note, I've got my i7 2600k @ 4.6ghz running at 55-60 degrees on air (however it is an air-con lab)
 
Well you see I find it strange at how hot its getting - at idle its happily at 50deg C. It is cooled by a h70 btw.
 
When you say idle do you mean with nothing CPU intensive running? ie just loaded into windows and it is showning as 50?

As 50 degree idle is pretty hot, I would expect around 30 idle, then 50-60 under load. If it is 50 at idle I would guess your h70 may not be seated correctly or the fan/s are producing very low airflow. (or you are in a very hot room!:p)
 
Ok so now I am very confused :D
I have reduced the settings in the console to only 30% of CPU yet according to task manager F@H_core is still using 80% of the CPU? The temps only decrease slightly to 80degs when its running at 80% - hardly seems reducing it :P
 
hmm I don't know that chip but 50 degree idle, even with an overclock doesn't sound right, I would try reseating the cooler, do you know if it has always been that hot with other coolers on there?
 
I got the system pre-build, pre-overclocked by a very high end retailer and the temps have always been around that level - obviously though I have never actually been able to max out the CPU usage until now. The strange thing is this machine I am using is an i7 930 @ 4.2 while my other system is a i7 980X @ 4.5 which actually runs cooler but is only cooled by a h50 rather than h70.
Either way, the supplier of the PC said as long as the temps are below 100 under load (which they were with the stress test data that came with the rig - 48hours prime temps were steady at 85-90).
 
Madals said:
I got the system pre-build, pre-overclocked by a very high end retailer and the temps have always been around that level - obviously though I have never actually been able to max out the CPU usage until now. The strange thing is this machine I am using is an i7 930 @ 4.2 while my other system is a i7 980X @ 4.5 which actually runs cooler but is only cooled by a h50 rather than h70.
Either way, the supplier of the PC said as long as the temps are below 100 under load (which they were with the stress test data that came with the rig - 48hours prime temps were steady at 85-90).
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I doubt your supplier imagined you would be effectively tress testing 24/7 with folding. I always opt for what I think is a conservative OC for folding rigs, and the i7-980x guftown does run cooler, I had an i7-950 which at 4ghz and a Noctua DH-14 cooling it folded in the low 70s, I upgraded to an i7-980x, same cooler, and that at 4.2Ghz folds high 50s, too conservative perhaps but for the stupid money I paid for it I'm happy to keep it that way.
 
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hanluc said:
I doubt your supplier imagined you would be effectively tress testing 24/7 with folding. I always opt for what I think is a conservative OC for folding rigs, and the i7-980x guftown does run cooler, I had an i7-950 which at 4ghz and a Noctua DH-14 cooling it folded in the low 70s, I upgraded to an i7-980x, same cooler, and that at 4.2Ghz folds high 50s, too conservative perhaps but for the stupid money I paid for it I'm happy to keep it that way.
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What you running to get ~120k ppd Hanluc?
 
Just an update - got the temps right down (65 under full load for an hour) so I am much happier now!
Basically, I took apart the h70 fan and rad to give it a very good clean and found a massive amount of dust caught between the rad and fan that hadn't been sucked up by normal cleaning. Yes, I feel rather stupid right now :D But I am not happy to leave it running more.

Next on my to-do list is replace the stock fans on the h70 which should give me a few more degree's!
 
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