What am I doing wrong - no SMP?

Handruin

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I decided to try folding again. I downloaded the latest SMP client version 6.29 beta for MPICH (32-bit or 64-bit) because I'm on a 64-bit windows 7.

I followed the instructions and with much pain I was finally able to get it running. I start it with admin permissions and open the correct firewall ports etc. It downloads the FahCore_82.exe and it's only using a single thread on a single core. I added my account and passkey, what else do i need to do so this thing uses more CPU?
 

Handruin

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Never mind, I did miss a step. I had to pass the -smp flag to the .exe. Now I'm running it with 100% load.

Is there anything else I should be doing to optimize this even further for points and team benefit?
 

Handruin

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Code:
[04:13:16]
[04:13:16] Project: 6015 (Run 1, Clone 149, Gen 27)
[04:13:16]
[04:13:16] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[04:13:16] Entering M.D.
[04:13:23] Completed 0 out of 500000 steps  (0%)
[04:18:01] Completed 5000 out of 500000 steps  (1%)
[04:23:00] Completed 10000 out of 500000 steps  (2%)
[04:27:40] Completed 15000 out of 500000 steps  (3%)
[04:32:17] Completed 20000 out of 500000 steps  (4%)

I'm guessing 7.3 hours to finish this if the load is linear. Is there a good resource to find out more about this work unit and average times for completion? How can I tell if there are bonus work units being processed?
 

CougTek

Serial computer killer
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Jan 21, 2002
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Québec, Québec
What kind of processor do you have? If you have an i7, you're not optimizing your production right now. Unless you need a lot of processing power for the other tasks you do with your computer, you should install Linux in a VM and assign at least six (virtual) cores for it, then run the 6.29 client with the -bigadv extension. That way, you would get a 52K points unit every three or four days. That's more than what you are producing now. Be sure to ask for a passkey in order to get the huge bonus assosciated with it.

The big units are so good, it almost feels unfair for the guys with huge folding farms like Mark, Fushigi and (not long ago) LiamC. Now, with migrange systems, you can almost double their production. I felt like that several years ago when I made a huge effort by my means to maximize my folding contribution, only to see newcomers with more recent hardware overtake me like I was stopped.
 

Handruin

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So I'm just missing the flag for '-bigadv'? I won't be installing linux on this machine and I don't think 6 cores is an option in a VM. Is it that much faster even in a VM with Linux compared to running under windows?

I must have got some bonus today because I see I have 9453 points?! That's more than I usually produce in a day.
 
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