[CentOS] More Folding At Home

Mon Feb 1 03:10:48 UTC 2016
Fred Smith <fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us>

On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 09:42:43PM -0500, Mark LaPierre wrote:
> On 12/30/15 23:03, Mark LaPierre wrote:
> > Hey Y'all,
> > 
> > I have the Stanford University Folding At Home project running on three
> > of my machines.  I had them all set up so that I could control them all
> > from my main machine, 192.168.15.101, but some time ago something
> > changed so that I can no longer connect to the FAH clients on the other
> > two machines.  I figured it wasn't really important so I would look into
> > it later.  Well time has passed and my Christmas break is almost passed
> > too to I guess this is the time to figure it out.
> > 
> > I can still SSH onto both machines.  I can ping both machines.
> > 
> > When I open the FAH Control on my machine connection to clients running
> > on 192.168.15.105 and 192.168.15.107 fails.
> > 
> > I'm assuming that there would be an entry in a log on those two machines
> > detailing the failed connection attempt.
> > 
> > What log file should I be looking at?
> > 
> 
> Hey CentOS FAH team members.  Do any of you have a GPU that is actually
> folding in CentOS 6?

I tried GPU folding in Centos-6, but the FAH log file showed continuous
errors for the GPU (which was, at the time a Nvidia n460GTX). Inquiries
on the FAH forums indicated that there are library incompatibilities 
on Centos-6 and that it would be difficult or impossible to make it
work.

I eventually upgraded to Centos-7 and then easily got GPU folding to
work on the same video card without difficulty.

FYI, I had previously (couple of years ago) attempted GPU folding on 
C6 using a 9800GT, and was told (again, on the FAH forums) that that
GPU was no longer supported. I'd guess that your 9600GT is also too
old.

Here's the FAH forum thread on that GPU compatibility issue:
https://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=25284&p=252427&hilit=9800GT#p252427

I've recently replaced the 460GTX with a new 750ti card, and found
two amazing benefits:
1. according to my KillaWatt meter, the computer's power draw dropped from
275-295 watts to 190-195 watts,
2. my PPD total per week has gone from around 200K to more like 400K.
   In fact, the last 3 weeks have all been around 440K, some slightly
   lower, some a little higher.

The 750ti was a fairly cheap card, at $129.

> If you do please tell me exactly what video card and what driver you are
> using?

I'm using the Nvidia 340 driver from the elrepo repository. Be sure to
install the dkms package from epel before installing these nvidia drivers.

> 
> I have a GeForce 9600 GT card that will not fold.  FAH finds the GPU and
> sets up a slot for it but it always says "Update Core" in the slot
> status field with zero progress.  I'm not happy with that.

See above for compatibility comments on this card.

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
  "For him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his 
 glorious presence without fault and with great joy--to the only God our Savior
 be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before
                     all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."
----------------------------- Jude 1:24,25 (niv) -----------------------------