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I've been noticing Folding is going very slowly on my P4 machine. I notice it rarely hits over 50% CPU usage with just Folding@home running. How can I get this thing to speed up. Core priority is set to "high" and CPU usage is set to 100%.

TIA

Originally posted by Jstyr
I've been noticing Folding is going very slowly on my P4 machine. I notice it rarely hits over 50% CPU usage with just Folding@home running. How can I get this thing to speed up. Core priority is set to "high" and CPU usage is set to 100%.

TIA

Welcome to hyperthreading.

Follow this thread:

https://www.speedguide.net/forums/ ... did=118991

Question about Hyperthreading.

If I had a 2.4GHz Hyperthred cpu and set it up for hyperthreading and folding, would it be like a 2.4GHz folding twice or would it be like 2 1.2GHz cpus?

Rick

I'd like to know the answer to that one as well. Not that I'm in the market for an Intel Product, but I'm definitely interested in that answer...

Originally posted by rickoic
Question about Hyperthreading.

If I had a 2.4GHz Hyperthred cpu and set it up for hyperthreading and folding, would it be like a 2.4GHz folding twice or would it be like 2 1.2GHz cpus?

Rick

kinda like 2 1.2ghz processors but faster, maybe like 2 1.5ghz ones or so.

Hey guys,
Let me tell what I know on it. OK, I have 2 twin servers, both are dual 2 GHz Xeon... (Have I lost anyone yet? )

Server 1 uses Win 2000 Server and I run 4 instances of Folding on it in 4 directories as I explained in the thread YOSyankeeC linked to...

Server 2 (Again, identical hardware to server 1) uses NT4. If I run only 2 instances of Folding, it folds each at the same speed as the 4 instances on server 1. If I try to run 4 instances on it, it almost doubles the time to complete a work unit...

My conclusion is that NT4 does NOT support hyperthreading, and that hyperthreading, at least while pertaining to folding, actually folds as if it is separate cpu's, however, not like separate cpu's at 100% strength. (Kinda like what Yardy said, except more.) He said "kinda like 2 1.2ghz processors but faster, maybe like 2 1.5ghz ones or so." I would be more inclined to say like 2 each ~1.8GHz...

Did that make sense to anyone? I will try to compile exact numbers as soon as I get a chance...

*edited* ...to correct some confusing wording. Heck, it confused me!

Ken
Upgrade the NT to at least Win XP Pro. You'd get 2 more instances of folding going.

Rick

Long story, in short, it can not be done now. Some accounting prog issues... Hopefully soon though. At least it gives me good reference to base folding hypothesis on...

Ok, so lets do some comparing. Prices from tigerdirect.com so you can probably find these at a lower price elsewhere, or higher.

P4 3.03 GHz HT pc can be had for $1799.99
Thats 2 instances of (approximate) 1.67GHz folding.

AMD MP 2400+ dualie can be had for $1549.99
Thats 2 instances of 2.0GHz folding.

Also a P4 2.4GHz Zeon dulie is $2399.99. (same source)
Thats 4 instances of (approximate) 1.5GHz folding.

1. $900.00 each
2. $750.00 each
3. $600.00 each

Rick

Thanks for the replies everyone. I figured it had something to do with HT'ing but wasn't sure. That link should have me dual Folding in no time..thanks YOSC.

Originally posted by Ken
YOSyankeeC linked to...

LOL

Originally posted by Ken
YOSyankeeC linked to...

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
LOL

I was doing some searching for HT and server platforms a while back and I remembered coming across an article that detailed some driver updates that were necessary to get HT to run well on an NT box. NT support for HT was limited even with the newer updates if I remember correctly.

All I can find on it is a quick blurb here about getting drivers from MS:

HT on NT blurb

and the intel page showing HT compatability with NT but with limited driver support.

Intel Page

Not overly useful but I did that research a while back and I slept since then.