Folding@home

Visualization on GPU2

Several people have asked about visualization with GPU2.  That is in the works and should be pretty close (not months, but hopefully weeks, maybe faster).  The visualization will be real time like the PS3 (although perhaps not quite as slick, as the Sony team put a lot of effort into lots of nice small touches in the PS3 client visualization).

Updates to the Download page/GPU2 goes live

We've made several changes to the download page.  First and foremost, we've tried to simplify it a bit for donors new to FAH by moving the high performance Windows downloads to their own page.  The goal is to try to simplify the long list of possible clients new donors see.  For those who are already experts at FAH, they will notice the high performance client link on the download page (although it may be nice to highlight that a bit more).

We have also updated the GPU client on the download page, with GPU client downloads pointing to GPU2 rather than GPU1.  This is a major step forward for FAH, as we move to our second generation GPU client ("GPU2").  It's also an important time to note the contributions of the GPU1 client: we've been able to learn a great deal of running GPU's "in the wild," which is very different than in the lab, and what we've learned has gone into GPU2.  GPU2 is much easier to run, more reliable scientifically, and has more advanced algorithms.  Due to these differences, GPU1 has become obsolete.  However, we are working to write a paper with what we've learned from GPU1 and acquiring data for that paper will need some more GPU1 cycles. 

Thus, we will continue the GPU1 projects for a little while longer (likely a month or so), while we encourage people to transition to GPU2.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has run the GPU1 client and given us such useful data to advance to the second generation client.  So far, the GPU2 client has become a success, with many more people running it than GPU1, in just two days.  We are also working to improve the performance of GPU2 and one should expect to see core updates on a regular basis as we improve the software.  Finally, we are also considering points modifications to make sure that the compensation is reasonable.

How the GPU2 core works

There have been some misunderstandings on how the GPU2 core works.  In particular, for small proteins like villin on GPU's with large number of stream processors (SP's) like the 3850 or 3870, the protein is too small to use a larger number of SP's unless the CPU is very fast.  Some people have guessed that there is some internal SP limit.  This is incorrect; the problem is that small proteins can't be parallelized amongst a large number of SP's. 

We are working to release larger proteins (about 2x the number of atoms) as they are more interesting scientifically and use the GPU's (even the high end ones) much closer to 100%.  The exciting part for us is that the larger proteins run at almost the same speed as the slower ones on GPU's (whereas on CPU's, they're 4x slower); this is where the GPU2 code should shine.  In parallel, Mike Houston at AMD is working to optimize CAL such that it has lower CPU overhead. 

For now, we're pushing out villin WU's as a test (good to know that the code is working well), but we expect the larger WU's to be going out soon (say a week or two, pending internal testing).

GPU2 open beta going well

The GPU2 code beta test is going well so far.  While there are some issues to deal with, it looks like this client is significantly easier to use than GPU1.  Also, we're excited since the science in GPU2 makes a big step forward.

There's been lots of suggestions (tweaks to the client, a visualizer, PPD change), and we've been compiling lists of requests and going over what makes sense.  Right now, I'd say that everything is on the table, but some suggestions are easier than others.  We'll prioritize on the easy & important additions first of course (and the hard & less important changes last).  Also, we're working on a visualizer that will give real time updates like the PS3, as well as a console version of the GPU2 client.  We may hit a show stopper, but that's on our roadmap.

We're excited about the turnout so far and are looking forward to doing exciting work together with this new technology.

GPU2 open beta

We're (finally) ready to start the QA process outside Stanford & ATI for the next generation GPU client (nicknamed FAH GPU2).  We've gone through a limited alpha and a larger closed beta test, and we think the client is now ready for an open beta, i.e. a public release of the software that's still in an early stage.  That's not to say that it's flawless, but there don't appear to be any "show stoppers" so far.

If you have a 2xxx or 3xxx card, please feel free to check out the new GPU client?  You can download it from here

http://www.stanford.edu/~beberg/[email protected]

and a FAQ is here

http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-ATI2

We will next put this on our main download page, assuming that this stage of beta testing looks good.

Please keep in mind that this is beta software.  The client/core may be unstable (although it looks ok so far), the points benchmarking may change due to software or policy changes, etc.  With that in mind, we'd appreciate any comments you may have -- please post them in this forum section.  Thanks!

GPU2 update

We've internally dubbed the new GPU client/core "GPU2".  Here's an update.  The GPU2 closed beta testing has been moving along well.  There are a few bugs which have shown up, but nothing we'd call "showstoppers" just yet.  The beta test is outside of Stanford and ATI now.  If all looks good, we plan to next have a completely open beta.

FAH point recredits & server code updates

We've found a bug in our server code related to SMP (and GPU2 clients, but this is just a small alpha test right now) and are working to fix it.  We think we have found the problem and so we've been working to do a series of manual point recredits before putting in the new working code.  If you're running an SMP client, you may be seeing some new recredit points today and maybe later this week as well.