BOINC Pentathlon 2023

[TylerD321]

12 minutes ago, ajmorin369 said:

Okay, I've spent the last 2 or 3 hours trying to get setup for the pentathlon 2023 BUT I am seeing so much conflicting information and still can't find a dedicated thread for how to setup BOINC for this event on the LTT team.... like which project?, any strategies as a team?, how to set it up for the event for newer people so that there is less confusion. Maybe it's easy for me and others like me but what about the other people that are just trying to set it up for the first time and have no idea where to look and what to do and just want something easy and concise? I don't know maybe I'm just over reacting but if it's confusing for me, someone who's used BOINC for many years, then it might be for newbies as well. Just my opinion.

The FAQ post that’s tagged in here. I had never used boinc until a few days ago and it was perfectly detailed for me to get set up.

 

 

[TylerD321]

1 hour ago, leadeater said:

FYI you don't need to reset the project when you make those changes. You probably got given a timeout from the project for aborting too many tasks. You should get more soon.

It seems I still have no tasks on one of my PCs, good thing I didn't mess it up on the other pc. Hopefully it starts back in a few hrs.

[ajmorin369]

In response to TylerD321:

Okay, then I guess I need to sit down and talk to my friends that are having trouble and explain it in better and in ways that they can understand, also I think that the biggest problem is that the post you mention was written nearly 10 years ago and I think that they feel it is not correct or current, plus there is shotty and not so short instructions on how to get running in the pentathlon as quickly as possible. So I see where both sides are coming from and I need smarter friends..... . Thanks

[TylerD321]

Just now, ajmorin369 said:

Okay, then I guess I need to sit down and talk to my friends that are having trouble and explain it in better and in ways that they can understand, also I think that the biggest problem is that the post you mention was written nearly 10 years ago and I think that they feel it is not correct or current, plus there is shotty and not so short instructions on how to get running in the pentathlon as quickly as possible. So I see where both sides are coming from and I need smarter friends..... . Thanks

I would just set up a BAM! account and set everything up from there. Then, you can just have them link the account manager to their BOINC application and it should be good to rock. You can even set up projects for hosts to auto join.

[ajmorin369]

1 minute ago, TylerD321 said:

I would just set up a BAM! account and set everything up from there. Then, you can just have them link the account manager to their BOINC application and it should be good to rock. You can even set up projects for hosts to auto join.

Yeah, I suppose that would be better. I hadn't thought of that. Thank you.

 

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, ajmorin369 said:

In response to TylerD321:

Okay, then I guess I need to sit down and talk to my friends that are having trouble and explain it in better and in ways that they can understand, also I think that the biggest problem is that the post you mention was written nearly 10 years ago and I think that they feel it is not correct or current, plus there is shotty and not so short instructions on how to get running in the pentathlon as quickly as possible. So I see where both sides are coming from and I need smarter friends..... . Thanks

There isn't much different between now and then, fundamentally it's just install BOINC and add a project creating an account while doing so if necessary. The problem with the Pentathlon is that the events/projects are different every year so there isn't much that can be done to keep current and well constructed guides for it.

 

The main post on the first page for this has links to guides for a few of the events, ideally we would have one for each by now but we don't however like above not much changes other than which project you are adding and going to the project website to change preferences to match event requirements.

 

BOINC is a massive collection of projects that are all similar but all slightly different, or vastly different as some require installing Virtual Box. Some things just aren't easily distilled down to very short easy guides, not everything can or is painless and simple to get setup well but this is more unique to the Pentathlon and not BOINC.

 

Every year return participants get better at handling it but we all still end up asking questions and asking for advice, particularly as hardware changes and so do the projects as well over time.

[ir8munk33]

I think i have the bunkering process understood and am bunkering some numberfields right now. I don't really understand what the bunkering guide is doing though, do you not just limit the upload rate in computing preferences and that builds up all your finished tasks?

Also, is there a limit as to how much you should keep back before releasing?

[leadeater]

7 minutes ago, ir8munk33 said:

I think i have the bunkering process understood and am bunkering some numberfields right now. I don't really understand what the bunkering guide is doing though, do you not just limit the upload rate in computing preferences and that builds up all your finished tasks?

Also, is there a limit as to how much you should keep back before releasing?

Only limit is how many tasks you are given and complete. However bunkering is most useful before an event starts but has been announced so you can save up on completed work in advance. Right now there isn't much reason to hold back completed work for NumberFields other than to disguise how much we are producing.

Edited May 13, 2023 by leadeater

[ir8munk33]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

Only limit is how many tasks you are given and complete. However bunkering is most useful before an event starts but has been announced so you can save up on completed work in advance. Right now there isn't much reason to hold back completed work for NumberFields or than to disguise how much we are producing.

I was going to try and bunker some einstein, but it wont give me any GPU tasks so i moved to numberfields. Makes sense thanks!

[leadeater]

Moved a few CPU servers over to Numbers, will see what kind of points per hour they can achieve and decide from there if I should move more. Was hoping the extra servers I added would increase Yoyo a lot more but it hasn't so def going to give up hope of outside chance catching up.

[ir8munk33]

39 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Moved a few CPU servers over to Numbers, will see what kind of points per hour they can achieve and decide from there if I should move more. Was hoping the extra servers I added would increase Yoyo a lot more but it hasn't so def going to give up hope of outside chance catching up.

I had spun up a couple of 122 core VM's to Yoyo but so many multi day tasks were being given out that i had to give up on it.

[Lightwreather]

Let's see if azure ml can be used to bionic………

 

So, Numbers or Einstein for gpu?

[miker07]

43 minutes ago, Lightwreather JfromN said:

Let's see if azure ml can be used to bionic………

 

So, Numbers or Einstein for gpu?

I would do Einstein with gpus, and bunker until it starts in about 12 hrs. Since it is double check and they don't give a ton of tasks until you return a number of results, you could just let run, and you shouldn't miss out on too many points not bunkering.

[miker07]

FYI: For those who plan to run Einstein on their gpu's, I would get some tasks downloaded in advance of it starting, as their servers tend to struggle. That way your gpu's won't be sitting idle while waiting for the server to catch up. Probably hold of on releasing bunkers right away too, just to spread out the server load.

[Kato0909]

This event finally got me into folding. Hello everyone!

[leadeater]

3 hours ago, ir8munk33 said:

I had spun up a couple of 122 core VM's to Yoyo but so many multi day tasks were being given out that i had to give up on it.

That size VM does better than a GPU or two for Numbers btw

[Lightwreather]

So is there anyway to change the rpc port such that every time the machine/daemon is shutdown or restarted, boing will start with the new rpc port instead of the default 31416?

[Idiot_icLoser55]

Not sure where I should be focusing my hardware right now (RTX 2060, Ryzen 74800H and rpi 4 for good measure). I've currently got my gpu running numbers. Started my cpu bunkering for einstein but with the amount of memory their tasks require I can only run a couple at a time. Was trying to get the rest of my cores to run yoyo but all I can get is 20d long tasks which won't even be completed before they expire let alone before the pent is finished. And the pi is slowly making it's way through yoyo tasks.

 

Any Suggestions?

[leadeater]

35 minutes ago, Lightwreather JfromN said:

So is there anyway to change the rpc port such that every time the machine/daemon is shutdown or restarted, boing will start with the new rpc port instead of the default 31416?

For Linux

 

boinc --gui_rpc_port 3389 --allow_remote_gui_rpc --daemon

 

Windows should be very similar

 

And yes I am using RDP port number to get around work firewall to my work PC lol

[miker07]

2 hours ago, Idiot_icLoser55 said:

Not sure where I should be focusing my hardware right now (RTX 2060, Ryzen 74800H and rpi 4 for good measure). I've currently got my gpu running numbers. Started my cpu bunkering for einstein but with the amount of memory their tasks require I can only run a couple at a time. Was trying to get the rest of my cores to run yoyo but all I can get is 20d long tasks which won't even be completed before they expire let alone before the pent is finished. And the pi is slowly making it's way through yoyo tasks.

 

Any Suggestions?

probaly better off switching that with cpu on numbers and gpu on einstein. Numbers runs well on both, but einstein is way better on gpu.

[leadeater]

10 minutes ago, Idiot_icLoser55 said:

Not sure where I should be focusing my hardware right now (RTX 2060, Ryzen 74800H and rpi 4 for good measure). I've currently got my gpu running numbers. Started my cpu bunkering for einstein but with the amount of memory their tasks require I can only run a couple at a time. Was trying to get the rest of my cores to run yoyo but all I can get is 20d long tasks which won't even be completed before they expire let alone before the pent is finished. And the pi is slowly making it's way through yoyo tasks.

 

Any Suggestions?

Edit: Never mind, what @miker07 said 

[HaRdLy007]

I'm about to give up on Einstein as it keeps downloading GPU tasks, even though I have it set for CPU only. Anyone else having this issue?

[leadeater]

@miker07 Do you know if it's best to run 2 tasks per GPU on Einstein for a 3060 Ti? I have a A40 running now doing 2 but I haven't switched over my two 3060 Ti's and 6800 XT yet. Can make a profile for my 3060Ti/6800XT for 1 task per GPU if that is best.

[leadeater]

16 minutes ago, HaRdLy007 said:

I'm about to give up on Einstein as it keeps downloading GPU tasks, even though I have it set for CPU only. Anyone else having this issue?

 

Do you have this set to yes?

[Favebook]

25 minutes ago, leadeater said:

 

Do you have this set to yes?

In addition to this, you need to click Update in BOINC manager for the this particular project.