Let's March on with TN-Grid

[Woodles]

TN-Grid challenge called by TSBT for March 4th - March 11th - https://boincstats.com/en/stats/challen ... /chat/1054

As the PrimeGrid Tour de Primes will be over by then I was thinking of trying this (I need a few more TN-Grid credits for my million)

Any other takers? If the team isn't interested (perfectly understandable) then I'll be crunching for TSBT. Only on TN-Grid, only for a week and I shall return

Mark

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Mark

I'll give it a go...!!

I've been doing Rosetta (CPU) and PrimeGrid (GPU) since about the beginning of Feb, so I could do with a wee change.

TN-Grid doesn't support GPUs at present, so I might switch my GPUs back to Collatz.

And of course shortly after this Challenge ends, the first FB Sprint of 2019 starts

regards
Tim

[Woodles]

Hi Tim,

OK, let's see how we do

We could do with the points on Formula Boinc anyway.

Mark

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Tim,

OK, let's see how we do

OK

We could do with the points on Formula Boinc anyway.

Mark

Yup - we could actually do with a load more points on FB - we're now down to 18th place and have 48 points - as we've been overtaken on a number of projects...

But if we can muster some support during the Sprints then we have a chance to claw our way up again..

regards
Tim.

[Woodles]

I'll be there for the sprints so long as it's a project I already crunch.

Mark

[UBT - Mikee]

Hi

Still here and lurking! I'm so long as someone reminds me! Though I'll go on it part-time anyway now I'm back in the top 100 at Rosetta.

Mike

[bigsinky]

Hi Tim,

OK, let's see how we do

We could do with the points on Formula Boinc anyway.

Mark

tasked my two big rigs to TN Grid so another 36 cores to help the cause

[Woodles]

So that's Tim, Mikee, Neil and me onboard. any other takers?

Tasks have a five day deadline so anything with a due date after 00:01 on the fourth can be bunkered.

Change the Boinc cache settings to "Store at least 10 days" and "Store up to an additional 10 days".

Even with this I've noticed that the project limits the number of tasks to eight per core which isn't long enough for a five day bunker (unless you're running on something like a Pi or an Atom!)

The easiest way around it is to claim to have more cores while you stock up on tasks.

On my i7, the tasks take about 4:45 (4.75 hours)
So to stock up, I'd need to claim to have (number_of_actual_cores * number_of_days * 24)/(tasks_per_core * task_duration) = 8 * 5 * 24 / (8 * 4.75) = 26 cores.

cc_config.xml (in the 'data' directory.)

Code: Select all

<options>
    <ncpus>26</ncpus>
</options>

The project limits the total number of tasks to 512 so there's no point in claiming to have more than 64 cores.

It's also worth adding an app_config.xml file while you load up or they'll all try to run at once!

app_config.xml (in the project directory.)

Code: Select all

<app_config>
    <project_max_concurrent>N</project_max_concurrent>
</app_config>

Where 'N' is the number of cores you want to crunch on.

Once you've got enough tasks, turn off network access and put the <ncpus> setting and the cache settings back to normal.

The other advantage to bunkering is that the tasks need a wingman so if you started them five days ago then it's likely that the other result has already been uploaded and you'll get the credits immediately.

Turn network access back on once the challenge starts and watch the credits roll in

Mark

[Woodles]

Not wanting to cause any friction between neighbours but our Northern friends seem to be under the impression that they're going to compete with us

https://tsbt.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 530#p68530

Mark

[chriscambridge]

I will be continuing with Rosetta, WCG, and GPUGrid (mainly) until the end of Q1 2009; Good luck in the challenge and for the FB sprint(s).

[bigsinky]

I will be continuing with Rosetta, WCG, and GPUGrid (mainly) until the end of Q1 2009; Good luck in the challenge and for the FB sprint(s).

i am assuming your pcs will be in that time machine you just built

[chriscambridge]

I completed missed that.. obviously I meant 1809.. my computers are fully steam powered.

[UBT - Chris Suddick]

So that's Tim, Mikee, Neil and me onboard. any other takers?

I've only got 4 cores but I'm in.

Chris

[Woodles]

Welcome Chris, every core counts

Mark

[Jeffers]

Had a look at their site and tried to join, but it says they're not accepting new accounts. As I don't already have one, I can't help.

[UBT - Chris Suddick]

That must be a very recent thing then. Bigsinky signed up just 3-4 days ago and three people have signed up since then. If they really have disabled account creation and you want to join in then you're very welcome to use my account (If you're from Halifax then you can't be all bad!)

Chris.

[UBT - Timbo]

Had a look at their site and tried to join, but it says they're not accepting new accounts. As I don't already have one, I can't help.

Hi Jeff

Have you tried just adding their URL in the Tools > Add projects section of BOINC Manager ? (as they suggest on the "Create an account" page of their website).

The URL to use is: http://gene.disi.unitn.it/test/

regards
Tim

[Woodles]

Had a look at their site and tried to join, but it says they're not accepting new accounts. As I don't already have one, I can't help.

You can't join directly from Boinc Manager you need to create an account on their website first.

Go here: https://gene.disi.unitn.it/test//create ... ?next_url= and sign up - invitation code is "science@tn" (no quotes)

Join the UBT team (obviously!) There's only one application but different variants of it (AVX, SSE, FMA) will be sent to your PC until the project determines what's best. It can be overridden by an app_info.xml file but I don't bother. In my experience, they're all pretty much the same unless you're running a Threadripper when the FMA is the better one.

You should then be able to attach using Boinc Manager and "http://gene.disi.unitn.it/test/" as Tim said.

Good luck (I think we're going to need all the help we can get!)

Mark

[Jeffers]

Ok, sorted. I'm in, with task running......

[UBT - Chris Suddick]

We're currently 3rd out of 10 at the half way stage but 3D Now are catching us fast.

Chris

[UBT - Timbo]

We're currently 3rd out of 10 at the half way stage but 3D Now are catching us fast.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Looking at this graph, we might lose 3rd place

https://boincstats.com/en/stats/150/tea ... d%5B%5D=69

regards
Tim

[Woodles]

We're currently 3rd out of 10 at the half way stage but 3D Now are catching us fast.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Looking at this graph, we might lose 3rd place

https://boincstats.com/en/stats/150/tea ... d%5B%5D=69

regards
Tim

Sorry guys, flat out here

We might gain a Formula Boinc point though?

Mark

[UBT - Chris Suddick]

Well, we finished a very respectable 4th in this challenge with 1.05m points, about 500k behing 3D Now in third place. However, we gained 4 places in the FB table and now have 2 very valuable points in that.

Chris.

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all,

So this Challenge is now over and here are some other interesting stats:

1) 12 teams competed but it seems only 11 scored any credits.

2) Of the teams that did compete, this was their make-up of team members:

Code: Select all

AMD Users - 2
BOINC Italy - 32
BOINC@Australia - 6
BOINC@Latvia - 2
BOINC@Poland - 8
L'Alliance Francophone - 19
Planet 3DNow! - 20
SETI.Germany - 14
SETI.USA - 7
The Scottish Boinc Team - 7
UBT - 7

3) Overall 124 members (from all teams) particpated and this is where UBT members finished, and their respective positions and credits earned:

Code: Select all

Woodles			#5	846,609
UBT - Timbo		#39	55,876
JohnJT			#46	46,135
UBT - Mikeejones	#51	36,334
bigsinky		#53	34,298
UBT - Chris Suddick	#60	19,032
Jeffers2112		#64	13,312

4) The final team postions were:

Code: Select all

1	The Scottish Boinc Team		7,433,811
2	BOINC.Italy			4,233,298
3	Planet 3DNow!			1,528,369
*4	UK BOINC Team			1,051,598**
5	BOINC@AUSTRALIA			693,563
6	SETI.USA			528,300
7	L'Alliance Francophone		345,908
8	SETI.Germany			216,443
9	BOINC@Poland			151,485
10	BOINC@Latvia			14,067

Many thanks and well done to those who took part.

Hopefully, we can do better next time?

regards
Tim