PrimeGrid Autumnal Equinox Challenge September 23 - October 6

[Ken g6]

Welcome to the most grueling PrimeGrid challenge of the year, the Autumnal Equinox Challenge! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to complete as many Woodall Prime Search LLR tests as you can, as quickly and correctly as you can. Because these are long work units, you will have a full thirteen days, from September 23 to October 6, to work on them.

What you need:

• One or more fast x86 processors. (Even slow ones could probably do some work!)
• All of those processors running stably. One good way to check that is to run PPS or SGS LLR for a few days. If those make your processor too hot, try TRP LLR. If you get any errors, your processor probably isn't stable at your current clock/voltage.
• Windows, Linux, or MacOS 10.4+.
• BOINC, attached to PrimeGrid (http://www.primegrid.com/).
• Your PrimeGrid Preferences with "Woodall Prime Search (LLR)" the only CPU project selected in the Projects section.
• Patience! These are long WUs. (Not as long as Seventeen or Bust, but each could take a day or two.)

What won't help (but won't hurt either):

• A 64-bit OS. (But if it's Linux, type "sudo apt-get install ia32-libs".)
• A large amount of RAM.

Notice I didn't mention GPUs? :whiste: I'll let you know when I know anything for sure. But you will need a 64-bit OS, probably Linux, if you want even the possibility to do any GPU work.

Sorry, no GPUs this race. I'll try to get them working for November.

What would help, but isn't absolutely necessary:

• Reading [post=30943822]Ken's WU Juggling Guide[/post] and applying it once you figure out how long each WU will take. Note that the automatic time estimate isn't very good; estimate total time manually from progress and elapsed time.
• Not running a GPU project. They don't all take much CPU time, but they do all take some.

Work not downloaded and uploaded within the challenge will not be counted. Should you not be able to be in front of one or more computers at that time, see [post=29529001]the challenge strategy thread[/post] for ways to start and finish on time.

Good luck to all!

P.S. Sorry I'm late; this race snuck up on me. :$

 

[somethingsketchy]

Ouch 30-45 hours per workunit. Man that's a long time, and with only three CPU cores (to save on electricity), I probably won't make much of a dent.

 

[RobertE]

I'm all in here with 6 cores. Bring it on.

 

[sangyup81]

I'll be using 4-5 systems. Let's see how the Atom N270 netbook does! haha

 

[petrusbroder]

I'll be in, but not with so many cores as usually, I have Correlizer (a project I really like) also running. And I have still not moved to a 64-bit OS ...

 

[Rudy Toody]

Sorry, I won't be in this one. I have too many pending math models to run on Mathematica. Depending on the model, I suspend BOINC during the run.

 

[Ken g6]

To all those who have said they won't join, remember, it's a two week race. You have plenty of time to change your mind!

Peter: I know what you mean, though I prefer SIMAP. I'll have to see about collecting some SIMAP WUs before the race ends and running them afterwards.

Also, 64-bit OSes won't matter unless GPUs get into play. And that's looking unlikely.

 

[biodoc]

I'm all in!!

Ken g6, I know you posted a script for "auto start" in the past. Can you post it again or perhaps a link to the previous post? I'd hat to lose 5-6 hours crunch at the start of race.:|

 

[Ken g6]

The auto start script is in the challenge strategy thread. I changed the link to point to the specific post.

 

[biodoc]

Thanks!!

 

[Rudy Toody]

I finished the proof of my new theorem and don't have an urgent need to do any math models in the next few weeks, so I am in on this challenge. My Correlizer totals will suffer a bit.

 

[somethingsketchy]

T-19 minutes, can't wait

 

[Rudy Toody]

I'm getting "server down" messages on all rigs.

 

[Ken g6]

Yep. Can't even contact the website right now. D:

Edit: Finally got some.

 

[Rudy Toody]

Yep. Can't even contact the website right now. D:

Edit: Finally got some.

Me too!

 

[sangyup81]

1186 hours per WU on my atom n270 netbook! 2 threads though haha

The WUs don't have to be done before the challenge is over right as long as they are downloaded? I'll just stop it so the project doesn't have to wait a month

 

[somethingsketchy]

Got a bunch at the beginning, was two minutes late to the party

 

[somethingsketchy]

1186 hours per WU on my atom n270 netbook! 2 threads though haha

The WUs don't have to be done before the challenge is over right as long as they are downloaded? I'll just stop it so the project doesn't have to wait a month

As far as the rules go, if it's returned during the beginning and end times of the competition, it's valid.

Otherwise they ask you complete/abort the tasks

 

[sangyup81]

OK, I read it more carefully. They have to send it to you after the beginning time and you have to return it before the end time. Looks like I may only get 4 WUs in on my Phenom II x4 system since the second iteration won't finish in time =(

 

[somethingsketchy]

Really? Your Phenom II, should be able to hand in more than four workunits within 13 days. Hell you should be getting (depending on if you get 30 hrs/workunit) roughly 8-10 workunits per core, for a maximum of 32-40.

Again depends if you can get complete each workunit within 30 hours

 

[Ken g6]

Looks like I may only get 4 WUs in on my Phenom II x4 system since the second iteration won't finish in time =(

Quick! Look at [post=30943822]my WU juggling guide[/post]! You might get up to seven done.

Also, everyone please note that the time estimates are way off. You have to calculate the total time yourself, from percent completed so far and time taken so far.

 

[petrusbroder]

68 cores active and 94 WUs in the cache ... that is good. At least one WU per core just now ...
Lets get crunching!

 

[Rudy Toody]

I'm estimating 32 total WUs in 13 days on my 2 940s

 

[somethingsketchy]

4 threads active, now 7 WUs in the queue. This could be a long race. Now if only I had 68 cores

 

[sangyup81]

Quick! Look at [post=30943822]my WU juggling guide[/post]! You might get up to seven done.

Also, everyone please note that the time estimates are way off. You have to calculate the total time yourself, from percent completed so far and time taken so far.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!