2018 PrimeGrid challenge series

Gilthanis

Gilthanis

[H]ard|DCer of the Year - 2014
Joined
Jan 29, 2006
Messages
8,735
I am just going to make one thread for this and people interested can just follow. that way I'm not making several threads that have similar info in them.

http://www.primegrid.com/challenge/challenge.php



2018 Challenge Series


Date Time UTC Project(s) Challenge Duration Results
1 1-16 January 00:00:00 SoB-LLR Happy New Year Challenge 15 days Individuals | Teams
2 16-23 March 18:00:00 321-LLR Year of the Dog Challenge 7 days Individuals | Teams
3 3-8 April 12:00:00 ESP-LLR Mathematics Awareness Month Challenge 5 days Individuals | Teams
4 14-19 June 00:00:00 SR5-LLR World Cup Challenge 5 days Individuals | Teams
5 10-13 August 18:00:00 PPS-LLR Solar Eclipse Challenge 3 days Individuals | Teams
6 15-22 September 18:00:00 CUL-LLR Oktoberfest Challenge 7 days Individuals | Teams
7 24-31 October 23:59:59 WOO-LLR Halloween Challenge 7 days Individuals | Teams
8 17-20 November 12:00:00 AP27 Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter Challenge 3 days Individuals | Teams
9 11-21 December 22:23:00 GFN-21 Winter Solstice Challenge 10 days Individuals | Teams


App_config for all subprojects - let me know if something needs added
Change N to the number of CPU threads or the number of GPU's to use per work unit. Typically people use a fraction of a GPU to run multiple work units. For example: Setting <gpu_usage>0.5</gpu_usage> would tell BOINC to use half the GPU for each work unit resulting in 2 work units running on the card. The following line <cpu_usage>1</cpu_usage> would tell BOINC to dedicate a full CPU thread for each of the work units.

<app_config>
<app>
<name>pps_sr2sieve</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>genefer17low</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>genefer17mega</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>genefer16</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>genefer18</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>llrSOB</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrSOB</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>llrMEGA</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrMEGA</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>llrTRP</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrTRP</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>llr321</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llr321</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>llrPSP</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrPSP</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>llrTPS</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrTPS</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>llrWOO</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrWOO</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>llrCUL</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrCUL</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>llrPPS</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrPPS</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>ap27</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>genefer</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>genefer_wr</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<name>llrPPSE</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrPPSE</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<name>llrSR5</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrSR5</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<name>llrESP</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrESP</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<name>genefer15</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>genefer19</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>genefer20</name>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>N</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>N</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
<app>
<name>gcw_sieve</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>gcw_sieve</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
<app>
<name>llrGCW</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrGCW</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
<app>
</app_config>
 
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Happy New years challenge from Jan 1 - 16 is for Seventeen Or Bust. This is CPU only. (make sure to change your preferences at PrimeGrid to only pull that sub project for CPU)

app_config if someone wants to run work units using multi-threading

<app_config>
<app>
<name>llrSOB</name>
<fraction_done_exact/>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrSOB</app_name>
<cmdline>-t N</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>N</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
</app_config>

Change N to the number of threads you want the work units to use.
 
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Year of the Dog challenge starts in 3 days. http://www.primegrid.com/forum_thread.php?id=7882

2018 is a Year of the Dog. In Chinese astrology, each year is related to a Chinese zodiac animal according to the 12-year cycle. 2018 is an Earth Dog Year, starting on 16th February 2018 and ending on 4th February 2019. Earth Dog's are Communicative, serious, and responsible in work. Famous Earth Dog's include Madonna and Michael Jackson.

The second Challenge of the 2018 Challenge series is a 7 day challenge to celebrate the Year of the Dog. The challenge is being offered on the 321 Prime Search (LLR) application.

To participate in the Challenge, please select only the 321 Prime Search LLR (321) project in your PrimeGrid preferences section. The challenge will begin 16th March 2018 18:00 UTC and end 23rd March 2018 18:00 UTC.

Application builds are available for Linux 32 and 64 bit, Windows 32 and 64 bit and MacIntel. Intel CPUs with AVX capabilities (Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake) will have a very large advantage, and Intel CPUs with FMA3 (Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake) will be the fastest.
Click to expand...
 
In about 2 days is the next challenge.

World Cup Challenge
http://www.primegrid.com/forum_thread.php?id=8027#118359

Welcome to the World Cup Challenge

The fourth Challenge of the 2018 Challenge series is a 5 day challenge to celebrate the 2018 International Football World Cup. The challenge is being offered on the Sierpinski/Riesel Base 5 (LLR) application.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup™ in Russia is the 21st edition of the single biggest tournament for the single biggest sport on the planet, and the first to be held in Eastern Europe.

Of the 32 teams, 20 will be making back-to-back appearances following the last tournament in 2014, including defending champions Germany, while Iceland and Panama will both be making their first appearances at a FIFA World Cup™. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities.

It all begins on June 14 and culminates with the final in Moscow on July 15.

To participate in the Challenge, please select only the Sierpinski / Riesel Base 5 LLR (SR5) project in your PrimeGrid preferences section. The challenge will begin 14th June 2018 00:00 UTC and end 19th June 2018 00:00 UTC.

Application builds are available for Linux 32 and 64 bit, Windows 32 and 64 bit and MacIntel. Intel CPUs with AVX capabilities (Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake) will have a very large advantage, and Intel CPUs with FMA3 (Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake) will be the fastest.

ATTENTION: The primality program LLR is CPU intensive; so, it is vital to have a stable system with good cooling. It does not tolerate "even the slightest of errors." Please see this post for more details on how you can "stress test" your computer. Tasks on one CPU core will take ~6 hours on fast/newer computers and 1+ day on slower/older computers. If your computer is highly overclocked, please consider "stress testing" it. Sieving is an excellent alternative for computers that are not able to LLR. :)

Highly overclocked Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake or Coffee Lake (i.e., Intel Core i7, i5, and i3 -4xxx or better) computers running the application will see fastest times. Note that SR5 is running the latest FMA3 version of LLR which takes full advantage of the features of these newer CPUs. It's faster than the previous LLR app and draws more power and produces more heat. If you have a Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake or Coffee Lake CPU, especially if it's overclocked or has overclocked memory, and haven't run the new FMA3 LLR before, we strongly suggest running it before the challenge while you are monitoring the temperatures.

Please, please, please make sure your machines are up to the task.

Multi-threading optimisation instructions

Those looking to maximise their computer's performance during this challenge, or when running LLR in general, may find this information useful.

  • Your mileage may vary. Before the challenge starts, take some time and experiment and see what works best on your computer.
  • If you have an Intel CPU with hyperthreading, either turn off the hyperthreading in the BIOS, or set BOINC to use 50% of the processors.
    • If you're using a GPU for other tasks, it may be beneficial to leave hyperthreading on in the BIOS and instead tell BOINC to use 50% of the CPU's. This will allow one of the hyperthreads to service the GPU.


  • Use LLR's multithreaded mode. It requires a little bit of setup, but it's worth the effort. Follow these steps:
    • Create a app_config.xml file in the directory C:\ProgramData\BOINC\projects\www.primegrid.com\ (or wherever your BOINC data directory is located). For a quad core CPU, the file should contain the following contents. Change the two occurrences of "4" to the number of actual cores your computer has.

      <app_config> <app_version> <app_name>llrSR5</app_name> <cmdline>-t 4</cmdline> <avg_ncpus>4</avg_ncpus> </app_version> </app_config>

    • After creating the file, click on "Options/Read config files". You should then restart BOINC or reboot.
    • The first time BOINC downloads an SR5 task, it may act a little strange and download 4 tasks instead of 1. The run times on this first set of tasks may look a bit strange too. This is normal. This will also occur anytime BOINC downloads more than one task at a time. This can be avoided by setting "Use at most [ 1 ] % of the CPUs" before you download SR5 tasks. After one task was downloaded, increase the percentage.
    • Some people have observed that when using multithreaded LLR, hyperthreading is actually beneficial. We encourage you to experiment and see what works best for you.
Click to expand...
 
Anyone else joining in on this?
 
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Alnitak2019 is gonna throw his boxen at this so ill put a few things on it as well. Never did a Primegrid challenge. CPU, GPU or both?

Nevermind, I read it. Its CPU. Ive got about 28 Intel threads to throw on this then.
 
The team as a whole hasn't focused on it the last 2 years. Last year we placed 26th overall. The year before that we placed 9th. Maybe focus on it as a team next year or something..but that is if people want to focus that much on Prime Numbers
 
Well he has a good bit of Intel cores that he has moved over to it. So we should do fairly well. Not last place at least.
 
Skillz said:
Alnitak2019 is gonna throw his boxen at this so ill put a few things on it as well. Never did a Primegrid challenge. CPU, GPU or both?

Nevermind, I read it. Its CPU. Ive got about 28 Intel threads to throw on this then.
Click to expand...

Watch your CPU temps if your CPU's support AVX. The PrimeGrid LLR tasks utilize AVX and will heat up your processor(s) quickly. I can only run 4 WU's at a time on my Haswell CPU boxes. Also, PrimeGrid CPU tasks prefer HyperThreading off.
 
I know it says AVX recommended. how well will this run on Ryzen and is it even worth it on FX chip?
 
I cannot tell you its "worth" but if you are running it on pre-Ryzen, then you will definitely want to set it up for multi-threaded.
 
I started it on the ryzen with no config and it was looking at 20 hrs per... after the config it appears to be under 3 hours for 4 threads. I am not going to bother with it on my older CPU's
 
That is kind of how I am unless it is one of the smaller ones like SGS.
 
app_config.xml Outlined above for various projects or you can modify for one. Just decide on number of threads and I will post it..lol
 
My CPU is a 10c20t Xeon. Ive got it running on all threads.
 
Do you want the work units to use all 20 threads per work unit or do you want to break it up? I cannot tell you what setup is more efficient. If I were doing it, I would lean towards 4 threads per work unit until I had done more testing. Just my experience from the past at other projects.

<app_config>
<app_version>
<app_name>llrSR5</app_name>
<cmdline>-t 4</cmdline>
<avg_ncpus>4</avg_ncpus>
</app_version>
</app_config>

If you want all 20 threads on each work unit you run, then change the 4 to 20. Obviously 4 threads per work unit would mean 5 work units in progress.
 
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Contest post on primegrid has recommendations on the config in OP for the contest. My windows broke last night so i am out.... fully corrupted after crashing and cant even get into safe mode :( primegrid broke me
 
Dang, hate to see you go. I just got to my boxen and seen the tasks have been running for nearly 24 hours already. Hopefully that config does some magic.
 
Johnx64 was that you who just signed up for PrimeGrid? If so, you are running the wrong sub project for this challenge. Go to the preferences and you'll see "PrimeGrid World Cup Challenge" under the correct project to select. Only select that one to get points for it.
 
ChelseaOilman I see you're attached to the project as well. Care to run only the SR5-LLR sub project for the next few days only? (For CPU at least, GPU can do whatever)
 
My internet has been shit for the last two weeks. So a lot of uploads/downloads get stalled for me right now. Supposed to have a tech out Monday but from what I hear the issue is all over town and they just haven't admitted it yet. Started after some major storms. I expected some issues, but they just fixed my connection back in November for same issues....
 
My farm is nearly all back online. Just got 2 more machines to convert to Onda.

Also realized that i had an extra 7700 lying around that i totally forgot about. Thinking about a Shuttle SFF to put him in.

Gonna put the Ryzen + QEYAs on this here tonight.
 
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Alright i have resurrected my rig and the good news is i was able to save my data. Back up on this with 12 threads FWIW.

Edit> looks like only 1 of my tasks survived the crash and burn. Not sure if it was the prime or Goofy. I have had goofy bring down rigs a few times even when in VM if i pushed it too hard. I do blame the ADATA SSD for shitting the bed though. Going to run my windows on this Samsung 860 for a while and see how that goes.
 
Seems we are in 23rd place now. Not bad for starting late.
 
These wus take a while. I'm not using an app_config.xml file for them. Got a bunch of them running. Should start finishing this afternoon.
 
Hell yeah.

Seems alnitak2019 is running all sorts of sub projects. Language barrier might be preventing me from explaining it to him that he needs to only run the

Sierpinski / Riesel Base 5 LLR (SR5)
World Cup Challenge project
CPU

Project.

Will try to email him again to see if he'll understand that he needs to abort or suspend those other projects.
 
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