SETI.Germany's 13th Annual Pentathlon (2022)

Gilthanis

Gilthanis

[H]ard|DCer of the Year - 2014
Joined
Jan 29, 2006
Messages
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https://www.seti-germany.de/boinc_pentathlon/
Event lasts May 5th - May 19th
We finished in 6th place last year.
I will be updating post 1 and post 2 throughout the event as needed. Please check back for updates daily.
The BOINC Pentathlon consists of 5 disciplines:
  1. Obstacle Run (14 days, with bonus credits on 3 one-day obstacles)
    Universe@home - https://universeathome.pl/universe/ Team page - https://universeathome.pl/universe/team_display.php?teamid=1931
  2. Sprint (3 days)
    SRBase - https://srbase.my-firewall.org/sr5/index.php Team page - https://srbase.my-firewall.org/sr5/team_display.php?teamid=13
  3. City Run (5 days)
    Einstein@home - https://einsteinathome.org/ Team page - https://einsteinathome.org/community/teams/173449
  4. Cross Country (5 days)
    PrimeGrid - https://www.primegrid.com/ - Team page - https://www.primegrid.com/team_display.php?teamid=1710 Project Preference (choose only GPU work units and leave CPU on other projects) - https://www.primegrid.com/prefs.php?subset=project
  5. Javelin Throw (5 x 1 day, only each team's third best daily score counts)
    Numberfields@home - https://numberfields.asu.edu/NumberFields/ Team page - https://numberfields.asu.edu/NumberFields/team_display.php?teamid=19
    5/7 - 5/8 - First throw (Throw this one)
    5/9 - 5/10 - Second throw
    5/12 - 5/13 - Third throw (Throw this one)
    5/16 - Fourth throw
    5/18 - Fifth throw (Throw this one)
To make the Pentathlon as exciting and trouble-free as possible while at the same time maintaining a maximum of flexibility, all five projects are chosen by a small group of the organizers this year.
Projects are not eligible if they
  • cannot provide a sufficient supply of work units*
  • do not support at least Windows and Linux
  • provide non-CPU-intensive (NCI) applications
  • are test-only projects
  • do not allow the creation of new accounts
  • do not support WebRPC
*: Because of the way a BOINC server works, even a project with a generally stable supply of work units can sporadically be out of work if too many computers request work units at the same time.

2022
  1. New discipline: Obstacle Run. Three obstacles of one day each have to be crossed on this year's Marathon track. At each obstacle, each team gets a bonus of 100%, 150%, or 200% of the credits it scored on the day in this discipline's stats. The obstacles and the bonus are announced at the beginning of the respective day. The project for the Obstacle Run is announced three days prior to the start.
  2. The days of Javelin Throw can now also be announced at 06:00 UTC, 12:00 UTC, or 18:00 UTC on the third day prior to the start.
Skip down to post 3 for setup instructions and tips.
Projects on which days (will be updated as announced)
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Previous year's threads
2021 - https://hardforum.com/threads/seti-germanys-12th-annual-boinc-pentathlon-2021.2009895/
2020 - https://hardforum.com/threads/seti-germanys-11-annual-boinc-pentathlon-2020.1995136/
2019 - https://hardforum.com/threads/2019-boinc-pentathlon.1980089/#post-1044154864
2018 - https://hardforum.com/threads/9th-annual-boinc-pentathlon-hosted-by-seti-germany.1957969/
2017 - https://hardforum.com/threads/10th-...sted-by-seti-germany.1980020/#post-1044152665
2016 - https://hardforum.com/threads/7th-annual-boinc-pentathlon-2016.1896285/
2015 - https://hardforum.com/threads/boinc-pentathlon-2015.1858766/
 
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Some general pointers
1. If you want a set and forget contribution, we recommend you attach your CPU's to whatever project is announced for the Obstacle Run. This means it should contribute the entire event and won't necessarily require you to do anything but attach and let it run. The more active members will change their pace as needed and add where we need them most. Consider yourself the anchor to hold our position.
2. If you are confused or feel in over your head, please ask for guidance. We have some guys that have a lot of experience that can walk you step by step if needed.
3. Not all projects support GPU's. If you want to support with a GPU, ask us for assistance and we will try and guide you.
4. Don't think that a little contribution doesn't help. Last year we barely got beat for 5th place and just a little more could have gone a long way. If you have ANY hardware that you can fire up for the event, please do so. Depending on the project, old gear might run just as quick as new gear. We will see.
5. Linux almost always performs better than Windows but Windows is MUCH easier to get things happy.
6. You may hear us throw out a term called "bunkering". You don't need to do this if you don't want to be hands on tweaking often and monitoring things. However, if you are willing to get your feet wet and dig in, you can certainly help make gains a lot better for the team during the event. Again, only if you are comfortable and are willing to monitor things throughout each day.
7. You may hear us discuss multiple clients. This is a whole lot of learning. I don't recommend you doing this until you have a pretty good grasp of the BOINC client first.
8. If you want to use your GPU(s), feel free to pick one of the events we list for GPU's (as they are announced) or ask us where they would be best served. We may ask you to switch as strategies shift. We won't be offended if you decide to just leave them on one of your choice.

Suggested tactics for the new users -
For those wanting set and forget.
Just attach to Universe@home to run your CPU's the whole event.
If you are willing to run your GPU's, I recommend PG from now until the 14th. The PPS (Sieve) work units are probably the best choice. Make sure to adjust the project preferences so that you don't pick up CPU tasks. This is done at the project. https://www.primegrid.com/prefs.php?subset=project
For those wanting to contribute a little more.
Universe@home is fine for your CPU's the whole event if you aren't familiar with various tactics. However, the Javelin throws really are important. So, if you are willing to switch over for the throws then feel free.
Numberfields really isn't a great choice for using the GPU's. The app isn't coded all that well compared to the CPU app. I recommend leaving your GPU's on PG for now. You can suspend Universe@home in the client and all the work units will basically pause allowing for other projects to run in its place.

Deadlines
Universe@home - 14 days
Numberfields - 7 days
PrimeGrid - 7 days
 
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I have a list of videos for assisting newer users get started and tweak things.

How to install BOINC






Bunkering tactics






Tips
1. Bunkering is critical for this event. If you are comfortable with the BOINC client, consider delving into some of the intricate ways of strategy. (link will be posted shortly)
2. Multiple clients will most likely become more and more critical with every event. They too are a bit more complex and may need some guidance. If you are willing to delve into such things, reach out to one of us and we will try and walk your through it.
3. Ask everyone you know if they are willing to help out for a few weeks. Even small contributions really help out. Some teams are comprised of mostly small contributing users but are power houses in these events. We can do the same.
4. Mining rigs can certainly help but not all of them are built for DC projects very well. Don't feel bad if you don't get the results you expected. Some GPU work needs a full CPU thread. Small CPU's may not be able to fully utilize all cards. If you bring such setups, feel free to ask for best utilization advice.
5. There are GPU capable projects that older GPU's (typically AMD) work better than some newer projects because of double precision capabilities. There are only a few out there but it does happen. Don't get discouraged if your newer cards aren't performing as well compared to others. Not all hardware is created equal but your contributions still help.
 
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I think the important thing will be guiding casual users to the projects that suite them best. Basically, telling them what they can do to help.

The complex setups and changing settings based on each project/event throw off casual DCer's.

This year I'm focusing on efficiency to reduce power and heat as I expect we'll be close to or over triple digit temps during that time.
 
wareyore said:
I think the important thing will be guiding casual users to the projects that suite them best. Basically, telling them what they can do to help.

The complex setups and changing settings based on each project/event throw off casual DCer's.

This year I'm focusing on efficiency to reduce power and heat as I expect we'll be close to or over triple digit temps during that time.
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I agree and we typically try to advise those individuals in the process as well. The guides we post for advanced activities is more for those that want to delve into the intricacies of heavy competition.
 
DWolvin said:
wareyore ^This, I am very willing to throw my machine in, but too lazy to bunker much.
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When more details of the event are announced, we will certainly try to give direction for you. Let us know what hardware you will be bringing and what OS's so that we can suggest and guide for best use and simplest deployment.
 
Win11, AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 1080ti. I have an old dual AMD server with a pair of 10 or 12 core server chips running Linux in the closet that could be brought online... And a Sandy Bridge hex core somewhere (probably Win10).
 
MS Patch Tuesday in the middle of the event? Might include a warning to postpone MS updates for a week or manually update and restart (if required) making sure BOINC is back crunching.
 
I don't think there is really a patch Tuesday anymore, but pausing for a week is a great idea.
 
I'm actually intrigued by this, although my first go would likely be the set-it-and-forget it marathon approach. I have a farm of 3900X and 3950X cpus that I'll look at getting the boinc clients installed on sometime this week.
 
oblox said:
I'm actually intrigued by this, although my first go would likely be the set-it-and-forget it marathon approach. I have a farm of 3900X and 3950X cpus that I'll look at getting the boinc clients installed on sometime this week.
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Glad to have you on board.
 
Sadly, it's around the time this runs that temps around here tend to start to get quite warm which means I tend to shut down or at least severely cut back for the summer. Hopefully we'll have a nice cool spell during this time. I'll likely be running it anyway but I'd rather not have it 90F+ in my room.
 
Yeah, that's part of why I was asking if the old Sandy B and dual AMD systems would be worth it- they will have to be set up to run headless in another room.
 
SmokeRngs, Thanks! We accept any kind of contribution, big or small (y)

Running cpu only project won't produce much heat relative to running both running cpu and gpu. On my 3950x, setting core clock around 35GHz at 0.96V, pulls less than 130W off the wall. Cpu most of the time is running less than 50°C.
 
Is that the dual opteron rigs with OC bios? Yeah I know these are space heaters. I'm in Cali, so things will get pretty warm to hot very soon. I did sell some of my xeon rigs and move over to AMD. I still have one SB 2670 in Dell T3600 and I'm selling off my 4669v3 chip (that's 18C/36T).
 
DWolvin said:
Yeah, that's part of why I was asking if the old Sandy B and dual AMD systems would be worth it- they will have to be set up to run headless in another room.
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The Sandy B will all depend on what projects are selected. Honestly, I would run it anyways if you can stand the extra load. It would only be for 2 weeks. I still have a lot of old gear in my home.
 
Fair enough, I'll get the server board set up (probably Ubuntu), and update the SB this weekend!
 
SmokeRngs said:
Sadly, it's around the time this runs that temps around here tend to start to get quite warm which means I tend to shut down or at least severely cut back for the summer. Hopefully we'll have a nice cool spell during this time. I'll likely be running it anyway but I'd rather not have it 90F+ in my room.
Click to expand...

"Eco mode" is an easy way to shave off ~ 50w or so on a 3000 / 5000 series ryzen and the performance drop isn't too bad. I sometimes run it when things are really warm out. my 3900x's for example go from 140w to 85 watts (reported by HWMonitor not sure of the at the wall values but i could check easy enough)
 
motqalden said:
"Eco mode" is an easy way to shave off ~ 50w or so on a 3000 / 5000 series ryzen and the performance drop isn't too bad. I sometimes run it when things are really warm out. my 3900x's for example go from 140w to 85 watts (reported by HWMonitor not sure of the at the wall values but i could check easy enough)
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Eh, it's not the CPUs that bother me much although they can and do heat up the room. The Ryzen 2600x isn't all that noticeable and running it only on 6 cores instead of 12 threads helps a bit. Same deal with the 5800x. As stated earlier, it's mostly the GPUs. At the moment I have 2x RX570s and a 1050Ti running which before it was only a single RX570. The difference in heat generation is quite noticeable and it's not even all that warm outside just yet.

The 1050Ti doesn't use more than 75w so it's not a big deal and I know I can power limit the 570s but no matter what, it ends up adding up when stuffed into a small room.

It's a pity I can't confiscate my son's system and his friend's system. Another 5800x a 5900x, 3070Ti and 6700XT would be a nice addition.
 
for GPU 60% power target or lower if needed. 60% is a pretty good number of work done VS power used
 
SmokeRngs said:
Eh, it's not the CPUs that bother me much although they can and do heat up the room. The Ryzen 2600x isn't all that noticeable and running it only on 6 cores instead of 12 threads helps a bit. Same deal with the 5800x. As stated earlier, it's mostly the GPUs. At the moment I have 2x RX570s and a 1050Ti running which before it was only a single RX570. The difference in heat generation is quite noticeable and it's not even all that warm outside just yet.

The 1050Ti doesn't use more than 75w so it's not a big deal and I know I can power limit the 570s but no matter what, it ends up adding up when stuffed into a small room.

It's a pity I can't confiscate my son's system and his friend's system. Another 5800x a 5900x, 3070Ti and 6700XT would be a nice addition.
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Perhaps some unjust grounding from the PC's are in order...hahahaha
 
I might've missed it but when does the event start? Also, it sounds like these tasks stress different components, so sometimes it's heavily CPU limited, other times it's GPU heavy, and other times it might require 4-8 CPU threads per GPU and x16 PCIE connections? Are there typically any major hurdles for memory or disk space?
 
Andrew_Carr said:
I might've missed it but when does the event start? Also, it sounds like these tasks stress different components, so sometimes it's heavily CPU limited, other times it's GPU heavy, and other times it might require 4-8 CPU threads per GPU and x16 PCIE connections? Are there typically any major hurdles for memory or disk space?
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It starts May 6th (as of right now because there seems to be conflicting info on their page right now) and goes to the 19th. Yes the work units can stress different parts of the system and even different parts of the chip or cards. Disk space can be an issue if the project supports Virtualbox work units as those work units can be large. Some projects have a lot of IO which again the capability of the HDD come into play. Memory can matter with some projects. Especially the math projects. Faster memory can improve the return rate on such work. Some projects want crazy amounts of RAM at times. So, it does pretty much come down to what projects get selected and what your system is capable of. Most systems can run most projects. It is the competitive side that really shines on this event. It is less about x16 PCIE connections though. I would say an x4 probably would suffice for just about anything. Maybe x8 but it would then depend on what gen of PCIe as well.
 
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Gilthanis said:
It starts May 6th (as of right now because there seems to be conflicting info on their page right now) and goes to the 19th. Yes the work units can stress different parts of the system and even different parts of the chip or cards. Disk space can be an issue if the project supports Virtualbox work units as those work units can be large. Some projects have a lot of IO which again the capability of the HDD come into play. Memory can matter with some projects. Especially the math projects. Faster memory can improve the return rate on such work. Some projects want crazy amounts of RAM at times. So, it does pretty much come down to what projects get selected and what your system is capable of. Most systems can run most projects. It is the competitive side that really shines on this event. It is less about x16 PCIE connections though. I would say an x4 probably would suffice for just about anything. Maybe x8 but it would then depend on what gen of PCIe as well.
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Hmm.. ok. I might try to reconfigure some systems then. Not much to be done about the HDDs though.
 
The challenge right now is waiting for the announcement of the projects that will be chosen. Once we know the projects the experts here can better advise us novices based on our equipment.
 
The_Heretic said:
Keeping my eye on it. About two weeks out now.
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Glad to see you back after the last year WCG birthday challenge (y) .

Out of the top ten teams in last year 2021 pentathlon, there were three teams which are considered "Computer hardware/software enthusiast" web/blog sites (AnandTech, [H]ard|OCP and Linus Tech Tips). See if we can improve our standing...

I"m pretty sure some of the [H] folks here have new shinny hardware (cpus and/or gpus) that they could put to good use in this race ;)

Note: the projects chosen for this BOINC pentathlon are usually high caliber projects. Most do help contribute to science reasearch in the areas of biomedicine, physics, astronomy, maths and so on.

Newcomers: don't hesitate to drop a line here.

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Got the boinc client installed on ten rigs (three 3950X and seven 3900X). Just waiting for WCG to come out of maintenance so I can register. Should just need to enter my creds in the client and join the [H] team on the WCG website, right?
 
oblox said:
Got the boinc client installed on ten rigs (three 3950X and seven 3900X). Just waiting for WCG to come out of maintenance so I can register. Should just need to enter my creds in the client and join the [H] team on the WCG website, right?
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Wow, that's a lot of 3950x and 3900x. Once a project is announced, you have to go to each project website and "Create an account'. For example the PrimeGrid project url is https://www.primegrid.com/. Click on "Your account" and then click on "create an account". We will post the project URL registration site for new comers when it is announced. Oh, make sure you join the [H] team or let us know if you have any problem here.

Glad to have you on board sir!

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Silly question for the F@H people, are there better projects to choose? I'm assuming high priority will make more points?
 
DWolvin said:
Silly question for the F@H people, are there better projects to choose? I'm assuming high priority will make more points?
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Points are based on how the project itself handles them. BOINC doesn't have just one metric a project can use. The only projects I know of that give bonuses is GPUGrid (think QRB) and PrimeGrid (they give a bonus based on which LLR projects they find higher priority and is labeled in project settings.) Some projects are known for being "low earning projects" while others are known for handing points out like Collatz does.
 
oblox said:
Got the boinc client installed on ten rigs (three 3950X and seven 3900X). Just waiting for WCG to come out of maintenance so I can register. Should just need to enter my creds in the client and join the [H] team on the WCG website, right?
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Awesome. Glad to have you onboard. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. BOINC is a huge learning curve. But yes, after making an account at each project, you will need to also join our team. I plan on not only posting the project link to sign up but also linking the team page so that there is little confusion.
 
Speaking from personal experience, that 'joining the team' option is an easy one to miss. Oops!
 
Yeah, precisely why this first go around, I'm looking forward to as "easy button" as possible. Links/directions are always welcomed. Once the projects are up, feel free to tag me so I know to register.
 
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