http://en.fah-addict.net/news/news-...-benchmarks.php

Peter Kasson has announced that following the recent release of the v6.29 client to the public, the first SMP2 units will be arriving shortly on all 3 platforms for users running SMP with advmethods. The new a3 core is not yet finished but the Pande Group have decided it is ready for open beta as they continue with their refinements.

Unfortunately (especially for Windows users) the SMP2 client will still require MPI to be installed at first as a1/a2 units will continue to be available as a fallback if a3 units run out, but the Pande Group anticipate this to be a short term measure and the MPI requirement will be removed a few weeks into the SMP2 open beta phase.

New clients aside, the SMP2 clients represent an expansion of the early completion bonus used in -bigadv. In line with the client's classification as a "high-performance" client, and to align points awarded to the Pande Group's wish of getting the speediest possible unit returns, all SMP2 units will be subject to the bonus. This means that the points for SMP2 units will appear abnormally low if the bonus is not calculated. Currently FahMon does not calculate the bonus (though it should be able to in the next release), but HFM.NET can.

The requirements to receive the bonus remain the same:
1. Must use a passkey
2. Must successfully return >=10 A2 or SMP2 work units with their passkey
3. Must successfully return >80% of A2 or SMP2 work units, within the deadline

A third change is that the benchmarks machines have been completely updated: SMP and regular CPU clients are now benchmarked by one machine. This machine has a Core i5-750 quad core processor with turbo mode disabled. Points are awarded based on comparisons with the old Pentium 4 benchmark machine (for single CPU clients), and three SMP systems: a 2.4GHz E6600, a 2.4GHz Q6600, and an overclocked 3.2GHz Q6600.

A full explanation of the new benchmarks can be found at the link below, but the new benchmarks are set up so that with the bonus, a 2.4GHz Q6600 is the crossover point for SMP2. Machines slower than this will earn less on SMP2 than with the a2 core, machines more powerful will earn more than with the a2 core.

Happy Folding!

SMP2 Source: Upcoming release of SMP2 cores
New benchmarks Source: Points system for SMP2 work units

jmn On: 01/24/10