Welcome to PrimeGrid's Birthday/Summer Solstice Challenge

PrimeGrid's Challenge series continues with the "Birthday/Summer Solstice Challenge". We are celebrating PrimeGrid's 5th birthday!!! Therefore, a 5 day Challenge is being offered on PrimeGrid's The Riesel Problem (Sieve) application. The celebration will culminate in the ancient observation of the Summer Solstice, 21 June!

PrimeGrid has come a long ways in the past 5 years. For general background information, please visit PG History. For a list of accomplishments, please visit PG Milestones & Significant Primes.

To participate in the Challenge, please select only the TRP (Sieve) project in your PrimeGrid preferences section. The Challenge will begin 16 June 2010 11:28 UTC and end 21 June 2010 11:28 UTC. Application builds are available for MacIntel, Linux 32 & 64 bit and Windows 32 & 64 bit. Note: 64 bit builds benefit from a 1.7X speed advantage over 32 bit...so 1.7X the credit. :)

NOTE: In your PrimeGrid preferences section, set "Send work from any subproject if selected projects have no work" to no to guarantee that no other work will be sent.

Recommendation: The TRP (Sieve) application requires a one time download of a 35MB sieve file. Please consider running a few TRP (Sieve) WU's before the Challenge begins so your client will already have the sieve file. This way, bandwidth can be used to deliver WU's instead of the sieve file. :) Thank you!

Time zone converter:

The World Clock - Time Zone Converter

NOTE: The countdown clock on the front page uses the host computer time. Therefore, if your computer time is off, so will the countdown clock. For precise timing, use the UTC Time in the data section to the left of the countdown clock.

Scoring Information

Scores will be kept for individuals and teams. Only work units issued AFTER 16 June 2010 11:28 UTC and received BEFORE 21 June 2010 11:28 UTC will be considered for credit. Since this is a fixed credit project, we'll be using cobblestones for scoring.

About the Riesel Problem

Hans Ivar Riesel (born 1929 in Stockholm) is a Swedish mathematician. In 1956, he showed that there are an infinite number of positive odd integer k's such that k*2^n-1 is composite (not prime) for every integer n>=1. These numbers are now called Riesel numbers. He further showed that k=509203 was such one.

It is conjectured that 509203 is the smallest Riesel number. The Riesel problem consists in determining that 509203 is the smallest Riesel number. To show that it is the smallest, a prime of the form k*2^n-1 must be found for each of the positive integer k's less than 509203. As of July 2008, there remains 64 k's for which no primes have been found. They are as follows:

2293, 9221, 23669, 31859, 38473, 40597, 46663, 65531, 67117, 74699, 81041, 93839, 97139, 107347, 121889, 123547, 129007, 141941, 143047, 146561, 161669, 162941, 191249, 192971, 206039, 206231, 215443, 226153, 234343, 245561, 250027, 252191, 273809, 304207, 315929, 319511, 324011, 325123, 327671, 336839, 342847, 344759, 353159, 362609, 363343, 364903, 365159, 368411, 371893, 384539, 386801, 397027, 398023, 402539, 409753, 415267, 428639, 444637, 470173, 474491, 477583, 485557, 494743, 502573

For a more detailed history and status of the Riesel problem, please visit Wilfrid Keller's The Riesel Problem: Definition and Status.

Additional Information

• Riesel Number (Wolfram MathWorld)
  
• Riesel Number (Wiki)
  
• Riesel Number (The Prime Glossary)
  

The Riesel problem is to k*2^n-1 as the Sierpinski problem is to k*2^n+1. There is no equivalent to the 'prime' Sierpinski problem since k=509203, the conjectured smallest Riesel number, is prime.

32 bit OS with 64 bit CPU

This is for those who are "driving with the hand brake active" (running a 32 bit OS on a 64 bit machine) ;) Wubi is a very nice tool that installs Ubuntu as a dual boot to your 64 bit machine. It's as simple as adding a program to Windows. You can even uninstall it like you would any other program. :)

Wubi - Ubuntu Installer

After getting 64 bit OS running on your machine, here's a link to ALL BOINC clients (including Linux x64): http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php If you are new to Linux and need help getting set up, let us know.

It really is simple. :)

Ubuntu has a power save feature that throttles the CPU frequency down to save power. It does not treat BOINC as an active program so will throttle down thus causing under-performance. For those downloading the latest Ubuntu 9.10 (http://www.ubuntu.com/), please follow these directions to make sure the frequency is not throttled down while BOINC is running:

1. In Ubuntu, right click the top menu bar
2. Select add to panel
3. Select "CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor"
4. Click add

This will add a processor icon to the top menu. Click on the icon and set to "Performance". This also allows you to see the CPU frequency.
____________

Hej @ all

I am on holiday, but my CPUs have to work, because they do not work enough last month ;)
So count me in this challenge (if my tested scripting works fine ...)

Am I right: new sieve-file is 'TRP_20100604.sieveinput' ??
if not, my CPUs will ask the server on June 16 ...


____________
Sysadm@Nbg
Member of Team Seti.Germany

Am I right: new sieve-file is 'TRP_20100604.sieveinput' ??

I prepared myself for the challenge and swaped the lone Xeon E5405 of this client for two Xeon L5408. This is now my fastest client and the power only rose from 135 W to 155 W under full load. Let the challenge begin!

How to Join the Challenge

To participate in the Challenge, please select only the TRP (Sieve) project in your PrimeGrid preferences section. Also, set "Send work from any subproject if selected projects have no work" to no to guarantee that no other work will be sent. The challenge will begin 16 June 2010 11:28 UTC and end 21 June 2010 11:28 UTC.

Application builds are available for the following:

• Microsoft Windows (98 or later) running on an Intel x86-compatible CPU
  
• Microsoft Windows running on an AMD x86_64 or Intel EM64T CPU
  
• Linux running on an Intel x86-compatible CPU
  
• Linux running on an AMD x86_64 or Intel EM64T CPU
  
• Mac OS 10.4 or later running on Intel
  
• Mac OS 10.5+ running on an Intel 64-bit CPU
  

Note: 64 bit builds benefit from a 1.7X speed advantage over 32 bit...so 1.7X the credit. :)

Recommendation: The TRP (Sieve) application requires a one time download of a 35MB sieve file. Please consider running a few TRP (Sieve) WU's before the Challenge begins so your client will already have the sieve file. This way, bandwidth can be used to deliver WU's instead of the sieve file. :) Thank you!

Time zone converter:

The World Clock - Time Zone Converter

NOTE: The countdown clock on the front page uses the host computer time. Therefore, if your computer time is off, so will the countdown clock. For precise timing, use the UTC Time in the data section to the left of the countdown clock.

Scoring Information

Scores will be kept for individuals and teams. Only work units issued AFTER 16 June 2010 11:28 UTC and received BEFORE 21 June 2010 11:28 UTC will be considered for credit. Since this is a fixed credit project, we'll be using cobblestones for scoring.

Stats will be available on the front page next to the clock within 30 minutes after the start.

What to expect at Challenge start

The server always gets hit hard at the beginning of the Challenge. However, we will be using the same procedure that we used last year for all the Challenges which proved very successful. A few hours before the start (16 June 2010 11:28 UTC) "max cache" will be dropped to 16 tasks per core. Additionally, "max to send" will be dropped to 8 tasks per core. Anyone attempting to request more will be met with "max cache" messages.

We'll raise the buffer to at least 50K. At the start of the Challenge, these settings will be adjusted as necessary. Afterwards, as conditions allow, we'll raise "max cache". We'll continue to increase "max cache" when the server can handle it until a full 5 days max cache is possible.

This method allows the greatest opportunity for the most clients to get work. Even if it's just 1 task for the first 5 minutes, at least the client is crunching. Past Challenges have shown that clients have an excellent chance to reach "max cache" before their first task is complete. We expect the same this time.

Strategies for starting the Challenge

Depending on a variety of factors, different strategies work for different users. Here are just a few to consider:

• large farm, user can be present at start
  -Set Computer is connected to the Internet about every to 0 days
  -Set Maintain enough work for an additional to 0 days
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences to a fast WU project such as PPS (LLR)
  -At Challenge start, update PrimeGrid preferences and only select TRP (Sieve) project
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 PPS (LLR) WU late on each core starting the Challenge.
  -After all machines have work, increase Maintain enough work for an additional
  
• large farm, user NOT able to be present at start
  -Same settings as above.
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 WU late on each core starting the Challenge.
  
• a few computers, user can be present at start
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences and only select TRP (Sieve) project
  -Set computers to "No New Tasks" for PrimeGrid
  -At Challenge Start, update computers to "Allow New Tasks"
  
• a few computers, user NOT able to be present at start
  -Set Computer is connected to the Internet about every to 0 days
  -Set Maintain enough work for an additional to 0 days
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences and only select TRP (Sieve) project
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 WU late on each core starting the Challenge.

NOTE: This presumes you have all other BOINC projects suspended.

Best of Luck to everyone!
____________

Recommendation: The TRP (Sieve) application requires a one time download of a 35MB sieve file. Please consider running a few TRP (Sieve) WU's before the Challenge begins so your client will already have the sieve file. This way, bandwidth can be used to deliver WU's instead of the sieve file. :) Thank you!

Special Attention

This is a reminder to connect to the TRP (Sieve) project early and do at least 1 task so you can have the latest sieve file. However, as mentioned in the previous post, resends using the previous sieve file are still there. We hope to have most of these completed before the start of the Challenge.

Speaking of start, please make a special note of the start time: 16 Jun 11:28 UTC. This is different from the normal start time of 18:00 UTC. This allows the Challenge to finish on the Summer Solstice.

Best of Luck to everyone!
____________

I just wonder why the time shown in the stats data is 11 - 12 minutes faster than real time. Does this mean I should start ten minutes earlier, or, can you match up to a handy atomic clock somewhere?

(...)
Even today in my prep-work to download the sieve-files most of my computers get the "No work available for the application.."

Good luck everyone !

9 hours until the start of the Birthday/Summer Solstice Challenge

It's time to make those final adjustments for the start of the Challenge. If everyone manages to download the sieve file in advance, we should have a pretty smooth start. Therefore, please spread the word about downloading the file before the start.

Once again review the "Welcome" post as well as the "How to Join" post so you can be informed and make any last minute adjustments that are necessary.

A few hours before the Challenge, we begin to monitor the Meebo chat room at the bottom of the forum page. If at any time PrimeGrid becomes unresponsive, you can still access the Meebo chat room externally here: http://www.meebo.com/room/primegrid/

Before the start, the Subproject stats on the Server Status page will be disabled as will the 24 hour stats on the bottom of the front page. Also, the Top Primes Finder page will be disabled. This is all done to free up as much resources to allow the server to send and receive work.

What to expect at Challenge start

Recommendation: The TRP (Sieve) application requires a one time download of a 35MB sieve file. Please consider running a few TRP (Sieve) WU's before the Challenge begins so your client will already have the sieve file. This way, bandwidth can be used to deliver WU's instead of the sieve file. :) Thank you!

The server always gets hit hard at the beginning of the Challenge. However, we will be using the same procedure that we used last year for all the Challenges which proved very successful. A few hours before the start (16 June 2010 11:28 UTC) "max cache" will be dropped to 16 tasks per core. Additionally, "max to send" will be dropped to 8 tasks per core. Anyone attempting to request more will be met with "max cache" messages.

We'll raise the buffer to at least 50K. At the start of the Challenge, these settings will be adjusted as necessary. Afterwards, as conditions allow, we'll raise "max cache". We'll continue to increase "max cache" when the server can handle it until a full 5 days max cache is possible.

This method allows the greatest opportunity for the most clients to get work. Even if it's just 1 task for the first 5 minutes, at least the client is crunching. Past Challenges have shown that clients have an excellent chance to reach "max cache" before their first task is complete. We expect the same this time.

Strategies for starting the Challenge

Depending on a variety of factors, different strategies work for different users. Here are just a few to consider:

• large farm, user can be present at start
  -Set Computer is connected to the Internet about every to 0 days
  -Set Maintain enough work for an additional to 0 days
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences to a fast WU project such as PPS (LLR)
  -At Challenge start, update PrimeGrid preferences and only select TRP (Sieve) project
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 PPS (LLR) WU late on each core starting the Challenge.
  -After all machines have work, increase Maintain enough work for an additional
  
• large farm, user NOT able to be present at start
  -Same settings as above.
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 WU late on each core starting the Challenge.
  
• a few computers, user can be present at start
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences and only select TRP (Sieve) project
  -Set computers to "No New Tasks" for PrimeGrid
  -At Challenge Start, update computers to "Allow New Tasks"
  
• a few computers, user NOT able to be present at start
  -Set Computer is connected to the Internet about every to 0 days
  -Set Maintain enough work for an additional to 0 days
  -Change PrimeGrid preferences and only select TRP (Sieve) project
  -At worse, you'll only be 1 WU late on each core starting the Challenge.

NOTE: This presumes you have all other BOINC projects suspended.

Best of Luck to everyone!
____________

Got some weirdness here:

The first WUs I got had a deadline of the 23rd (a duration of 7 days).

Then I got some WUs that had a deadline of the 19th -- these had a duration of 3 days plus an hour and change, not an even multiple of days. Because of the shorter deadline, these went into high-priority mode, pre-empting the others. Blech.

Thinking those might have been non-challenge resends, I aborted those.

Then I got some more with the 23rd.

Then I got some more with the 19th again, and they went into high priority mode.

What's up with the deadlines?
____________

My guess is that the extra WUs PrimeGrid provided for the challenge got shorter deadlines than the WUs that were already in the queue.

On my quad WUs with numbers less than 300000 (between 289000 and 294000) have the "normal" 7 day deadline and WU with numbers higher 300000 (around 303000) have the "shorter" 3.5 day(?) deadline.
____________

Crunching for the PrimeSearchTeam.

I'm waiting for the first stats update...

16 Jun 2010 11:30:03 UTC 16 Jun 2010 14:31:35 UTC Completed and validated 10,845.77 10,754.70 94.97 280.00
16 Jun 2010 11:30:02 UTC 16 Jun 2010 14:31:49 UTC Completed and validated 10,872.60 10,783.48 95.23 280.00
16 Jun 2010 11:30:02 UTC 16 Jun 2010 14:31:00 UTC Completed and validated 10,823.21 10,741.30 94.85 280.00
16 Jun 2010 11:30:04 UTC 16 Jun 2010 14:31:49 UTC Completed and validated 10,838.79 10,771.60 95.12 280.00

____________

Crunching for the PrimeSearchTeam.

(...)
I was running PPS LLR not TRP Sieve.
(...)

I'm having the same problem (see my post above.)

I haven't seen any response from the project about why they're mixing and matching deadline durations, but it's screwing up the scheduling and I sure wish they would stop.

I may need to start micro-managing the tasks and abort every unstarted short duration WU with a short deadline -- that will be the only way to get the partially-completed long duration WUs to finish before the challenge ends.

In fact, I think I will start doing that right now.

EDIT:

Well, that didn't seem to work as the short duration tasks seem to be the only ones being sent out right now. I guess I'll wait a bit for a response from the admins, but I'll eventually abort the unstarted long duration WUs. I guess I'll have to manually suspend the short duration WUs in order to get the already started long duration WUs to finish before the end of the challenge.. That means the cores will run dry if I'm not there to manually start them up again. Oh joy -- let the cores run dry, or waste the crunching already done. Lovely.

BTW, this isn't the admins' fault -- there's no reason the BOINC client should be running these things high priority. It's got plenty of time.
____________

On many versions of BOINC, if you suspend and then almost immediately resume a WU, it won't resume right away. If the other work is within some short time of completion (an hour, I think), it will get done before BOINC decides to switch back to the work you suspended.

That trick worked for me on one machine yesterday, anyway.
____________

I haven't seen any response from the project about why they're mixing and matching deadline durations, but it's screwing up the scheduling and I sure wish they would stop.

Hi, I am participating in the Summer Solstice Challenge but do not see my user in the participants list. I have the proper project selected and have daily results occurring.

Any idea what i should do or is there a way to audit what is happening on either side of this situation?

Challenge Update

We are currently sieving at an unheard of rate of approximately 617T per day and it's increasing!!! The depth is currently approaching 5P. It is possible that we could reach 7P by the end of the Challenge!!! Prime search history is being made with this raw sieving power. Thanks!

Additionally, we'll most definitely break the single day credit record of 15.9M cobblestones at PrimeGrid. Yesterday, over 15M was awarded but the rate has been increasing each day. We expect to see a record today.

A HUGE thanks goes out to each and every one of you. These are your records...your accomplishments. Congratulations!!! Now on with the Challenge. :) Best of Luck!

EDIT: The Challenge started around 2.6P. To see if we reach 7P, you can follow progress here: The Riesel Problem (Sieve) - Range statistics
____________

New Single Day Credit Record!!!

As expected, a new single day credit record of 18M cobblestones was achieved today surpassing the previous record of 15.9M set during the Winter Solstice Challenge. Kind of a nice symmetry there. :) Additionally, a max of 628T/day was reached...and we're not even half way through the Challenge!

Congratulations and thank you for participating!!!
____________

Hmmm .... getting the following:

19/06/2010 1:46:16 PM|PrimeGrid|Message from server: No work sent
19/06/2010 1:46:16 PM|PrimeGrid|Message from server: The Riesel Problem (Sieve) needs 14.86MB more disk space. You currently have 461.98 MB available and it needs 476.84 MB.
19/06/2010 1:46:16 PM|PrimeGrid|Message from server: No work available for the applications you have selected. Please check your preferences on the web site.

PG is already using 120MB, isn't an extra 476.84MB a bit excessive, just to get another WU?

Recommendation: The TRP (Sieve) application requires a one time download of a 35MB sieve file.
You may end up with 2 sieve file downloads because currently there are some resends in the queue.

user@host:~/BOINC/projects/www.primegrid.com$ ls -lh TRP_2010*
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 45M 2010-06-12 09:09 TRP_20100505.sieveinput
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 35M 2010-06-11 19:13 TRP_20100604.sieveinput

I am not needing advice, just wondering why so much free space is required by PG? (Seti, Enigma, MW, Simap and Rosetta also run on the same cruncher at times, and they dont ask for more space).

This might be the reason.

Challenge Update

AMAZING!!!! Just a few minutes ago, we reached a sieving rate for TRP sieve of 1.01P/day and increasing!!! The depth is currently approaching 5.5P.

Again, a HUGE thanks goes out to everyone. These are your records...your accomplishments. Congratulations!!!

You can follow progress here: The Riesel Problem (Sieve) - Range statistics
____________

Preparing for the Final!

With about 8 hours remaining, now would be a good time to start preparing for the end of the Challenge. Please remember to upload early and often. The server is going to get hit hard as the Challenge draws to an end. We have started lowering "max cache" to help with this.

Only work units issued AFTER 16 JUNE 2010 11:28 UTC and received BEFORE 21 JUNE 2010 11:28 UTC will be considered for credit.

For those "moving on" at the conclusion of the Challenge, we ask that you abort your WU's after the end. This helps out greatly with loose WU's lying around waiting to expire. However, if you have the resources, please consider completing the work in your cache before "moving on".

Since this is a sieve Challenge, there is not need for a "clean up" period. Therefore, the results will be final shortly after the conclusion (when the validator has processed all the Challenge WU's).

Good Luck to everyone!
____________

I got some 19 WUs pending comletion in the next hour before the deadline.
I hope i stay put on 60th place.
____________

The results are Final!

The Summer Solstice has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. So too has the conclusion of the Challenge!!! This will be one Challenge that will go down in the record books. 2.45P of sieve work was crunched in 245K tasks resulting in over 68.5M cobblestones awarded. PrimeGrid's overall (Challenge + regular work) daily record was set with over 19.6M cobblestones for a 24 hour period surpassing the 15.9M record set during last year's Winter Solstice Challenge. Congratulations to everyone...this is an incredible milestone.

The TRP sieve reached an incomplete depth of over 5.84P with a daily rate that reached an unbelievable 1.02P/day at it's peak!!! Almost 250K factors were found. Needless to say, once the dust settles, we'll review if there's a need for a new sieve file as a result of all this work. :)

167 teams and 1298 individuals participated in the Challenge.

The Challenge Points stats will be updated soon. Congratulations to SETI.USA as the top team and shanky123 as the top individual. Remember, the top 100 individual and top 50 team places earn points for this Challenge.

Thank you again to everyone. We appreciate your participation and hope you had fun! Have a wonderful summer and we look forward to seeing you at the next Challenge - The Full Moon Challenge - 25 July - 24 hours on the PPS (LLR) application! Come howl at the moon with us as we bombard the Top 5000 Primes Pages with new primes. It's a GREAT opportunity for you to find one for yourself! Who knows, there may even be the rare Fermat number divisor. :)

Stats: Participants | Teams

I didn't know I was in it but the mighty Aggie The Pew (may her shadow never grow less) came 135th. Thanks for organising. I plan to have a proper go at the PPSE challenge tho'; see if I can do better at that.

Hasta la vista, baby.

Is the PPSE (LLR) different from the PPS (LLR)? If so how do we choose it?

Is the PPSE (LLR) different from the PPS (LLR)? If so how do we choose it?

Sorry for the incomplete information. PPS (LLR) includes both PPS and PPSE work. For the Challenge, only PPSE work will be available. Therefore, all you have to do is select the PPS (LLR) application on your PrimeGrid preferences.

[Will manual PPSE work count towards the challenge?

That's about 1K/day. That's not realistic, John.

Currently the advancement is 0.28K/day.

To avoid server load you should skip the challenge or exclude some monster crunchers :P ;)

A few of them (UL1, marodeur6) retired voluntary. Many thanks to them for all the work they did here @PrimeGrid.

I put my dual Xeon L5408 on ppsLLR in addition to my 4 regular hosts.
every little bit should help, more is financially unaffordable for my, and who knows: maybe i find one or another prime until the challenge begins.

lol
Had to shut down the host: Summer has finally arrived in Germany. 34°C outside, 28°C right now in the room after the sun has set... We are looking forward to round about 38°C on saturday...
Oh boy...
My stats are showing 13°C for 2010-04-26 and 20°C for 2010-05-29.