I would have expected unit 11 would have been more regardless. I'd keep it going if you can so we can check these next few units.
Here's the QRB specifics:
Bonus Points
The prompt completion of Work Units (WUs) is very important for the science we’re doing. In order to study the proteins we’re interested in, we need be able get the results back quickly. A faster turnaround also means that we can launch projects that are larger and more difficult than ever before. So in 2010 we introduced the Quick Return Bonus (QRB), which gives extra points to users who rapidly and reliably complete WUs. The QRB has been fairly successful in aligning points with scientific value, and we will continue to use it.
What are the qualifications for the QRB?
The bonus is applied for users who use a passkey, have successfully returned at least 10 bonus-eligible WUs, have successfully returned 80% or more of assigned WUs, and returned the unit before its Timeout (formerly Preferred Deadline). Bonus points do not apply to partial returns.
How is the QRB determined?
We have a single benchmark machine, its most important component is its processor: a Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 750 @ 2.67GHz. The machine’s OS is Linux. Here are the steps that we use to determine points for a project:
Take a WU from a project and run it on the benchmark machine until it finishes.
Measure the time it took to complete. Base credit awarded for the WU is then just a scaling factor multiplied by this time.
The timeout and deadline values are also simple functions of the time it took to complete. These are set primarily to give a donor a reasonable amount of time to finish a WU, but short enough so that any WU that gets sent out but not processed (e.g. donor quits FAH, forgets to re-start that WU, their computer dies, etc) can be retrieved and sent out again in a reasonable amount of time. Thus these values are set depending on what kind of hardware a project is being run on (uniprocessor, SMP, GPU) and how long the WU took to finish on the benchmark machine.
The k-factor, a coefficient in awarding bonus points, is currently set to a baseline value of 0.75, but may vary depending on the scientific value of a project.
The Folding@home software on your computer calculates Total Points as follows:
final_points = base_points * max(1, sqrt( k * deadline_length / elapsed_time))
Note that the max(1, …) ensures that final_points are never lower than base_points, deadline_length is the deadline aka final deadline, and elapsed _time is the length of time from when the WU was assigned, to when it was uploaded, including transit time. Deadline_length and Elapsed_time are measured in days to one decimal point.
PPD is calculated as follows:
PPD = 14.4 * base_points * max(1, sqrt( 14.4 * k * Expiration / TPF)) / TPF
Note that TPF is in minutes, in decimal form, not time format.
Note that GPU projects are now being benchmarked on the same machine, but using that machine’s CPU. By using the same hardware, we want to preserve our goal of “equal pay for equal work”. Our GPU methods have advanced to the point such that, with GPU FAHCore 17, we can run any computation that we can do on the CPU on the GPU. Therefore we’ve unified the benchmarking scheme so that both GPU and CPU projects use the same “yardstick”, which is our i5 benchmark CPU.
What projects have the QRB?
Right now, it is mainly applied to Work Units for multi-core processors. However, they will soon be applied to WUs for GPUs. As our GPU methods have matured, our plan is to treat all WUs identically. We can now do the same calculations (including implicit and explicit solvation) on both CPUs and GPUs. In years past, these two pieces of hardware were treated differently. This is no longer the case. Our plan is to introduce the Quick Return Bonus to GPUs as we roll out our new GPU core, FAHCore 17.