TPU's Winter's End WCG Challenge (2/26 thru 3/6/2015)- join us to crunch/fold/win stuff

[Norton]

UPDATE- Challenge is on... full throttle Team!!!
Check often for updates
TechpowerUp's Winter's End WCG Challenge- join us February 26th (0:00 UTC) thru March 6th, 2015 (24:00 UTC) to crunch/fold and win some cool stuff!!! (less than 24 hrs to go- there's still time to join up and lend a hand)

Welcome to TechpowerUp's Winter's End WCG Challenge
It's been a nasty Winter for a lot of folks this year.... Time for TPU crunchers and folders to push a little heat into the air and bring Spring here early!

Link to official Challenge:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/team/challenge/viewTeamChallenge.do?challengeId=7150
We have opened this Challenge to show our continued support for the important work done by the World Community Grid and Folding@Home.
The plan:
Have some friendly competition between WCG Teams as well as within our TPU Teams and hopefully get a few of our fellow TPU'ers to join in.
Fellow TPU members and WCG crunchers are invited to join our Team to heat up some silicon for a good cause, hang out, have a little fun, and even get a chance to win some great prizes.
How to join:
* note- our Challenge is for WCG Team crunching. However, we work closely with the TPU folding Team and we will be sharing prizes with active TPU folders- If you have a Radeon 7750/GeForce 560 or better gpu and want to try folding then you are welcome to do that.
For crunching....
Follow this link to register and join our Team:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/reg/viewRegister.do?teamID=S8TLJ6TFV1
Once you're registered you can follow the prompts and install software- it's all pretty straight forward
If you have any questions you can post them in this thread, our Team thread, or PM an existing Team member.
Our Team thread:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-wcg-boinc-team.85784/
For folding....
See this thread to get started:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/easy-setup-for-folding-home.200520/
If you have any questions you can post them in this thread, the folding Team thread, or PM an existing Team member.
Folding Team thread:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-f-h-team.13038/
Some of our past Challenge threads:

Spoiler

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...day-challenge-16-november-25-november.206945/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...challenge-october-16th-thru-23rd-2014.206296/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...ol-heat-challenge-8-28-thru-8-31-2014.204480/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...3-crunch-fold-and-win-some-cool-stuff.200648/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...22-2014-update-tpu-wins-the-challenge.197528/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...6-11-22-2013-join-us-crunch-win-stuff.194389/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/world-cep2-challenge-6-october-14-october.191430/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/world-community-grid-summer-challenge.186603/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/wcg-tpu-mothers-day-challenge-2013-5-10-5-19-2013.183575/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/world-community-grid-february-team-challenge.179726/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...nquer-cancer-1st-2nd-week-of-november.174550/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/wcg-8th-birthday-challenge.175235/

Many more here too:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpu-wcg-challenges-thread.111360/
Challenges link at WCG:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/team/challenge/viewTeamChallengeHistory.do?teamId=S8TLJ6TFV1
See the next post for prize info- under construction...., check for updates frequently!

 

[Norton]

UPDATE- 2/28/2015- Prize lists updated
As with many of our Challenges we have a few prizes available

*Note on Challenge prizes. Our prizes are donated by WCG-TPU Team members "By Cruncher's for Crunchers" for the purpose of assisting the Team to continue to maintain our rigs, grow our membership (or our crunching farms), and to promote the good work of crunching in general.

Grand Prize: Win an Asus Crosshair V motherboard and an AMD FX-8350 CPU* - donated by @twilyth
*available to Team members in the USA due to shipping costs (PM to discuss if outside of this area)

Newbie Prize: Win a Crunching Rig* (donated by the TPU WCG crunching Team and built by @ThE_MaD_ShOt )
*available to Team members in the USA due to shipping costs (PM to discuss if outside of this area)
Specifications/Details
- Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Mobo donated by @ThE_MaD_ShOt
- Phenom x4 cpu donated by @BUCK NASTY
- 4gb mem donated by @ThE_MaD_ShOt
- EVGA 430 watt psu donated by @Norton
- Corsair Carbide 500R case donated by @T-Bob
- Power color 7870 XT donated by @T-Bob
- 320 GB Hdd donated by @ThE_MaD_ShOt
Qualifications/additional requirements for the Newbie Prize:
- member of WCG-TPU team for less than 6 months
- earn and display the WCG-TPU Cruncher badge (i.e. have 100k FreeDC points)*
* rig will not be shipped to the winner until this requirement is met
- meet all other prize requirements (see below)

The winners of the Grand Prize(s) will need to declare that he/she will dedicate a minimum of 6 months crunching for the Team WCG-TPU using the prize.

Hardware/Software/Etc prizes (1)
- $25 Paypal gift (x2) donated by @Norton (2)
- $20 Paypal gift donated by @Bow (2)
- $20 Paypal gift donated by @mx500torid (2)
- $35 Paypal gift donated by @theonedub (2)
- $100 Paypal gift donated by @mjkmike (2)
- Fractal Design Kelvin S36 AIO cooler donated by @sneekypeet (3)
- Cougar 600M gaming mouse donated by @sneekypeet (3)(4)
- Tt eSPORTS Black V2 laser mouse donated by @sneekypeet (3)(4)
- Mystery prize donated by @sneekypeet (3)
- Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB SSD donated by @64K (3)
Note(s):
(1)-If anyone is interested in donating a prize- please contact me
(2)-Paypal gifts are only available where Paypal is available
(3) Unless stated otherwise, hardware prizes are available to Team members in the USA- shipping would be too difficult otherwise (availability to Canada/Mexico or other areas is possible- PM me to discuss options)
(4) Mice offered are review samples and are 100% functional however they have been disassembled, which means no warranty as the evidence of this is visible.

Game giveaway- hosted by @manofthem
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/game-giveaway-for-tpus-winters-end-wcg-challenge.210235/

Requirements/terms to qualify for a prize:
* in order for your name to be drawn- you would need to be a member of this forum also (we will draw according to forum name so please post if WCG name is different)
- Participate for the duration of the TechPowerUp February Challenge
- Earn a minimum of 5,000 BOINC points for Team WCG-TPU during the Qualifying period (see below)
- Qualifying period ends when all participants reach 5,000 BOINC points or 3/1/2014 (whichever comes 1st)
- Winners will be chosen randomly at the end of the qualifying period.
- Participation in the Game giveaway will require that you are actively crunching during this Challenge
How Random Winners Will be Drawn (see below):

Spoiler: Random Drawing system provided by the theonedub

To ensure everyone gets a fair shake and to minimize any potential conflict of interest while maintaining the highest level of transparency- I have drafted a new way to draw winners. The system uses (3) members and works as follows:

Originally Posted by The System
Member 1: This member creates a list of all qualified participants usernames. This list is sent to Member 2.
Member 2: Using the list of names, Member 2 will assign each entrant a unique number. A list of the usernames with the unique numbers is sent back to Person 1. The list of just the random numbers is sent to Member 3.
Member 3: Member 3 has a list of just numbers. They use Random.Org or whatever random system to select which number wins a given prize. The list of winning numbers and the associated prize is then sent back to Member 1.
Member 1: Using the lists, Member 1 ‘decodes’ the winning numbers into the winning usernames and posts the results.
The lists are sent as Private Messages through the forum. This establishes an electronic record of everything while also preventing alterations of lists after the drawing.
When the winning usernames are posted by Member 1, Member 2 can verify that the number belongs to the correct username and Member 3 verifies that the number was actually pulled as a winner.

The system makes sure that there is no bias or other favoritism at play when winners are drawn. Winners are drawn based on a random number instead of usernames- where a possibility exists to redraw if that person doesn’t like who won, draw a friend, draw themselves, pass on new members, or skip doing a random drawing all together.
My hope is that this will alleviate any concerns about drawings and their legitimacy. If it works smoothly, I would like to see this become the new standard when conducting giveaways that have prizes donated by the community.
If there are any questions about this system, drop me a PM.

Note(s):
- If for some reason you cannot participate at the start of the Challenge you may still qualify for the prizes, PM me to discuss your situation and we'll make those decisions on an individual basis

Challenge Participants:
*WCG user name in () if different from TPU user name
list pending...
Prize winners:

 

[stinger608]

Well ya know I'm in on this!!!

 

[T-Bob]

Count me in

 

[BUCK NASTY]

You know I'm down for it!

 

[Caring1]

I'm in

 

[xvi]

Oh, you know I'm in.

 

[t_ski]

Never stopped my last cruncher, so I'm in by default

 

[manofthem]

I'm in, just hope the Internet starts working again

 

[TRWOV]

count me in

 

[Nordic]

 

[krusha03]

In as well and I hope you guys can fix your Internet connection by tomorrow Thanks @Norton for finding the time despite issues in IRL

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

In for the win.

 

[Norton]

12 hours to go Team!

and .... iirc?

Happy Birthday to @T-Bob and @t_ski

 

[SirKeldon]

Count me in sir!
Let's produce a "crunchlear" reaction of 1.21 GigaWUs!!!

 

[ChristTheGreat]

This winter will be the last 100% CPU time of my servers, has I will need some power to work my owncloud server and make sure there is no delay.

so I'll keep 100% for this challenge

 

[Bow]

All in

 

[manofthem]

Challenge time starts tonight and I'm super stoked!



With that in mind, the game giveaway should be up and running by tomorrow night. That's pretty much as soon as I can do it since I've been swamped lately, so please pardon me for being a little late.


But otherwise, let's crunch away and do all we can do!

 

[krusha03]

I small heads up for all of you without internet, just got a notification that on the 28th of february there is gonna be a maintenance for 16 hours. Time to increase that work buffer i guess

Link: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about_us/viewNewsArticle.do?articleId=423

 

[st2000]

i'm in)

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I small heads up for all of you without internet, just got a notification that on the 28th of february there is gonna be a maintenance for 16 hours. Time to increase that work buffer i guess

Link: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about_us/viewNewsArticle.do?articleId=423

 

[manofthem]

I small heads up for all of you without internet, just got a notification that on the 28th of february there is gonna be a maintenance for 16 hours. Time to increase that work buffer i guess

Link: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about_us/viewNewsArticle.do?articleId=423

My internet should be working by then

 

[Norton]

UPDATES:

- Should have the prize post updated this evening- please post or PM if you want to donate anything to the pool!
- Put in a request last night with @W1zzard and @btarunr for a TPU front page announcement.
- Fired up my main rig on the Kreij account so @sneekypeet and the others on the account have some company during the challenge

etc.... more to come

8 hrs to go!!!

 

[krusha03]

BTW does running my snapdragon 800 phone with all 4 cores counts as another 4 threads? Then I am gonna be have 6 cores 24/7 with up to 22 threads / 20 cores at peak hours

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I might have to get this 4770k crunching for this challenge.