Prime95 for M1 Macs

jpollicove · 2023-07-02, 17:21

Are there plans to bring the software to M1, M2 Macs, etc. I have several of those Macs that I would like to involve in the search but the current Mac software (aside from not being as up to date as the PC software) only supports Intel Macs.

Thanks!

rogue · 2023-07-02, 18:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpollicove

Are there plans to bring the software to M1, M2 Macs, etc. I have several of those Macs that I would like to involve in the search but the current Mac software (aside from not being as up to date as the PC software) only supports Intel Macs.

Unlikely. Try mlucas. I believe that will run on non-x86 hardware.

Andrew Usher · 2023-07-02, 22:08

The code of prime95 is very much specialised to the x86 architecture, and writing it for a different one would be a very large effort - I can't imagine George undertaking it unless the new architecture becomes extremely popular, which Macs never will be (it's only coincidence that many used x86 and thus could run it).

Mlucas might work, but is only really useful for DC as it can't produce PRP proofs. It also requires that you build it yourself and is less user-friendly in general.

cxc · 2023-07-02, 22:51

Both Prime95 (most recent Mac version 29.8 build 7) and mprime (most recent Mac version 30.12 build 1) most definitely work on M1 Macs. I normally use mprime but I was curious to see whether the GUI version works; it does.

GIMPS will classify your CPU as “Virtual Apple” on mersenne.org under your CPU list, you won’t have many useful benchmarks to compare, but speed actually is quite acceptable. The calculations made for completion dates seems usually to be unrealistically five to ten times beyond when the assignment is actually likely to be finished (I had left the RollingAverage setting alone, but eventually I gave in and found more realistic predictions of completion are achieved when you set it to around 3000), but both the GUI version and command line interface work just the same as on Intel Macs.

(Now if you want to compile mprime from the latest 30.13 build 1 source, however, then you’ll have your work cut out for you. Things that worked fine and compiled without much hassle on the Intel Macs randomly barf when you try to make them on Apple Silicon because of the architectural differences. But that’s a different issue I think.)

2023-07-02, 17:21	#1
jpollicove Jun 2023 Washington DC 2² Posts	Prime95 for M1 Macs Are there plans to bring the software to M1, M2 Macs, etc. I have several of those Macs that I would like to involve in the search but the current Mac software (aside from not being as up to date as the PC software) only supports Intel Macs. Thanks!

2023-07-02, 22:51	#4
cxc "Catherine" Mar 2023 Melbourne 110111₂ Posts	Prime95/mprime does run on M1 Macs… Both Prime95 (most recent Mac version 29.8 build 7) and mprime (most recent Mac version 30.12 build 1) most definitely work on M1 Macs. I normally use mprime but I was curious to see whether the GUI version works; it does. GIMPS will classify your CPU as “Virtual Apple” on mersenne.org under your CPU list, you won’t have many useful benchmarks to compare, but speed actually is quite acceptable. The calculations made for completion dates seems usually to be unrealistically five to ten times beyond when the assignment is actually likely to be finished (I had left the RollingAverage setting alone, but eventually I gave in and found more realistic predictions of completion are achieved when you set it to around 3000), but both the GUI version and command line interface work just the same as on Intel Macs. (Now if you want to compile mprime from the latest 30.13 build 1 source, however, then you’ll have your work cut out for you. Things that worked fine and compiled without much hassle on the Intel Macs randomly barf when you try to make them on Apple Silicon because of the architectural differences. But that’s a different issue I think.) Attached Thumbnails Last fiddled with by cxc on 2023-07-02 at 22:52

2023-07-02, 22:08	#3
Andrew Usher Dec 2022 3·13² Posts	The code of prime95 is very much specialised to the x86 architecture, and writing it for a different one would be a very large effort - I can't imagine George undertaking it unless the new architecture becomes extremely popular, which Macs never will be (it's only coincidence that many used x86 and thus could run it). Mlucas might work, but is only really useful for DC as it can't produce PRP proofs. It also requires that you build it yourself and is less user-friendly in general.