folding@home?

[RNG187]

what exactly is this? like what does it do? i've downloaded it n played around with it, i still dont get it. can anybody help me ??? ??? ???

[John]

From Wiki-

Folding@Home (also known as FAH or F@H) is a distributed computing (DC) project designed to perform computationally intensive simulations of protein folding and other molecular dynamics (MD). It was launched on October 1, 2000, and is currently managed by the Pande Group, within Stanford University's chemistry department, under the supervision of Professor Vijay Pande. Folding@home is the most powerful distributed computing cluster in the world, according to Guinness,[1] and one of the world's largest distributed computing projects.[2] The goal of the project is "to understand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases."[3]

Accurate simulations of protein folding and misfolding enable the scientific community to better understand the development of many diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, BSE (mad cow disease), cancer, Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis and other aggregation-related diseases. [2] More fundamentally, understanding the process of protein folding — how biological molecules assemble themselves into a functional state — is one of the outstanding problems of molecular biology. So far, the Folding@home project has successfully simulated folding in the 5-10 microsecond range — a time scale thousands of times longer than it was previously thought possible to model.[4] The Pande Group goal is to refine and improve the MD and Folding@home DC methods to the level where it will become an essential tool for the MD research. [5] For that goal they collaborate with various scientific institutions. [6] As of December 13, 2007, fifty-four scientific research papers have been published using the project's work.[7] A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report dated October 22, 2002 states that Folding@home distributed simulations of protein folding are demonstrably accurate.[8]

On September 16, 2007, the Folding@Home project officially attained a performance level higher than one petaFLOPS, becoming the first computing system of any kind to do so, although it had briefly peaked above one petaFLOPS in March 2007.[9][10]. In comparison, the fastest supercomputer in the world (as of November 2007, IBM's Blue Gene/L supercomputer) peaks at 478.2 teraFLOPS (1000 teraFLOPS=1 petaFLOP).

 

 

 

 

 

Folding@Home does not rely on powerful supercomputers for its data processing; instead, the primary contributors to the Folding@home project are many hundreds of thousands of personal computer users who have installed a small client program. The client will, at the user's choice, run in the background, utilizing otherwise unused CPU power, or run as a screensaver only while the user is away. In most modern personal computers, the CPU is rarely used to its full capacity at all times; the Folding@Home client takes advantage of this unused processing power.

The Folding@Home client periodically connects to a server to retrieve "work units," which are packets of data upon which to perform calculations. Each completed work unit is then sent back to the server. As data integrity is a major concern for all distributed computing projects, all work units are validated through the use of a 2048 bit digital signature.

 

PlayStation 3

 

 

The PlayStation 3's Folding@Home client was made available on March 22, 2007.

Stanford announced in August 2006 that a folding client was available to run on the Sony PlayStation 3.[18] The intent was that gamers would be able to contribute to the project by merely "contributing electricity," leaving their PlayStation 3 consoles running the client while not playing games. PS3 firmware version 1.6 (released on Thursday, March 22, 2007) allows for Folding@home software, a 50 MB download, to be used on the PS3.[2] A peak output of the project at 990 teraFLOPS was achieved on 25 March, 2007, at which time the number of FLOPS from each PS3 as reported by Stanford fell, reducing the overall speed rating of those machines by 50%. This had the effect of bumping down the overall project speed to the mid 700 range and increasing the number of active PS3s required to achieve a petaFLOPS level to around 60,000. Lately, the console accounts for about 60% of all teraFLOPS. On April 25, 2007, Sony announced that a new version of Folding@home would be released the next day. The new version would improve folding performance beyond the current capacity, far beyond even the 400 teraFLOPS previously reached by PS3 users.[19] The release led to the breaking of the petaFLOPS barrier for the first time by any computing system in history on September 15, 2007. [20][21] Guinness World Record will recognize Folding@Home as the most powerful distributed computing network, in large part thanks to the PS3.[22]

On December 19, 2007, Sony again updated the Folding@Home client to version 1.3 to allow users to run music stored on their hard drives while contributing. Another feature of the 1.3 update allows users to automatically shut down their console after current work is done or after a limited period of time (for example 3 or 4 hours).[23][24] Also, the software update added the Generalized Born implicit solvent model, so the FAH PS3 client gained more broad computing capabilities.

 

[RNG187]

you should see the look on my face OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH thank you, btw on photobucket dont put the URL use the code, that will work ;D

[TOW-19]

Could someone sum that up into two sentences for me?

I'm busy writin' raps! LOL

[John]

Basic rundown. you allow your PS3 to calculate biochem equations for curing protein related illnesses like alzheimer or cancer. Your PS3 becomes part of the largest supercomputer in the world allowing calculations that would take years, even decades to solve on any one supercomputer.

It really is a great thing to do. You can also do it from a PC or Mac

[Guest Stealthknight]

Yep, The guy above me about summed it up.

[TOW-19]

Sadist ]

Basic rundown. you allow your PS3 to calculate biochem equations for curing protein related illnesses like alzheimer or cancer. Your PS3 becomes part of the largest supercomputer in the world allowing calculations that would take years, even decades to solve on any one supercomputer.

It really is a great thing to do. You can also do it from a PC or Mac

 

Yeah, but even more importantly than solving protein-related illnesses.....does it cause LAG?

 

LOL!

[RNG187]

LAG?! LMFAO!!!!! nice priorities ;D ;D

[John]

Its something you let the PS3 do when you are NOT playing a game

[DK_Deadly_Intent]

it good to use when your not using the ps3, like when your letting your controller and headset charge, or at nitetime or daytime when your not home, or awake.

[TOW-19]

Not trying to be insensitive here, but at the same time, doesn't leaving your PS3 on while you're not at home (say, like a full day at work) pretty much put undue work on your PS3, causing it to potentially burn out on you faster?

 

Or is there some "quiet mode" idle or something when you leave it on that doesn't call up the fan or anything else like that?

[Guest Stealthknight]

No it definetly puts some work on your PS3 which is why I dont use it a TON. but i do use it if im going to cook dinner or just watching a TV show while taking a break from the game. Every bit helps i suppose

[John]

I figure if I burn out a PS3 that is under warranty to help cure cancer, etc, I can live with the risk

[Deutscher75]

Sadist ]

I figure if I burn out a PS3 that is under warranty to help cure cancer, etc, I can live with the risk

 

ditto, plus I have a cooling system for my PS3 so it helps to keep the heat down

 

I also run Folding@Home on both of my PC's and my laptop

[TOW-19]

You can run it on your computer>?

I would be more inclined to do that than on my PS3.

Is there a website for it?

[SOTG Zero]

Undertow ]

You can run it on your computer>?

I would be more inclined to do that than on my PS3.

Is there a website for it?

 

http://folding.stanford.edu/

 

The I keep my PS3 running 24/7. I am either gaming or folding. No problems with my PS3. I have like 300 done.

 

I never even knew PS3s burnt out.. I though that was a xbox thing.. lol. j/k.

[DK_Deadly_Intent]

here you go

http://folding.stanford.edu/

[DK_Deadly_Intent]

damnit man you posted right before me > ;D

[RNG187]

anybody know if a burnt out PS3 is covered in the warantee?

[BIGDANIEL]

Undertow ]

Could someone sum that up into two sentences for me?

I'm busy writin' raps!  LOL

 

 

You allow your PS3 to link up with other PS3's to create the worlds fastest SUPER COMPUTER.

 

 

 

And for you conspiracy theorists out there; Do you think curing illnesses is the only thing they're doing with their new SUPER COMPUTER?? I doubt it. Human nature says we push the limit on all we do. Just imagine what limits they're pushing with this.

[bunni-rabbit]

RNG my boss had his burn out and they sent him another one under the warranty

[RNG187]

fkn sweet, now i have a reason to never turn my PS3 off, thanks bunni.

[Guest IHATECLEMSON]

This is just another GOVERNMENT program to " watch over " what you and your family are doing in the privacy of your own home...

[Guest NEO-X]

IHATECLEMSON ]

This is just another GOVERNMENT program to " watch over " what you and your family are doing in the privacy of your own home...

 

haha...

[Guest [APC]Swifthawk]

BUMPin this thread, because I thought this shit was pretty cool.

 

I'm creating a UrgentFury Folding team if anyone is interested... please join via PS3 or your PC/Mac.

 

Team number is: 105822

 

Join up, do it for a few hours a night!!