Now I am impressed...

[Red Plague]

For quite a few years I was involved in the "Seti @ home" project running the process on 40 odd machines.

For those not aware of this, it was a client you download which allows your machine to search recording of deep space radio transmissions. Basically a search for ET, and the project only runs when your machine is idle.

It converted to a more standard grid processing architecture with "folding @ home" which allows for more projects like the search for the cure for cancer and so on.

Recently it was announced that the PS3 was going to be connected to the folding @ home project to allow the PC3 to work along side standard PC's in the processing of units. (Processing a unit requires a lot of processor time).

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38489

This is a small clue as to the raw horsepower of the cell architecture.

[Cluster]

Sh!t another Seti user, I was not going to say anything but I also have been involved with a group of m8's that have been running this for around 6 years. Our company group has a lot of units processed.

Great program.

Vince

[Red Plague]

I think I might start folding @ home... here is my old stats from seti classic.

SETI@home member since 30 Sep 1999
Total credit 6,373.25
Recent average credit 0.00
SETI@home classic workunits 17,877
SETI@home classic CPU time 127,034 hours

[Gypo]

I have read quite a lot on this and believe it or not certain Gpu are far better at this than a CPU .
If i remember right the ATI Gpu architecture is able to far out strip the std cpu as far as the units processed.

There are programs you can get as in the link below that allow you to use the spare clock cycles of the gpu to fold giving a 20 -30x improvment

click link (http://folding.stanford.edu/FAQ-ATI.html)

[JonnyThunder]

Yeah, but why bother? Is this just like an intergallactic p1ssing contest or is there a point to it all?

Plus, what do you get in return?

[Ray]

you get the change to play a part in dicovering *.ETI

never saw the point myself because..


theres no such thing! :D

[Red Plague]

I have asked myself that as well, the answer is nothing except to be part of a bigger project.

There are more worthy causes out there... such as the search for the cure for cancer, so if finding ET isn't your bag, there should be something else to float your boat. The point is to put all your wasted CPU time to something worthy.

There is one project I have heard of, I don't know if its part of BOINC but its the search for either the largest prime number or the most amount of pi decimal places, I am not sure. But apparently a student came home one night to find the client had flaaged that he had found the next biggest and he was getting the credit for it... it made a few news sites. Of course the clients just continued looking for the next biggest after that,,,

[Gypo]

Yeah, but why bother? Is this just like an intergallactic p1ssing contest or is there a point to it all?

Plus, what do you get in return?

Think you getting confused Seti is looking for Life in grate void that is our universe .And whilest there is bound to be life out there what diff it makes to us mere mortals i am not sure .

Now folding is a completly diffrent kettle of fish this is about runing
protein folding simulations to work out why we get cancer and other such nasties well worth it me thinks .

As to wot you get out of it Nothing !! just may be your fold calc mite be one of the ones that helps .

[JonnyThunder]

F*ck that then. Im way to selfish to help.

|bigsmile| |bigsmile| |bigsmile|

Also, the way I see it is this. There is no such thing as a spare CPU cycle. I mean, each and every cycle adds to the decline in your processor. Every time an electric current passes through electronics it degrades them a little more.

SO... if im allowing my 'spare' cycles to be taken by one of these projects, they are essentially making my PC die quicker.

[Red Plague]

Apparently the article I posted earlier is causing a bit of a fuss, apparently the cell is doing well due to its multiple cores (6). Apparently a quad core PC with a ATI 1600 graphics card (thats 5 cores in total) wipes the floor with the PS3.

Also there is concern that a PS3 is not deisnged to be running "flat out" 24/7 as this is what folding does to your machine. Apparently nVidia are suppose to be releasing a patch for the 8800 cards to allow them to fold as well. I might have to upgrade.

[JonnyThunder]

Just be lazy. It's easier, and people expect so much less of you.

[Gypo]

Dam your good at been lazy .

Personly i am not that bothered one way or the other i wouldn't leave my PS3 on all the time anyway .

As to Electron stripping from the CPU Hum this only happens if the CPU is driven beyond it normal specs