ATI X19xx series GPU's may help make a cure?

[josh6079]

Interesting read

It looks like Folding@Home is coming to GPU's due to their better floating-point calculations and dynamic branching. However, it can only be done with single ATI X19xx series cards, no CrossFire setups, no Nvidia. They do plan to add CrossFire to the program.

Unfortunately for home users, for the time being, the number of those who can help out by donating their GPU resources is rather limited. The first beta client to be released on Monday only works on ATI GPUs, and even then only works on single X19xx cards. The research group has indicated that they are hoping to expand this to CrossFire-enabled platforms soon, along with less-powerful ATI cards.

The situation for NVIDIA users however isn't as rosy, as while the research group would like to expand this to use the latest GeForce cards, their current attempts at implementing GPU-accelerated processing on those cards has shown that NVIDIA's cards are too slow compared to ATI's to be used. Whether this is due to a subtle architectural difference between the two, or if it's a result of ATI's greater emphasis on pixel shading with this generation of cards as compared to NVIDIA we're not sure, but Folding@Home won't be coming to NVIDIA cards as long as the research group can't solve the performance problem.

I've never even heard of the Folding@Home project until now. What do they mean by performance issues? Is it like a benchmark program that you run for 8+ hours like Prime95?

With how powerful these GPU's are getting, I can begin to understand why we very well may see a CPU/GPU product within the next 5 years.

 

[Ackmed]

You've never heard of folding@home? Its been around for years, and pretty competetive. There are "teams" (websites vs websites) all over. HardOCPs team is pretty big, and ranked pretty highly; http://www.hardfolding.com/index.php?go=1001 #1 in fact, AT is #23 currently.

Link about it; http://folding.stanford.edu/

 

[Zebo]

Anandtech is quite the underachiver. We have over 100K members probably more than all those other forums and only ranked 23? Little bitty sites like SPCR and CustomPC got us beat? Represent! I'm joining up.

 

[potato28]

I'll join up! This seems like a great idea.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Anandtech is quite the underachiver. We have over 100K members probably more than all those other forums and only ranked 23? Little bitty sites like SPCR and CustomPC got us beat? Represent! I'm joining up.

There are a terrific bunch of folks here in the AT DC forums too. They do fund raisers for down and out team members, donate free parts to help others with their DC fleets, always help when you have an issue, on and on. I participated for years until I left to run a DC forum elsewhere.

You should definitely get involved bro, it is also good karma, if you believe in that kind of thing

 

[Zebo]

Yeah this is really an insult DP. Honestly I never looked into it assuming AT would pwn I do what I can now. Very interesting research too compared to that dangerous ET stuff. They'd prolly wipe us out if we found em.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Yeah this is really an insult DP. Honestly I never looked into it assuming AT would pwn I do what I can now. Very interesting research too compared to that dangerous ET stuff. They'd prolly wipe us out if we found em.

If we don't destroy ourselves first That is the real beauty of DC projects, they all contribute to the betterment of our species, and everyone who owns a PC can be part of a solution instead of part of the problem :beer: Everyone can and should devote spare cycles to one of the many worthy projects, it takes so little to participate, and the potential "returns" wonderous and magnificent. :sun:

 

[lopri]

Will this thing load the GPU 100% all the time, as it does to CPU?! On X1900?

 

[Yregouth]

"ATI X19xx series GPU's may help make a cure?"

Are we missing something here? ATI X19xx series GPU's will help study protein folding processes which is pure biology, not medicine.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Originally posted by: lopri
Will this thing load the GPU 100% all the time, as it does to CPU?! On X1900?

More than likely. It's gonna get toasty in your rooms.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Yregouth
"ATI X19xx series GPU's may help make a cure?"

Are we missing something here? ATI X19xx series GPU's will help study protein folding processes which is pure biology, not medicine.

Check the main F@H page - they're currently using the program to research into Alzheimer's, Cander, Huntington's Disease, etc.

 

[Avalon]

I saw support for everyone X1900 GPU except the AIW. I wonder if that one would work.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
You've never heard of folding@home? Its been around for years, and pretty competetive. There are "teams" (websites vs websites) all over. HardOCPs team is pretty big, and ranked pretty highly; http://www.hardfolding.com/index.php?go=1001 #1 in fact, AT is #23 currently.

Link about it; http://folding.stanford.edu/

Yeah like I said, I never heard of it. Interesting stuff though, thanks for the link.

Are we missing something here? ATI X19xx series GPU's will help study protein folding processes which is pure biology, not medicine.

No. Finding out how something doesn't work is the first step to fixing it.

I'll join up once it's out. I bet some people at my lab would be interested in it as well.

 

[Madellga]

It is a noble cause and I have also done some chunks, but we should not forget that folding increases power consumption and that has other undesirable effects (besides the energy cost) in the long run.

If folding goes mainstream, we'll need more powerplants....

 

[Zebo]

What's anantechs teamnumber?

 

[tvdang7]

every one go buy a x1900.

can some one kinda explain what it is ?
lil confused.

so u use ur x1900 to calculate protein cells?

and do u have to have a x1900? i have an x1400.

 

[schneiderguy]

will a x1800 work?

 

[josh6079]

every one go buy a x1900.

Or donate ~$300 to Alzheimer's, Cander, Huntington's Disease, etc. programs. I doubt people are going to get an X1900 just to participate in the Folding@Home project, but hey, I could be wrong.

can some one kinda explain what it is ?
lil confused.

so u use ur x1900 to calculate protein cells?

It can calculate different foldings that protein can undergo when being produced from amino acids. They replicate and carry out this folding process during cell division--a process that happens literally trillions of times throughout a day. As we age, the ability for our cells to efficiently reproduce decreases and the result can be a "misfold" or improper creation of duplicate proteins. Running this program will, I suspect, examine different techniques by which the protein folds and may help discover the method at which folding causes the negative effects of certain diseases.

and do u have to have a x1900? i have an x1400.

will a x1800 work?

From what I've read, no. Only an X1900XT(X) or X1950XTX. Basically one and only one R580 core. I'm not sure if even an X1900GT will work, but it may. Not even Crossfire works yet.

 

[saymyname]

Could you run two on each core of your CPU and then another thread on your GPU?

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: saymyname
Could you run two on each core of your CPU and then another thread on your GPU?

The CPU's need to feed the GPU with data. With that said, the GPU version probably makes good use of the CPU to keep the GPU fed with data, and must be more efficient than just the CPU by itself (otherwise it wouldn't make sense for them to come out with a GPU version).


Anybody can download the 'regular' version which uses CPU cycles.

 

[tvdang7]

Originally posted by: josh6079

every one go buy a x1900.

Or donate ~$300 to Alzheimer's, Cander, Huntington's Disease, etc. programs. I doubt people are going to get an X1900 just to participate in the Folding@Home project, but hey, I could be wrong.

can some one kinda explain what it is ?
lil confused.

so u use ur x1900 to calculate protein cells?

It can calculate different foldings that protein can undergo when being produced from amino acids. They replicate and carry out this folding process during cell division--a process that happens literally trillions of times throughout a day. As we age, the ability for our cells to efficiently reproduce decreases and the result can be a "misfold" or improper creation of duplicate proteins. Running this program will, I suspect, examine different techniques by which the protein folds and may help discover the method at which folding causes the negative effects of certain diseases.

and do u have to have a x1900? i have an x1400.

will a x1800 work?

From what I've read, no. Only an X1900XT(X) or X1950XTX. Basically one and only one R580 core. I'm not sure if even an X1900GT will work, but it may. Not even Crossfire works yet.

so yea its me the x1400 dude again. so ur sayin u Have to have a x1900. so does that mean ive been running this thing for the past hour for no reason?
im pretty sure with all those ppl that have contributed they all dont have a x1900.if they do then ati must make alot more than i thought they did.

 

[hmorphone]

Someone run tell Ackmed that us ATI guys are now humanitarians!

 

[hmorphone]

Originally posted by: tvdang7

so yea its me the x1400 dude again. so ur sayin u Have to have a x1900. so does that mean ive been running this thing for the past hour for no reason?
im pretty sure with all those ppl that have contributed they all dont have a x1900.if they do then ati must make alot more than i thought they did.

You're still contributing, just not at quite as fast a rate (cause your CPUs doing the work, not an X1900.)

 

[MrX8503]

I didnt know this stuff existed.

I joined up and anandtech team number is 198.

Currently its using 50% proccessing.

EDIT:

One last thing, what happens when i quit the app if i needed to do something? Does it know where i left off when i reopen the app?

 

[josh6079]

so yea its me the x1400 dude again. so ur sayin u Have to have a x1900.

For the program the article was discussing that will be released Monday, yes, only an X1900 GPU.

...so does that mean ive been running this thing for the past hour for no reason?

It has a reason, it's just that your X1400 isn't contributing to it. The program you have been running is probably the CPU version. Unless of course the GPU version is already out, ruling out the article's projected Monday launch.

im pretty sure with all those ppl that have contributed they all dont have a x1900.if they do then ati must make alot more than i thought they did.

All of the people that have contributed thus far have been doing so with their CPU's not GPU's. The version that is said to be released Monday will be the first one that uses the GPU's more extensive dynamic branching and floating-point calculations.

Someone run tell Ackmed that us ATI guys are now humanitarians!

I think that message would better serve Crusader, since back during the forth of July he was claiming that people who bought Canadian/ATI products weren't doing service for America and he had his Nvidia card because he was "damn proud to be an American". Rendering different protein fold possibilities may contribute far more to Americans than buying their own products.