Folding@home Hits PS3

[Wellcky]

If you bought a PlayStation 3 thinking it was just for games or watching movies, Sony wants you to know you can use the powerful device for something a lot more important.
Sony announced on Thursday that owners of any Internet-connected PS3 will be able to participate in a wide-ranging, distributed, scientific experiment led by Stanford University's Folding@home program, which is seeking to better understand a process called protein folding and its relationship to several serious diseases.

Cnet PS3 Folding@Home

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Thx for the info! :beer:

 

[teatime0315]

pretty cool... i saw a video on youtube and it was doing 0.09 sec per frame. DAMN!!

 

[imported_Nacelle]

The only thing is, most people don't leave their consoles on 24/7.

 

[Dainas]

But how fast is it at folding. I know that F@H(since the demise of tinkers) is completely reliant on how well your CPU vectors and just about the only thing that PS3's cell can do well is run long lines of vectored code, but still curious.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: teatime0315
pretty cool... i saw a video on youtube and it was doing 0.09 sec per frame. DAMN!!

For us non-folders, what does a regular cpu do?

 

[GLeeM]

"Starting with Folding@home, SCE will continue to support distributed computing projects in a wide variety of academic fields such as medical and social sciences and environmental studies through the use of PS3 and hopes to contribute to the advancement of science."

Looks like Folding@Home is just the first of many!

One article said the PS3 is ten times faster than a PC in the types of calculations that the PS3 will be used for. They still need PCs for other types of calculations.

Date looks like March 23 or sooner. The console will need a firmware update.

 

[CupCak3]

I really haven't had much time lately to keep up on all this stuff but thanks for the heads up!

 

[TheRyuu]

So, were is the GPU client for the G80 card?
I'm still waiting?

If the R580 was so dam good at it, what can the G80 do?

If they ever release a GPU client for the G80, I swear I'll start up F@H again.

 

[KeithP]

Has anyone seen anything on if the PS3 software will let you join any team of your own choosing with your own user name or if you will be forced onto some sort of corporate PS3 team?

-KeithP

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Originally posted by: KeithP
Has anyone seen anything on if the PS3 software will let you join any team of your own choosing with your own user name or if you will be forced onto some sort of corporate PS3 team?

-KeithP

I'll let you know tomorrow after the firmware update how the client works. I'm stoked I'll finally be able to fold on my PS3, it was actually a factor in me snagging it when I did, the being bummed that it couldn't fold yet.

 

[GLeeM]

Originally posted by: KeithP
Has anyone seen anything on if the PS3 software will let you join any team of your own choosing with your own user name or if you will be forced onto some sort of corporate PS3 team?

-KeithP

I don't think it is know yet, but someone posted that from a video of the PS3 client they deduced that name and team can be chosen.

 

[Insidious]

When does the client for my Harley come out?

-Sid

 

[IeraseU]

Is there an Anandtech F@H team, or are there pretty much just groups of people on their own here?

Edit: In case anyone is interested, here is a quick snap of the F@H interface for PS3. There is a globe you can manipulate and there are lit areas on it which I assume indicate other F@H users on the network.

Link to PS3 F@H interface

 

[Insidious]

There is indeed a TeAm here at AnandTech for Folding@Home.

We'd love to have you join in.

Lots of :beer: and babes wall to wall

We are Team 198

-Sid

 

[IeraseU]

Great....I joined.

 

[IeraseU]

Originally posted by: KeithP
Has anyone seen anything on if the PS3 software will let you join any team of your own choosing with your own user name or if you will be forced onto some sort of corporate PS3 team?

-KeithP

You can choose your team and name.

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: IeraseU
Great....I joined.

:thumbsup:

here's your :beer:.... Watch for the daily stats threads posted by our spiritual leader and all around good guy...... GLeeM

You will appear in the listings when your machine returns it's first completed work unit.

Cheers

-Sid

/me wonders how long it will take to find out I lied about the girlies

 

[BobDaMenkey]

50mb client download only took about 30 minutes this morning

You can indeed change your user name and team under the identify section of the menu while the client is running.

I've got my first unit and am plugging away at it, looks like it'll take me about 6 hours for it to be done.

 

[randomlinh]

you know, if the benchmarks are reliable, no one needs to leave the ps3 on 24/7 to get good numbers

 

[aphex]

i'm still trying to get my first unit downloaded.... It just says Preparing Download, then unable to connect to server... Been trying for 3-4 hours now

 

[aphex]

lol, guess i just had to bitch online about it, it finally worked

 

[TheDro]

Finally dl'd a unit, working on p2552-fs-amber, 14.22% so far, started 45 minutes ago, about 5 hour 5 mins to go. Pretty freaking fast.

 

[IeraseU]

Yes I downloaded the application for a rough comparison on my PC, and the PS3 is much faster.

 

[aphex]

im at 15% in about an hour.... ETA at 6 hours....