Folding @ Home on PS3 vs PC?

[totalnoob]

This has probably been asked for, but has anyone calculated the stats to find out what type of PC the PS3 is comparable to when it comes to Folding@Home? I just discovered this program a few months ago and it feels great to be a part of potentially curing deadly diseases. I'm currently folding on my PS3 and my old core 2 system and am considering building a cheap i3 system (overclocked to 4ghz) to be dedicated exclusively to Folding@Home 24/7. If the PS3 is significantly better than that, I may just grab a used PS3 on Ebay and have it running full time instead. So is there a verdict on how PS3's "cell" processor stacks up to PC hardware when it comes to folding?

I was planning to use primarily the CPU and not a video card on this new system, but if it makes a big difference I can add an old 512mb DDR2 video card. Just looking to get opinions on the most cost effective way to increase my folding power.

 

[theAnimal]

Any core 2 or better CPU should outperform PS3, and any mid to high end GPU would for sure.

 

[petrusbroder]

A PS3 gives approx 980 - 1050 ppd.
A NVIDIA GTX460 does at least twice as that.
Any 2- (or more) core Intel- or AMD-CPU does better than that.

Instead of grabbing an old PS3 off e-Bay I would grab any GTX460 or better GPU and get more efficient folding.

 

[VirtualLarry]

A PS3 gives approx 980 - 1050 ppd.
A NVIDIA GTX460 does at least twice as that.
Any 2- (or more) core Intel- or AMD-CPU does better than that.

Instead of grabbing an old PS3 off e-Bay I would grab any GTX460 or better GPU and get more efficient folding.

Actually, the GTX460 I have, gets around 10K PPD, not 2K.

 

[Drsignguy]

Actually, the GTX460 I have, gets around 10K PPD, not 2K.

Agree!

 

[petrusbroder]

You are both right. I checked the wrong computer ...

 

[Bri79]

I fold on my PS3 just because it has the option to fold. I game on it too, it can not fold and play games simultaneously. You can do fold or play a game.
I treat my PCs the same way. Although my opteron and SLI 460s is a dedicated Folding machine. I stop folding when I game on the other PC.
I do agree that the PS3 is over matched by the PC when Folding. The PS3 is getting older,I give Playstation credit for including their Folding customers and adding the program

 

[totalnoob]

I've been reading several forums and it seems that the Folding crew intentionally reduced the points given for the PS3 calculations. By all accounts the Cell processor crunches much faster than a quad core CPU that gets 2-3k ppd, yet the points seem to be capped at 1k for the PS3. This has something to do with the special packets being sent to the PS3 that aren't sent to regular CPUs or GPUs. The PS3 is actually doing more work than you would associate with 1k points on another platform, but isn't being given full credit. It doesn't seem too fair, but then again most PS3 users are casual folders who don't keep track of it, so they probably don't mind.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Perhaps the actual science that can be done with PS3 is limited too, which is why they capped the points. PCs are far more generic in the work that they can do.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I actually don't know why the points are still capped at such a low point for the PS3. The PS3 is at least in the same league with an SR-2 system or a 16-core 2p AMD server system depending on clock speed, yet both get to around 50k+ ppd. Whereas the PS3, with a hugely powerful RISC processor at 3GHz, is being outstripped by 4-year-old Core 2 Quads that cost less than $100 a pop. In fact, 2 Magny Cours 48-core systems with the bigbeta bigadv could potentially equal the entire PS3 population at the moment.

The PS3 cap was originally introduced when it was competing with just the uniprocessor client, which averaged 100-300ppd. So having a 1k ppd system in your house was awesome. But GPU folding, SMP, and then bigadv depreciated that hugely. I can understand wanting to keep the points consistent with the past to avoid depreciation of prior work done, but this is just getting ridiculous in terms of the work/points allocation that PS3s get.

 

[theAnimal]

The PS3 is at least in the same league with an SR-2 system or a 16-core 2p AMD server system depending on clock speed, yet both get to around 50k+ ppd.

My SR-2 is currently at 240k ppd on p6903, and gets 140k+ ppd on the lesser bigadv projects (except 2684 about 120k). The 6903 WU which takes me 39 to 40 hours has almost 10,000 more atoms than the ones crunched on PS3 that take them 6 hours. I'm pretty sure the points would have been changed by now if they were inaccurate for PS3.

 

[GLeeM]

The PS3 cap was originally introduced when it was competing with just the uniprocessor client, which averaged 100-300ppd. So having a 1k ppd system in your house was awesome. But GPU folding, SMP, and then bigadv depreciated that hugely. I can understand wanting to keep the points consistent with the past to avoid depreciation of prior work done, but this is just getting ridiculous in terms of the work/points allocation that PS3s get

I think this is accurate.

And compared to GPU and SMP points, for me, it is not worth the electricity to fold on PS3 anymore. Not even in the winter when I could use the heat ... lots of heat it puts out!

 

[Golgatha]

I think this is accurate.

And compared to GPU and SMP points, for me, it is not worth the electricity to fold on PS3 anymore. Not even in the winter when I could use the heat ... lots of heat it puts out!

I think Folding@Home was a major player in the death of my 20GB launch console, which was only 3 years old. I purchased a 160GB slim PS3 and I haven't even installed Folding@Home on it for fear of killing the console; not to mention the PPD isn't worth the electricity costs associated (especially in July in Missouri).

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I think Folding@Home was a major player in the death of my 20GB launch console, which was only 3 years old. I purchased a 160GB slim PS3 and I haven't even installed Folding@Home on it for fear of killing the console; not to mention the PPD isn't worth the electricity costs associated (especially in July in Missouri).

Just out of curiosity, how do you know that it was F@H that killed your console? Lots of PS3s die without running F@H.

 

[GLeeM]

Just out of curiosity, how do you know that it was F@H that killed your console? Lots of PS3s die without running F@H.

I'd guess the extreme heat being pumped out by the wind tunnel sounding fans 24/7 ... if you take a break from folding by playing a game the console would get quieter!

The grills in front and side build up dust fast and need cleaning every so often.

 

[Gravity]

Back in the day I folded on the PS3 for weeks at a time. I still gamed on it and it lived for 4 years before I sold it to finance a new one. I have not folded on the new one just because it's not convenient. I agree that it is NOT recognized for the work it does but perhaps that is due to the low number of participants using the PS3?

Keep folding,

Gravity

 

[GLeeM]

I agree that it is NOT recognized for the work it does but perhaps that is due to the low number of participants using the PS3?

I found this page interesting: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=osstats

Showing a nice chart that will answer your question.

 

[kb3edk]

A PS3 gives approx 980 - 1050 ppd.
A NVIDIA GTX460 does at least twice as that.
Any 2- (or more) core Intel- or AMD-CPU does better than that.

Instead of grabbing an old PS3 off e-Bay I would grab any GTX460 or better GPU and get more efficient folding.

My PS3 is currently averaging around 1200 PPD.

Only other hardware I have running F@H is a 2 year old OC'ed GTX260 and it's actually getting me about 7500 PPD...

So I would say a single GTX460 would have to be at least 6 times as good as a PS3 if not better!