Just read about proteins and folding in my Biology book...

[ArmchairAthlete]

I just read about proteins and folding in my AP Biology book and then remembered "Folding@Home" and "Team Anandtech" and decided to look into this distributed computing project. It's neat to know what exactly this is now, and I've joined team Anandtech!

Unfortunately the book, despite being brand new, does not mention distributed computing as a current effort to see how proteins fold. It did mention some IBM project called "Deep Gene" (I think), another supercomputer.

EDIT: Joining with a AXP TbredA 1700+ @ 1.71ghz and 512MB CL2 corsair DDR memory.

As a gamer I'm not sure how to set up Folding@Home so that it won't intefere with my game playing, any quick tips?

 

[ProviaFan]

As long as you don't change any of the custom core priority options in the Advanced stuff, you should not see any performance impact on your gaming. 🙂

Just remember to use Team Number 198 when you set up the client, to join Team AnandTech. You'll show up in the statistics as soon as your client is done with it's first WU, or Work Unit (some people jokingly call them FUs, or Folding Units). 😎

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Just remember to use Team Number 198 when you set up the client, to join Team AnandTech

Yea I looked around the sticky post up there and found the number to fill in.

If I close the program will it continue on the last WU it was just on?

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: ArmchairAthlete

Just remember to use Team Number 198 when you set up the client, to join Team AnandTech

Yea I looked around the sticky post up there and found the number to fill in.

If I close the program will it continue on the last WU it was just on?

Folding@Home work units typically come in 100 "frames" (though there may be as few as 20 or as many as 400), all of which must be completed before the work unit can be submitted and a new one obtained. After one frame has been completed, the results are saved; therefore, if you have to close the client (to reboot your computer, for example), you'll usually only loose a few minute's work (or however long it has been since the last frame was completed). When the client is started again, it will pick up where it left off.

 

[ProviaFan]

Oh, and by the way: there are different "kinds" of work units, relating to different proteins. Since some WUs are more complex than others, you will receive points based on the "score" of each WU (that's why when I post the stats, I only list Team and User scores, not WU count); shorter WUs give fewer points, while larger WUs give more points. Scores are commonly in the range of 14 to 70, though higher and lower ones have been seen in rare occasions.

If you look at your client's log (FAHlog.txt in the folder where your F@H client is installed), you will see where it prints out the name of the WU that it is working on, each time it starts up. Look in this page to find your WU and see how many points it will give you, if you are interested.

 

[r0tt3n1]

Howdy ArmchairAthlete! Glad to hear you joined the TeAm. 😀
Being an avid gamer (or is that rabid?? 😉) also, I was concerned about F@H interfering. I can say I have had some slight issues when gaming. The most troublesome is when F@H finishes a unit while playing on-line. Can you say lllaaaggggggg as it sends results and fethces the next wu?!?! Another minor problem is a slight loss of fps. With my Radeon Pro 9700 I want all the goodies on ALL the time. So even a minor drop is noticable at least to me. Overall F@H has been no real problem, just a few nit-picky things....... If it worries you at all, shut down F@H while gaming, then re-start when the frag fest is over, I do.
anyhoo, glad to have ya aboard.

Thanx for update J

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

So far I've only tried it with WC3: The Frozen Throne. Only problem I've seen is that when I minimize and try to maximize the game minimizes itself sometimes. Also when it starts up.

I can say I have had some slight issues when gaming. The most troublesome is when F@H finishes a unit while playing on-line. Can you say lllaaaggggggg as it sends results and fethces the next wu?!?!

Try right clicking the tray icon and checking "Pause when Done", I'm not certain but that sounds like a solution to that problem for us.