Hello! Basically, I was wondering if anyone was interested in Folding together in a group? If you don't know what folding@home is...A program where you use your personal computer to contribute to Stanford University's Protein folding calculations. On every PS3 there is program on the menu called Life with PlayStation®, which allows your PS3 power to 'Fold'. I have been running my PS3 Slim with this program for a few weeks now. But of course Gaming Computers are best used since the CPU and GPU are far greater than the 6 year old PS3, and If you are considering it, don't don't don't do it on a PHAT ps3: the power output really out-weighs performance. Why? Folding proteins is the structure of atoms, and understand this could potentially find advances in Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and many cancers. I suggest anyone interested to read the FAQ here:http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Learn I will create a group for Assemblergames if enough people are interested, and will be ranked against other groups!
I've done this in the past but I can't justify running the GPU version on any of my machines as it really slows Windows 7 down. CPU versions don't compute fast enough to justify how much they slow the system down overall and how much power they use.
I'd love to help, but my problem is the electricity bill just gets too high for me even from gaming. It's why I've dismantled my SLI set up and gone back to a single GPU and really cut down on my gaming time. I could probably afford to do so if I knew what my bill would be in advance, but I just pay my bills as and when they come along, buy enough food to last until the next payday and then spend every last penny on goodies and if I scrimp on the food, ie noodles, I can get bigger, better or more goodies. It isn't a lifestyle which is sustainable indefinitely though.
@APE Folding@home is ment to be used when your not using your computer. The program runs when the CPU goes IDLE, and possibly the same with the GPU. However, with that said, I did notice a difference when I installed it for my macbook. Things were slower to load, as the program is constantly asking for IDLE CPU to be used. Thats why the PS3 is a good example, I for one don't use my ps3 24/7, so the rest of the time, (generally at night when electricity bills in the UK are at a lower rate) I have it working. But, after reading more into it.. am I making a difference? I think i'd be better off having a Dedicated computer that has 10x performance than the ps3 with only 10 - 100 Watts more outage. (ps3 is about 200W) Im starting to think this could be a waste of electric.
I dont understand how gaming makes a noticable impact on your bill... I have my main computer on 24/7 (as it does downloading and streams media too - so always needs to be available). I also have media PC on downstairs 24/7. I dont really turn off anything and my bill is like £40 a month (and I am actually in credit with them - they now owe me around £50 over the last 18 months)
same here, i run: NAS (24-7), PC for downloading(24-7), 24-port switch(24-7), 3 routers (1 up, 1 down, 1 in the shed)(24-7), xbox's, tv's, house lights, arcade machine, 2x quiz machines, pool table lights etc. and my bill is around £50 a month for electricity and to be fair theirs probably more i have forgotten about using, i also tend to leave a lot of things on standby, can't say i have ever noticed a difference per month by not using something, bills always seem fairly consistent
If you had an electricity meter, a limited budget, a decent gaming PC and plenty of time to make use of it you will learn all about it. Running the CPU all day long is nothing. As soon as you do the same with a discrete GPU and give it a substantial load (media is nothing) you really start to notice the difference coming out of your pocket as all of a sudden a weekly top up becomes oh shit I'm on emergency after a few days.
8800 GTX ultra in SLI - no difference. Which likely uses more power than your modern cards. Like Mystical said, bill never varies much regardless of what I leave on or use. To be fair, I should replace them both with a modern mid end card - same performance and a hell of a lot less heat.
Again you're ignoring the load. 2 of those in SLI will use next to nothing to put a picture on your desktop or display media. As soon as you up the load it cranks up the juice. It is all relavtive. Maybe you have too much money to care or too little time to game to notice. I'm talking about upto 15 hours a day marathon sessions when the mood strikes on a limited budget. Believe me, in these circumstances you see the difference in your wallet.
I am not ignoring anything, you know nothing of my usage. Make less assumptions. I have worked in IT for nearly 10+ years, was original an electrician - I am well aware how it works.
Well then, as above, you either have too much money to care or too little time to game and notice But the effect on a limited budget really sucks, and the same effect from running a decent GPU at high load for folding@home would be noticeable for me at least, otherwise I'd have no problem helping a good cause.
@Bad_Ad84 As you know much about electricity, perhaps you could help with helping me understand energy usage. My Ps3 slim power supply is 230 - 250W. (for argument sake, I will use 250W) If you could check if this calculation is correct Bad_Ad84: 250W x 24hours = 6000W / 1000 = 6kW per day. 6kW per day x 365 days = 2190kW per year. My Electicity rate: .. is nothing less that F***ing confusing. I BELIEVE it is 24.825 pence per kWh between 8am to 10pm and 11.582 pence per kWh at night from 10pm to 8am. SO! 250W x 17hours = 4250W / 1000 = 4.25kW per day. 4.25kW per day x 365 days = 1551.25kW per year. 1551.25kW x 24.825 pence per kW = £385 250W x 7hours = 1750W / 1000 = 1.75kW per day. 1.75kW per day x 365 days = 638.75kW per year. 638.75kW x 11.582 pence per kW = £73 Total year cost is : £458 ($736)!!!! This can't be true surely?????? perhaps I have mis-understand pence per kW. I hope I have anyway.
My bill last month was $38 prior to a discount applied for electricity. That is basically running barebones: refridegerator, fish tank, fans, laptop, lights and not much more. My desktop sports a 500w PSU and I probably push about 1/2 to 3/4 of that with everything in it running full tilt. If I left it running with a GPU and CPU being pushed hard my bill would jump an easy $10 which I don't want to have to afford when $10 gets me some sweet, sweet cheese. It might not be much on a day to day basis but it all adds up and I'm not exactly rolling in spare change these days. Now if anyone knows where to get a decently priced solar panel I can slap into the windows of my apartment (I get direct sunlight from about 3pm to 8pm) that can generate at least 100-200w (cover the fridge) I'll happily send a modded PS1.
Dreamcaster, the first thing you need to do is stop assuming a 250W PSU means you will use 250W 24/7 It is the maximum output only. It won't be going like the clappers all of the time. Also, I've worked in ICT, studied electrics and electronics too. I get around I just can't remember much of what I read as my memory basically works more like a cache than anything unless it is something I have experienced haha Lets pretend you actually did use 250W per hour, then you're using 0.25KwH you'd need to use it for for hours to use the equivalent of a Kilowatt hour Using 250W for 24 hours is not 6KW per hour. It is 6 KwH per day. Also you will need to multiply your annual rate by 365.25 to take leap years into account. I don't know how much I use exactly, but it averages at least £1 per day for electricity and £1 per hour for gas with restricted use but the costs have been rising due to inflation, price fixing, gaming and winter recently. EDIT: I even confused myself there for a moment. I just noticed your / 1000 aka division by 1000. Why does no one use the correct symbols or formatting any more? haha I'll edit some more later but I'm off to play some Battlefield 3. Have fun
Sorry, I just edited my calculations, which should be more correct now. But, I just took a look at the FAQ at Folding@home website, and they quote this: Compared to what wiki says about the ps3 hardware: Source: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-PS3#ntoc7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_hardware Edit: I will do some more calculations about what Standford and Wiki says about power consumption later
All my computers and stuff are too shitty to even run windows 7 properly. 1.3 GHZ 2 core CPU with a Radeon 6320 GPU? HA! Give me a break! I'm lucky to play even emulated Sega Genesis games on these crap boxes. So count me out unless I can build my new system for my Christmas/ birthday present this coming season. Yeah, Christmas baby...
Finding the percentage of power used roughly on the 2 figures Standford have given, I calculated this: PHAT PS3 380W 200Wph <divided / by> 380W Max power output x 100 (to make %) = 52.632% They then said that the 40GB PS3 280W took only 115Wph.. soo 115Wph <divided / by> 280W Max power output x 100 (to make %) = 41.071% Assuming if the above figures make sense, we could safely assume that Folding@home uses around 45% of the PS3 max power supply. I found out that my PS3 is a model 2503A. Max power output is 230W average, so it will be around 105Wph. 651.525kW x 24.825 pence per kW = £162 (@ 17hours of the day) 268.275kW x 11.582 pence per kW = £31 (@ 7hours of the day) Total=£193 per year Well well well. http://kotaku.com/5953675/by-the-end-of-the-month-the-ps3-will-no-longer-be-fighting-diseases Unexpected, and a tad a shame. The ps3's folding@home will no longer continue from the end of this month - October 2012. Its a shame, and I will be running a last stand team for anyone with a ps3 to fold. The team number is: 222709, and you can check out the current stats by clicking this URL. http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=222709 Its either because sony likes to devalue its consoles on a regular basis (LINUX!!! WHERE ART THOU!??), or standford doesn't see any use anymore? Who knows..
Probably the latter one, for a couple of reasons: not too many people used it, and the PS3 isn't that good at folding compared to regular PCs anymore. I used F@H on PS3 sometimes, but haven't in a while...
Given as the feature is being removed via firmware update, presumably if you keep your PS3 as-is you can continue folding@home, but only if you want to.
