SCE Joins Stanford's Folding@home Program (B3D ID=32377)

[Shifty Geezer]

You grossly underestimate how much slower you are than the Cell processor!

You would not be able to complete 1 billion floating point calculations on pen and paper within your life time even if you were some sort of savant. The Cell can do dozens of these every second.

Ahh, but the human mind works differently. There was an investigation that found a mathematical formula for knowing where a ball is going to land so you can catch it. IIRC it meant integrating Tan to the fourth power. The scientists said this was the maths the human mind was doing subconciously. Which is baloney! The human sees the flight of the ball and compares it to previous experiences, constantly evaluating position and interpolating with known outcomes.

In this case, the human solver would have to visualise the molecule and manipulate it as though a solid model in his mind's eye. That might not be beyond the abilities of a savant, although I doubt you could get the knowledge on the mechanics of folding in there for them to be able to work with it.

 

[cthellis42]

That might not be beyond the abilities of a savant, although I doubt you could get the knowledge on the mechanics of folding in there for them to be able to work with it.

Ah, but the real question is... can you fold it more than seven times?

 

[phat]

Ahh, but the human mind works differently. There was an investigation that found a mathematical formula for knowing where a ball is going to land so you can catch it. IIRC it meant integrating Tan to the fourth power. The scientists said this was the maths the human mind was doing subconciously. Which is baloney! The human sees the flight of the ball and compares it to previous experiences, constantly evaluating position and interpolating with known outcomes.

In this case, the human solver would have to visualise the molecule and manipulate it as though a solid model in his mind's eye. That might not be beyond the abilities of a savant, although I doubt you could get the knowledge on the mechanics of folding in there for them to be able to work with it.

We can catch a ball without "doing the math" because we learn to do so experientially. Unless we can experience protein folding under all the molecular forces that govern it, we're not going to be able to do it without doing the math.

 

[dskneo]

I've been playing resistance online for hours and hours, no time for folding as well. (also, tflop numbers have fallen a lot)

 

[Crayon]

My PS3 is churning away in Berkely, California. Heating up my appartment, surely.

I'll see it tomorrow afternoon. Should be on it's sixth WU by then.

Hey how do I get my name on the b3d team page? Do I have to post in the main f@h thread? And what info do I need to submit? Is there a machine name or user name?

 

[patsu]

Press triangle, then go to "Identity".

Select "Join an Existing Team".

Enter 32377 as the Team ID

 

[Crayon]

Oh I've been on the team since the beginning. But the team page doesn't say "Crayon" anywhere. How do I pass that info along?

 

[patsu]

Select "Change Donor Name" instead of "Join an Existing Team"

 

[Bobbler]

Oh I've been on the team since the beginning. But the team page doesn't say "Crayon" anywhere. How do I pass that info along?

What "team page"?

The one on the FAH site? Or that thread here in the folding section?

edit: looking at the FAH page, there is a crayon that was on team 0 (default) and team 2ch -- but neither have been active for a while. If that's not you, then you may need to pick a different name to contribute under (and make sure you have 32377 as the team number).

 

[Crayon]

Thank you, guys.

I changed the donor name to Crayon. I've been on the b3d team since I started. By "team page" I mean the one taht the PS3 client loads up when I select "team info".

 

[patsu]

You mean "My Team Statistics" ?

I can see you in that list. Check #207.

 

[Titanio]

Seems there's an update to the PS3 client coming tomorrow:

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/25-04-2007-5326.html

The program has seen a strong uptake by PS3 owners with more than 250,000 unique users having registered, delivering nearly 400 teraflops of computing power. Total computing power at a single moment is now recorded at 700 teraflops, more than double the capacity of the network before PlayStation 3 joined the program.

Sony has also announced that from tomorrow an update for the Folding@home application will be available to further enhance the user experience. This update will feature improved calculation speeds, increased visibility of user location on the globe and the ability for users to create longer donor or team names.

 

[one]

Seems there's an update to the PS3 client coming tomorrow:

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/25-04-2007-5326.html

PR
http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/pdf/070425e.pdf

Exhibiting its continued commitment to the program, SCE also announced that starting tomorrow, it is providing a Folding@home application update that will further enhance the user experience. The updated software features an improvement in folding calculation speeds, increased visibility of user location (*1) on the globe and the ability for users to create longer donor or team names.

...

PS3 users can download the new update version 1.1 by restarting the Folding@home application. New Folding@home users can join the program by simply clicking on the Folding@home icon within the Network menu of the XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) or can optionally set the application to run automatically whenever the PS3 is idle (*3).

 

[Arwin]

The increased visibility of folding users should be nice. They were hard to notice in the night-side of the planet, and perhaps now you can zoom in a little further too.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Any idea what sort of speed improvement there is?

 

[Rainbow Man]

Any idea what sort of speed improvement there is?

I guess it'll be visible as soon as you start folding.

All my units have been appx 8 hours in size from what I have seen - give or take a little (literally minutes only in difference).

So unless they make the units bigger any reduction in time would give an indication of speed increase.

Peace.

 

[patsu]

All my units have been appx 8 hours in size from what I have seen - give or take a little (literally minutes only in difference).

Not quite ! Sometimes I get work units that are 9 hours+ ... like the one I'm folding now (p2558_dpdpll_amber96).

I thought there were some 10 hour work before, but I'm not sure anymore.

I have just completed my 81st work unit

 

[Rainbow Man]

Sometimes I get work units that are 9 hours+

Ah! I haven't seen one long er than more or less 8 hours but then I haven't exactly checked every work unit either.

I have just completed my 81st work unit

Omg hehe! You can't do much anything else on your PS3 than run folding then.. I watch a lot of movies on mine. Gaming..not so much.

Sony must be feelign the pain in its wallet..

Peace.

 

[Rolf N]

I guess it'll be visible as soon as you start folding.

All my units have been appx 8 hours in size from what I have seen - give or take a little (literally minutes only in difference).

So unless they make the units bigger any reduction in time would give an indication of speed increase.

Peace.

I'm pretty sure I had one unit that was about 7 hours. All the others are around 8 1/2 hours or so.

 

[patsu]

I bought 2 Blu-ray movies, 2 full-length games and 2 downloadable games so far
Resistance and F@H are best values to date (I leave the box on all the time).