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

Shifty Geezer said:
Any ideas when this will occur? Active PS3's return units in 5 days, so by then, all active PS3's will be updated. That should mean by this time next week, we get an average 1.1's performance. At the moment, from the current snapshot, PS3 is at 13 GFlops a unit (380 TFs / 29k PS3s). We should also see that average creeping up noticeably if performance has received a large boost.
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We also have to wait for the new updated PS3s to return a complete WU. For me it should be later today. My 500,000 WU only needs 5.5 hours to complete and I have 2 hours left.
 
Hard to say if the speed really has improved.

I've gotten NOTHING but the "xxxx.amber" type proteins to fold since the update. These all weigh in at 500,000 frames, but this is misleading. These proteins HAVE ALWAYS folded much faster than the smaller 400,00/399,999 proteins. While there are more frames to go through the proteins themselves are generally much less complex and it is visibly apparent that the frames count upwards much faster (this is all pre update). I'm just waiting to get a hisvillin or supervillin before I can say anything for sure.
 
p2562_dpdpll_amber96 took 5+ hrs while p2558_dpdpll_amber96 took 9+ hrs to beat. So even for the amber series, the time is variable.
 
No improvement to the FLOPs average yet. I'd have thought this would be creeping up if there was a notable increase in preformance.
 
Jawed said:
Guys, please, the points are the only way to discern performance.

Jawed
Click to expand...

I think at this point it is quite clear that the speed increases have been very minor at best. The update probably allowed clients to download more kinds of projects to work on, which take less time to complete sometimes.

I see no other explanation. If it was truly a computational speed upgrade, I would have noticed speed improvements on my original packet once it upgraded, when I did not notice much improvement (a slight one only).

This also explains why Sony isn't trumpeting the "performance boost" more. Sorry guys.
 
I don't notice much speed improvement in most cases (probably a few minutes faster)... but there are 1 or 2 that feels and clocks faster than normal.

The problem is I am not sure whether they are the same thing... and I don't know the point differences between them.

e.g., I just got another p2558_dpdpll_amber96 molecule, this time it's just 5 hr+ hours compared to 9 hrs+ last night. Perhaps it's a different task even though the work unit name matches exactly.


One thing I'm sure is: They fixed the lock up when I turn off the monitor while F@H was loading.
 
Asher said:
I think at this point it is quite clear that the speed increases have been very minor at best. The update probably allowed clients to download more kinds of projects to work on, which take less time to complete sometimes.

I see no other explanation. If it was truly a computational speed upgrade, I would have noticed speed improvements on my original packet once it upgraded, when I did not notice much improvement (a slight one only).

This also explains why Sony isn't trumpeting the "performance boost" more. Sorry guys.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is probably the case in the end... oh well!

Nothing beats folding. ;)
 
The stats are showing a marked increase at the mo'. An average of 17 GFlops per PS3 versus 13 GFlops before the update. (593 TFlops, 34671 PS3s).

I think Sony should offer an incentive, like a little credit on the PSN network, to get every PS3 folder active at the same time on a particular weekend and secure that petaflop figure.
 
temperature at my room dropped 2ºc. Ps3 temp folding drop from 50º (fan level 3), to 52º (fan level 2).

2ºc loss in my room doesn't justify the ps3 drop in temp.

it looks like some packets pushing ps3 a lot harder than others.
 
Microsoft's console not as capable as PS3 when it comes to folding proteins

Microsoft's console not as capable as PS3 when it comes to folding proteins

Vijay Pande, creator of the Folding@home project, which harnesses the power of networked Playstation3s across the world to carry out essential research into Alzheimer's Disease, has revealed to Pro-G that the 360 is of limited help to his work.

After being asked if he thought the power of the 360 could be useful, he said: "Possibly, although the cell processor in the PS3 is much more powerful for our calculations than the CPU in the Xbox 360."

Giving details of how the power of the Playstation3 was useful to his research, Pande explained: "We are simulating key processes in protein folding and misfolding in Alzheimer's Disease. PS3's are performing aspects of these simulations, and doing so about 20 times faster than a typical PC."
Click to expand...

So the question becomes - How affectively can they use the Xbox 360 GPU (Xenos) compared to the Cell? Can Xenos achieve similar or better folding results?

Honest/factual opinions please :D …no fan*** pie-in-the-sky answers ;) .
 
Had this debate already. Suggest you search. In summary though, Xenos should be faster, but more limited in scope of type of work.
 
wco81 said:
Moore is a sales guy right, answering a technical question?
Click to expand...

Well he's saying that they could possibly contribute more to the project, simply because there are more 360s ... Even though it's a sales guy response, there's some value in the answer. ;)
 
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