Folding@Home on the PS3

[Manlove is my forte]

didn't sony say they were doing some cancer research distributes computing thing, and nothing came of it. Maybe it was always folding :dunno:


I'd be too afraid to run a console at 100% cpu for prolonged periods of time.

Of course they are. What stresses your PC the most, taxing all your hardware to the max?: playing games. What is essentially the only thing consoles are made to do?: play games.

No they are not supposed to run 100% all the time. THey are tuned to play games more efficiently than PCs but that does not mean they are running 100% all the time. Also they are not supposed to be used for regular prolonged periods of time.

I would imagine that most people that partake in distributed computing do so in a 24/7 fashion. I think this will result in shortening your consoles life expectancy, and may even risk a fire.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

didn't sony say they were doing some cancer research distributes computing thing, and nothing came of it. Maybe it was always folding :dunno:

The FAH people have been talking about this in public for a little over a year. It's been a long time coming.

 

[titchard]

didn't sony say they were doing some cancer research distributes computing thing, and nothing came of it. Maybe it was always folding :dunno:


I'd be too afraid to run a console at 100% cpu for prolonged periods of time.



No they are not supposed to run 100% all the time. THey are tuned to play games more efficiently than PCs but that does not mean they are running 100% all the time. Also they are not supposed to be used for regular prolonged periods of time.

I would imagine that most people that partake in distributed computing do so in a 24/7 fashion. I think this will result in shortening your consoles life expectancy, and may even risk a fire.

Well it would also shorten PC life wouldn't it? nothing except specialist equipment is designed to be on 24/7.

Rich

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Well it would also shorten PC life wouldn't it? nothing except specialist equipment is designed to be on 24/7.

Rich

yes but i would say a pc's life is 5-10 years whereas a consoles life is 2-5 years, i know someone who plays his ps2 a lot and has just bought his 7th, when they were first released he went through something like 5 in 3 years (3 in the first year), although this is an extreme example of how poor a consoles life is nobody can say they have managed to wear out 5 pc's in a row in 3 years, consoles are not designed to run at 100% and they are not even designed to run at 75% for longer than 3-5 hours, but they can do if needed but will kill its lifespan, running at 100% for 24 hours a day 7 days a week, i reckon you would kill your ps3 within 6 months


as for pc's mine has always ran 24/7 with no problems, but thats because its a custom built machine, im using a titan vanessa, which is the most expensive air cooler you can get, im also using a conroe which is overclocked but this is all fine because i know how to use the machine properly, if i was to use my machine to fold im sure my 3.6ghz e6600 with 4GB's of ram and running vista 64bit could do it day in and day out, but i wouldnt risk it for 24/7 because first of all, my coolers life would shorten, it uses a tec, which means not only is my cpu using more power but so is my cooler, i did folding for a few months i even borged some machines, after realising the affects folding has on electricity bills, i immedietely stopped, folding is useless lets be honest, you aint gonna find a cure like this, its just a ploy, otherwhise why would they give you points and certificates, real science is a lot more complicated, folding is just a game and a mugs one of that. like i said before anyone contemplating buying one just for folding send it to me ill make sure you get all its points

 

[titchard]

yes but i would say a pc's life is 5-10 years whereas a consoles life is 2-5 years, i know someone who plays his ps2 a lot and has just bought his 7th, when they were first released he went through something like 5 in 3 years (3 in the first year), although this is an extreme example of how poor a consoles life is nobody can say they have managed to wear out 5 pc's in a row in 3 years, consoles are not designed to run at 100% and they are not even designed to run at 75% for longer than 3-5 hours, but they can do if needed but will kill its lifespan, running at 100% for 24 hours a day 7 days a week, i reckon you would kill your ps3 within 6 months

Whos to say what the lifetime of a PC is?

depends on the usage - consumer stuff is not meant to be ran that heavily in any situation.

Rich

 

["andy"]

snip

what a load of rubbish imo

i cant see why it should have any more problems running folding at home 24/7 than any pc would, the xbox 360s shouldnt either.

the cell processor wasnt just designed for the ps3 it was also designed for use in servers , defence systems etc where guess what it will be running under stress 24/7 the same as intels chips do in servers etc

it will "wear out" quicker than through "normal" use but so will any other piece of electrical equipment including your pc.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

what a load of rubbish imo

i cant see why it should have any more problems running folding at home 24/7 than any pc would, the xbox 360s shouldnt either.

the cell processor wasnt just designed for the ps3 it was also designed for use in servers , defence systems etc where guess what it will be running under stress 24/7 the same as intels chips do in servers etc

it will "wear out" quicker than through "normal" use but so will any other piece of electrical equipment including your pc.

the 360's have enough problems trying to run saints row never mind folding,

as you say the cell processor wasnt just designed for the ps3, well a ps3 wasnt designed for folding, im sure it would be overheating after a few hours

 

[titchard]

the 360's have enough problems trying to run saints row never mind folding,

as you say the cell processor wasnt just designed for the ps3, well a ps3 wasnt designed for folding, im sure it would be overheating after a few hours

Did you not read where he said that the Cell was used? it is perfectly capable of running folding at home for extended periods of time. Nothing really is meant to run 24/7 unless it's specialist equipment marketed at doing so.

Xbox 360 does overheat yes - but that was something that was looked into and F@H could be ran on a Xbox 360 if a build was created for quite an ammount of time I belive.

As it could on the PS3, Wii, PC, Mac, Anything.

And to be honest, without actually seeing this running in the flesh none of us actually know what would happen - and sony are not going to big up a piece of software that is known to be ran 24/7 in the background or standalone to run on a system that can barely take it.

Rich

 

[FrankJH]

I really doubt most ps3 owners will know what folding@home is to use it, yea it could be 'ok' if you can run it in the background whilst playing a game if it doesnt affects the gameplay but I seriously doubt people would leave their ps3 on just to fold overnight?

Why is it any different to leaving a pc on overnight- I just cant see any difference tbh

 

[Kreeeee]

Why is it any different to leaving a pc on overnight- I just cant see any difference tbh

A PS3 at full load will take an enormous amount of power to run compared to a PC at idle.

 

[FrankJH]

what a load of rubbish imo

Thank you for beating me to it

 

[JUMPURS]

I dont think cooling would be an issue on the PS3. From the videos that came out with people discecting theirs, the cooling system in it looks quite sweet. and as said above, Sony will not issue a piece of software that could cause overheating, which would cost them money in returns. The PS3 in the states comes with a 1 year warranty, unlike most products, so they must be confident of reliability

Power consumption may be an issue, but at the same time, i would be surprised if it costs more per unit than a PC. I assume in a couple of months CustomPC will run some benchmarks of folding on the PS3, compaired to some of their rigs, and i can't wait for the results tbh.

 

["andy"]

Why is it any different to leaving a pc on overnight- I just cant see any difference tbh

A PS3 at full load will take an enormous amount of power to run compared to a PC at idle.

eh ? it can only draw 380 watts max and im betting most people on these forums pc draw as much or more power

also isnt hes talking about leaving a pc on folding overnight, which is where youve confused me talking about the pc been idle

jumpurs theres already some f@h results for ps3s if you search it in the results tables , the numbers mean nothing to me tbh though

 

[JUMPURS]

jumpurs theres already some f@h results for ps3s if you search it in the results tables , the numbers mean nothing to me tbh though

Is there? i will have a nosey, i done some folding before, but wasn't as into it as many where lol.
I wanna see what CPC have to say about the whole thing though, cos i assume they will be rather thorough (Semi independant?), and i also hope they do the power consumption test

 

[V4NT0M]

Why is it any different to leaving a pc on overnight- I just cant see any difference tbh

People leave their PCs on overnight for downloads and/or because they cant be arsed switching it off and on again...

I dont see the same amount of people wanting to leave their ps3 on overnight.

 

["andy"]

this thread isnt about normal people thought , its about people who are into folding

they happily leave there pcs on 24/7 7 days a week running the folding client at near 100% cpu use

the same people would happily leave there ps3s on , especially if its doing allot more folding work units than there pc is doing,

im not saying people are going to go buy a ps3 just for running folding cos thats silly IMO , but im sure someone out there who is into folding is going to own a ps3 at some time and use it to do so

 

[Bonjour]

folding uses 100% cpu power constantly, using the cpu at 100% increases the temps quite a bit especially if it has 2 cores nevermind 8. consoles are not supposed to run at 100% and they are definetely not designed to run for more than 3-4 hours at a time. now you buy a £425 console with a 1 year gaurantee to run folding? you sir are a complete *** and should have all your fingers and toes chopped off before i take a grater to your manhood then slowly squirt acid in your eyes before handing you over to jack bauer to interrogate you for your stupidity

..

Tad harsh.

tbh

 

[Joebob]

snip

Care to backup any of these wild quotes about life expectancy of PC's/Consoles and also how long you can run them for before they overheat with some links or proof that this is true?

Sounds like a loads of bullocks to me tbh, I have had this type of discussion before on another forum with a guy who said you should never leave you PC on overnight unless it's a dedicated server as they are made out of sturdier stuff. Most people replied saying it was tosh and they leave theirs on 24/7 and have done for years without incident. I used to leave my PC on most of the time running SETI at Home (going back years now) and never had any incident or problem with overheating.

One thing that everyone should realise is that even if you leave you PS3 on running FAH for just an hour every now and again, then you are still actually helping to find a cure for a disease which touches the lives of almost everyone then how can it be a bad thing?

 

["andy"]

 

[Abooie]

I'd argue that the evidence with 360s so far is that if you use if a lot it seems to be less prone to failure than if it's used here and there.

My daughter uses mine for DVDs all the time and I play (even if only for half an hour or so) most evenings and it's never so much as hiccuped.

So maybe running a bit of folding could actually be good for it; if not the environment or your bank balance.