afccarl666

I've seen this around a few places, on my PC and on my PS3, but I don't really get exactly what it is supposed to be or what it does. Apparently it helps fight cancer?

Also, what do I need to sign up? I'm kinda confused.

Phædrus2401

Folding@Home is an example of "distributed computing".

Many cancers are caused by changes in DNA, and these changes in the DNA causes changes to certain vital proteins. Scientists need to study how these changed proteins fold to learn how the cancer works, and how to fight it. So to study them they try to simulate the protein.

Unfortunately simulating a protein takes a *LOT* of computing power. It can takes weeks of computing time to simulate just nanoseconds on a standard PC, and even with super computers there aren't enough computing resources available as they have to be shared with scientists working on other tasks.

So to get around this scientists take the simulation and break it into tiny "chunks" of computing work. That's where we come in. When you run Folding@Home, your computer is using its unused processor and graphics card cycles to work on these chunks of simulation, compute an answer, and send it back to the scientists. Since 90% of the time your computer will be using less than 1% of its computing power, this adds up to a lot.

This distribution of the work across tens of thousands of separate computers allows scientists to learn a whole lot at very little cost.

There are a couple of things to consider before running Folding@Home. First, there are two different "versions" of F@H for the PC: the CPU client, and the GPU client. The CPU client uses just the CPU and system RAM to compute. The GPU client takes advantage of modern graphics cards' amazing number crunching abilities to simulate. However, with older cards the benefits from running the GPU client are somewhat lessened. Also, F@H runs your system at close to its peak capacity, so there will be a lot of heat generated and it will wear out your components faster, so you'll want a well-ventilated case, a good power supply, and understand that you're taking a risk. Oh, and your electric bill will be slightly higher.

In your case I would run the CPU client (if you decide to run F@H that is). Your Radeon 9600 is very old, and while you would get some benefit from running the GPU client I wouldn't want to wear out the card. Also your PSU isn't all that great, so best to keep power consumption lower by not using the GPU.


Does that answer your questions?

Engineer Babar

Hi

CPU: 3.0 Ghz
Ram: 2 GB
I do not have a graphic card.. Rather Intel built in chipset 82945G..

Am I eligible??

Phædrus2401

Sure. It'll run on anything with a modicum of computing power, and yours meets it. You won't get as much done as those running it on powerful gaming machines, but every little bit helps. Head on over to the Distributed Computing forum and follow the instructions for downloading and running it. You'll want the CPU version.

grimx133

Just remember to watch your temperatures, folding will increase them. Once you're sure it won't take your cpu to dangerous temperatures, you don't have to monitor as much, but at first you should run a program that will display the cpu temp in the system tray.

Mcninjaguy

The graphics card program is like running it on full settings for the time you leave it on so you had better have very stable hardware to be running either the CPU or GPU F@H program.

afccarl666

Thanks guys, that helped a lot

So basically, it will use my computer power to help with these proteins they need. So what about with the PS3? That's powerful. What do I need to do for that to be used too? I know there was a link for it on the XMB, but an update changed it to 'life with PlayStation'.

The only thing is, does it make much effect on RAM usage? I've only got 768MB, so if I play a game or watch a video, I could really do with pretty much all of it.

I think my PC temps should be fine, they barely hit 40C under high load, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'll keep a check on it.

And what's wrong with Radeon 9600? Some things get better with age.

Phædrus2401

Lol, everything gets better with age; except shader models.

The PS3 is a nice mid-range platform, so it's a good one to run it on. Not sure how though.

I think the GPU client uses mainly your VRAM. The CPU client uses the system RAM somewhat more, but I'm not sure how much; I have so much I'd barely notice 200MB, but for you that would be a significant chunk. I don't know.

Still monitor your CPU temps, F@H pushes the system harder than most games do.

afccarl666

Is there a way to stop it or turn it off for a while? For when I need the RAM? It would be fine most of the time when I'm using the web.

Also, what are the groups for? I know TSF has a group.

EDIT: Oh and I found F@H as a channel under 'Life with PlayStation'. You can play your own music in the background, which is good

Mcninjaguy

You can stop and start the F@H program any time you want. You have to remember that a PS3 has a graphics card about as powerful as a 7950 GT (nvidia) and with a graphics like your 9600 it will fold a lot more than what a PS3 could do.

For me when I turn on F@H my ram gets around 55mb used up or so with the GPU client. It uses up the full amount of my GPU like I'm playing Crysis though. I can still use my desktop but playing a movie might slow down a tiny bit. Otherwise my computer is completely usable while using F@H.

I think that you should get a new PSU if you want to try and do F@H. Its a low quality m"mercury PSU and it doesn't seem too stable to me.

afccarl666

Yeah well, my parents have a 'If it isn't broke, don't fix it' attitude. The PC is getting on now. But they won't even pay for more RAM. Or let me pay for more. So if the PSU dies, then I can get a new one And mobo, GPU, HD, RAM if they die too (Or I pretend they did )

BIOS voltages are all within 2% of what they should be other than -5V (-61.59 )

And the PS3 can't do anything other than read news stories, listen to music and look at a globe covered in dots of light while F@H is on. So it doesn't effect games (cause you can't play one ). Oh well, I suppose every little helps

Mcninjaguy

I can play some lower end games properly while folding@home is on. Depends on the game itself but F@H does ramp down a bit when I do play some games.

Ohh yea if the PSU breaks the computer breaks. and really for XP you should be running 1 gb at minimum for it to run nice and fast. I bet your parents wouldn't even notice if you got more ram for the computer cause it takes like 2 minutess to install it.

grimx133

I just right click on the icon and pause fah, if I want to do something that needs the card. Funny though, windows7 solitaire plays real sludgy if fah is running, have to pause it even for that, but I can play open yahtzee, it's just a bit slower than usual.

Phædrus2401

Ditto to what they said. Some games will work properly with F@H in the background, others won't. Dragon Age: Origins will work, but the load times become... excessive. Fallout 3 used to crash right off the bat, but that appears to have been fixed in patch 1.6. The frame rate still drops to something horrible though. Torchlight is fine, as are Starcraft, Diablo, Half Life, and any game more than a few years old. Half Life 2 and other Source games will run, but with some hitching. Left 4 Dead works as well, but the framerate drops into the teens when there's a big mob.

Whenever I play a game that it effects a lot I just right click on the F@H icon and select "pause work". Then when I'm done gaming I resume.

Mcninjaguy

WHen I need to pause Folding @ home I just close the console client. Its runs in a command prompt window. It instantly saves my work.

WereBo

I don't know about the GPU-Client, but with the CPU version, you can also right-click the System-Tray icon and select 'Pause' from the context-menu.

afccarl666

To be honest, considering all the hardware I have, old P4 processor, old radeon 9600 GPU, DDR RAM, crappy PSU and ATA HD, it seems to run pretty fast. Windows 7 RC managed to run smoothly too, and that apparently needs 1GB RAM minimum. I managed to get it running on just 150MB. Having very little installed really seems to help.

The only thing if my system did die, my parents wouldn't wan't to spend too much on new parts either. (Thats why I have a mercury PSU )

Good plan, but my dad keeps the tools locked up in his toolbox. Might have to try and slip a screwdriver out when he next does any DIY (So in a year or two )

I still think its pretty amazing that my PC can help fight cancer. Its a shame really that more people don't do it, with the amount of PCs in the world.

afccarl666

I've downloaded the taskbar client, the one at the top of the list on the downloads page. I've put the TSF team ID in, so watch me rise to the top

Another question: About how long does it take to fold? The taskbar icon says 'CPU - F@H: Working (0/500). PS3 is seeming a little less practical, according to the site it takes around 8 hours to fold.

Phædrus2401

You get workloads of various sizes. Some take mine a half hour to fold, others take up to four or five hours. My computer is on twelve to eighteen hours a day, I check it before I go to bed to see how many it's folded.

afccarl666

Well its now on 5/500, so its getting there!

During the week mine is on for between 2 and 4 hours, weekends I can leave it on all day.