Folding@Home Petaflop Barrier Crossed

Fighter - 798 days 11 hours ago

Nice to know we're making a difference by just sitting down and doing nothing while our PS3's do the calculations for a good cause. I'm sure with future firmware updates we will be able to fold much faster.

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snakeak - 798 days 7 hours ago

That's really awesome. I realize that for most gamers the importance of Folding is difficult to understand, but just wait til you've had a loved one get afflicted by one of these horrible diseases. I wish I could convince everyone to contribute, because every little bit helps. I have some friends in the biotech field that wish they had access to this kind of computing power. Sure, you won't get "achievement" points for it, but this has real life tangible benefits.

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Giro - 798 days 6 hours ago

How did scientists cure diseases and create vaccines before Folding at home was invented?

I think what they need to do is create a detailed report on what advances have been gained from all this as its all coming at a price.

If everyone left their PS3s on all the time to do Folding then just think of the amount of power that it would consume, in a world where everyone is being encouraged to save electricity for the sake of all our futures.

Don't get me wrong its not that I don't agree with Folding, in fact I think it is a great idea and if it does do what they say it will and can cure diseases and help people then thats amazing.

I'm just a bit concerned that after another 12 months or so when they reach another Petaflop will the advancement they have made be worth the cost in power and to our environment or will it be just so they can say "hey great, we've reached 2 petaflops, keep leaving your PS3s on so we can get to 3".

So in my humble opinion I think it would be a very good idea if an independant company (not Sony or Microsoft) were to create a detailed report into the acheivements already made from Folding and the long term effects and benefits from doing it.

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aiphanes - 798 days 4 hours ago

Most businesses leave there workstations on 24/7 yet nobody says anything about power use...the PS3 is using no more power than a typical ps3...but yet only 33k PS3 will give folding@home 800 teraflops!!!

People please use folding@home...if 1 million out of the 5+ million PS3 users fold then we would be over 10+ Petraflops!!!

Believe me, your PS3 will not die. I am over 500 workunits runnign 24/7 since March...the PS3 was built like a rock...

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Chriswsm - 797 days 21 hours ago

I see no point in focusing on medicine for a vastly overpopulated species. I feel that this does more harm than good.

My PC resources are used towards environmental or science (world tempriture analysis and SETI) and when my PS3 is not being used it is always switched off as is my PC if it is not used for a while.

Humanity increases (Births-deaths=increase) as follows
Per second: 2.5
Per minute: 150
Per Hour: 9000

Lets focus on something that needs our help rather that ourselves.
see my forum post on this topic for more (its in the folding bit)

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