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- SGagnon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+62Hmm, leaving your 360 on 24/7... I wonder what this will do to the failure rate? :-o
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -6/+63While I can understand everyone's want to have a folding client (I run it on my own machines where appropriate), I simply can't understand why someone would want it for the 360. Sure, it's a fast computer, but it's piss-poorly designed to do the parallel task of crunching Folding packets. The reason people worked to code it for the Playstation 3 is twofold; one, the platform is open and encourages such an application to be built, but two, and most importantly, the CPU core was practically _designed_ to do this kind of work. It's a PPC core with a bank of DSPs grafted to the side of it. It's video-card like hardware built side by side with a host CPU.
Unless the proposer of the client also has access to the specs for the Xenos graphics core, building the client for the 360 will be a waste of energy, 10 million machines, maybe 5-10% will actually run the client, which wouldn't even be enough to outpace the PPC Macs currently Folding. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34Make one for the NES!
- crcurran, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26Fold@home people can use the XNA development platform to create the folding app. Microsoft will be allowing the distribution of user created code sometime this year. Not much information on how this would work or how MS can check code for malicious programs. Looks promising though.
Another problem is Microsoft doesnt want to go toe-to-toe with the cell processor when it comes to folding. The cell can fold certain folding packets very fast while the x360's multipurpose processor can't compete (although it can easily handle a wider range of packets from folding@home)
I bought my console to game and entertain so I'm not stressing the hardware on my x360. I trust the cooling on my PC since I built it myself. I know it can handle it and if I have a problem I can fix it myself easily. - number8888, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23Well fanboyism or not, if it helps finding a cure for cancer, I am all for it. In the end it's beneficial to everyone, and I think that's all that matters.
- kennymiller, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24The one thing people don't understand: this thing is trying to cure diseases, not start fanboy wars.
- Narwaffle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22Sorry for the comment hijacking, but here's the original blog post http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/microsoft-bring-foldinghome-to-xbox-will-ya-246748.php
For those interested, the f@h website lives here: http://folding.stanford.edu/ - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20"Because the 360's gpu is ideal for the task"
As noted in my post, you don't have access to the specs for that chip, unless you work for Microsoft in the XBox department, and have signed an NDA. That relegates you to the task of writing the client for the CPU, only. And while the CPU may be faster than the average desktop, when you realize the amount of time and energy wasted writing the client for the Xbox 360, verses the number of people that will actually run said client, it's not worth the time and energy expended to do it.
The CELL, however, was _designed_ for workloads like this, and is exceptionally good at them, which is why just a few thousand PS3s can outpace every other machine that has ever even ran Folding@Home (and probably Seti too). - mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16..then why did you waste your time viewing the submission and leaving a comment?
- mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16I wouldn't take the chance.. but that's probably because I opened up the case and voided the warranty the day I bought it..
- deannnnnn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17Buried for being a blog post about a blog post. Link directly to original post or get buried as spam.
- terminalpariah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Only 600 Microsoft points!
kidding, kidding ;) - threepio, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Who would have thought that Folding@Home would become a killer app exclusive for the PS3? It's taken off like gangbusters with my team (mixed PS3s and a ton of computers) and everyone's having fun.
- xdevit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14XNA doesn't allow access to the network card.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15"unfortunately the PPC cores for the PS3 and xbox are *****. 3.2 ghz is a cover up. Take a look at the transistor counts. Not much more than twice the performance of the original xbox (game-wise per core). It's a cheap chip that looks good on paper. They should've stuck a cheap athlon 64 in there."
Fortunately, you're an idiot and will never have a job in CPU design. - quick5pnt0cobra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Why not direct this post to the actual article?
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/microsoft-bring-foldinghome-to-xbox-will-ya-246748.php - samadam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7yeah, at college i don't pay for my electricity and cooling isn't an issue. I would gladly leave my 360 on all the time for folding. Maybe they just don't want to get owned by the PS3?
Graphics chip versions of the client are still very fast, and if such a client was made (3 threads on the cpu and 1 on the graphics or w/e) it would be very fast. - JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6and the Atari 2600!!
*contemplates dragging out the 8086 from the basement* - deannnnnn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Because you only submit things from qj.net:
http://digg.com/users/vbarreiro/news/submitted - theojanke, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I wouldn't know whether to turn a PS3 off to save energy and $$, or leave it on to cure disease...
- lopla, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Is this guy serious? The xbox360 running 24x7 @ 100% cpu usage
=
Melt - epicdigg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6So you are saying that the Wii vs PS3 sales numbers are equal to their difference in power when considering the highly parallell and single point float calculation of the Folding@Home applicatoin. Want to wager me in a bet on that? :p
- jrieth50, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Buried for never having an original thought in your life and trying to steal ad revenue from Gizmodo.
- SpacedOut83, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8I'd like to have a Folding@Home client for the Wii. I know it would be way underpowered compared to the other guys, but when the Wii peaks at about 20 watts running at full speed, while the PS3 peaks at a whopping 380 watts, I'd much rather run the Wii 24/7 instead.
Plus, with the portion of Wii to PS3 units sold, even considering its underpowered-ness, if it was pushed as a new Channel the Wii could still have a valid chance of overtaking the PS3 in overall completed units. - evilspoons, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Mythos: Folding@Home does not use BOINC, that's Seti@Home.
- saralk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think this is a case where the end justifies the means.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"while the PS3 peaks at a whopping 380 watts,"
PS3 games run at 190 watts, not 380 - Thorlord, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2while even though the PS3 has a smaller base, the PS3 is BUILT for doing the calculations that are required for F@H,
still, i would still encourage this to happen simply because it would put more computing power into helping the human race.
would LOVE to see Jack Thompson's face if it turns out that video games discovered the cure for cancer, and ultimately saving millions more lives than he claims it takes. - ecommando, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I currently have the PS3 running the Folding@Home. I already finished 4 units.
I won't be running this on my XBOX360 if it comes out for it.
I don't think my XBOX360 can handle it without getting the 3 rings of death. - coredump0x01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2He just wanted to show us all how cool he was.
- Ulvund, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Haha early april fools'
Please merge the para-olympics and real olympics as well now you are at it ;) - Jumangi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4MS doesn't need to go toe to toe with their CPU vs the Cell. They just need to let the Folding guys get the access make the app so it can use the GPU on the 360. This would make it more than competitive. It would be good PR for Microsoft too.
- Zero2aHero, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I ***** hate qj.net for a couple of reasons.
1. In the middle of reading the article on qj (rather than the original from gizmodo) it redirects me to a form to fill out for one of their sponsors and I have to click a link to go back to the site I was on originally. Who the ***** does this?
2. They are so unwilling to link to outside sources. Inside their stories there are 100 links to keywords that search their own blogs for stories with that word in it. It's *****, they use a lot of outside sources for the stuff they post on and when I want to go the the source they are talking about I have to hunt for the actual link. - Metalstorm808, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5If the xbox 360 had a program to do that I wouldn't even try. I'm sure my 360 would break on the first night of this lol.
- evilspoons, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@tahiri: that's not entirely true. The PS3 uses over 200 watts, and my dual-core Athlon 64 uses 230 at 100% cpu utilization with the monitor on - turn the monitor off and it drops to about 190, and if the system's idle (obviously not while Folding, but true while browsing the web) you're talking only about 150 watts.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1PS3 uses less power than the PC you're using to browse digg.
- Hoffer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have let my PS3 run and process one work unit. I also set my PS3 to auto-run F@H after 10 minutes of nonuse. Saying that...I probably won't run it that much. I don't feel like burning out my $600 videogame console, even if it is for a great cause. Same would be true if they put it on the 360.
- greenmky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm not a fan of Sony's overpriced PS3, but there's no way I'd leave my 360 running 24x7. I've heard too many stories of people going through 2-6 replacement 360s. And it would cost a lot in electricity. And it is very noisy.
I'd leave my Wii running 24x7 though. Maybe it's wimpier but it wouldn't cost much to power. Burning lots of electricity to Fold (much of it generated from fossil fuels) seems like a bad move. I'd prefer to use low-power devices like the Wii to do it instead. - bhsmith83, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I really don't understand why people immediately make everything a fan-boy issue. When the matter at hand is furthering the scientific and medical community, I don't think exclusivity should ever be an given. Tell me I'm not the only human that feels this way. Oh, and a side note... if Sony and or MS start investing vast amounts of capital into R&D for drugs (seeing that they are in the process of folding to see what the drugs could fix) the PS24 will cure cancer and the xbox360 to the 9th power will vaccinate your children.
- staticneuron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@geminitojanus
The cell has a PPU with several SPE's. It is a simd model but it can do more than DSP's can. It is repeated that the cell isn't for gaming and whatever nonsense they can come up with but if they actuallly cared to look you would realize that the PS3 is designed very similar to the PS2... just more powerful. - ironyinc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why is pelapp getting dugg down? The ps3's can complete a work unit in about 8 hours, while a regular computer takes 3-5 days. Including the fact that the ps3's wu contains 20 times more frames than a computer's wu (400,000 vs. 20,000), you have ~240x the speed per wu (yes, frames aren't the best measure of speed, but for this comparison it will have to do). Current stats on the Folding@home page show that there are about 30,000 people currently folding and 40,000 with the client that means that the wii would have to have 7.2 mil people actively running the client to get the same performance as the ps3s right now.
- saralk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The point is that because of a little thing called evolution, people are naturally competitive and selfish. By adding a competitive element to something that has a positive effect, it could potentially add a lot of F@H.
Ultimately, does it really matter how this effect is acheived as long as it is in the end (within reason, of course) - TheBigBlackGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0All this talk of leaving your 360 on 24/7 can be solved if they made an option to only work for 2 or 3 hrs in the middle of the night
- Renton, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Having fun leaving a program running?
- mrkmrk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I would use f@h on my PS3 or 360 if I had one. However, as a teenager with no job, all I have is a Wii (would have been my first choice, anyway). I'd run the client on Wii, even if the amount of work it did were tiny. I mean, every little bit helps, right? I think the same goes for 360: even if it's not as powerful as the PS3 as far as processing power goes, is there any reason not to?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"My response is four letters: IPTV"
Sony's response.
Go to peakvid.com in the webbrowser, ooh, IPTV! - TattooedLion, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3360? Yeah right. The 360 couldnt handle it.
Everyone would wake up the next day with the "red rings of doom"
Its happened twice with me, with PERFECT ventilation, leaving it on overnite.
NO THANKS!!
Bill Gates will have to come up with another way to nutswing on the PS3.
And NO, Bill. You CAN'T copy the PS3 Home when it comes out this fall, EITHER! - PurpleSfinx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I've always thought exactly this myself, ever since I heard they were making it for PS3. The fanboyism would mean it ran 247 in aLOT of homes.
Include Wii as well, the fanboys can never argue it is as powerful as the other 2, but they can argue that they will get more done seeing as so many people have Wiis, or something like that.
GREAT idea. DO IT NOW PEOPLE! - TheNik, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1They should throw in SETI@home while their at it just to get an extraterrestrial leg up on Sony.
- crcurran, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I made a point about using your PC for folding not your x360. Let me be more specific: fold on your PC not your gaming consoles. You'll stress the hardware and probably cause higher failure rates of X360s and PS3s.
Yes the PS3 can fold much faster than the x360 but I dont think that the PS3 is that much better then the x360 as a versatile gaming platform. Sony chose to bring folding@ome because it plays to its strengths and makes its shortcomings nearly invisible. The x360 as its shortcomigns too; I'm not bashing any consoles here. Strengths and weaknesses and how a PR department can put the limelight on the strengths.
Folding@Home wasnt invented for the PS3. I wonder how many people who want to fold on their console actually knew about folding before this but did NOT install it on their PC. So why now? If you are so concerned about Folding why haven;'t you jumped on the folding bandwagon before on your PCs?? Is it beause the PS3 ccan do something better than the multiprpose processor of the x360? I think so.
Load it on your PCs too otherwise you are just showboating and not very concerned with research. -
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