View Full Version : PS3 folding
Turd Furguson
11-25-07, 03:25 PM
I just purchased a PS3 yesterday and it is up and going for Team 32 right now at the moment. Man that thing chews through the work units.
I am not going to be moving up the ladder very quickly at all, but I am just going to try and contribute.
Happy Folding !!
Yeah, I get around 900PPD from mine...
That's all it does, no gaming on it >_>
LandShark
11-25-07, 04:47 PM
great! we need every single hz of folding power!!
since the weather gets cold now, my PS3s are working as what they should do, space heater and fold! ;)
NedClocker
11-25-07, 05:04 PM
That's great. We need everyone.
ludeboy12
11-25-07, 05:48 PM
When i get back home next week my PS3 will resume folding after a 3 month hiatus. Main pc will be folding too again.
Will be nice to start climbing the ladder once again.
Sleepy_Steve
11-25-07, 06:32 PM
Id only get a PS4 for GT4 lol... I may end up getting a 360 for Forza2 though...
I'll keep my computers doing the folding and crunching. :D
Turd Furguson
11-25-07, 06:41 PM
Well I should say I am going to fold, when my wife and I aren't playing on the PS3. My PC cannot run F@H anymore. I have a problem with my Shuttles Aux. 12v power plug. My PC will just randomly shut off and the plastic is slightly discolored. :/
Well I should say I am going to fold, when my wife and I aren't playing on the PS3. My PC cannot run F@H anymore. I have a problem with my Shuttles Aux. 12v power plug. My PC will just randomly shut off and the plastic is slightly discolored. :/
That discolored plastic may be from just too much heat. On an electrical connector, it may mean the connection itself, is poor - has too much resistance, and more resistance causes the more heat.
The increase in heat, causes even MORE resistance to the flow of electricity, and leads to further heat build up, in a dangerous cycle.
If you can get that connection (both male and female parts), repaired, you could really save the inevitable damage to the mobo or psu, and help limit any risk of fire, as well.
Good luck!
benbaked
11-25-07, 10:46 PM
The new 40gig models don't put off much heat while folding, only a little bit of warm air out of the back corner. Pretty quiet system, and makes a fun linux box with the latest opensuse 10.3.
I would like to see a seti@home client released or optimized for the Cell, I've read of people getting seti@home to run under linux on a PS3 but the crunching performance was inferior to a single processor 1.6 GHz Mac G5. :(
The new 40gig models don't put off much heat while folding, only a little bit of warm air out of the back corner. Pretty quiet system, and makes a fun linux box with the latest opensuse 10.3.
I would like to see a seti@home client released or optimized for the Cell, I've read of people getting seti@home to run under linux on a PS3 but the crunching performance was inferior to a single processor 1.6 GHz Mac G5. :(
The performance was so poor, because the program only used the PowerPC cpu which serves as the "front end" of the Cell. The "cell processors" themselves, were completely unused. :(
It's difficult to write code for the cell processors, but that's where the power is, and SETI programs *must* use them, just like FAH does.
If someone or some group approached SONY (or IBM or Toshiba), they might be very glad to assist, just like they did with FAH. It's great publicity for both the Cell processor, and for the PS3.
If someone or some group approached SONY (or IBM or Toshiba), they might be very glad to assist, just like they did with FAH. It's great publicity for both the Cell processor, and for the PS3.
I want to find alien life just as much as anyone here, but somehow, to the common PS3 user, I see folding@home as being easier to market and convince people to do than Seti@home. Curing cancer vs searching for aliens.
Although I know nothing of the demographic of people who are actually using PS3s to fold. It may very well be the type of person who's just as interested in The Search too.
Turd Furguson
11-28-07, 03:00 PM
Wow I am not used to cranking out so many work units on a single machine. I like this. :)
I want to find alien life just as much as anyone here, but somehow, to the common PS3 user, I see folding@home as being easier to market and convince people to do than Seti@home. Curing cancer vs searching for aliens.
Although I know nothing of the demographic of people who are actually using PS3s to fold. It may very well be the type of person who's just as interested in The Search too.
The odd thing about SETI, is that it was set up as simply a RL demo problem, to test how well a distributed computing project, could work. There was no anticipation of actual "contact".
Because of the points and teams, etc., it wound up being FAR more successful (and it's crunchers far more loyal to SETI), than it's creator ever imagined.
Now, the science has caught up with SETI's early "Carl Sagan-esque" (ie., somewhat overly optimistic and naive) expectations, and we know that we could not distinguish a distant planet's radio energy emissions, from the background radiation of the Big Bang.
It's a fun project, although it comes up short in scientific merit, it did show the way to run a large and successful distributed computing project, over the internet. That makes it "Grandfather" SETI, to us! :)
And this, is a thread hijack of truly epic proportions! Apologies to the OP.
Spec_Ops2087
11-29-07, 12:44 AM
Should we be concerned with leaving the PS3 turned on 24/7?
I can't help but to think leaving it on all the time is slowly decreasing its life expectancy...
In general (because I don't have access to Sony's specific engineering data of the PS3):
1) Your PS3 is basically a computer, and should have similar MTBF (mean time before failure), statistics.
2) As with all electronic devices, the worst enemy is increased heat or any build up of condensed humidity/moisture. There is a very predictable increase in failures in device testing, when they're subjected to increased temps.
Make sure your PS3 is always able to get plenty of ambient air. A simple towel or book that blocks an air vent, can make all the difference, here. Also, the PS3 is black, and will REALLY soak up heat from direct sunlight coming through a window. In addition, if you live in a warm part of the country, you have to ensure that the room the PS3 is running in, doesn't itself, get over 79 F or so.
I'm in a desert area, and without A/C, the computer room would get over 110 F nearly every day in the Summer. That would quickly ruin my computers, or a PS3.
3) After #2, the greatest factor in a failure is repeated cycling on/off, which forces the components to handle the widest temperature environment, internally.
Every engineered device has a "duty cycle" which should not be exceeded for optimal longevity. For computers, that duty cycle is constant, with a MTBF of approx. 15 years, after a successful 3 day burn in testing cycle. Some may last 50 years, while others last just 5 days.
You might want to contact Sony and see if they will give you the results of their longevity testing, and MTBF figure for the PS3. If it's any good, it will show the all important ambient temperature of the testing lab. (otherwise you can assume it's artificially lowered a great deal, and RL results will be substantially shorter. An old trick, still used a lot.)
I would expect heavy use to shorten the life of the PS3, perhaps from 15 years to 10, simply because it's relatively compact (may not dissipate heat as well as say, a tower case would), and despite efforts to the contrary, at some time, temps will rise enough to cause problems.
The important thing to remember is that all electronics have a life-span, whether they're turned on or not. Capacitors tend to be rather short-lived, and thus a common cause of old electronics failure, even if they're never turned on.
My advice would be to use the PS3 to fold, only when you're comfortable using it. Folding should be fun, and definitely within your comfort zone. Anything else will just build up an eventual resentment in you, for the whole folding project.
Turd Furguson
11-29-07, 02:41 PM
I don't fold 24x7. It is just when I am not using it for other things. There are no other components around it and I am pondering getting the Nyko cooler similar to the 360.
I am above 1000ppd right now. :D
LandShark
11-29-07, 11:05 PM
Should we be concerned with leaving the PS3 turned on 24/7?
I can't help but to think leaving it on all the time is slowly decreasing its life expectancy...
both of mine are folding 24/7 since F@H client released and was stopped during summer time during to the power bill and cooling requirement. now, they are back to 24/7 duty again!
Should we be concerned with leaving the PS3 turned on 24/7?
I can't help but to think leaving it on all the time is slowly decreasing its life expectancy...
I don't fold 24/7 with it. I fold as much as I expect to be doing B-spec in GT4 with it. ;)
And boy, do I need to update my sig. First post in a few years. ;)
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