Who?

LutaWicasa · Jul 23, 2016

I'm just curious.....
Who still folds for the cause as opposed to just the competition?

I've not been involved for quite some time (used to fold for 2 or 3 different teams) but no longer have the space or time to tend a farm.
Are there even still "farms"?

Enlighten me people

Nebulous · Jul 23, 2016

I used to fold for the cause, then got into the competition. I had a farm with a couple of dualies. After several years I've come to realize I've contributed enough and saw it wasn't cost effective to my utilities bills. I disabled/parted out the farm.

WhitehawkEQ · Jul 23, 2016

I do it for the fun as well as for the cause. The days of CPU farms are gone, but there are big farms using GPU's.
Right now I have 1 GTX 980 Ti and 1 4P server (64 cores) split in to 4 slots, I soon will be adding a GTX 1080 SC and will shut down the folding on the 4P and use it as a server.

Silver_Pharaoh · Jul 23, 2016

I'm in for the cause, but the points are nice to see.

Lost my Grandfather to Alzheimer's and my other Grandfather had colon cancer. Gramma still has skin cancer now and then too.

belorsch · Jul 23, 2016

The cause is the initial draw. The competition keeps me interested and drives me to make my effort efficient.

SubPar · Jul 23, 2016

What belorsch said :thup:

Also trying to whup Silver Pharaoh :clap:

LutaWicasa · Jul 23, 2016

So...nobody uses the cpu to fold any longer...just gpu?

SubPar · Jul 23, 2016

Correct, im sure some people do still use CPU folding but the real ppd/watt kings are GPUs. 970/980/980ti/1070/1080 are all quite efficient and not terribly priced, well, expensive but definitely folding marvels. The older cards are starting to come down in price but still pretty pricey.

Nebulous · Jul 23, 2016

IMHO I think using a new 10XX video card for folding is a terrible waste of money. First thread I read of a member getting a 1070 and using it to fold I almost barfed. That's just sacrilegious. :facepalm:

ihrsetrdr · Jul 23, 2016

LutaWicasa said:
So...nobody uses the cpu to fold any longer...just gpu?

My Intel Xeon 2650 folds a cpu work unit alongside the gpu work unit. It's set to just use 15 threads.

Nebulous said:
IMHO I think using a new 10XX video card for folding is a terrible waste of money. First thread I read of a member getting a 1070 and using it to fold I almost barfed. That's just sacrilegious.

lol, my gtx 970 has been in use exclusively for folding for about a year; gtx 1070 on wish list, soon to be purchased for folding duty.

LutaWicasa · Jul 23, 2016

OK...gone are the days when one would build a folder outta cast-offs/older gear.
So if someone wanted to give some folder an i5 3570/Z77 mobo/GTX 670 then all they'd really care about is the 670 (and that being iffy)?

belorsch · Jul 23, 2016

IMHO I think using a new 10XX video card for folding is a terrible waste of money. First thread I read of a member getting a 1070 and using it to fold I almost barfed. That's just sacrilegious.

My 1070 is putting out 27x the points(work) as my former card and drawing less power doing it so not so sacrilegious in my pov.

So if someone wanted to give some folder an i5 3570/Z77 mobo/GTX 670 then all they'd really care about is the 670 (and that being iffy)?

Not sure about the GTX 670 but 3570/z77 mobo could be used to house at least one gpu if not more depending on the mb and its pcie lanes I think. My 1070 is folding away in a system with a z77 extreme4 system board and a 3570. I was folding on the 3570 until I started noticing crashes which killed my prod. Not sure if cpu folding was the cause or not but I had noticed other peoples remarks about cpu folding causing problems and stopped mine and since then no more crashes. I did just return to folding though after a long hiatus so take my experience as worth a grain

Nathan_P · Jul 24, 2016

A 670 will fold just fine, its not the most power efficient card but will still net you about 80-100k PPD.

As for the OP, I believe in the cause but love the competition and banter between people and the teams.

Robert17 · Jul 24, 2016

Pretty much what most everyone above said. Drawn by the cause, get some additional satisfaction from the point chasing. But then, I enjoy a beer from time to time just to pee it out later; wasted $ if you want to look at it that way.

torin3 · Jul 24, 2016

The competition is nice, but I wouldn't do it at all if not for the cause.

This is, to me, the most effective way I can promote and contribute general scientific research and specific research that may result in treatments and cures to improve quality of life and increase lifespan.

I originally started out with SETI@home well before the BOINC client came out. I switch over to F@H once I realized what I could be working for. Ever since then, except when I was coin mining to build up my hardware capacity (hardware to mine - > money -> more hardware), I've always had at least one dedicated folding machine.

I don't really game much, if at all, these days, but I own 1 1080, 1 1070 and 3 970s and I'm planning on getting at least one more 1070/1080 in the next few months. They all fold.

wjruth · Jul 24, 2016

The cause brought me here. The competition keeps it fun. The 1070 gets used to game on weekends, but the other 164 hours a week it folds. Why not put equipment to use that sits idle 97% of the time.

jaymz9350 · Jul 24, 2016

The cause has always been the major factor, I lost 3 of my grandparents and my father to cancer, my mom is a cancer survivor and my uncle to Alzheimers at a young age for the disease. I have been off and on for years though depending on if I could afford the power bill.

The points and competition keep it interesting and does play a role in as well too

JrClocker · Jul 25, 2016

It's for the cause for me...lost both of my parents to cancer, my wife lost her mother to cancer, my wife's father has Alzheimer's, and my sister is a cancer survivor.

I am one of those folks that bought a GTX 1080 GPU for folding. It does more PPD than my 980 Ti, and draws much less power.

GPU folding is currently king.

(Not to mention that it's fun to kick don256us's butt!)

Jmtyra · Jul 25, 2016

Initially I started folding for the cause, but it quickly turned into the friendly competition/rank/points. I'm still working on some issues (TLDR; HVAC + $$$$) but hope to be back 'in the fold' very soon. Team 32 is full of amazing members and it's fun to jump in the forums and stir up [friendly] competition.

Audioaficionado · Jul 25, 2016

Been folding since win98SE. Always for team 32.

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