Folding at Home Coming to PS3 in Version 1.6 Update
By Jonathan Schlaffer
I just can’t help myself. The PS3 is getting an update, as if all it’s other problems aren’t enough, Sony has decided not to address them all but instead offer up the Folding @ home project with the PS3 update. You won’t be able to convince me that they did manage to fix all their ills in the update and if you think that, it’s time to take a step back.
The PS3 update 1.6 ads the Folding @ home project for curing protein related diseases. Whatever you think about the PS3, drop it now; if you like it, if you hate it, as of now I don’t care. This is a PR move, plain and simple.
A friend of mine agrees that Stanford (the brains behind Folding @ home) should just get some time with IBM’s Blue Gene/L supercomputer and run their simulations on that. Don’t try to tell me they don’t have the money but sure… let’s use all those PS3s and not pay the good people for their time while it’s running.
Okay, so it uses idle time on the PS3 to run… if the PS3 is idle that means you aren’t really using it and if you aren’t really using it then shouldn’t it be turned off to save power? I sure think so. It’s a waste of power first and foremost, second, Stanford should just rent some time on a supercomputer, third, it’s a giant PR leap for Sony (but that’s all it is) and fourth, go ahead, waste all our power running your PS3 idle all the time to run it.
I just think there are better ways to get your research done than having to offload it on all those idle PS3s (which should be turned off in the first place).
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Tips N4G
March 21st, 2007
This article reeks of bias
March 21st, 2007
This dude is always hating on the ps3. He is just a microsoft drone.
March 21st, 2007
Can any one tell me about any significant breakthroughs that have occured with linking all these spare pcs and PS3s, compared with what can be done with Blue Genes or any big supercomputer. Like, have we heard from the space people? What do they say? Save Your Power Earthlings
March 21st, 2007
Yes, I too would like to see some information regarding this project as compared to those of supercomputers. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lack of information regarding that but I have no doubt someone will manage to drag something up…
March 21st, 2007
what is wrong with this freaking dude ! i’m a young dude but if we all contribute a few minutes a day and out of pure luck they are able to find any kind of cure. That alone would make me proud of sharing the power of my PS3. What ever i can do to help in research ” without harming myself ” bring it on.
March 21st, 2007
There are just better ways of getting research done than shoving these projects over to idle PS3s. Let’s look at it this way, if it does lead to a cure great but what if it doesn’t, what if it never amounts to anything. There are a lot of “what ifs” here but if it doesn’t then it just amounts to a bunch of wasted processing cycles on a bunch of PS3s that should have been turned off. Of all the PS3s that have been sold, if all of them are left on in this pursuit, how much power is used?
I would still rather the PS3s be turned off… you can run folding @ home on your computer if you want but oh wait… that should be turned off, put in standby or hibernated too.
March 23rd, 2007
“pay the good people for their time while it’s running”?
Regardless of how you feel about the power drain, to suggest one should be paid for letting this particular program run while you sleep is f*ing ridiculous.
This guy would charge the mailman a fee to walk on his property every time the mail was delivered if he could.
Whiney tool.