Power Kite Forum

Any PKFers Fold?

Drewculous - 29-8-2012 at 04:38 PM

Kinda wanted to get back into folding... im in the process of overclocking my rig, and i wouldnt mind helping out in the process....

Anyone care if i start a PKF team? We wont be the top (i doubt it anyway lol) but it's just another positive place to have our name

heres some reading in case you have no clue what im talking about
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/HomePage
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Learn
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/About

give me the word and i'll hit it! I couldnt find a PKF team.... lets do it!

beachrights - 29-8-2012 at 05:02 PM

I fold my laundry- do I make the team?

I looked at the links and still don't have a clue as to wtf is going on here!! Excuse my French but really needed to put some emphasis on it to show my complete clueness!:no:

Can you give a summary in basic terms so dopes like me understand please

B-Roc - 29-8-2012 at 05:06 PM

I'm like origami... put a little pressure on me and I fold every time. I'm definately not looking for more of that and I hate laundry so put me down as also not understanding WTF this is all about. I suppose if you fold you know and if you have to ask what it is.... well then its probably not for you (or us, or at least me):no:

indigo_wolf - 29-8-2012 at 06:01 PM

Sounds like Folding is similar to the SETI@home program that used BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing).

Basically you run a piece of software and it becomes part of a VERY large network which acts as CPU that is widely geographically distributed. When your computer is idle, that unused computing power can be tapped by researchers (working on Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and many cancers). If the software is done correctly (which I assume it is judging by someone of the backers/supporters), they don't access any of your personal files, just the raw processing power of your computer when it is idle.

One analogy might be some of the newer computers that have multiple processors with tasks being distributed between them. In the Folding scheme, research tasks are distributed across all the computers that are in the Folding network.

It's sort of like asking everyone in the country to donate a penny to a good cause.... insignificant on a small scale, but very powerful as the scale ramps up.

Hope that helps.

ATB,
Sam

beachrights - 29-8-2012 at 06:14 PM

Wouldn't it just be easier for the researchers to have their own computer? This structure described by Indigo {nice job by the way!} seems very complicated and just waiting to pickup a virus along the happy internet trail.

pyro22487 - 29-8-2012 at 06:56 PM

They did this with the P.S.3 when it first came out. Its like having a computer with 100s of 1000s of gigs of ram, vs. a computer with maybe 4 or 5 gigs of ram. Correct Indigo?

cheezycheese - 29-8-2012 at 08:03 PM

IT'S THE BEGINNING OF THE MATRIX !!!

Drewculous - 29-8-2012 at 08:30 PM

sam's correct (was there ever a doubt)

think of it not so much in terms of space but of raw processing power...... if you rendered a 5 min long hd movie on a 1.5ghz processor it'd take a while... 15-20 mins? now try it on a 4ghz quad core processor.... oh yeah..... 30 seconds baby!!

Think of the folding proteins as huge complex movies that need rendered to see what makes up the file... even a pile of like 50 PCs running at the max couldnt hope to render that file in a number of years.... but you take a 1ghz (or in some cases WAY more) from 250,000 PCs and all of a sudden it can be rendered in a matter of hours





Plus its an excuse for us to have another PKF team :D
lol

MNKiteFan - 1-9-2012 at 01:14 PM

I would be interested. I used to fold for Maximum PC but can lend my horsepower to PKF@home if you want.I didn't build a water cooled monster for surfing the net lol.