A lot of us have more than one PC that we leave on for extended periods if not 24/7… All of us know people in our families or even closer in our hearts who suffer from various diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s, Huntington’s and others.
So what’s the connection? A huge project called Folding@Home that uses idle computing power to study the process of amino acids “folding” into proteins. From this research, Stanford University scientists hope to annihilate diseases that kill many humans around the globe.
Currently there are over 120,000 teams consisting of well over 1 million people and a huge number of CPUs, PS3s and ATi graphic cards running this project worldwide in almost 100 countries.
The process requires you to download software (with a very small footprint) to run various projects (called WU or Work Units) while your machine is idle. The client software automatically downloads WUs and, once finished, uploads results back to Stanford’s servers.
The client working on your machine will earn points based on the intensity of work. These points are for no other reason than bragging rights! The point system merely creates a competition within each team and between all teams. The project is fun to watch and addictive — in a good way — at the same time.
If you like to use stability software (like OCCT, Prime95) to test your gaming and over-clocked machines, F@H can really test your machine with its “High Performance SMP” clients.
The team I’m involved with — Team_XPS — was established in July 2007 with fewer than 10 people. Team_XPS was team number 80856 at the time. So the project had grown from nothing in year 2000 to more than 80,000 teams in July 2007. Currently with over 120,000 teams, the project shows a huge recognition as it has grown by an additional 50% in less than a year. Some weeks, there are over 1,000 new teams established.
Team_XPS is currently at the Top_70 Ranking (in points) and still advancing. There are over 150 members, of which about 60 are currently active. When comparing our team to others with 10 to 100 times the number of members, we show our great determination to this project. One member even bought 16 Dell Vostros and an H2C unit to fold with us (we jokingly call it his “Folding Farm”).
Please consider studying up on this project and joining F@H if you can. All you need is a desktop, laptop or PS3 to join. There are varying number of projects that can suit your needs and equipment. More than anything, you will be helping humanity or even someone near and dear to you. If you like you can create your own team, or join any team(s). Again, Team_XPS’ number is 80856 and we will be glad to have anyone Fold with us. Feel free to use the Team_XPS thread stickied at the top of DCF (Dell Community Forums).
Click here for additional info. To monitor the performance of Team_XPS, check out these links:
folding.extremeoverclocking.com: http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_summary.php?s=&t=80856
kakaostats.com: http://kakaostats.com/t.php?col=11&t=80856
Drop in and say hello if you need assistance with the project.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I endorse!
June 13th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I\’ve been folding for the team since Sept 07 with the client running 24/7. Its a good cause and I hope others will join us, maybe we can save the world or at least a few people one CPU at a time.
June 13th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Thanx to Both John and Jimmy.
John, Thanx for the “Endorse”… when can we have you Fold with Team_XPS?
Jimmy… I know who you are, and I will keep mum about it… until you fully come out of the closet
.
Peace
June 13th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
This is a great cause! John, you should definitely join the team… it’s a lot of fun. What’s more, it gives the average Joe a chance to really benefit science (and possible yourself).
June 25th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Dear Uncle
Good job, I proud of you