PlayStation 3 dominates Folding at Home charts

[D_o_S]

Along with the release of PlayStation 3 in Europe, gamers in Japan and North America updated their Sony monoliths to system software version 1.60. Along with the much needed background downloading, the update brings to the PS3 the ability to help find a cure for cancer with its Folding@home client.

According to the most recent Folding@home client statistics sorted by operating system, the PlayStation 3 leads all other platforms by a huge margin. The PS3 has 367 current TFLOPS, while the next closest is Windows with 151 TFLOPS and more than ten times more CPUs.

When it comes to pure performance though, the PS3’s Cell Broadband Processor is still no match for ATI GPUs for protein folding. The GPUs on Folding@home sit at 41 current TFLOPS, which come from only 700 processors. If there were as many GPUs folding as there are PS3s on the network, it can be extrapolated that GPUs could reach 876 TFLOPS.

Below are the current stats:
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/07-03-25/stats_thm.png (http://www.techpowerup.com/img/07-03-25/stats.png)

Source: DailyTech (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6609)

[tkpenalty]

PS3 got PWNED by ATI/AMD

[zekrahminator]

Only problem with getting more GPU's into F&H....It's ONLY ATI's Stream processors that do it (X1900, X1950?).

[RickyG512]

how much folding of protein is left before they find a cure, i dont understand all this folding business

is it like all the computers in the world contibute to the folding and update their results online using internet, how do u know if 2 people is folding the same part

[Alcpone]

how much folding of protein is left before they find a cure, i dont understand all this folding business

is it like all the computers in the world contibute to the folding and update their results online using internet, how do u know if 2 people is folding the same part

F@H give each user a work unit to do, the software processes the data using your cpu/gpu then the work unit is sent back to F@H then the cycle starts again, F@H govern what work is sent out ;)

[Alcpone]

how much folding of protein is left before they find a cure, i dont understand all this folding business

is it like all the computers in the world contibute to the folding and update their results online using internet, how do u know if 2 people is folding the same part

Get yourself into the 3dmark comp, click on the link in my sig and post your secreenies ;)

[WarEagleAU]

PS3 Pwned the PC in this respect. Its good to see this though. When I get my router up...Ill be F@H on my ps3 as well.

[Zalmann]

Well, I guess that's one thing the PS3 is good for....

[Alcpone]

Well, I guess that's one thing the PS3 is good for....

Ouch, thats abit harsh

[jocksteeluk]

they are meant to be adding xbox360 support for the folding at home so that should produce some interesting results.

[Benpi]

Folding at home... what else are you going to do with your PS3?

[Aguiar]

Beware,PS3 is starting is war against PC...a cheaper system against very expensive PC machine and still rules !!! The war as began...gladly i´ll expect the PC components manufacturers starts lowering theirs heavy prices or get stuck on shelves.lol.

[Aguiar]

Folding at home... what else are you going to do with your PS3?
You try to Fold , and you´ll see what your machine is capable of...maybe you quit that instant...when you get embarassed for how long your machine takes to do a "simple task" as you think Folding is.Them imagine the capacity of PS3 to do the same job with only "1 leg".:respect:

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

Beware,PS3 is starting is war against PC...a cheaper system against very expensive PC machine and still rules !!! The war as began...gladly i´ll expect the PC components manufacturers starts lowering theirs heavy prices or get stuck on shelves.lol.

Um, No.

PC's are still much more powerfull. The PS3 Gpu is only as powerful as a 7800. According to nVidia.

It is very much a "one purpose" machine, despite how much sony wants it to be the "do it all" machine.

So maybe the only people who thinks it's better than a PC are kids who cant afford a decent PC. Or for people who don't know any better.

But i think most people realize, its still just a console.

[XooM]

Only problem with getting more GPU's into F&H....It's ONLY ATI's Stream processors that do it (X1900, X1950?).

no, all ATI x1K cards and all x2K cards once released. x2900s will dominate :toast:

and to the OMGPS3PWNSTARPCS comments: Show me a PS3 that can be used in a workstation scenario or server scenario, or even for simple things like word processing. Hmm, wait a second...
Good Luck.

[Exceededgoku]

they are meant to be adding xbox360 support for the folding at home so that should produce some interesting results.

Better not fold on the 360s CPU, the GPU is by far the most revolutionary thing in the 360, years ahead of the PS3s GPU.

In relation to the PS3 folding, its a damn good thing they started using these cell CPUs for what they were designed for.. which is massive integer performance (note this is not helpful in games and is probably the worst choice ever for a gaming console, a single core P4 would prob beat this round in games)

[KennyT772]

FanBoys just stop.

Any x1800/x1900/x1950 (except pro's for some reason) can fold. My folding is 3x faster since I started using my x1800xt in addition to my cpu. Currently sitting second on the tpu team :D.

[Alcpone]

FanBoys just stop.

Any x1800/x1900/x1950 (except pro's for some reason) can fold. My folding is 3x faster since I started using my x1800xt in addition to my cpu. Currently sitting second on the tpu team :D.

Pro's do work aslong as you use the correct drivers ;)

[XooM]

actually, xbox360s could DOMINATE F@H really hard if used well. between the 3 PPC cores (opposed to cell's 1, though no SPEs) and R500 GPU, it could really pump out the FLOPS.

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

FanBoys just stop.

Any x1800/x1900/x1950 (except pro's for some reason) can fold. My folding is 3x faster since I started using my x1800xt in addition to my cpu. Currently sitting second on the tpu team :D.

Why do you have your bandwidth test screens in your sig? they arent anything special.

4100 kb/s down is only 520 KB/s. and your upspeed is only about 40KB/s.

Pretty average for a Cable connection.

[Trase]

The reason the PS3 is in such a lead against PC CPU's, is also because most people dont have a CPU as powerfull as the Cell, wich is about is powerfull as an E6600 with all it's 7 cores.

[Aguiar]

Um, No.

PC's are still much more powerfull. The PS3 Gpu is only as powerful as a 7800. According to nVidia.

It is very much a "one purpose" machine, despite how much sony wants it to be the "do it all" machine.

So maybe the only people who thinks it's better than a PC are kids who cant afford a decent PC. Or for people who don't know any better.

But i think most people realize, its still just a console.
ok...much more power ,no doubt,but at what costs...with that money SONY would bilt something amazingly stronger.My friend,of course we are talking about gaming area...because for the rest any PIII would do any service you need (maybe except for video editing)so what do you want a high spec computer for...gaming...and for gaming high with low cost ,no low cost PC will do better than Consols.Now imagine the war that will be when programers start beeing bought for consols programing only...you can pic your high tech PC and start writing letters to your friends.Any kid knows what a hightec PC is ,cause they born with it,not like us .

[Aguiar]

FanBoys just stop.

Any x1800/x1900/x1950 (except pro's for some reason) can fold. My folding is 3x faster since I started using my x1800xt in addition to my cpu. Currently sitting second on the tpu team :D.
omg...folding has nothing to do with GPU...folding is possible with PIII and gforce2...folding has everithyng about CPU...GPU is only to see beautifull images ,while CPU do the work.

[xylomn]

omg...folding has nothing to do with GPU...folding is possible with PIII and gforce2...folding has everithyng about CPU...GPU is only to see beautifull images ,while CPU do the work.

actually it can have everything to do with the GPU for quite some time now there has been a folding client out that utalises ATI x1k processors for folding, which perform much much better than cpus at this task

[wazzledoozle]

Lets say the GPU in the 360 can run the F@H client like current desktop GPU's, and there were as many running as PS3's right now, they would be pumping out 1749 (rounded up) tflops.

Here are the current stats-
http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=osstats

[ghost101]

Runing GPUs 24/7 is a pretty difficult task though. They werent designed with thst in mind. The xbox 360 also runs pretty hot anyway.

I really dont see much in it for Microsoft to devote reources and an increase in warranty replacements for something which will die out pretty quickly. I dont see f@home being a USP for the ps3. People dont go out to buy PCs because of f@home now do they (yes there are the exceptions who are a very small minority).

[Mussels]

i want to fold on my 8800 :(

[newtekie1]

Only problem with getting more GPU's into F&H....It's ONLY ATI's Stream processors that do it (X1900, X1950?).

X1600, X1800, and X1900

However, I don't recommend you run it if you have less than 512MB of video RAM. It really makes the machine pretty much useless.

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

ok...much more power ,no doubt,but at what costs...with that money SONY would bilt something amazingly stronger.My friend,of course we are talking about gaming area...because for the rest any PIII would do any service you need (maybe except for video editing)so what do you want a high spec computer for...gaming...and for gaming high with low cost ,no low cost PC will do better than Consols.Now imagine the war that will be when programers start beeing bought for consols programing only...you can pic your high tech PC and start writing letters to your friends.Any kid knows what a hightec PC is ,cause they born with it,not like us .

Its not hard to build a decent PC if you buy used. You can build a decent system for the price of a PS3.

But once again, the PS3 is a single purpose machine. Also, many hardcore gamers could never game on a console.

Just me thinking about playing an FPS or RTS competitively on a console is scary.

I think the sales numbers clearly show the PS3 is not a good console for the money it costs.

It is being beaten by both the xbox360, and the wii.

PS3 is trying to fill a market out of its league.

It's trying to sell to the hardcore gamers, who want big complex games, with online play, and great graphics.

Except almost all gamers who want that, get it from a PC. since the PC can do those MUCH better than a console can.

So when you can build a better PC for the same price of a total PS3 system, and the PC will do what the console does, except better. and can also do much more.

Why buy a PS3?

[Alcpone]

X1600, X1800, and X1900

However, I don't recommend you run it if you have less than 512MB of video RAM. It really makes the machine pretty much useless.

Have to disagree with you on that 1 ;) My system runs like nothing else is running when F@H is open and doing its stuff, obviously I quit it when im playing games, but 256Mb cards run it fine! :)

[tkpenalty]

X1600, X1800, and X1900

However, I don't recommend you run it if you have less than 512MB of video RAM. It really makes the machine pretty much useless.

... how the hell are you supposed to have 1GB of RAM on the GPU?

X1600, X1650, X1800, X1900 & X1950 series more like. It only runs when your system is idle.

[ex_reven]

itd be funny if the folding program turned out to be the NSA's new method of processing their data before storage :laugh:...batch network processing lol

[Mussels]

X1600, X1800, and X1900

However, I don't recommend you run it if you have less than 512MB of video RAM. It really makes the machine pretty much useless.

you just quit it before gaming... the non-GPU version is barely noticeable performance wise, the GPU version should just be quit before gaming.

[Alcpone]

you just quit it before gaming... the non-GPU version is barely noticeable performance wise, the GPU version should just be quit before gaming.

Thats very true, I wouldnt even think about running a game with it in the background, just make sure you have it in the setting to save f@h every 3 mins or your doing the same work unit parts over and over!

[vipercrazy]

ha ha, lets see how long these ps3's can last when everyone uses F@H 24/7, a cell cpu is so small, i would think the 100% stress generates a hell of alot of heat