Posted on 11/21/2006 8:07:23 PM PST by texas booster
Today ATI's graphics processors help accelerate complex computations in stream computing applications used in scientific research. ATI is supporting bio-medical research to help scientists understand disease at the genetic level. With a strong understanding of how diseases form, it will become possible to develop diagnostic methods, and preventative treatment and medicine for many acute diseases in humans.
Stanford University is using ATI’s GPUs (Graphics Processor Units) to run Folding@Home, a distributed computing project designed by its chemistry department. This application performs computationally intensive simulations of protein folding, using the stream computing capabilities of ATI’s Radeon® 1900 and 1950 Series processors, which provide incremental power over CPU processing. ATI’s Radeon® X1900 and Radeon® X1950 Series process the complex calculations of the simulation and render advanced 3D visualization of the protein folding process in real time.
Folding@Home will help researchers uncover how certain diseases develop, including:
Cancer
Alzheimer's Disease
Parkinson's Disease
Huntington's Disease
Osteogenesis Imperfecta
Stanford University’s research team discovered that ATI’s Radeon X1900 and Radeon X1950 Series of products provide 20 to 40 times faster processing over CPUs in many of the calculations needed to simulate the folding of proteins.
What is Protein Folding Proteins are necklaces of amino acids – long chain molecules that drive all biochemical reactions in the human body, helping to build bones, muscles and blood vessels, and helping the body fight infections. To accomplish these tasks, proteins must take on a particular shape, or, to “fold”. Proteins that fold incorrectly can cause complications and can lead to critical diseases. Folding@Home simulates the folding process to understand why proteins don’t fold correctly. The findings will help researchers prevent and cure these diseases.
You Can Help Find the Cure Folding@home uses distributed computing to simulate protein folding – instead of using super computers, the workload is broken up into small work units and distributed across 100,000’s of PC systems over the internet. When users throughout the world download and run the application they directly contribute to a good cause through the power of their ATI graphics processor. The GPU version of the application will use the processing power of end users’ GPUs to accelerate the simulation and provide data to Stanford’s researchers faster.
Every new PC that runs the application gets us closer to the cure.
You can help by simply downloading and running the Folding@Home application developed by Stanford University. The application is free and secure. It will run in the background, making use of spare GPU capacity in your PC, without impacting the performance of your other applications.
You can increase your contribution by forming and joining teams and competing against others. Contributors are assigned a score indicating the number and difficulty of completed work units. Rankings and other statistics are posted to the Folding@Home website.
Please note that, currently, only the following products in ATI’s Radeon X1900 Series and Radeon X1950 Series can run the application. We will post information about upcoming products that will support this application in the near future.
Radeon X1900 Series: Radeon X1900 GT, Radeon X1900 XT, Radeon X1900 XTX, Radeon X1900 CrossFire Edition
Radeon X1950 Series: Radeon X1950 XTX, Radeon X1950 CrossFire Edition
The X1900 and X1950 series is supposed to increase computation by 20x to 30x. This is accomplished using the 48 pixel shaders in the R580 GPU. That will make an enormous difference in folding times for F@H.
If Santa leaves one of these video cards on your fireplace, please pop a F@H core onto it and tell us what results you experience.
Tech support is available on this thread for users wanting to begin folding for Team 36120 Free Republic Folders!
Pinging the F@H group. With Wild Wednesday and Black Friday upon us, surely someone will have the pleasure of a new toy!
Pinging the F@H group. With Wild Wednesday and Black Friday upon us, surely someone will have the pleasure of a new toy!
Sorry, I've got no time to read F@H threads...I'm busy reading all the Black Friday ads and figuring how early I have to get up to get what I want (need?)at Fry's. Do you think 4:30 am is too late?
How does it work?: You download a safe, tested program (see link below) that is certified by Stanford University. It gets work from Stanford, runs calculations using your spare computer power, and sends the results back to the University.
Is it safe? Yes! Folding@Home rarely effects computer performance in any way and won't compromise your privacy in any way. It only uses the computing power you aren't using so it doesn't slow down other programs.
How do I get started folding for Team FreeRepublic?:
1.) Download the folding program from Stanford University's folding download page (Folding@home Client Download). Type in your desired username.
2.) Type in 36120 for the team number. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - if you get the number wrong, you won't be folding for team FreeRepublic!
3.) The third question asks, "Launch automatically at machine startup, installing this as a service?" - We recommend you answer YES. Otherwise you will have to manually start the program after every reboot.
How can my computer help? Even if they were given exclusive access to all of the world's supercomputers, Stanford still wouldn't have as much processing power as they get from the supercluster of people's desktop systems Folding@home relies on. Modern supercomputers are essentially a cluster of hundreds of processors linked by fast networking. But Stanford needed the power of hundreds of thousands of processors, not just hundreds.
There's no reason to not get involved! It's free, easy, and you can know you're helping every minute without lifting a finger.
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List of Relevant Folding Links
Why Fold - Watch This !!
Extreme Overclockers Stats for FreeRepublic
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Competition (Not!!) Dummies ..Daily Kos
Dummie Folding Threads #7 #8 #9#10#11 #12
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Other Useful Stuff - Links
How much are those work units worth? And what are they?
All Projects Listed
Point Summary for Workunits
Fahmon Third Party Monitoring Software
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Past FreeRepublic Folding threads
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #17 #18 #19 #20#21#22 #23 #24
It is too late... everyone will be lined up before then at the doors, :-).
BTW, where are you finding ads? I just want a food processor and I can't find a single one with a decent price.
Just make sure that your pup tent is cleaned out after waiting in line to get a PS3.
Fry's? Thank G_d that Denny's stays open all night. 4:30 may not be early enough.
http://bfads.net/
http://blackfridayads.com/
I have wasted enough time here. Not enough money for all the good deals.
http://www.fatwallet.org/news/
Found this: Sony H2 6mp/12X optical net price after MIR of $305
but I can help you on the food processor
>I just want a food processor and I can't find a single one with a decent price.
http://blackfridayads.com/category/13
KitchenAid 9-Cup Food Processor $149.99 @ Sears
http://blackfridayads.com/stores/15
Kohl's Friday Door Buster (6:00 am to 10:00 am)
Cuisinart 7-cup Food Processor
$97.99
Correction: Kohl's early bird specials are 5:00 am to noon.
People will line up starting at 4:30 am.
well I've just upgraded one of my machines from a Athlon 3400+ to an Opteron 170 (dual core) running at 2.5ghz and have the 502 console running 2 sessions at 95%.
Hey Hay Hey,
We're up to 63rd Place. Not bad for a bunch of troglodyte xenophobic mostly-Christian rednecks.
Wish I had a server farm of my own, but my little intrepid desktop has gotten me to #200 on Team Reagan.
I've pinged my Type I Diabetes list, as glucose metabolism will likely be more completely understood as a result of this research. In fact, Project 2124 specifically is designed (in layman-speak) with diabetic side-effects in mind.
What could also come of this, speculating, is more efficient transfer of energy from the glucose/carbohydrate molecule. That means either better booze or sugaring up the gas tanks of the future.
Thanks a mil, Tex. This is fun. No problems running F@H at all, except during #%#&%&& Windows Updates that demand a system restart.
-Jeff
I am torn. I could get that system online today from Macy's for $90. Or, I can get a unit at Walmart for $50.
But, I love the links, thanks guys!!!!!!!!
BTTT
IKEA has a "vegamatic" available for $9.99.
I have only been folding for a few weeks and I'm all most in the top half at FR and all ready in the top quarter of all folders. This probably says more about the activity level of some of the folders than about me.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Happy Thanksgiving to all y'all!
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