Posted on 12/17/2006 6:29:12 AM PST by texas booster
Well done and keep up the great work!
It's amazing how many different ways there are for an average person to contibute to scientific knowledge by using their computer to do number crunching.
I found out about a ste called Einsein@home here at FreeRepublic last year, and have been looking for Pulsars ever since whenever my computer is idle (63,894.23 Units done to date, and counting)
http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/
Another is the Stardust Project that is looking for cometary particles from the returned Stardust mission. My ranking over there is 880 out of 20,384 people who are also looking for particle tracks; not bragging as much as demonstrating how many people are involved in the Program.
http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/about.php
All of these sites are tremendously fascinating, and deeply satisfying to participate in. Pick just one, and go have a blast with it...
There are a few more FReeper teams going at it on different projects.
If you are going to run a screen saver, change over to one of these distributed projects and make a difference!
Senator Bedfellow posted this almost a year ago about his experience:
I once calculated it (for Seti@home) at about $7-$8/month for for 24/7 crunching on three machines versus 24/7 idling. Of course, I drive my boxes pretty hard anyway - I do a lot of video encoding and such - so my machines are hardly idling 24/7 anyway, meaning the difference was pretty negligible in the end. I suspect that spare cycles tend to be scarcer for me than a lot of folks, but YMMV :)
While idling, my main machine draws about 124-125 watts; as soon as I crank up Folding the consumption rises to 150-151. So, running Folding on this machine is about the equivalent of a 25W light bulb. Your mileage will vary.
I keep the machines running 24x7 so consuming a little more power is not a big issue.
Even better - a test with a Kill-A-Watt meter. Has that device actually helped lower consumption?
Funny thing about electricity - I still turn off lights in empty rooms (except for some flourescents) but my computers run 24/7. No wonder my kids are a mess!
I can't say that I've used it to lower consumption, but it's been interesting to see how much electricity is still consumed even though the device is "off", but able to respond to a "turn-on' command from the remote.
I've been tempted to set up some devices on a switch that can remove all power, but between the devices that reset to defaults after a power loss, and the ones that take a minute or so to reboot upon power restoration, I've just left things as they are for now.
As you say, it is about the same as leaving a single bulb on overnight...If cost is the issue, turning your computer on and off is very expensive 'cause it shortens you computer life. The electrical start-up surge to the motherboard as the 'puter is booted-up is VERY destructive. That's why most geeks and many large corporations leave their boxes on 24/7.
1 Klutz_dohanger 10,436 3,997,632
Three cheers to Klutz as we watch him sail past the 4,000,000 point mark!
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?s=&u=168162
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?s=&u=168247
Congrats to Craigon69 for moving past the 100,000 point mark!
I know I work a lot, but I'd hardly call my office home.
Folding even as we speak. I wish this CPU didn't get so hot, though.
Thanks for joining the team.
My laptop can get quite hot when folding, so I throttle back the CPU to 75%. On a desktop I might run it to 80% and check the temperature after folding a while.
Are you folding under your own name?
I saw your first points this week. Thanks for joining us!
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?s=&u=203691
Congratulations are due to uriah. He joined us almost a year ago and will break into the Top 10,000 folders by the end of the month.
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_summary.php?s=&u=168170
Way to go.
I have two dedicated dual core machines folding 24/7 in the shed I built out back (the family calls it the Taj MaShed, because, well, it's a bit overbuilt). There is no heater in the shed, but it is insulated. The folders keep the shed interior around 50 degrees Fahrenheit even though it's been about 15-25 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Whenever I go out to the shed to use my rower I'm basking in balmy weather courtesy of my CPUs.
Turning off the screensaver really seemed to speed up my processing.
I just use the marquee now and leave F@H grinding away in the background.
In case any new people haven't read the other threads, if you have IE7 don't choose the option to 'use Internet Explorer Connection Settings' because that interfered with my being able to send my completed work in. Texas Booster did a yeomans job of work to figure that out and help me contribute. Thanks again, tb.
I have the monitor turn itself off after 20 minutes, rather than use any screensaver.
Its boring, but I fold faster!
Most animals supplement their diet with animal protien, whether in the wild or domesticated. Meat protien itself is neutral, whether bone meal or other left over meat by-products.
Feeding animals meat protien is nothing of itself, indeed to farmers and the cows it is beneficial. The feed is cleaned up and disease free (at least in the US).
Remember, wild deer and sheep get the same disease while never coming in contact with domestication.
Stanford is working to cure the disease itself. The prions cause misfolded protiens in the nervous system which build up over time. It is the cause of these misfolded protiens that we are working to discover.
How the disease spreads is a function of a lot of things beyond the scope of Stanfords' research.
Cool.
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