Posted: 7/21/2007 6:56 PM
Post subject: World Community Grid
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ It is like Folding@Home but more centralized. That's a community that gave their computer idle CPU (when the computer is not used) to make calculation to help Health Research. You should really install the client, let it run, and forget it. For windows users, you can install this as a service and you can forget it. I've already install it at my job, I'm doing computer programming, and even when the software is compiling, I've never felt a slowdown in speed. It would be a great help to everyone if you could install this, as those data really help researcher to find new treatment and things like that. If you have any question feel free to ask, i'll try to answer with the best of my knowledge. You can also visit the forums. At least, you should take a look at the website. Thank you
Posted: 7/22/2007 9:03 AM
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Warp
Banned User, Former player
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
A minor point: Sometimes you just can't "forget" a CPU-intensive application. Using the CPU intensively raises its temperature, requiring more ventilation. This might be an issue in places (or times of the year) which are very warm and with poorer ventilation. In the worst cases the difference between a mostly idle CPU and a CPU at almost 100% is between a barely inaudible computer and a computer which sounds like a turbine engine. Of course there's also the increased use of electricity. Not only does the CPU use more when it's running at almost 100%, but its fan too.
Posted: 7/22/2007 4:53 PM
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
You are right, I forgot this point. For the ventilation problem, that's a real issues because it can cause problem (but the chances are not that high) . For the electricity, I don't think it's consume a lot more electricity. But remember, that's for a great project. So if you can afford the extra electricity it consume, you should join the project ;) By the way, it would be fun to create a team TASVideos, you can join a team in the projet, it would be interresting to see how many people from here participate this project.
Posted: 7/22/2007 6:47 PM
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Raiscan
Joined: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1235
Location: United Kingdom
ZeXr0 wrote:
For the electricity, I don't think it's consume a lot more electricity.
This comment sparked my interest to trial it and see what the outcome was. Specifically my CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (Toledo). In order to test at least slightly fairly, I turned off my Cool 'n' Quiet stuff, and measured my computer's power usage at idle, and running the program. Idle: 155W Full load: 195W = 40W increase. Of course with Cool 'n' Quiet functioning my Idle CPU power usage is around 135W, which would mean the full load increase would be around 60W. Might not sound much but the cumulative effect of it is. It all adds up :)
<adelikat> I am annoyed at my irc statements ending up in forums & sigs
Posted: 7/22/2007 7:46 PM
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
Yeah, but consider that this is helping the entire world, by the way, if you have a dual core, you can double you calculation rate, because it will start 2 process, one on each processor.
Posted: 7/22/2007 8:32 PM
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Raiscan
Joined: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1235
Location: United Kingdom
Ahh the dilemma, I could be either consuming energy to help treat people with diseases and stuff and thus giving us a bright future, or I could be wasting energy by keeping my PC doing something that might not actually help anyone in the end. Possibly saving lives while consuming the earth's natural resources. Still, suppose it's better than Seti@Home.
<adelikat> I am annoyed at my irc statements ending up in forums & sigs
Posted: 7/22/2007 9:09 PM
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
Yeah, oh well, I guess that here in Quebec, the question isn't the same, as electricity is a "natural resource". It's hydroelectricity, so it's not like I'm taking my electricity from coal and thus polluting the environment.
Posted: 7/23/2007 10:56 PM
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Rridgway
Joined: 2/13/2007
Posts: 448
Location: Calgary, Alberta
This comment sparked my interest to trial it and see what the outcome was.
I am thinking of joining and by the way, was this intended?
Renting this space for rent. Trying to fix image on this site. Please cut slack. As of April 6th, 2012: After a long absence, here we go again?
Posted: 7/23/2007 10:58 PM
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Raiscan
Joined: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1235
Location: United Kingdom
I was referring to electricity usage. I'm pretty sure its impossible to tell the outcome of a single user's actions in projects this big other than how much they have participated.
<adelikat> I am annoyed at my irc statements ending up in forums & sigs
Posted: 7/23/2007 11:03 PM
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Rridgway
Joined: 2/13/2007
Posts: 448
Location: Calgary, Alberta
I know, I just thought that it was a weird choice of words in reference to electricity. Also, joined.
Renting this space for rent. Trying to fix image on this site. Please cut slack. As of April 6th, 2012: After a long absence, here we go again?
Posted: 7/23/2007 11:08 PM
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Raiscan
Joined: 11/11/2006
Posts: 1235
Location: United Kingdom
Dictionary.com wrote:
pun noun, verb, punned, pun·ning. –noun 1. the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words. 2. the word or phrase used in this way. –verb (used without object) 3. to make puns.
<adelikat> I am annoyed at my irc statements ending up in forums & sigs
Posted: 7/24/2007 1:10 AM
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
I've got 6 computer running on my name right now. I plan on getting 5 others if possible the next month.
Posted: 10/10/2010 4:52 PM
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
Bumping a 3 years old thread. Just to see if other people still have interrest in this. I guess it's a great software for research. I guess I can take a couple of minutes of my time in hospital to tell you that research really do a difference. So I invite you to join the project and download the application. Thank you
Posted: 10/10/2010 7:08 PM
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Speed_Man
Joined: 11/1/2006
Posts: 95
So it's a program that gets money off of people running it? Or is it program that just eats up resources/can cause something hazardous to -your- home while they have access to your PC? How trustworthy is this cause?
Posted: 10/10/2010 11:17 PM
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
Hum pretty trust worthy. It is supposed by IBM and they use the software made by the university of Berkley. There's a big forum supporting the software. It's the same thing as Folding@Home that is on the PS3 (and that you can download for your computer). Every project needs to open the result to everyone. So it is not run for private company. At least, if it's for a private company, the result must be made public as it is the goal of the project. It's been about 4 years since I have installed this on various machine. And they won't steal any information. All they do is use spare CPU cycle to do calculation about it. It won't cause anything harzadous, never had a problem with virus or something, and I'm sure it's a great project. But you can still install Folding@Home if you are not sure. Here's the link for Folding@Home http://folding.stanford.edu/ The software used in this list a couple of other project, including the WorldCommunityGrid. And here's a podcast on the website of IBM that you can listen to if you want more information. Or I'll try to answer them as best as I can. http://www.ibm.com/podcasts/howitworks/021307/index.shtml
Posted: 10/10/2010 11:32 PM
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Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4017
I'm currently using Folding@Home, is it worth switching to something else?
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Posted: 10/10/2010 11:58 PM
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ZeXr0
Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 883
Patashu : It depends on which project you wish to participate. Folding@Home is also a great project. Here's the current list of project supported by the WCG Computing for Clean Water The Clean Energy Project - Phase 2 Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy - Phase 2 Help Fight Childhood Cancer Help Conquer Cancer Human Proteome Folding - Phase 2 FightAIDS@Home You can opt-in or out of any project at any time on the website.