Posts by The Zipfel Family

1) Message boards : Number crunching : cancer genome atlas (Message 55630) Posted 9 Sep 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: Very interesting. Will there be a distributed computing aspect to this?
2) Message boards : Number crunching : tax exempt? (Message 55629) Posted 9 Sep 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: I haven't talked to any tax experts on this yet, but I believe it may be possible /if/ you start a corp or non-profit dedicated to the task. Probably not worthwhile for most individuals. Can anyone confirm?
3) Message boards : Number crunching : Yay! Now officially #1 top computer (Message 55423) Posted 31 Aug 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: @Mod.Sense I had considered taking a representative sample and charting out the top performers of each CPU type, the assumptions being the top performers might be dedicated, but as you point out, the obvious problem is not knowing how much Rosetta work they actually do. What would be neat is if there were a standardized sample work unit that could be downloaded and run manually by the end user to test their theoretical speed and create a baseline with. My point with this is to come up with a real world comparison of CPU speeds and power consumptions (as far as that's possible) as they relate to the project. Thanks for your input!
4) Message boards : Number crunching : Yay! Now officially #1 top computer (Message 55414) Posted 31 Aug 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: Very nice! After looking at the top performing machines, I can't stop wondering why there's such a huge spread sometimes between the exact same processors. Is it that some machines spend more time crunching for Rosetta than others? On a similar note, it surprises me that the Xeons are so much better, often 75-100%, than the latest Core 2 Quad's? It can't all be FSB?
5) Message boards : Number crunching : BOINC on the XBOX360 (Message 55413) Posted 31 Aug 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: @ Kreationz That would be huge. It would be great if it were an official client, but even an unsigned application would be significant, I would guess. @ dcdc You've probably hit the nail on the head. I wonder if it could be built with CPU throttling? Does the 360 have heat sensors?
6) Message boards : Number crunching : Best Hardware Platform for Rosetta@home ??? (Message 55412) Posted 31 Aug 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: @ Mod.Sense The Antwerp machine: http://www.dvhardware.net/article27538.html Note that this machine would be terrible for Rosetta, great for folding@home. I should elaborate that I'd like to build rigs that can provide good CPU as well as GPU performance. I will be folding for both projects simultaneously. In the future, I would like to put the GPUs into play for Rosetta, if and when a GPU client is written. @ robertmiles I played with the Boinc GPU support, and it would not work properly for me. I didn't pursue it, because the project that currently uses it wasn't as interesting to me as others. Hopefully Rosetta will bring the GPU to bear soon. As a comparison, folding@home has over 3 Petaflops of power, over half of which is derived from GPUs. Wow. Good point about the memory limitations of various OS. I'm planning on using 64bit Linux wherever I can. If not that, then 64bit Vista or Server 2k3. @ Chilean Good to know.
7) Message boards : Number crunching : Best Hardware Platform for Rosetta@home ??? (Message 55376) Posted 29 Aug 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: Although most of Rosetta's processing power may come from idle CPU cycles, I'm interested in building a folding farm of dedicated machines. To that end, I've been evaluating processors, motherboards, and graphic cards. If someone's done the work, please point me in their direction. Otherwise, I'll post my evals as time permits. The basic ROI variables are hardware cost vs. performance, and power consumption costs over the useful lifespan of a box. In other words, what is the lowest overall average cost per work unit over a given period of time. I've been looking at the monster rig the University of Antwerp built as a reference for a great GPU intensive system. While not entirely useful for this project yet, perhaps a GPU client will be developed. Ideally, I'd like to find a motherboard that can support quad PCI-e video cards, and dual processors for an 8x8 machine. While dual CPU boards are relatively common, the closest I've come to my ideal so far is a 3x pci-e, dual cpu system. Any input is appreciated.
8) Message boards : Number crunching : Message Board Suggestion: Top Post Active Threads. (Message 55341) Posted 28 Aug 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: Thank you mod!
9) Message boards : Number crunching : Message Board Suggestion: Top Post Active Threads. (Message 55336) Posted 27 Aug 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: Hello. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to participate in this project. I was wondering if you would consider using forum software that puts active message threads at the top? I think it would generate more interest/forum participation. Thanks again.
10) Message boards : Number crunching : Servers running, but no work available?? (Message 55335) Posted 27 Aug 2008 by The Zipfel Family Post: bump.