Folding@Home July Update
Work units up, points down.Published: 16:00, 03/07/2010 by Greg [Watchful].
20During the Summer months when you think of protein your first thought may be of the burgers, sausages, steaks and chicken breasts sizzling away on the barbecue. Not so TSA’s crack team of folders. We are more concerned with molecular proteins rather than simply considering protein as a nutrient. Well, except for those team members who just view it as another online leaderboard to pwn.
This month we have seen a significant drop in points from last month’s high of 712,511. Though interestingly we have folded more than 2,000 more work units (WU) while scoring 80,000 fewer points. We must have been folding fewer of those big, advanced or beta WU as we have been getting fewer points for the WU we have done.
Team Info
| This Month | Last Month | Change | Score | New Points | Work Units |
| 860 | 878 | 18 | 5,447,101 | 632,551 | 18,192 |
We have only managed to overtake one of the teams on last month’s list of targets, Team GTPlanet, though the next two are mere days away from falling to our inexorable rise up the Folding@home rankings.
Team Overtake
| Project Rank | Team Name | Points Ahead | Overtake in | |
| 149 | IGN-PS3 | 45,766,665 | N/a | |
| 177 | Team Kotaku | 37,291,496 | 16.4 | Years |
| 214 | Team GameFAQs | 27,931,373 | 6.1 | Years |
| 242 | Apple Computer, Inc. | 23,644,328 | 5.3 | Years |
| 277 | ps3-hacks.com | 19,720,721 | 7.6 | Years |
| 296 | Gamespot @ Home | 16,652,733 | 4.1 | Years |
| 344 | Cheap Ass Gamers | 11,302,102 | 2.1 | Years |
| 362 | Microsoft | 10,294,155 | 3.2 | Years |
| 364 | NVIDIA | 10,130,058 | 1.9 | Years |
| 389 | IBM | 8,510,522 | 3.2 | Years |
| 434 | Insomniac Games | 6,989,749 | 1.5 | Years |
| 453 | Joystiq | 6,132,424 | 1.5 | Years |
| 632 | PS3Blog.net | 2,177,132 | 4.3 | Months |
| 633 | scea | 2,149,095 | 4.3 | Months |
| 643 | GayGamer.net | 2,036,709 | 4.6 | Months |
| 650 | Tactical Gamer | 1,934,016 | 4.1 | Months |
| 667 | SCEE | 1,628,055 | 3.3 | Months |
| 755 | Sony Foster City | 697,929 | 1.3 | Months |
| 813 | GTAForums | 80,897 | 5.0 | Days |
| 816 | Criterion Games | 64,831 | 6.0 | Days |
Welcome to our eight new members, most of whom you will recognise as site regulars. Thanks for joining and a special well done to Burgess_101 who has also made it into the team’s top 25 folders for June.
New Members
| Rank | Contributor | Points | WU’s |
| 1 | Burgess_101 | 4,490 | 22 |
| 2 | Stingraz | 2,510 | 10 |
| 3 | Slimeh | 3,115 | 29 |
| 4 | PS3-Fattonyxxl | 1,004 | 4 |
| 5 | Yogdog | 753 | 3 |
| 6 | Blackyn | 753 | 3 |
| 7 | Mikiyaru | 502 | 2 |
| 8 | AG2297 | 502 | 2 |
Of our regular contributors, two have passed the 1,000 WU mark over the past month, so congratulations to both Jas-n and SuburbanMe
June’s Top Folders
| Rank | Contributer | Change |
| 1 | RedStarGlow | 143,226 |
| 2 | Jas-n | 91,437 |
| 3 | Silverx75 | 50,173 |
| 4 | SuburbanMe | 27,099 |
| 5 | Radboud | 24,967 |
| 6 | dejinator | 24,663 |
| 7 | kwolkan | 23,090 |
| 8 | XTG | 22,848 |
| 9 | whodey12 | 19,088 |
| 10 | KatyNorge | 17,098 |
| 11 | Watchful | 15,463 |
| 12 | SeaBeorn | 12,002 |
| 13 | phantom5813 | 10,777 |
| 14 | tgjones | 9,541 |
| 15 | sonicsteve | 8,830 |
| 16 | codeman- | 8,656 |
| 17 | toutski | 8,316 |
| 18 | RadRazor | 7,522 |
| 19 | Phils_Mighty_PC | 7,139 |
| 20 | Lemming64 | 6,868 |
| 21 | Asdafer | 6,288 |
| 22 | Jeebers | 6,173 |
| 23 | AdmiringWorm | 6,085 |
| 24 | Aitrus | 5,578 |
| 25 | Burgess_101 | 4,490 |
If you would like to help contribute to the biomedical research projects whose science is the whole reason for the Folding@home project’s existence then please consider joining our team. Alternatively if you are just looking for another way to participate in TSA’s community and maybe get your name up on a front page post you are also more than welcome. Just head on over to the Folding@home thread in our forum for all the information and help you might need.
Here for your enjoyment are the graphs of the team’s monthly progress and that of the top ten individual folders. (Hopefully Jas-n will have updated them by the time this post appears on the site.)
Thanks to Jas-n for compiling the tables.
Most Comments This Week
- PS3 Firmware 4.10 Brings, Wait For It, A Decent Browser! [101]
- OnLive’s Evolution [72]
- CoD: Black Ops Has The Best Ending Ever [63]
- PS Vita’s Load Times Analysed [56]
- PS Vita: Relic or Revolution? [47]
- What We Played #39 [46]
- Star Wars Kinect Sounds Like an Atrocity [45]
- PSN Store Update: 08/02/12 [45]
- Vita PSN Prices Announced [44]
- Journey Is Complete, Awaiting Release Date [41]
TSAtv: Original Video Content
Batman book review
Kris Dancing, again
Joe Danger interview
Sonic Generations
03/07/2010 at 16:02
Member since: Aug 2008
Crap, will update the graphs now, I forgot :/, it’s a good job they’re in the same location.
03/07/2010 at 16:07
Member since: Aug 2008
Well at least I got the stats correct first time ;).
Also I’m still looking for people to question about they folding@home contribution, for a little something extra to add to the stats.
03/07/2010 at 16:26
Member since: Feb 2010
I’m free to question if you want. Though I’ve only done 3 wu’s in total…
03/07/2010 at 16:32
Member since: Jul 2009
Same here. If I can help in anyway, give me/us all a shout.
03/07/2010 at 16:42
Member since: Aug 2008
I’ll do the highest ranked person first and will let you know later, so check the forum, and I’ll prob post about it there.
05/07/2010 at 15:02
Member since: May 2010
i’m not an active member on TSA, but i read your news everyday and have been folding for the team for a while, feel free to ask questions :]
03/07/2010 at 16:06
Member since: Aug 2009
Hmmm more people in sun = less points??
03/07/2010 at 16:10
Member since: Aug 2008
I believe its because there’s less people running it on their computers (which tend to get more points per WU), plus it doesn’t help that one of our top folders, Silverx75, seems to have stopped folding for some reason, hopefully he’s on holiday.
04/07/2010 at 00:11
Member since: May 2010
Sorry Jas-n, something messed up my SMP client somehow so now it doesn’t even work at full efficiency so I just shut it down. I’ll look more into it today.
04/07/2010 at 00:25
Member since: Aug 2008
I need to re-setup mine, there’s a problem where it can’t start automatically and brings up an error, still runs fine, but it’s a bit annoying having to re-launch it yourself, and it’s easy to forget.
04/07/2010 at 00:36
Member since: May 2010
Ok, I fixed it, sorry it took so long, but it’s summer vacation, and I’m lazy.. -_-
Well, I never really turn off my computer so I don’t need to remember to click it :D
04/07/2010 at 18:53
Member since: Jun 2009
SilverX is the master of maximum points per WU! May was an awesome month. No Shame in not beating it in June! We continue to gain ground on the other teams and climbing the ranks!
It is marathon not a sprint!
03/07/2010 at 16:28
Member since: Oct 2008
Maybe my work units actually counted this month!
03/07/2010 at 16:30
Member since: Jul 2009
I’ve been crap since moving house but things are finally settling. Also, my PS3 is now back onto processing WUs 24/7 (outside of actual gaming). My PCs will be next on the case. Thinking about it, my PS3 should at least do 80+ Work Units this month. Yay!
03/07/2010 at 16:34
Member since: May 2009
nice to see im doing my part in all of this finally :)
03/07/2010 at 17:02
Member since: Dec 2009
This month started slow for me but i’ve inched up to about 60th place from joining the team at around 120th place in april. jumped about 30 places first month but it’s slowing down now as i catch up with the bigger contributors.
03/07/2010 at 17:09
Member since: Aug 2008
Well don’t forget the people who aren’t currently folding and that are above you, there are 16 at the mo… enjoy.
03/07/2010 at 17:56
Member since: Dec 2009
bloody hell – i’ll give up so! …. ;-)
03/07/2010 at 19:06
Member since: Aug 2009
how much wu’s could I do on my i7 @3.8ghz and ati radeon 5850 oc????
03/07/2010 at 19:13
Member since: Jul 2009
Depends on what version you install as you can use the CPU and/or the GPU. Either way, the i7 should chomp through Work Units. To be fair, regardless of the machine spec, are you in there helping? If not, hop to it! ;-)
03/07/2010 at 19:19
Member since: Aug 2009
yeah sure I aint started yet… Ill start folding tonight
03/07/2010 at 19:24
Member since: Jul 2009
Top news, fella. Get in there. :-)
03/07/2010 at 19:41
Member since: Aug 2008
look into SMP for your i7, rather than individual cores.
03/07/2010 at 21:04
Member since: Aug 2009
dnt know how to download smp :L
03/07/2010 at 21:58
Member since: Aug 2009
sorry to double post but the dos part doesnt work i keep getting aborted so im gonna leave it : )
04/07/2010 at 00:17
Member since: Aug 2008
I’ll help you out in the forums some time, just drop me a message over there.
04/07/2010 at 11:54
Member since: Aug 2009
erm the smp maxes out my cpu and my motherboard has crap mosfets so i aint gonna risk burning them out… so ill leave it and use the GUI client… also ive managed to get my gpu to fold :D
04/07/2010 at 17:36
Member since: Aug 2008
yeah it does, mines nearly always running at full speed, and if you’ve overclocked an i7 surely they’re more than capable?, plus you can always limit the SMP to run on 4 of the 8 cores, so it’ll use about 50%.
But if you’re still concerned, just use the normal client a few times, giving them individual client numbers.
04/07/2010 at 18:23
Member since: Aug 2009
how do I change the number of cores???
ive tried looking in -configonly flag and I cant find any option to change the client :(
04/07/2010 at 18:24
Member since: Aug 2009
*I meant change the core number
04/07/2010 at 00:12
Member since: May 2010
If you know how to get -bigadv you could get over 15k ppd
04/07/2010 at 00:18
Member since: Aug 2008
Where’ve you been?
04/07/2010 at 00:38
Member since: May 2010
My client just busted down so it would only use 50% and so I figured if it didn’t do max it wouldn’t be worth leaving the computer on all the time. I tried fixing it the day this happened but it didn’t work, so I haven’t tried since. Up and running now.
04/07/2010 at 10:18
Member since: Aug 2008
Well the main thing is that you havent joined a different team
03/07/2010 at 19:13
Member since: Oct 2008
OI ! I joined last month too :(
03/07/2010 at 19:15
Member since: Jul 2009
Did you not get your membership badge and protein-covered cookie in the post?
03/07/2010 at 19:44
Member since: Aug 2008
I stopped sending them out after out 150th member, I got most of the protein-covered cookies back, and the badges were expensive as I don’t get any income from this.
03/07/2010 at 19:42
Member since: Aug 2008
Stanford says nooo.
Probably didn’t submit a work unit as it expired.
03/07/2010 at 20:51
Member since: Oct 2008
*shakes fist at those stupid …err brainiacs*
03/07/2010 at 19:17
Member since: Jun 2009
well im stuck at rank 47… sucks for me..
03/07/2010 at 20:07
Member since: Apr 2009
Oh I feel slightly guilty and responsible for our points drop. In June my PC set on fire (see earlier rant), my laptop died when I knocked it off the table, and my PS3 YLoD’d this week which after 2 years of successful operation and 1 month of folding@home I am holding TSA DIRECTLY responsible for the several hours of fixage that ensued :P Anyway I’ve been a bit, ehm, ‘nervous’ to start running it again, I promise I will try to get the balls for it soon…
04/07/2010 at 00:23
Member since: Aug 2008
If you’ve fixed your YLoD, I’d be cautious to use it for anything, and not that folding@home causes YLoD or anything, but I wouldn’t fold on it, just incase, I mean I’m sure it’d feel worse if it happened again, while you wasn’t using it.
04/07/2010 at 10:38
Member since: Apr 2009
Yeah I know, it’s a dilemma cos I want to fold, and I know how to fix it when it goes wrong, it’s just a pain, my coffee table is still a mess from all the tools I was using. It crashed while I was playing Green Day Rock Band but I’m sure leaving it on 24/7 for a month folding didn’t help when it’s normally turned off every night.
Been running ok for a week now but will see how it goes. Tbh I was quite pleased with myself that I got it running again and hammered it with games to make sure it ran ok at peak operating temperature, I don’t really want to screw with it again if I don’t have to. Folding doesn’t cause YLoD of course but it does put 100% load on the CPU and GPU which will accelerate the deterioration of the thermal compound.
04/07/2010 at 11:48
Member since: Feb 2009
Same happened with me katy back in november. I also fixed mine with the heat gun and silver compound combo. It only lasted 5 months and died again, 2nd time being unfixable, despite my best efforts. Beware, it’s not a permanent fix. I bought a new slim after the 2nd breakdown, so hopefully that’ll last now til the ps4 :-)
04/07/2010 at 17:39
Member since: Aug 2008
Well you can always use a desktop (or laptop, but they tend to get very hot at 100%), or just run 1 WU at a time (with auto shutdown after current WU, that way the PS3 won’t be on/folding 24h, allowing it to have a rest.
04/07/2010 at 19:02
Member since: Apr 2009
I already have several PCs running for it Jas-n but the PS3 dwarfs them all in speed. Besides the PS3 I’m running a Core2Duo server, some AMD quad-core thing in a datacenter, my work PC which is an old P4 3.2GHz and my LifeBook laptop. Which is now broken :P