F@H Recruiting?

[Psittac]

Is it just me or is it rather difficult to convince people to fold?

 

Of the few people I know who are PC enthusiast's, none of them can commit to folding.  One has just lost his job and the other just had a kid and gave the excuse that he can't have a machine making noise because of the baby.  Both have cancer in their lives in one form or another.

 

Other than that, the people I have built machines for simply can't afford the electricity bill not to mention the abysmal return on power consumption (edit: when comparing ppd to watt's consumed from their equipment vs mine).

 

Turns out I am the only person I know that can fold.  And with that I am torn because the more I run my machine the more I am drawn to my computer.  When my life detonated I found refugee on my computer for many years.  And while I am content with my usage currently, I know that I need more than work and my computer.  Hell even leaving my computer on 24/7 while the $25/mo really means nothing, the obsession with my machine is what makes me turn it off.

[vanished]

I think the main concern is the power bill tbh.  I can't fathom any other excuse besides that, unless you have a small room with no AC perhaps, but that said, it's excuse enough.

[Psittac]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I think the main concern is the power bill tbh.  I can't fathom any other excuse besides that, unless you have a small room with no AC perhaps, but that said, it's excuse enough.

Well, the one friend has been going through direct radiation and occasional ear surgeries over the past couple years.  They just removed his entire ear and I don't have much contact with him.  Seeing as he got married over the past couple years and just had a kid, I don't know if he is overly receptive to my comment's.  He work's IT at an oil firm and so does his wife, they have the money without a doubt.  I just want to get him to build a box full of 1060's and put it in the other room.  But honestly I'm not involved enough in his life to understand what is going on.  years ago when he was going through some huge problems with his soon to be wife I got him riled up with talk of, either she is the one or you need to move on..... well then marry her or gets to steppin etc.  I guess I don't understand why he can't put a small amount toward's cancer super computer goodness.  But I don't have cancer so I don't know what is going on.  I guess I just need to step up my game and put my fraction of a percent forward in a show of good will.  Years from now the computing power I have put forward will be nothing compared to a wrist watch, but exponential gains I guess.

[tt2468]

Power bill for most people like ryan said. For me it's the fact that I haven't been able to find any real document that says that they used the power of folding@home to discover something important. The lack of published credit is a real turn-off.

[vanished]

1 minute ago, Psittac said:

Well, the one friend has been going through direct radiation and occasional ear surgeries over the past couple years.  They just removed his entire ear and I don't have much contact with him. 

Damn, that's terrible.  This is why we fold, and of course anyone in this situation would do so themselves as well if they could I'm sure.

1 minute ago, Psittac said:

I just want to get him to build a box full of 1060's and put it in the other room.

Some people have big plans but I wouldn't ever expect anyone to actually build a dedicated folding rig.  Making use of the equipment you already have while it's idle though makes a lot of sense.

 

Also, if you were to build a dedicated rig, I promise 1060s are not the card you should use.  As a rule of thumb, the most powerful card you can get is probably the best option (1080 Ti, Titan Xp, etc.) and you just have to ignore that upfront price because believe me, in the long run you will spend as much or more on power and if you can get a lot more done with that power, it works out better in the end in terms of points / $.

[Psittac]

1 minute ago, tt2468 said:

Power bill for most people like ryan said. For me it's the fact that I haven't been able to find any real document that says that they used the power of folding@home to discover something important. The lack of published credit is a real turn-off.

I think of it as making sure that the "best" tools are available for them to use.  I don't know what is done with all of this power, esp considering many of the applicant's are students, but even worst case scenario you have budding minds able to use these tools.  The power provided absolutely has to be used.  With that said there are legit super computers with huges queues of work needing to be done, so I doubt this processing power is being left unused.  With that said I have heard that quantum computers will put our methods to shame.  But even rudimentary learning's in hind sight will give that much more of an edge. Exponential gains, small now, huge later.

[Psittac]

3 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Damn, that's terrible.  This is why we fold, and of course anyone in this situation would do so themselves as well if they could I'm sure.

Some people have big plans but I wouldn't ever expect anyone to actually build a dedicated folding rig.  Making use of the equipment you already have while it's idle though makes a lot of sense.

 

Also, if you were to build a dedicated rig, I promise 1060s are not the card you should use.  As a rule of thumb, the most powerful card you can get is probably the best option (1080 Ti, Titan Xp, etc.) and you just have to ignore that upfront price because believe me, in the long run you will spend as much or more on power and if you can get a lot more done with that power, it works out better in the end in terms of points / $.

Yeah, I guess it comes down to existing hardware. His hobby/PC room is right next to the baby's room and I take it the noise of the computer running is an issue.

 

edit: I have also thought of getting a cheapo 1080 on a reference board to replace my 1070 and put the 1070 in my "server". It would serve to give way better folding results and also give the benefit of VR improvements and perhaps gaming results.

[vanished]

1 minute ago, Psittac said:

Yeah, I guess it comes down to existing hardware. His hobby/PC room is right next to the baby's room and I take it the noise of the computer running is an issue.

That's complete nonsense, even high performance rigs can be near silent.  You could easily put a baby to sleep in the same room if it's built well, using the right parts, never mind with it in the room over.  You wouldn't hear it at all.

[BubblyCharizard]

2 minutes ago, Psittac said:

Yeah, I guess it comes down to existing hardware. His hobby/PC room is right next to the baby's room and I take it the noise of the computer running is an issue.

offer to make it silent.....then make him leave it on?

[Psittac]

3 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

That's complete nonsense, even high performance rigs can be near silent.  You could easily put a baby to sleep in the same room if it's built well, using the right parts, never mind with it in the room over.  You wouldn't hear it at all.

Well I have to say that a new father and husband in a relatively new house has more to consider than pure Db of his computer.  Not to mention the drama of potential cancer and having his ear removed.  It's not black and white.

[Psittac]

3 minutes ago, BubblyCharizard said:

offer to make it silent.....then make him leave it on?

Maybe he gives Zero fuhqs when he weighs everything together.  When faced with cancer close to the brain, you don't care about crunching numbers

[vanished]

Just now, Psittac said:

Well I have to say that a new father and husband in a relatively new house has more to consider than pure Db of his computer.  Not to mention the drama of potential cancer and having his ear removed.  It's not black and white.

Yes, there's more than enough reasons for them to not be focused on folding at the moment, but that doesn't change the reason that noise is not a valid concern.

[Psittac]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yes, there's more than enough reasons for them to not be focused on folding at the moment, but that doesn't change the reason that noise is not a valid concern.

Could be an easy way out of the convo with me

[vanished]

Just now, Psittac said:

Could be an easy way out of the convo with me

Another way would be "I've got other things to worry about at the moment".  No reason to push

[Psittac]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

Another way would be "I've got other things to worry about at the moment".  No reason to push

yeah but it was a FB message.  I haven't been able to connect with him and I'm sure PC Master Race is the least of his concerns. I guess it comes down to me wanting to contribute in spite of others being caught up in cancer.  It's not just a hardware or money issue, cancer takes on your entire life.  If I can leave my glorious machine crunching then maybe my heart is with them.

 

Thank you for the engagement and the conversation, I needed that tonight.

[Psittac]

10 minutes ago, BubblyCharizard said:

offer to make it silent.....then make him leave it on?

Meh, I think it's more than hardware.  It's an emotional investment

[Ithanul]

There are a lot of people that fold.  LTT is small compare to the older forums which have large dedicated folders and boincers.  Maybe if LTT host folding events once and while, it might get people into folding.  That how the other forum I am at gets people into folding or at least get individuals to dedicate two days out of the month to fold in an monthly event.

 

Though, I do wish the Chimp Challenge would be revived.  Big two week folding event that all the big tech forum boards would compete in.  Just no one figured a way to get all the forum boards back into the idea of it, since one of the original founders of the event passed away.

 

There is the BOINC Pentathlon event though.  I don't think I seen LTT forum join yet.  Should, it is a fun event.  Think last year the event hosted around 25-30 teams.

 

I can understand people not folding or boincing because of the power bill.  I can tell you from my 24/7 folding and boinc it adds a bit to the bill.

[Tellos]

As a PC enthusist lookign inward from outside I can tell @Psittac between memory shortages globally and the fact all those graphics cards you guys buy make things pricy to even get started atop of the fact I just dont want my bill going up afford it or not. While you see some long term benefits to this and thats cool realize not all of us have or want to spend thousends to get started. those 1060s how many woudl he need? 4 or 5 maybe 6? lets say 8 to keep some logenvity, even at best prices I can find for 6GB models thats 290 bucks a pop.So you think I have nothing better to do with over 2 grand? Also more people do this higher the price goes and as stock drys up I cant build my new gaming rig to do something I enjoy on my time off because now I have to support a folding habit which eventually will grow so dumping thousendsm ore into it. Simply put not everyone wants to sink money into this investment. And it IS an investment. 

[Ithanul]

8 hours ago, Tellos said:

As a PC enthusist lookign inward from outside I can tell @Psittac between memory shortages globally and the fact all those graphics cards you guys buy make things pricy to even get started atop of the fact I just dont want my bill going up afford it or not. While you see some long term benefits to this and thats cool realize not all of us have or want to spend thousends to get started. those 1060s how many woudl he need? 4 or 5 maybe 6? lets say 8 to keep some logenvity, even at best prices I can find for 6GB models thats 290 bucks a pop.So you think I have nothing better to do with over 2 grand? Also more people do this higher the price goes and as stock drys up I cant build my new gaming rig to do something I enjoy on my time off because now I have to support a folding habit which eventually will grow so dumping thousendsm ore into it. Simply put not everyone wants to sink money into this investment. And it IS an investment. 

This is not mining.

F@H is older than mining.  F@H is a disturbed network that sends work units (WUs) to users' computers for cancer and other health issues by doing protein folding (hence the name folding at home).  You don't need a lot of hardware to do it as you only donate hardware time as you see fit.  You can fold on anything from a old GTX750Ti to a GTX960 to monster 1080Ti.  The point is to donate hardware time to research, not to make money.

 

Really, I think LTT needs a big banner stating that F@H and BOINC are not mining!  These two clients been around for a long time even before crypto coins showed up.  Both are headed by Universities:  F@H by Standford and BOINC by Berkley.

BOINC is even bigger since there are a wide range of research projects from prime number searching to astronomy to cancer research to renewable energy research (and many more).

 

Heck, I remember when you could fold on a PS3 and bigadv ran on 2P/4P server setups.  Also, getting anywhere like 5-10K PPD was consider being a big folder back then.

 

Basically, 24/7 folders/boincers similar to me do this for the research.  24/7 is not for everyone as you push the hardware hard and with no breaks.

[Psittac]

15 hours ago, Tellos said:

As a PC enthusist lookign inward from outside I can tell @Psittac between memory shortages globally and the fact all those graphics cards you guys buy make things pricy to even get started atop of the fact I just dont want my bill going up afford it or not. While you see some long term benefits to this and thats cool realize not all of us have or want to spend thousends to get started. those 1060s how many woudl he need? 4 or 5 maybe 6? lets say 8 to keep some logenvity, even at best prices I can find for 6GB models thats 290 bucks a pop.So you think I have nothing better to do with over 2 grand? Also more people do this higher the price goes and as stock drys up I cant build my new gaming rig to do something I enjoy on my time off because now I have to support a folding habit which eventually will grow so dumping thousendsm ore into it. Simply put not everyone wants to sink money into this investment. And it IS an investment. 

@Ithanul pretty much said it. (and man you shot up the list hard core since we were talking about it a while back)

 

When I was talking about getting him to build a dedicated folding box, I meant as a potential solution to the noise his current machine would make being directly opposite the baby room.  And it would probably be a single 1060 or 2x at best, which he can afford.  But my overall and wandering point in this thread is that while he is suffering from cancer, that doesn't mean he really gives a damn about folding, he has more to worry about than letting his machine crunch numbers.  Seeing as I don't have a new family, cancer myself, a wife with cancer, or a mortgage and the loss of a job (good new though, found out today the other friend got a job), I can more than easily contribute to folding on their behalf.

 

oh and @Ithanul I remember folding back on my single core Athlon-XP, no such thing as gpu folding back then lol.  The sheer processing power compared to those day's is unimaginable.

[Ithanul]

9 minutes ago, Psittac said:

oh and @Ithanul I remember folding back on my single core Athlon-XP, no such thing as gpu folding back then lol.  The sheer processing power compared to those day's is unimaginable.

Darn, that way back.  I think I came to folding when GPUs started to be consider worth while for it.

 

I actually need to get my GPUs back up into folding (dropped a good few spots on the home team).  At the moment, I am waiting on the threadripper 1900X I traded for that I plan to drop into the 24/7 F@H/BOINC rig.