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Xbox 360 'Folding@home' could be possible in future

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DVDBack23 @ May 09, 2007 23:38 | 16 comments

Peter Moore, the head of Microsoft games has said that the company is seriously considering running a Folding@home type reseach project on the Xbox 360.

The current Sony Folding@home project allows all PlayStation 3s that decide to participate, the ability to calculate data that aids medical research for Stanford University.

Idle consoles are able to simulate the processing power of a couple PCs, and Sony's initiative has brought great attention to such research projects.

"If we truly believe that we can in some way marshal the resources of a much larger installed base of Xbox 360 owners, with a processor that's of equal power to the PS3, then you have my commitment that we'll look at that," commented Moore, corporate VP of interactive entertainment at Microsoft, to The Mercury News.

"And if we believe we can add value to solving a gnarly problem such as medical problems and the health problems that Folding@home seems to be doing, then we'll certainly look at that very strongly."

So far Sony has reported 250,000 registered users for the F@h project but Moore is wary of the results,

"I'm not quite sure yet whether we're seeing real tangible results from the PlayStation 3 Folding@home initiative. We continue to look at this and see whether there's real value," he added.

Source:

GI.biz

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Comments

Comment by: azndrake (May 10, 2007 02:31)

Quote:
with a processor that's of equal power to the PS3,then you have my commitment that we'll look at that,

Something about that makes me feel as tho if the xbox does not perform equally to the ps3 they will not consider folding@home.

I also have a feeling that xbox will use folding@home not with its processors but with its graphics card since it can even outperform the ps3's cell processor.

Comment by: AXT (May 10, 2007 13:43)

With the number of X-boxes connected to the internet I don't think it's such a bad idea.

Comment by: ZippyDSM (May 10, 2007 15:05)

anyone who says a 360 is not at least as 80% as powerful as the PS3 is fooling them selfs I see 80% as reasonable 10% on look there is enough of a difference to give the PS3 a nod there and they might can do more with physics thats another 10% however its going to be awhile befor we see it implemented.

folding@home is cute...but silly to use it as a benchmark it reminds me of Quake 3 and the driver wars ATI and ninvia ran years back they tweaked the driver to run Q3 better to pad their image.

Comment by: Pop_Smith (May 10, 2007 16:38)

I think they should add F@h to the 360! Although it might not be as powerful as the PS3 if F@h can help cure disease then EVERYONE benefits!

Just for kicks lets say 30% of all PS3s and 360s sold are hooked up to a high-speed connection and running (gaming or not) at any given time.

Using these figures (via VGChartz.com), 2,892,000 360s and 984,000 PS3s are connected to a high-speed internet connection and running at any given time.

If just 10% of that amount or 387,600 consoles were Folding at any given time that would drastically help F@h's efforts in finding cures for diseases both new and old.

I think it would be a smart move to introduce F@h to the 360, even if they did it for a limited time to see what the turn out would be (and if it was good then keep it!).

Peace

Comment by: ikari (May 10, 2007 17:29)

Question: Is Sony making money off of F@H?

Good for the MS wanting to help as well. However, I just get a strange vibe like they are going in it for the money.

I believe I read another acticle posted here stating that F@H was greatly helped researchers. I hope that MS will does it as well. We need to get rid of some of these really nasty diseases we have.

These opinions are not meant to start a stupid fanboy fight.

Comment by: Pop_Smith (May 10, 2007 19:55)

@ikari, I don't think Sony is making money off F@h. I really don't see how they could other then the money off the consoles they sell.

F@h, if I remember right, was created to give researchers supercomputer (or better now that the PS3, and hopefully the 360 as well, have joined the cause.) processing power for a fraction, probably just the development costs of F@h and the cost of keeping the servers the data is stored on, of the price.

Comment by: Andrew691 (May 10, 2007 20:51)

Quote:
Question: Is Sony making money off of F@H?

I highly doubt anyone makes a profit from F@H except maybe a few workers who need to pay their bills, if anything Sony are losing money off their deal to have F@H. Why? because a certain amount of people are buying the console purely just as a F@H machine, Sony lose money on the initial console and the fact that no games will sell to compensate that.

F@H for 360 would be a very good thing, even though its CPU is less powerful than the PS3 (a debatable fact, but still...) its GPU is far more powerful making it able to do a different type of W/U. So even then it probably couldn't be compared to the PS3 in terms of overall power.

Comment by: ZippyDSM (May 11, 2007 00:39)

Quote:
[quote]Question: Is Sony making money off of F@H?

Comment by: ChromeMud (May 11, 2007 10:14)

I just can't wait until they release Folding@Home
for my washing machine.It's RISC processor would
eat a PS3,360 combo for breakfast!

Comment by: ZzeusS (May 12, 2007 10:06)

Please.

They have enough problems with heat just running games. Now you want to max the CPU and leave it on for 24 hours straight? Very Bad Idea.

Comment by: ZippyDSM (May 12, 2007 10:15)

Originally posted by ZzeusS:
Please.

They have enough problems with heat just running games. Now you want to max the CPU and leave it on for 24 hours straight? Very Bad Idea.

That rings true for both of them altho the PS3 is not made like a heater :X

Comment by: Pop_Smith (May 12, 2007 13:19)

@ZzeusS

That may have been true for the oldest batch of 360s (the PS3 also had similar but not quite as pronounced problems at the start!) the newer ones have no problem running 24/7.

I left mine on as a test running videos via TVersity in an (OOPS!) XBox 1 case which caused it to not get proper ventilation (the bottom intakes were blocked by the case!) but it still ran fine for about 20 hours before manually took it out of the case noticing the blocked intakes and let it cool down and shut off.

Yes, the first batch of 360s had over heating problems but they have fixed that now and they would be fine running F@h 24/7 as long as they have proper ventilation.

Peace

Comment by: gtaUK (May 12, 2007 14:13)

360's running folding@home will probably blow up over heat or get ring of death

Comment by: cazer (May 15, 2007 01:19)

i have had my ps3 since it came out in November and have ran f@h 2 2 3 days straight then played games and had no over heating problems at all.

Comment by: ChromeMud (May 15, 2007 09:50)

I've played a 360 non-stop,left it on since I bought it at launch
and it still won't die.Pure fluke I'm sure!(Slight Sarcasm!)

What I'm saying is most people who have problems SHOUT about it
and that gives an impression of DOOM while others who are happy
are quiet but suspicious that it might happen to them.

This behaviour has been happening for centuries.
FEAR is the MIND KILLER!

HAHAHAHAAAHAAHAAHAAAAHAHAAAA

<Calms down and makes cup-a-tea!>

Comment by: gtaUK (May 15, 2007 12:02)

well then if thats true i havn't heard any ps3 owners shouting about their consoles over heating or having problems i guess there is no DOOM