PS3 Crunching

[Bender10]

So, Everything they say (or don't say) about the 40 gig platform and it's low power consumption is correct! (Is it?)

I tried to connect to PS3Grid this morning, and got a "busy signal". Server down for maint....

So, I did the next best thing, and connected to F@H. My PS3 is merrily crunching away on a Folding wu. It will complete it's FIRST wu in around 7H 15minutes (running at 146 watts!!)

[Bender10]

Here's an update on the power comsumption breakdown (while Folding):

F@H initial startup - 146 watts

turn off stats display - 135 watts (world turning display only)

Screen saver Mode (w/game controller charging): 124 watts

Screen saver mode - 122 watts

[AMDave]

140+ might be slightly higher than you were expecting but for the work done it is great.
The original expectations were around 200W
That would be a big Wu though that would surely take my dual workstation about 2 days to get through at about 260-300 watts. Although there are differences in the work units sent to PCs GPUs and PS3s, there is some comparison and FaH themselves rate it as 10xPC whilst acknowledging there are some additional calculations done on a PS3 wu.
All-in-all, I think your results are good.

[Bender10]

Hi Dave,
I did run across the information about seperate wu's for different platforms (gpu, cpu,...).

The run time required for the PS3 wu has gone down a little since I started. Maybe due to the loss of "cpu overhead", once the PS3 goes into "screensaver mode"? Or maybe just recalculating benchmarks? I dunno.

More info: 122 watts (screensaver on) and ~100 F (~38 C) exhaust fan output...(it's ~67 F (~19.5 C) in my house)

[Bender10]

It looks like the initial 145 watts on the "kill o watt" meter was somewhat decieving (this must have been a start-up surge). The power draw has not been above 138 since the PS3 started crunching (er Folding I mean..:icon_redface:.. ).

Also, the output temp has dropped by 5 F (I read the manual). It seems Sony suggests you have 4-5" of open space around the PS3 for "Air Flow". I moved stuff around and "Voila", better cooling?

[Bender10]

Geez,

Is anyone else Folding with a PS3? I feel kinda out here by myself (I know of other PS3's out there "Crunching" on Linux), But nobody "Folding"???

I'm trying to figure out if this thing is running normally....

I actually posted a question over on the "Folding" forum (no hits yeti). There is not much chatter about the 40 gig model.

This thing will be Folding for a few days, then I will try and get Linux loaded, maybe this weekend.

[mitchellds]

I used to, I got up to 5th place on our team mostly with just the ps3, and a little GPU action, then got bored with it.



Geez,

Is anyone else Folding with a PS3? I feel kinda out here by myself (I know of other PS3's out there "Crunching" on Linux), But nobody "Folding"???

I'm trying to figure out if this thing is running normally....

I actually posted a question over on the "Folding" forum (no hits yeti). There is not much chatter about the 40 gig model.

This thing will be Folding for a few days, then I will try and get Linux loaded, maybe this weekend.

[sentient_life]

As soon as they get a client for the Xbox 360, I'll consider it. They're probably afraid of it overheating, though...

[Bender10]

Thanks Guys,

I was looking for some comment on the power usage on this model, since the other models seem to run around 200 watts!! I finally got a hit from another board. The numbers are good.

I may "Fold" with this during the week, until I can get Linux up and running.

[mitchellds]

I finally got my Ubuntu Linux running ok, but I'm having a problem getting the boinc executables to run that comes from the ps3grid folks. There are several ps3 boinc apps to run out there with this boinc util. Simap, seti, yoyo, ps3grid, etc.

[Bender10]

I'm going to try command line Yellow Dog Linux. But I'm kinda weak in that area. I'm hoping I can control the PS3 through the BAM account...we'll see.

[drezha]

As soon as they get a client for the Xbox 360, I'll consider it. They're probably afraid of it overheating, though...

Never gonna happen.

The CPU power of the 360 isn't upto the job. It's because the PS3 uses a cell processor. The 360 doesn't. They can get the PS3 working with a modified GPU code one. And it runs 10x quicker than a PC.

It's already been moaned about etc over at the FAH forums.
I'm not biased either because I have a 360.


EDIT:
It might be possible if you want to install linux on it...
http://www.free60.org/wiki/Main_Page

Using PPC CPU's so maybe a linux PPC client would work on it? I've not seen PPC linux BOINC apps...