PS3 systems will be able to help study the causes of cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases by connecting to Folding@home, Stanford University's computing project that simulates protein folding
By K.C. Jones InformationWeek
Sony Computer Entertainment is encouraging Playstation 3 owners to put their consoles to work for science.
The company announced Thursday that its PS3 systems would be able to help study the causes of cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases. Sony said the consoles would be able to connect to Folding@home, Stanford University's computing project that simulates protein folding to determine how irregular protein folding can contribute to disease.
More than 1 million CPUs have participated in the project since October 2000, according to Folding@home researchers. Now, PS3's Cell Broadband Engine processors would become part of the distributed computing network processing the data. Sony said that the game consoles' processors are about 10 times faster than standard chips inside personal computers.
"Millions of users have experienced the power of PS3 entertainment," Masayuki Chatani, corporate executive and CTO of Sony Computer Entertainment's computer division, said in a news announcement. "Now they can utilize that exceptional computing power to help fight diseases."
Researchers characterized the use of game consoles as a "major step forward," adding that PS3 power could allow them to tackle problems previously considered impossible.
"With this new technology (as well as new advances with GPUs), we will likely be able to attain performance on the 100 gigaflop scale per computer," researchers explained in a statement on their Web site. "With about 10,000 such machines, we would be able to achieve performance on the petaflop scale."
Sony announced in 2006 that PS3s had been used for the project. Later this month, the company plans to add a Folding@home icon to the menu of its XrossMediaBar, allowing users to join the program by clicking on the icon. Users can set the application to run automatically whenever the PS3 is idle.
Folding@home announced that the PS3 client would support advanced visualization features and the console's graphic chip would display the actual folding process in real-time using HDR and ISO surface rendering. Researchers also said they would be able to explore the three-dimensional representations of molecules using PS3 controllers.
Source : informationweek.com
By K.C. Jones InformationWeek
Sony Computer Entertainment is encouraging Playstation 3 owners to put their consoles to work for science.
The company announced Thursday that its PS3 systems would be able to help study the causes of cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases. Sony said the consoles would be able to connect to Folding@home, Stanford University's computing project that simulates protein folding to determine how irregular protein folding can contribute to disease.
More than 1 million CPUs have participated in the project since October 2000, according to Folding@home researchers. Now, PS3's Cell Broadband Engine processors would become part of the distributed computing network processing the data. Sony said that the game consoles' processors are about 10 times faster than standard chips inside personal computers.
"Millions of users have experienced the power of PS3 entertainment," Masayuki Chatani, corporate executive and CTO of Sony Computer Entertainment's computer division, said in a news announcement. "Now they can utilize that exceptional computing power to help fight diseases."
Researchers characterized the use of game consoles as a "major step forward," adding that PS3 power could allow them to tackle problems previously considered impossible.
"With this new technology (as well as new advances with GPUs), we will likely be able to attain performance on the 100 gigaflop scale per computer," researchers explained in a statement on their Web site. "With about 10,000 such machines, we would be able to achieve performance on the petaflop scale."
Sony announced in 2006 that PS3s had been used for the project. Later this month, the company plans to add a Folding@home icon to the menu of its XrossMediaBar, allowing users to join the program by clicking on the icon. Users can set the application to run automatically whenever the PS3 is idle.
Folding@home announced that the PS3 client would support advanced visualization features and the console's graphic chip would display the actual folding process in real-time using HDR and ISO surface rendering. Researchers also said they would be able to explore the three-dimensional representations of molecules using PS3 controllers.
Source : informationweek.com
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