# Other Projects - WCG Teams



## BinaryMage (Feb 8, 2011)

I participate in other BOINC projects, and was wondering if people would be interested in creating/joining TechPowerUp! teams. WCG is a great project, but there are also others, and many that support GPU's for crunching, both ATI and nVidia. Is there interest? Also, mods, is it okay for anyone to start a TechPowerUp! team? Do we need any official approval?


----------



## twilyth (Feb 8, 2011)

Since you are using the name, you should get approval from W1zzard since he owns the site.  However starting a subforum for a new team is another issue entirely.  There would have to be a lot of existing interest I would think but that's something Wiz needs to address for you.

A lot of people are into WCG because of the medical/drug discovery aspect of it.  If there is a similar project out there doing the same kind of research with potentially immediate applications, there might be some interest, but personally I don't intend to split my time between multiple projects.

I would consider running some GPU only projects like folding, but I have to keep an eye on the electricity bill and I already have 5 rigs running 24/7.


----------



## PaulieG (Feb 8, 2011)

It's a noble idea, but spreading resources to multiple areas might not be the best idea. That will take away points from the WCG team, and possibly dismantle the well organized machine that we are. Creating a team that uses GPU's may take away from our brothers on the folding team also, and I'd hate to do that since many folders have joined WCG to support us. Maybe in the future, the team as a whole may want to consider a "team migration" to another project. 

As for a subforum, that would take a very long time to happen. When I first asked Wiz for a subform for WCG he was apprehensive. It took a few months of dedicated crunching to get him to agree to a WCG subforum after he knew we were organized and serious.


----------



## theonedub (Feb 8, 2011)

I've browsed the other projects, and I found that the tasks WCG focuses on are the most relevant to me. What other projects in particular caught your eye?


----------



## hat (Feb 8, 2011)

I'll move to another project when WCG is finished.


----------



## mjkmike (Feb 8, 2011)

^ +1


----------



## BinaryMage (Feb 9, 2011)

Alright. I tend to agree with you guys, just wondered what interest there was. The main reason I see is if you have an ATI GPU (I do), which neither Folding or WCG supports, to my knowledge. Thanks for the feedback.


----------



## twilyth (Feb 9, 2011)

BinaryMage said:


> Alright. I tend to agree with you guys, just wondered what interest there was. The main reason I see is if you have an ATI GPU (I do), which neither Folding or WCG supports, to my knowledge. Thanks for the feedback.


I don't know much about folding, but I was doing it on my HD4850 for a while.  I know for a fact that there are people doing it on ATI/AMD GPU's.

If you're having trouble though, post something over in folding sub forum.


----------



## stinger608 (Feb 9, 2011)

twilyth said:


> I don't know much about folding, but I was doing it on my HD4850 for a while.  I know for a fact that there are people doing it on ATI/AMD GPU's.
> 
> If you're having trouble though, post something over in folding sub forum.



The ATI/AMD's don't support WCG, do they? If so, I don't see it on my dual 4870's. I know the newer folding client does now, I think with some tweaks, but I am not aware of WCG supporting them.


----------



## twilyth (Feb 9, 2011)

stinger608 said:


> The ATI/AMD's don't support WCG, do they? If so, I don't see it on my dual 4870's. I know the newer folding client does now, I think with some tweaks, but I am not aware of WCG supporting them.



"Folding" applies to applications like Folding@home and maybe Rosetta that are trying to understand how proteins fold into their active, 3D form.  The topology of proteins determines how well or even if they function and that topology (3D shape) is determined by the folding process.  I can go into more detail, but that's basically it.

Other apps are referred to as "crunching" because they are number crunching apps.  Technically, folding is also crunching but in the distributed computing community, this is the distinction that is always made.

edit - but yes, WCG does not support GPU's.  F@H however does support ATI/AMD GPU's.


----------



## BinaryMage (Feb 10, 2011)

Thanks twilyth. Support for AMD GPU's in folding@home must be new - I had checked awhile ago and it wasn't. Maybe I'll join the TPU folding team then.


----------



## Chicken Patty (Feb 16, 2011)

BinaryMage said:


> Alright. I tend to agree with you guys, just wondered what interest there was. The main reason I see is if you have an ATI GPU (I do), which neither Folding or WCG supports, to my knowledge. Thanks for the feedback.



You can run F@H with ATI, I have and so do many.    God way to help out our F@H brothas!


----------



## hat (Feb 16, 2011)

Yeah, F@H is possible on AMD/ATi cards, just not as good as on nvidia cards.


----------



## Chicken Patty (Feb 16, 2011)

hat said:


> Yeah, F@H is possible on AMD/ATi cards, just not as good as on nvidia cards.



Oh definitely, but still runs good.  I folded for a while with my 5870 and even when I had my 5770's.  The points add up, trust me.


----------

