# F@H even worth it?



## michaeltyson (Apr 5, 2011)

I downloaded f@h for a game i played. They had a team number and everything. But to get rewards i needed what seemed like millions of points. THe packages 250 pacakages took like hours to do. It would have taken me years of my computer being constantly turned on doing packets just to get the points for the rewards. Anyone else find this with f@h?


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## wolf (Apr 5, 2011)

its not about rewards or points in the end, it's about science and lending yourself to helping out a greater cause. it is charity.

if your doing it just for the points, you're doing it wrong.


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## theonedub (Apr 5, 2011)

I think its a complete waste, no rewards=no Folding. That is all. 

/sarcasm


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## bogmali (Apr 5, 2011)

theonedub said:


> I think its a complete waste, no rewards=no Folding. That is all.
> 
> /sarcasm


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## Bow (Apr 5, 2011)




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## BUCK NASTY (Apr 5, 2011)

What?!? They give out points for F@H??? Holy Shiznet. Seriously, F@H is not for everyone. To make even a moderate splash in this distributed computing project, it takes a little cash and alot of effort. *What are your system spec's?* Chances are your not fully optimizing your hardware and this is why you have low production. Oh, I wish I could say a game had introduced me to F@H, but it took my Mother succumbing to Colon Cancer for me to realize the value that this project has. I hope you still consider folding.



P.S. Are you the Mike Tyson that owns the tiger???


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## hat (Apr 6, 2011)

Granted, I won a 9600GSO once in a contest we held here at TPU, but we don't fold for "rewards". I don't fold expecting something in return for it. It's a form of charity; we fold to do away with diseases that plague us as human beings. We're breaking a glacier with icepicks... many thousands of icepicks.


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## oily_17 (Apr 6, 2011)

michaeltyson said:


> I downloaded f@h for a game i played. They had a team number and everything. But to get rewards i needed what seemed like millions of points.



Can I ask which game required Folding@home, what was the Team number and what rewards where you supposed to get ??

As for, is it worth it ?  In my opinion if we can help one little tiny bit with finding the cure to cancer and other deadly diseases, well then it is certainly worth it.
If you could pay money to stop people from suffering the pain of these diseases, then I would certainly give more.Folding@home is just another way to hopefully find a cure and stop the suffering.


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## 1nf3rn0x (Apr 6, 2011)

My grandmother recently passed from bone cancer, it's all about research to find the cure for cancer, its a deadly disease and it kills their life and yours emotionally. I would fold, but I'm sad to say I just don't have the time.


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## hat (Apr 7, 2011)

No time? If you've got time to browse TPU, you've got time to fold. It only takes a few minutes to set up, then it runs on its own.


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## BinaryMage (Apr 7, 2011)

F@h and WCG and other crunching projects are not about points, as others have pointed out. And anyone can help a bit. Unless you are browsing these forums on your phone, and you have no computer (and if you don't have a computer, you shouldn't be here anyway) you have no excuse whatsoever not to crunch or fold. It doesn't require more than a few minutes to set up the client, and you can just set it to run when you're not using your computer and forget about it. When you fold or crunch you may be saving people's lives. Five minutes of your time is definitely worth that!


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## hertz9753 (Apr 7, 2011)

This seems so familiar.  What was the name of the team that did this before?  They got kicked back to zero total points twice.


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## Taskforce (Apr 7, 2011)

No incentives so no not worth it, world is already overpopulated so who cares if a few people die.


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## Deleted member 3 (Apr 7, 2011)

Taskforce said:


> No incentives so no not worth it, world is already over populated so who cares if a few people die.



Morally wrong as that may sound, it is true. Keeping everyone alive just results in more people dying of hunger and other problems. So if you don't solve the space and food problem first, the cure for cancer isn't much of a blessing for the world.


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## hat (Apr 7, 2011)

BinaryMage said:


> F@h and WCG and other crunching projects are not about points, as others have pointed out. And anyone can help a bit. Unless you are browsing these forums on your phone, and you have no computer (and if you don't have a computer, you shouldn't be here anyway) you have no excuse whatsoever not to crunch or fold. It doesn't require more than a few minutes to set up the client, and you can just set it to run when you're not using your computer and forget about it. When you fold or crunch you may be saving people's lives. Five minutes of your time is definitely worth that!



That's the same way I look at it. Lots of my friends who I've told about these projects long ago seem surprised when I talk about it in the present, saying "you're still doing that?". I look at it as a waste NOT to do it. All those idle cycles that would otherwise be going to waste can be put to _very_ good use. It's so disappointing to me when I ask someone to get involved and they decline for one reason or another... there's no reward, no incentive, it will break my computer, costs money to run the computer like that, it's a virus, it's helping North Korea build nukes... really the only valid argument I can see is the increased electric bill. I hate to even ask people to do it anymore, as there's a 90% chance I'll get shot down on the spot, and a 90% chance that if they do run it, they'll blame some problem with their computer on me, or the program... if you want a job done right, you've got to do it yourself.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Apr 7, 2011)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> Morally wrong as that may sound, it is true. Keeping everyone alive just results in more people dying of hunger and other problems. So if you don't solve the space and food problem first, the cure for cancer isn't much of a blessing for the world.



Robot ninja bodies. Fixes all those problems.


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## InnocentCriminal (Apr 7, 2011)

I only started folding the other day and it's something I've been meaning to do for a stupidly long time but haven't been able to.

Prizes mean dick - the effort that everyone puts in for the greater good is the best prize of all.


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## hat (Apr 7, 2011)

DanTheBanjoman said:


> Morally wrong as that may sound, it is true. Keeping everyone alive just results in more people dying of hunger and other problems. So if you don't solve the space and food problem first, the cure for cancer isn't much of a blessing for the world.



So, in other words, because many problems exist, it's not worth solving one because another problem will step into the foreground? Even Jay-Z knows he got 99 problems, but at least a bitch ain't one.


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## Deleted member 3 (Apr 7, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Robot ninja bodies. Fixes all those problems.



Yes, use your computer to research that option. Prioritize the ninja part though.



hat said:


> So, in other words, because many problems exist, it's not worth solving one because another problem will step into the foreground? Even Jay-Z knows he got 99 problems, but at least a bitch ain't one.



I'm not saying it's not worth solving, but with the overpopulation as it is now all those computers can probably research other things instead. Anything related to solving more structural problems. Being healthy is worthless when you have nowhere to live and nothing to eat.
In my great country we have a saying "dweilen met de kraan open", the literal translation is "mopping with the tap running". See if you can figure what it means and apply that here.


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## kg4icg (Apr 7, 2011)

I've been folding for 2 years and 3 months. I look at it this way. It's one hell of a stress tester on overclocked equipment. If your overclocking results can go through a month of Folding bigadv wu's, then it can go through anything.


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## arnoo1 (Apr 7, 2011)

i don't get it either, it's just loads your pc and give you point and with points you can't do nothing, science? what do want to archieve with it?


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## Black Panther (Apr 7, 2011)

Why not read this to understand what science achieves with folding?


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## mauriek (Apr 7, 2011)

rewards? well i'm a poor man..working on the job for U$200-U$250 pay each month, i fold since January 2007, 24h/7d if i'm not out of town.

as far as i remember, I always must think 100 times before buying any hardware/software but i notice ever since i start folding, somehow i always find a way to buy/upgrade computer parts to continue my gaming hobby and almost never broke any hardware since my PC fold..maybe that's my rewards.. 


DanTheBanjoman said:


> I'm not saying it's not worth solving, but with the overpopulation as it is now all those computers can probably research other things instead. Anything related to solving more structural problems. Being healthy is worthless when you have nowhere to live and nothing to eat.
> In my great country we have a saying "dweilen met de kraan open", the literal translation is "mopping with the tap running". See if you can figure what it means and apply that here.


it's a little different problem..while we eat today, we always get hungry the next day, nothing is worthless..social, politic, health, environment problem will be solved on each track..compiled all tiny solved problem together we will get a better world.


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## Frick (Apr 7, 2011)

I know a lot of people with cancer, and some close ones have died from it, but I'm with danthebanjoman here. It's good that other people do it, but there are other things that are more pressing.


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## theonedub (Apr 7, 2011)

Stupidity, crime, war, natural disasters, and other BS will keep population under control. No one should have to suffer dying from diseases like cancer and Alzheimers. I find it hard to believe anyone who was actually close to someone who died from one of these diseases would think 'oh well.' Im sure if the Dr came in with some bad news the matter would become a little more pressing.


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## KieX (Apr 7, 2011)

Priorities are subjective to each person and participating in distributed computing is a choice not an obligation.

Many of us think research that can help save lives is important. And some of us choose to do what we can to help that goal by participating in WCG/F@H. If it's not important to you, then you can choose not to take part.

But I'll leave this quote here:


> "The end result of your life here on earth will always be the sum total of the choices you made while you were here." ~Shad Helmstetter


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## BinaryMage (Apr 8, 2011)

Well said KieX.


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## Kreij (Apr 8, 2011)

It is never a waste to try to solve a problem which affects mankind.
Both F&H and WCG contribute to the hope of finding resolutions for disease, famine, pestulance and other things that plague we humans on this planet.

Our governments spend billions of dollars to solve theoretical problems.
Let's look at the LHC.
It's budget is approximately 9 billion dollars.
It has solved nothing at this point. It really doesn't have a particular problem to solve other than delving into a theoretical realm of physics.
Not suprisingly, there is a LHC@Home to use the computing power of the masses to help with the calibration of the device. Again, not to actually try to solve a world wide problem.

If we, in our own way, can try to help with research that is trying to combat a REAL problem, then we are doing more for humankind than those who are participating in the likes of SETI@Home and the other useless bullshit that you will encounter on the grids.

That being said, Folding or Crunching does not excuse you from doing your part in your own community to help those around you who are less fortunate than you. If the computing grids stop tommorow, those in need around you will still need your support. Don't forget them.

As always, just my honest opinion. Fold/Crunch on.


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## MAGMADIVER (Apr 8, 2011)

I think it is amazingly worthwhile especially if you look at the tangible results that have come from it in less than 10 years.  Just think about 10 years from now when we will look on the current generation of hardware as quaint and we are able to tackle more and more problems of mankind. 

Results: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Papers


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## Athlonite (Apr 8, 2011)

hmm Interesting on the one hand we fold to save lives on the other hand the worlds population increases energy needs increase and ergo so does pollution whereby poisoning the air we breath the water we drink and the food we eat we'll all be dead anyways so why not fold 

little tid bit: Humans are the only animal on earth that continue to bread during shortages of food no other animal will do so choosing to forgo progeny until better times


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## MAGMADIVER (Apr 20, 2011)

Athlonite said:


> hmm Interesting on the one hand we fold to save lives on the other hand the worlds population increases energy needs increase and ergo so does pollution whereby poisoning the air we breath the water we drink and the food we eat we'll all be dead anyways so why not fold
> 
> little tid bit: Humans are the only animal on earth that continue to bread during shortages of food no other animal will do so choosing to forgo progeny until better times



However, unlike all other animals humanity has the means and the intellect to change the world to suits its ends.  However, getting to a point where we work for something so lofty without coersion is yet to arrive.  However, lets hope it arrives without coersion because we would just wish we were dead if coersion and state thuggery were to win the day.


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## scaminatrix (Apr 21, 2011)

mauriek said:


> as far as i remember, I always must think 100 times before buying any hardware/software but i notice ever since i start folding, somehow i always find a way to buy/upgrade computer parts to continue my gaming hobby and almost never broke any hardware since my PC fold..maybe that's my rewards..



There you go, question answered! Good Karma is your benefit.


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