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Folding No More

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J

Jon855

[H]ard DCOTM January 2008
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Aug 25, 2005
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Guys,

I have decided that I will cease all of the folding that I have direct access to. I have come to a point where I do not think it's very scientifically environmentally friendly at the time. While I do not disagree with the concept of finding cure or what not for many of cancers and more severe form of diseases. I do concur with the research that the DC communities has been doing however I do not think at the expense of the energy that we are using are being justified at the meantime. Hopefully at a later date it would be justified.

Please respect me for my choice here, thank you for understanding.
 
Wait.. what?

What if I choose to.. not respect your choice? :-p I think somebodies power bill came in and wasn't too happy. Anyway, I can see where your comming from, and you are probably right. But that doesn't stop me from doing it anyway. I'm an American! I'm wasteful and damn good at being wasteful!
 
Jon, While I do repect your desision to stop folding the reason you give does not make sence. 95%+ of the computers that fold would be left on 24x7 anyway wasting power. These same computers while being used to fold prob use about 5% more power then if setting areound idling. If you ever change your mind you are always welcome back.
 
Yeah, I see folding as a great way to use computers usually left on 24/7, like in a school. OP is probably right that it's not really worth starting your own folding farm, but if there's a large ammount of computers on 24/7 already, might as well use them.
 
i stopped folding on my dual opterons a few months ago. couldnt afford to leave the comp on all the time.
 
The thing is, you don't have to have the comp on 24/7 in order to contribute. If you have it on to web surf, check your email, etc. you can still fold. Heck, I run UD and play GW at the same time with no issues.

I agree with you on wanting to use less power/ cause less emissions. That's why I replaced my micro-farm with a C2D. ;) I get twice the work done for less watts. I'm interested in seeing how the 45nm parts will be on power.

 
I respect your decision to not continue folding due to the inherant power costs. My only suggestions are to utilize higher efficiency power supplies, and moble processors on Desktop board setups. A step further would be to run the farm on solar power, but that would depend on your location and certian grants with the government and power companies (cmon ED3 get with the program!!!).

If you do still insist to hold on folding, please allow some of our other folders to purchase your unused boxen so that they may be utilized for this project. Thanks!
 
I hope the original poster has made as many environmentally friendly choices as he can before stopping Folding. Yes, the systems do use alot of power, all you can do there is to pick efficient choices in power supplies/processors.

I'd worry more about reducing resource useage on less important things first, like drive a more efficient vehicle, reduce heating/AC, recycle everything you can, etc first. Those reductions can offset the Folding to a certain extent.

It is a bit of a dilemma though; the Folding does use more resources than not Folding. But if we don't do the research, how many lives will be lost due to disease versus finding some cures? What is the ROI here versus an unknown but large number of lives lost in the future. Sorry, but I'm SELFISH in wanting my yet to be born kid(s) to not know disease in their lives, and it may well help ME and my other loved ones as well.

I guess I could go back to living off the land and use hardly any more resources than some Mexican peasant, and save resources, but no, I don't think so. At least I'm not some wasteful slob making awful choices and doing effectively nothing to improve the world.

So while I respect the original poster in not wanting to use more resources than he can afford/jusify, I disagree with his choice. But it's HIS choice.
 
santaliqueur said:
i stopped folding on my dual opterons a few months ago. couldnt afford to leave the comp on all the time.
Click to expand...


just curious, has anyone actually done the math to see how much it costs to leave a PC on 24/7, because after having PC's for years and leaving them on most of the time, i have never seen a difference in my power bill between on or off

you must not be able to afford a refrigerator, microwave, stove/oven (electric), air conditioning, heat (electric), etc..etc........because honestly if i had my guess most of those household items use more power in a few hours of use than a PC does all month
 
I have 5 PC's all dual core running 24x7 and my total electric bill for last month was $118. prob 1/3 was for the PC's
 
[BRO]Alaskan said:
I have 5 PC's all dual core running 24x7 and my total electric bill for last month was $118. prob 1/3 was for the PC's
Click to expand...

how do you come about figuring how much of your bill is for the PC's?
 
[BRO]Alaskan said:
I compared it to last years bill ($82 in December)with just one computer running
Click to expand...

so if we use your calculations, his one PC might have been using $5 a month......sorry, that's not budget breaking material
 
[BRO]Alaskan said:
I have 5 PC's all dual core running 24x7 and my total electric bill for last month was $118. prob 1/3 was for the PC's
Click to expand...

Thats why the bulk of my machines are at work ....
Plugged in and hidden :)
 
[BRO]Alaskan said:
I have 5 PC's all dual core running 24x7 and my total electric bill for last month was $118. prob 1/3 was for the PC's
Click to expand...

1/3 is nothing.
Over 90% of my electric bill is from the home farm.

I count my self as lucky.
I only lost an arm to a Tiger.
Its over and done with, Its not going to get better but its not going to get worse.
Thats not like cancer.
You never know if its going to get better or not.

Plus I've a good freind dieing of it at the moment.

Luck ............. :D
 
Let's put this back in to perspective, huh?

The carbon produced by the power plant to run Jon's computers would fill a thimble compared to the buckets of hydrocarbons his car produces driving to work each day. And bathtubs full of polution mowing your lawn every week.

You could replace all of the incandescent bulbs in your house with flourescent and cut your household power usage in half, and then you wouldn't have to turn off the computers running fah and still save money.

Adding an extra 4 inches of insulation in the attic will pay for itself in 5 years, and you can run your computers for free after that.

If your refrigerator is more than 10 years old, replace it and cut your household power usage by 25%, then upgrade your 130 watt prescotts to 65 watt conroes.

The cotton T shirt on your back put 2 lbs. of pesticides in to the earth. Oops, getting off topic. Sorry.

Please make educated improvements. The obvious choice is not always the best choice. I'm not saying to turn your computers back on, but there may be better ways to help the environment.

Google "reduce carbon footprint" or start here: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/Minimise_cfp.html
 
nobody_here said:
so if we use your calculations, his one PC might have been using $5 a month......sorry, that's not budget breaking material
Click to expand...
Its prob more like $10-$12 but yes not a budget breaker
 
Tigerbiten said:
1/3 is nothing.
I count my self as lucky.
I only lost an arm to a Tiger.
Luck ............. :D
Click to expand...
I knew you were bit by a tiger but I did'nt know you lost an arm to it. I could not imagin that. Ive had 2 close calls with bears in Alaska but one was a bluff and the other I got into my car faster than he got to me. :eek:
 
Jon855 said:
Guys,

I have decided that I will cease all of the folding that I have direct access to. I have come to a point where I do not think it's very scientifically environmentally friendly at the time. While I do not disagree with the concept of finding cure or what not for many of cancers and more severe form of diseases. I do concur with the research that the DC communities has been doing however I do not think at the expense of the energy that we are using are being justified at the meantime. Hopefully at a later date it would be justified.

Please respect me for my choice here, thank you for understanding.
Click to expand...

Many many people have come and gone in our folding community. Most leave without a word, some leave with a simple good bye.

I do respect your right to fold or not fold, it’s your computer and you have full control to use it how you see fit.

What I cannot or will not respect is the use of this particular forum to further what is obviously a political agenda. We have other forums for that on this board.

One can only assume from your distain of computer use to save lives you will be more then willing to give up your car, all forms of public transportation, and your heat and lights as well, after all, people’s lives are at stake, right?

Given a choice between your peculiarities and Marty’s (since Marty opened that door), I’ll take Marty in a heartbeat.
 
My results for various systems as measured by Kill-a-watt: all figures are at full CPU utilization on FAH or GPU folding. 9.5cents/kwh.

Rig 1:
Core 2 Duo at 3.2ghz
154w $10.53/month.

Rig 2
X2 3800 OC'd to 2.4ghz
+ 1 GPU (X1900XTX @ 688/775) 253w, $17.30/month

Rig 3:
A64 3400, SOcket 754 board
130w, $8.89/month.

Rig 4:
XP 2700, VIA chipset motherboard
121w, $8.27/month.

Rig 5:
XP 2700, Nvidia chipset
138w, $9.43/month.

Rig 6:
2.6ghz Celeron laptop
62w, $4.24/month

Rig 7:
A64 3200
97w, $6.63/month.

Total is 955w/$65.32/month. I've seen estimates that electric power pollutants per 1000kwh = 1.73kg NOx, 3.96kg Sulphur Dioxide, 943kg CO2. So yes, the Folding does add up to some significant pollution. But I think it's worth it, or I wouldn't be doing it.

I agree with 7IM that the original poster needs to consider reducing other forms of pollution/inefficiency before quitting the Folding. Consider it doing your part to reduce pollution, offset by an approximately equivalent amount of useful scientific research. I like a quote from the Koran (even though I disagree with most of what little I do know about the Koran); "accursed is he who leaves this world no better than he found it".

One thing I would ask the original poster is how he defines "justifiable resource useage for Folding". Is it some set amount/cost per computer/workunit, something else, or some "feeling" that isn't quantifiable?


 
I'd say my $10-$12/mo guesstamate for a lite dual core was pretty close. I was (and still am) planning on getting a kill-a-watt meter to check mine out.
 
[BRO]Alaskan said:
I'd say my $10-$12/mo guesstamate for a lite dual core was pretty close. I was (and still am) planning on getting a kill-a-watt meter to check mine out.
Click to expand...
Kill-A-Watt meters are not definitive measurements. The Mythbusters tested this bulb at 1Watt-Hour, when the manufacturer specifies it as having a 10W consumption. I believe the KaW measures only resistive load, where many appliances use inductive and/or capacitive as well.
 
Just replace all of your light bulbs with flourescent. You'll be able to run your folding rigs and still save money. Of course the initial investment is somewhat high, but you seem to care about the environment and therefore shouldn't mind doing something that reduces pollution and pays for itself in just a few years.

But please, whatever you do, don't remove FAH from the computers that you use. You can run it without leaving those computers on 24/7.
 
sorry to hear this.

hope you change your mind.

at least keep folding on your boxen while they are turned on.
 
[BRO]Alaskan said:
Jon, While I do repect your desision to stop folding the reason you give does not make sence. 95%+ of the computers that fold would be left on 24x7 anyway wasting power. These same computers while being used to fold prob use about 5% more power then if setting areound idling. If you ever change your mind you are always welcome back.
Click to expand...

They use more than just 5% more; even on the most efficient. However, the amount isn't that much more. I started with no computers in my apartment. Then I went with a PII 266 dually system. Moved up to a PIII 600. Then I decided to move my Barton@2.5 in with a PIII 800. I didn't really notice much of a difference in my power bill. I'm paying $11 more per month than when I moved in. Most of that is due to the power company screwing up royally and messing up my budget billing. I'm paying $63/month on power (I do have cheaper rates than most here) and that's high. That's also with a PIII 800 folding 24/7 and previously a Sempron 3000+ folding 24/7. The Sempron is still folding for the moment (should be sold on the 10th) and I added a Core2Duo. I don't expect my power bill to go up much on actual usage.

I use more power in the winter due to the lousy insulation and old ass shitty single pane windows in my place and I can't take the cold very well when I'm indoors.

Basically, the power a few folding systems use is nothing. If you have a CRT based TV, watch it a couple hours less a day and I'd bet your power bill would drop to the point where you could run your computers 24/7 folding. My TV ran a lot when my ex lived here and the I didn't have a computer here. I got rid of the ex and moved a computer in and my power bill stayed the same.

 
I'd like to fold and other stuff (SETI), but my pc is too unreliable. Not entirely sure whats keeping it going at all. But when I get a PC which can multitask properly, I shall! :D
 
Sorry to see you go, but thanks for your contribution all the same. Hopefully someday you'll find yourself yearning to jump back into the fray. :)

 
my P4 3.4 draws ~204 watts when idle and ~260 when running @100%

not a huge difference....I don't think its been idle for 8 months now ..its a 24/7 machine..:)

 
BillR said:
What I cannot or will not respect is the use of this particular forum to further what is obviously a political agenda. We have other forums for that on this board.

One can only assume from your distain of computer use to save lives you will be more then willing to give up your car, all forms of public transportation, and your heat and lights as well, after all, people’s lives are at stake, right?
Click to expand...

QFT!

I guess he didn't like the electric bill, oh well...

 
BillR said:
Given a choice between your peculiarities and Marty’s (since Marty opened that door), I’ll take Marty in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...

Did you just say I have issues? Well I never.... :D

@ 7ur- Hi grumpy! Yea, I watch Discovery channel too. :)
 
SmokeRngs said:
I'm paying $63/month on power (I do have cheaper rates than most here) and that's high. That's also with a PIII 800 folding 24/7 and previously a Sempron 3000+ folding 24/7. The Sempron is still folding for the moment (should be sold on the 10th) and I added a Core2Duo. I don't expect my power bill to go up much on actual usage.
Click to expand...

What I wouldn't give for a $63 power bill. I think mine last month was $785...and I have natural Gas Heat (which was another $400)
 
Tormond said:
What I wouldn't give for a $63 power bill. I think mine last month was $785...and I have natural Gas Heat (which was another $400)
Click to expand...
Good God!! :eek: Give that man some Vaseline.
 
BillR said:
What I cannot or will not respect is the use of this particular forum to further what is obviously a political agenda. We have other forums for that on this board.

One can only assume from your distain of computer use to save lives you will be more then willing to give up your car, all forms of public transportation, and your heat and lights as well, after all, people’s lives are at stake, right?

Given a choice between your peculiarities and Marty’s (since Marty opened that door), I’ll take Marty in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
Now ease down boy... I am not furthering a political agenda, I'm just merely stating the fact why I've stopped folding. Consider me nice cause I'm telling you why I've left. Yes I have done lots to reduce my usage of energy and that does not need to be discussed here because I am not furthering my "agenda" as you would call it.

Go ahead and take Marty's in a heartbeat, I do not care but such "personal" attacks should not be allowed here, we have no room for this in the entire forums here at [H]ard|Forums. I'm sorry if I came across like a person with such agenda, when I have determine the cost and the energy for me to use takes a turn, I assure you I will come back and resume my folding. For the sake of the forum I will close this thread, as I do not need this to be off topic and if there's any personal matters or beef you have, I'll deal with it within the PM section.
 
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