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Mass Grid Computing Around the Corner?

Posted by Cliff on from the using-your-spare-cycles dept.

zoglmannk asks: "I've become interested in grid computing. A lot has happened since the last time that I looked at it several years ago during the SETI@home heyday. Now several public supported grid applications are coming to fruit: climate modeling, cancer research, protein folding, smallpox therapies, fighting bioterrorism, mersenne prime search, evolution, SETI, and others. All of these have public interest to make a better world. Is mass adoption of public interest grid computing just around the corner? Is there really a need for a majority of those spare CPU cycles? Or is there more computing power than can reasonably be used for the types of problems that can be distributed to home and educational PCs? What is needed to bring grid computing to the masses? More education, advertisement, prizes, reimbursement?"

3 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Spare cycles no longer exist.... by decep · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Most modern CPUs no longer "waste" spare CPU cycles like they once did.

    If your CPU runs at 100%, you are using more power and therefore makes your electric bill increase. Therefore, when you run distributed applications, you are actually paying $$$ for what you are giving away.

    In recent history, laptop CPUs have started throttling themselves and using even less power, and desktop CPUs will start doing the same before long.

    Not that this has that much to do with grid computing...

    Grid computings goal is usually greater utilization of your own resources...distriuted computing usually utilizes someone elses resources. :-) (I know, true and not true at the same time)

    1. Re:Spare cycles no longer exist.... by excaliber19 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Most of the electricity is hogged by the monitor. Without your monitor on, the net sum of your electricity consumption is actually rather small. Anyhow, its alot easier for a million people to pay an extra 10 dollars a year to cure cancer than 10 people a million dollars a year. Think about it.

  2. The masses. by ear1grey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    zoglmannk asked:

    What is needed to bring grid computing to the masses? More education, advertisement, prizes, reimbursement?

    Grid computing is not aimed at "the masses". Most of the research is concentrating on building systems for solving problems which normal people have no interest in.

    That's not to say that we plebs won't benefit from a "cure for X" or "lower oil prices due to better flow models within pipelines" or even "more efficient cars desgined in simulated air tunnels"; we are just very unlikely to be the imediate user of the computing power.

    --
    boakes.org