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Impressive GPU Numbers From Folding@Home

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the that's-fast dept.

ludd1t3 writes, "The Folding@Home project has put forth some impressive performance numbers with the GPU client that's designed to work with the ATI X1900. According to the client statistics, there are 448 registered GPUs that produce 29 TFLOPS. Those 448 GPUs outperform the combined 25,050 CPUs registered by the Linux and Mac OS clients. Ouch! Are ASICs really that much better than general-purpose circuits? If so, does that mean that IBM was right all along with their AS/400, iSeries product which makes heavy use of ASICs?"

13 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Are ASICs really that much better? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are ASICs really that much better than general-purpose circuits?

    Generally ASICs are much better than general-purpose circuits except in general cases.

    1. Re: Are ASICs really that much better? by Jeremi · · Score: 2, Funny
      An ASIC can be orders of magnitude faster for an fft, but you can't write a word processor for it.


      You realize that somebody is bound to write a word processor that runs on a GPU now, just to prove it can be done?

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re: Are ASICs really that much better? by hritcu · · Score: 2, Funny
      they did modify the program to run on what it does have: 4x4 matrix operation units for multiplication and addiction.
      This is also what my mother was always telling me when I was a boy: "if you play video games you'll become an addict". She was so right.
      --
      If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough. (Alan Kay)
  2. IBM right all along, or obvious? by Gothmolly · · Score: 2, Funny

    Custom app written to run on hardware specifically designed to run apps like it, outperforming general purpose CPUs? Newsflash from Ric Romero!!1!

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    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
  3. Re:So obvious... by Iron+Condor · · Score: 5, Funny

    ASCII silly question, get a silly ANSI.

    --
    We're all born with nothing.
    If you die in debt, you're ahead.
  4. Distributed amongst home users by Skevin · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, will someone please create a really pretty 3D screensaver representing the folding calculation process? I'd love to see a represention with hi-res lighting and texturing, full transforms, and user-scalable views at 400 million triangles/sec.. Thanks.

    Solomon

    --
    "Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
    1. Re:Distributed amongst home users by holysin · · Score: 3, Funny

      There is this lovely feature called a power button. There's also this really handy feature on most tvs since the mid-late 90s called multiple inputs.

  5. I KNEW it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Macs and Linux suck. This is SCIENTIFIC proof.

  6. Re:So obvious... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    - Cool, can I play too?
    - No, that's what consoles are for.

  7. Re:This is the perfect time... by loraksus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, I really, really hate the "heater that hasn't been used for 6 months" smell, so that was sort of my primary focus.
    That makes it a little better... right?
    Please?

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  8. Re:So obvious... by Jesus_666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    UTF are you talking about? I'm quite sure the mods are not latin-1 post like this go unmoderated.

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    USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  9. Golly Beav.... by certain+death · · Score: 2, Funny

    Imagine if they had developed this application for NVidia video cards, probably 2x the speed!!1! Go ahead, mod me a troll....I will appologize tomorrow :o)

    --
    "My immediate reaction is "WTF? What kind of moron doesn't make things 64-bit safe to begin with?" Linus
  10. Re:Lopsided Alright..ASIC and yea shall receive. by Baddas · · Score: 2, Funny

    Man, imagine how simple-minded and yet weak superhuman an AI that ran solely on GPUs would be?

    "I can think of many, many things at once. As long as they are the same type of thing."