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250,000 PS3s Folding@Home
GamesIndustry.biz reports that over 250,000 users have signed up for the Folding@Home project on the PlayStation 3. The sheer number of users has resulted in '700 teraflops in a single moment', most of which is provided by PS3 users. "'The PS3 turnout has been amazing, greatly exceeding our expectations and allowing us to push our work dramatically forward,' said Vijay Pande, associate professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and Folding@home program lead. 'Thanks to PS3, we have performed simulations in the first few weeks that would normally take us more than a year to calculate. We are now gearing up for new simulations that will continue our current studies of Alzheimer's and other diseases.'" The article notes the software has a new update with some refined functionality and faster processing.
The PS3 barely puts out any heat when folding. I was surprised when I checked it in the morning and it was completely cool and not blowing out much heat. For perspective, when playing a game, the hot air coming out feels like my car's exhaust. The actual system stays pretty cool, though, which is a tribute to their cooling methods.
It shouldn't be too surprising that the GPU would be the most energy hungry component... That's how it is in PCs too.