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Grid Computing Saves Cancer Researchers Decades
Stony Stevenson writes "Canadian researchers have promised to squeeze "decades" of cancer research into just two years by harnessing the power of a global PC grid. The scientists are the first from Canada to use IBM's World Community Grid network of PCs and laptops with the power equivalent to one of the globe's top five fastest supercomputers. The team will use the grid to analyze the results of experiments on proteins using data collected by scientists at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute in Buffalo, New York. The researchers estimate that this analysis would take conventional computer systems 162 years to complete."
Think of it. A 100 watts worth cpu which can do thousand points of worth job in a day. Why thousands? Because the CPU is capable of doing millions of other things, thats why it is build in the first place. A 10 watts special equipment, build from FPGA's just for the job in interest. It can do million points* of worth job in a day. Dont you feel stupid now? Ati's 1950 cards can do 30 times much work then your super uber cpu. Dont you feel stupid now? It's like trying to replace a tank with 100 fiat's. Tank's are created with wars in mind, they are built for that. Not fiat's. The millions of watts of wasted energy for distiributed computing non-sense is pushing the earth to global warming. That wasted watts also mean wasted money, go give your money to a fund or university, so they could buy dedicated hardware and do the required job much quicker. (* : numbers may be exagrated, but you get the idea)