Folding@home addiction

As I mentioned on my Computers page, I recently got into Folding@home. It started by just folding on my PS3. I leave it on 24/7 anyway (because I can't turn it on and off with my IR remote, and who wants to get up off the couch and push a button?), so why not have it do something useful, right? The PS3 is a good folding machine that will generate around 900 points per day (PPD). Wait a minute, you mean I can score points?

I also leave my PCs on all the time, so why not install the software on some of them, too. I'll just install the uniprocessor client. Well, that doesn't generate many PPD, so maybe I'll install the beta SMP client on my desktop. That's better, but it's still going to take a long time for me to overtake people on the AVS Forum team, even though most of them are not actively folding. I've got a decent NVIDIA card in Aparna, and although I'll have to install the CUDA drivers, why not try the GPU client as well? Whoa, I just doubled my PPD!

Now I've got 5 folding processes running, generating around 4000-7000 PPD, and I've moved from #89 to #85 on the team in the last 24 hours. Today I ordered a 9800 GX2 specfically for folding (10,000 PPD!). I actually tried to order two cards, but I was lucky to get the one from Newegg before they were out of stock again. Pretty soon I'll have caseless motherboards scattered around the condo with big fans blowing on them (or maybe I'll be able to turn off the heat this winter). It's a sickness! But hopefully, one day it will help find a cure.