Processor Speed and Loop Rebuild

Started by courtdub

courtdub Lv 1

Does processor speed affect the speed at which loop rebuild runs? Also does the client make use of multiple cores/processors?

skyleriberg Lv 1

This is more about science than competition and slowing things down for people with a fast computer is straight up dumb. That is like saying my high school track team should not be able to compete because we have a new track…

admin Staff Lv 1

I thought you were all for removing any artificial barriers to competition, right? Well, for a man who quotes Ayn Rand, that kind of philosophy is expected.

Of course, the only real fair way of folding would be to take ten children from their mothers at birth, raise them in absolutely identical environments for a decade or two, then have them compete in absolutely identical rooms with absolutely identical kit.

Frankly, your mentality seems to be "equality when I'm down, Rand when I'm up". We've gone through this whole issue and no matter how much you complain about it, we will certainly not hobble any part of Foldit with such artificial barriers.

Steven Pletsch Lv 1

If someone wants to make room for the 196L Cryo-Cyl tank of liquid nitrogen and over clock their i7 to 20GHz to fold better, either sit back, watch, and enjoy the experience, or find a faster way and give them a run for it.

It is the very nature of a human being to strive, to build, to create, and to progress. It is the only ability we have that other animals on this planet do not, the faculty of reason and the ability to rationalize, to move the bar of progress ever further for ourselves and our decedents. Science is a means by which we fulfill our nature. We use science to understand our universe, to understand our nature, and to create means by which we can progress. It is on this belief that I say, any means someone might impose to restrict ability under the guise of "fairness" is not only anti-science, but anti-human and a violation of nature itself.

MellyLam Lv 1

My single-core, 1.3 GHz, 1 GB RAM, laptop just died and I replaced it with a dual-core, 2 GHz, 4 GB RAM. Rebuilds and wiggles are a little faster, but not nearly as much as I had expected (hoped). Loop rebuilding still takes a long time. Also, I am not folding better and my ranks are not improved (although real life has kept me from folding much lately). My experience is that meaningful score improvements and better folding have a lot more to do with what your brain is doing than your computer.

LennStar Lv 1

but from 1,3 GHz to dual core you should really have a lot faster wiggling. I have a 3200+ und a dual 2,26, and there is definitely a difference. 30-50% faster I would guess, but that is hard to say. Its even a bit faster when I use "silent" mode with 2x1,6GHz.
From 1,3GHz it should double the speed of wiggling. O.o

Are both cores used? With WinXP it should, other systems I can't say.

MellyLam Lv 1

Ok, I lied: my computer didn't really die, the battery and power cord died and the screen blacks out every hour or so for about a minute, so technically it is still functional. Maybe this weekend I can borrow a power cord and do a wiggle on a reset puzzle on both computers and clock it. Then I would have a couple of data points.

…but, the old computer was XP (yea!) and the new one is Vista (nay!).

BootsMcGraw Lv 1

anjen said:
…but I will not refrain from speaking just because you or anyone else here thinks that your sociopolitical and mercantile agendas trump my right to free speech….

This is a private forum; and as such, there is no such thing as freedom of speech here. You are a guest of the owners, developers, and admins of this web site, and seem to have forgotten that.

I therefore suggest you STFU with your diarrhea of fifty-cent words, and allow the people who run this site to do what they believe best.

Steven Pletsch Lv 1

well, using the term died with a computer is often relative to the amount of justification required to upgrade.

(scenario 1)
if the computer is relatively modern, high end, and serves all purposes required of it, components may die, but the computer does not. This is where you will often here "My power supply died" or "my hard drive died"

(scenario 2)
if the computer is a bit older, the term died becomes a bit more vague. If one feels they have an inadequate amount of CPU power, then often the term can be applied to simple failures like in scenario 1, however they can often be used as an excuse to upgrade such as "my hard drive died, I got a new one, but my motherboard does not support SATA, so I had to get a new motherboard, and in turn had to get a new processor and RAM for the new board, I also had to get a new bigger power supply for the new board, etc…" Those who wouldn't understand the need to upgrade will already have stopped listening at the term SATA, and be trying not to roll their eyes. Anyone who does understand, will probably relate the story of how their full size ATX case did not fit on the CPU shelf of their new desk, and how they also had to replace their "dead" computer.

(scenario 3)
if the computer is already flaky, slow, or so old that it's difficult to perform modern functions, the term died can be applied to anything from "there is a scratch on the bottom of my laptop" to "so there I was standing at the top of the stairs, the computer precariously balanced at a 45 degree angle over the first step, when…"