folding just about the race

[shiryunaga]

some people tell me that folding just about race, to get more point and get high rank , i try to tell them that point elemen just to make everyone motivate to more productive, coz more point is more scientific, or if i tell about humanity reason and helping other issue, they are complaining about the result of this project , please anybody help me to make some argument to make them little understand, thank

[jrweiss]

It is true that some people take the point counts WAY too seriously!

The teams and points were added as a means of friendly competition. That is fine, and most of us who Fold do at least a bit of computer buying and tweaking to try to increase our point count.

The point count is also a reasonable basis for deciding whether it is "worth it" to buy a particular piece of hardware or implement a specific tweak, especially if the change also affects your every-day computing. You can look at points per day (PPD) per watt or PPD per dollar (or yen) as a comparative measure.

Since the points are not redeemable for ANYTHING (except in the occasional "club" teams where the sponsors are awarding some prizes to members), there's no reason to be fanatical about point count. Be happy that you can contribute more to science in this small, additional way, and gloat in private when/if necessary.

[susato]

The point count is also a reasonable basis for deciding whether it is "worth it" to buy a particular piece of hardware or implement a specific tweak, especially if the change also affects your every-day computing. You can look at points per day (PPD) per watt or PPD per dollar (or yen) as a comparative measure.

Well, yes and no. It's tempting to compare new hardware on a PPD basis, but the project keeps changing and "high-PPD" hardware today may be low-PPD hardware in six months.

Ask any of the old-timers about QMD units... or GPU1 units... these folded best on specific hardware, then the projects were superseded by others and the equipment lost its points advantage. Just keep in mind that PPD advantages for given hardware will probably NOT last for the life of the hardware. This is a risk one accepts when building a Folding-only rig. Of course, this is less important when the change also improves your every-day computing experience.

[Phantom]

So true, susato... That's the reason why I select the equipment based on other longer-term factors (e.g., robustness for H/W and OS)... That's why I fold with Mac equipment.

Points are nice, but it's sustainability and support for the science that trumps all else!

[jrweiss]

The point count is also a reasonable basis for deciding whether it is "worth it" to buy a particular piece of hardware or implement a specific tweak, especially if the change also affects your every-day computing. You can look at points per day (PPD) per watt or PPD per dollar (or yen) as a comparative measure.

Well, yes and no. It's tempting to compare new hardware on a PPD basis, but the project keeps changing and "high-PPD" hardware today may be low-PPD hardware in six months.

Ask any of the old-timers about QMD units... or GPU1 units... these folded best on specific hardware, then the projects were superseded by others and the equipment lost its points advantage. Just keep in mind that PPD advantages for given hardware will probably NOT last for the life of the hardware. This is a risk one accepts when building a Folding-only rig. Of course, this is less important when the change also improves your every-day computing experience.

Just keep the bolded part of it in context, though...

I am one of those "old timers" who bought an X1950 GPU for Folding, among other things. While there were many choices of CPUs available when my old GPU failed, I chose the X1950 so I could Fold on it as well as use its power for other things I needed. The Folding ability was not the sole reason I bought it, but that aspect helped narrow the field. Now I have an HD4650 for low power usage as well as reasonable Folding PPD...

[toTOW]

I think you might find more answers in "Answers to: Reasons for not using F@H." thread.