COVID-19: What you can do to help fight

Dan_

Dan_

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Jan 14, 2019
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First, here is where you can view some information on the virus:
Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University
Coronavirus update (Live)

Now here is what you, as a gamer with a PC that can run BF4, can do to directly fight this virus. It's called Folding. Basically, you download this program (Folding@home), follow these instructions, and run it on your PC. You can set it to run when your PC is idle, or manually run it when you choose to. If you set it to idle, leaving you PC on at night is good.

I'll describe what this program does. I am explaining this in an easy to understand way and I'm not certain on the details. Folding@home uses your PC's resources to simulate protein folding. It then uploads your simulation to their servers and this information is used to further research into many diseases. You can choose which disease you want to fight, but right now if you leave this option open, the program will automatically use it for COVID-19.

Here is a very good video by OverclockersClub showing what to do. It isn't the current version but the guide is still applicable:


If you are wondering if this is safe for your PC, it is. Your hardware is designed to handle this. However, you will take full responsibility for anything that happens to your PC because of this program (worst that is still unlikely to happen is you fan failing). You can also limit your temps, fan speed, and power consumption, if you don't want your components to be running hot for a long time or using too much power.
  • To do this for your GPU, if you have an AMD card just use the Radeon Software, under the Performance and Tuning tabs. I suggest underclocking your GPU, which should automatically lower your temps, fan speed, and power draw. For NVIDIA GPUs download and run MSI Afterburner (scroll all the way down to download) and do the same thing. This will also work for AMD.
  • For your CPU, in the Folding@home Web control or Advanced control, move the Power slider to Medium (which will use 75% of your CPR rather than 100% on High). Setting this at Low will use 50% CPU but disable GPU folding.


I am folding for LinusTechTips_Team and it would be cool if you helped this team. Their team id is 223518. The LTT Forums also have guides on Folding@home. You can choose your own team here.
You don't need to pick a team.

"If you don’t have computers to contribute or are feeling particularly generous, you can also make donations through Washington University in St. Louis. These funds are used for a number of purposes, including: 1) supporting our software engineering and server-side hardware (particularly important right now as we scale up rapidly!) and 2) buying compounds to test experimentally based on insight from our simulations."
https://foldingathome.org/2020/03/15/coronavirus-what-were-doing-and-how-you-can-help-in-simple-terms/


Here is some additional information:

This video describes the situation pretty well and shows how to start folding.

 
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Good idea for bringing it up here. I just watched LTT's video on it earlier and it was interesting to hear how so many people have joined folding @ home that they are being overwhelmed and are having trouble finding the bandwidth to send out projects and retrieve the results.
 
jwolt1 said:
Good idea for bringing it up here. I just watched LTT's video on it earlier and it was interesting to hear how so many people have joined folding @ home that they are being overwhelmed and are having trouble finding the bandwidth to send out projects and retrieve the results.
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Ah yes, I will add this video to the post. Linus does a very good job explaining the situation. Also, I heard on their latest WAN show that they are going to help Folding@home by making their own servers, or something like that.
 
Dan_ said:
Ah yes, I will add this video to the post. Linus does a very good job explaining the situation. Also, I heard on their latest WAN show that they are going to help Folding@home by making their own servers, or something like that.
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Yeah, they brought it up again in this video, with their 10 gigabit internet connection its a good thing they are helping out, and we get more LTT content our way.
I am quite curious how much computing power LMG has under their domain.
 
jwolt1 said:
Yeah, they brought it up again in this video, with their 10 gigabit internet connection its a good thing they are helping out, and we get more LTT content our way.
I am quite curious how much computing power LMG has under their domain.
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Same here.
 
This is really cool. Im a science major and I didnt even know about this program...thanks Dan!
 
gemcandy98 said:
This is really cool. Im a science major and I didnt even know about this program...thanks Dan!
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The program is being used since 2009 if am correct, those years I run every single machine at my office to use the idle function, am being folding since last week, got 2 computers running right now, and am trying to setup my main PC at home for that, cuz the GTX 1080 that's a monster for folding and of course the ryzen cou, so is gonna be interesting... Just remember to use the mid setup, or low cuZ is gonna burn down you computer without mercy
 
shiryu_libra said:
The program is being used since 2009 if am correct, those years I run every single machine at my office to use the idle function, am being folding since last week, got 2 computers running right now, and am trying to setup my main PC at home for that, cuz the GTX 1080 that's a monster for folding and of course the ryzen cou, so is gonna be interesting...
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That's awesome! Good see people here already helping.

shiryu_libra said:
Just remember to use the mid setup, or low cuZ is gonna burn down you computer without mercy
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It depends on your setup. I have a Noctua DH-15 on my Ryzen 3600, so it is impossible for that to overheat. On max running all night hasn't gone past 60°C. My GTX 750 Ti hasn't gone past 60°C either. My RX 5700 XT was running at 85°C for the night, but those GPUs were made to have a higher temp threshold. Most likely your setup will become obsolete before it burns out, but of course the goal should be to run at a lower temperature. I would suggest to people running it on Full for a bit and see what temps your CPU and GPU(s) reach. If it is above 80°C, change it to Mid or Low. You can use CPUID HWMonitor to examine your system temps.
 
jwolt1 said:
Just open up your side panels and run it at 100% and boom, space heater
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LOL, that's actually not a bad idea. Of course you'll get more dust buildup. My room is small and my PC is hot, so I've actually had to keep my windows open a little bit all winter to not make my room an oven.
 
MY MSI GTX 1080 seahawk can handle it with easy, it's watercooled.... am just waiting to buy the am4 waterblock for the cpu, and the full block for the 1080, i got 3 radiators waiting to work ahahahahah
 
shiryu_libra said:
MY MSI GTX 1080 seahawk can handle it with easy, it's watercooled.... am just waiting to buy the am4 waterblock for the cpu, and the full block for the 1080, i got 3 radiators waiting to work ahahahahah
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I want to move to a completely water cooled solution like that. Easier to clean the dust and it'll all be on one dust cover, and without an airflow in the case there will be less buildup on the components.
 
My rig is all water cooled. have very small amount of dust in it. My case is the Corsair 1000D.
 
Dan_ said:
Your welcome! Hey does your field have anything to do with protein folding?
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Bioinformatics also covers protein folding since they use algorithms to find the global min of an energy function for a given protein to determine how it will fold in a cell or given biological environment. You can do cool stuff like predict how a protein will fold by looking at the similarity of the amino acid sequence to known proteins with already established 3D structures...you should check out Levinthal's paradox...basically it usually takes a protein milliseconds to assume the proper fold, but for us humans it takes sometimes hundreds of hours of research to figure out (via computers ofc) what that optimal fold is.
 
Dan_ said:
LOL, that's actually not a bad idea. Of course you'll get more dust buildup. My room is small and my PC is hot, so I've actually had to keep my windows open a little bit all winter to not make my room an oven.
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Lol your room must already be quite warm then....because even with my PC running it doesnt get very warm...then again my PC doesnt heat up too much, I have 4 fans in the case and water cooled CPU...
 
gemcandy98 said:
Bioinformatics also covers protein folding since they use algorithms to find the global min of an energy function for a given protein to determine how it will fold in a cell or given biological environment. You can do cool stuff like predict how a protein will fold by looking at the similarity of the amino acid sequence to known proteins with already established 3D structures...you should check out Levinthal's paradox...basically it usually takes a protein milliseconds to assume the proper fold, but for us humans it takes sometimes hundreds of hours of research to figure out (via computers ofc) what that optimal fold is.
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So would you as a student be able to use the data gathered by Folding@home?

gemcandy98 said:
Lol your room must already be quite warm then....because even with my PC running it doesnt get very warm...then again my PC doesnt heat up too much, I have 4 fans in the case and water cooled CPU...
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I have an air cooled system. 3 200mm fans and 3 140mm fans. Though the main heat generator is my RX 5700 XT 50th Anniv. Ed. Since it uses a blower cooler, the hot air shoots directly out the back of my machine. I also have the max fan speed at 100% (default was like 60%) so that it doesn't thermal throttle as much since I don't mind the noise and it keeps my feet warm. That runs at like 85°C - 95°C for the entire time I'm gaming, so it blows out quite a lot of hot air.
 
Dan_ said:
So would you as a student be able to use the data gathered by Folding@home?


I have an air cooled system. 3 200mm fans and 3 140mm fans. Though the main heat generator is my RX 5700 XT 50th Anniv. Ed. Since it uses a blower cooler, the hot air shoots directly out the back of my machine. I also have the max fan speed at 100% (default was like 60%) so that it doesn't thermal throttle as much since I don't mind the noise and it keeps my feet warm. That runs at like 85°C - 95°C for the entire time I'm gaming, so it blows out quite a lot of hot air.
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Idk if I have access to the protein models that they generate, it likely only becomes public once they publish the research (standard protocol to make sure other labs don't steal your research before you can claim your due credit for it).

Hmmm that's interesting...I have a 1070Ti and it usually doesn't go above 65-70 degrees...and I usually play everything on ultra high settings.
 
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