Folding@Home: THGC Needs You -Team 40051

[Mousemonkey]

Hey guys, who's up for a little friendly competition between us and Anandtech? At stake would be our honour and integrity as a F@H team of course but the prize would be the satisfaction of grinding team Anandtech into the dust under our feet AND having Purch (the owner of both sites) donating a modest sum of cash to the Child's Play charity in the name of OUR team.

What say you brothers? Are you up for it?

 

[lilcinw]

Could we get a front page treatment of the contest? Or at least a sticky somewhere, maybe the GPU forum?

It sounds like a lot of fun and I miss the Chimp Challenge hype. Count me in.

 

[Titillating]

Everything is still in the planning stages, pending sufficient interest from both sides, but if it happens, we will most certainly get a news post out about it highlighting the team, as well as a followup for the results. It'll also likely be included in internal Purch newsletters, because that's a cool thing to include, showcasing all the great things our communities get up to. We like to brag about you folks to the execs

 

[Mousemonkey]

Could we get a front page treatment of the contest? Or at least a sticky somewhere, maybe the GPU forum?

It sounds like a lot of fun and I miss the Chimp Challenge hype. Count me in.

I have only just received word and the details have yet to be sketched out let alone be finalised! 😀

The idea is to try and get this organised and completed before the December holiday season begins and there may have to be a limit on the numbers on each team in order to keep things fair but I'm still loving the idea myself.

 

[logainofhades]

Damn, I really need a GTX 1070, now. :lol:

 

[lilcinw]

@logain Ha! Since EXT's post last week I have restarted my client and tried to figure out a budget for a Titan. :lol:

 

[logainofhades]

Wife will in no way approve a new titan x. I am barely going to get away with a 1070. In all fairness, if it weren't for vehicle, and house, issues, the 1070 would not be as big of an issue, as it is right now.

 

[lilcinw]

Yeah if you look at the PPD numbers a 1080 isn't really justifiable for the cost much less a Titan. Gotta chase that halo effect though.

 

[logainofhades]

I do believe my 780ti is dying, and causing my lockups, so I am back to my 770. 🙁

 

[EXT64]

1060's are nice and affordable though 😀

Winter (at least for N Hemi) is a great time for a competition too!

 

[logainofhades]

The 1060 isn't a huge upgrade, over my 780ti, though.

 

[EXT64]

Nope, but it does save a bunch in power and get 300k+ PPD

 

[Unolocogringo]

Hey guys, who's up for a little friendly competition between us and Anandtech? At stake would be our honour and integrity as a F@H team of course but the prize would be the satisfaction of grinding team Anandtech into the dust under our feet AND having Purch (the owner of both sites) donating a modest sum of cash to the Child's Play charity in the name of OUR team.

What say you brothers? Are you up for it?

I'm in as always.
Do kind of miss the Chimp Challenge.

 

[beanoslim]

 

[Mousemonkey]

Okay, I have just received word that the AT team are up for it. The competition will run for a week but the date has yet to be nailed down as have the number of participants. The dates at the moment are either starting on Nov 20 or on Dec 1 so if folk could give some feedback on on which would be better that would be good and as soon as I know whether it will be a entire team effort or a chosen few I will post back so that people can put their names in the hat.

 

[lilcinw]

I would greatly prefer that the whole team be able to participate. That way instead of having a post saying "Look at this cool thing we are doing" it can say "We are doing this cool thing and here is how you can help". It is more likely to get the respective communities involved.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I would greatly prefer that the whole team be able to participate. That way instead of having a post saying "Look at this cool thing we are doing" it can say "We are doing this cool thing and here is how you can help". It is more likely to get the respective communities involved.

The concern there is that it would give us an unfair advantage as we probably have the larger team (I haven't checked that though).

 

[Titillating]

I would greatly prefer that the whole team be able to participate. That way instead of having a post saying "Look at this cool thing we are doing" it can say "We are doing this cool thing and here is how you can help". It is more likely to get the respective communities involved.

The problem with this is the size of each respective community. Tom's Hardware boasts over 2 million registered users; AT has about 1/7 of that. Now, this doesn't represent the number of active users or people who would be interested in this, but nonetheless, the sheer difference in the number of potential participants would lead to it being rather unbalanced, taking the competitiveness out of the entire event.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I would greatly prefer that the whole team be able to participate. That way instead of having a post saying "Look at this cool thing we are doing" it can say "We are doing this cool thing and here is how you can help". It is more likely to get the respective communities involved.

The problem with this is the size of each respective community. Tom's Hardware boasts over 2 million registered users; AT has about 1/7 of that. Now, this doesn't represent the number of active users or people who would be interested in this, but nonetheless, the sheer difference in the number of potential participants would lead to it being rather unbalanced, taking the competitiveness out of the entire event.

In regards to that, would we have to set up a separate team then?

 

[logainofhades]

Yea setting a limit, on the numbers of people folding, is probably a good idea. Set that number, then choose who will be included. Only calculate the values of those members.

 

[Titillating]

Yea setting a limit, on the numbers of people folding, is probably a good idea. Set that number, then choose who will be included. Only calculate the values of those members.

This is the route we'll most likely go with, pending a response from the AT team. No need to set up new teams or realign anybody; we'll just tally the contributions from individuals representing each community over the span of the week.

 

[lilcinw]

I've never organized a competition like this and I am sure the ultimate decision goes to they guy putting up the money but here is my take. A locked down competition would be the least interesting (current PPD * X days = winner) and wouldn't eliminate the possibility of cheating by piggybacking off of 'approved' team members. A handicap is potentially the most fair but a simple 50% reduction of our points would give Anand an advantage on any new members who joined for the challenge.

If this is going to be an annual competition then, as stated above, I would prefer a free-for-all with the full admission that it will probably go our way (unless they get all of their folders from last winter back as they were doubling our PPD back then). That way we could use this a baseline for handicapping the races in the future.

Here are the current team stats comparisons, Tom's vs Anand:

PPD: 11,701,480 vs 5,758,595 -- 103% advantage Tom's
Users: 41 vs 30 -- 37% advantage Tom's
PPD/User: 285,402 vs 191,953 -- 49% advantage Tom's
Inactive Users (Potentials?): 1,368 vs 2,281 -- 67% advantage Anand's

 

[Titillating]

It's our first time putting something like this together as well. Truthfully, we on the Community Team know only the bare minimum when it comes to distributed computing, which is why I need to lean on members from both teams in sussing out the details.

Ultimately, whether this competition is a free-for-all or have a set number of participants will be decided by you, the "official" members of each team. My role is simply to facilitate the discussion and organize things, and Purch will be making that donation to Child's Play regardless of how the two sides want to duke it out. If both sides are fine with having it be open and inclusive, then you will have our full support for it. (We would totally ask you all to put together a brief introduction to folding though, if one doesn't already exist, along with instructions for newcomers on how they can join and contribute 😉 )

 

[lilcinw]

Warmon6 put together a few, including the first post of this thread. He occasionally has limited internet access due to his school but I just PM'ed him and asked if he was able to assist.

It wouldn't hurt for a few others to do the same.

 

[warmon6]

Well, got your message loud and clear! I forgot Tom's email system actually works when a PM sent to you. :lol:

As for our guide or something for the front page, I know we still have our (probably old and out dated) guide that you might be able to use bits and part for. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/34683-12-toms-hardware-folding-home-team-guide-testing#t499234

Although since I haven't been keeping up with F@H for the last several months and how busy i am for these next 3 weeks, I wont be able much help beyond that guide. (Im surprise that i haven't comment on here since march... Could of sworn I commented sooner than that.)

As of currently, Im busy hammering away at my MCSA Server 2012 Cert. Already passed the 70-410 and 70-411 exam. Currently working on the 412 and will be taking that exam on 31st of Oct. After that I'll be getting ready to leave for home on Nov. 11.

After that point, I should be able to help out (assuming that it wont be to late.)