Idle CPUs

“Not many people turn their computers off every time they leave their desk. People attend meetings, grab a quick lunch, or talk on the phone while their computer sits idle. Many people even leave their computers on all night. Harnessing these ‘idle cycles’ can result in massive computing power, especially when done on a large scale…”. I know many people who do this and their computers end up crashing or overheating. Not a very smart thing to do, especially when investing over $500-$1,000 for something you expect to last for a long time. I admit I’m not all that innocent either, but for the most part I turn my computer off every night when I’m done with it.

Computers are like houses, but in machine form. You need to keep them clean, tidy and up to date. Also keeping in mind you don’t want unwanted guests visiting (such as in-laws) or in a computer’s case, viruses and spyware. Leaving computers on all of the time makes them vulnerable to viruses and also takes up A LOT of memory. This doesn’t allow the cache, IP address, or most functions on your computer to refresh. It basically becomes a clogged artery, everything builds up and it eventually fails, or in a computer’s case you get ‘crashing’.

Just because you’re not doing anything with your computer, doesn’t mean your computer stops thinking. The screen saver actually takes up more memory than it saves; it ‘steals’ cycles, making your computer slower than usual.

Typically, a standard PC sits idle most of the time. Surfing the Web, checking e-mail, and using Word and Excel does not exert much pressure on a Pentium II processor that can handle 200 million instructions per second. Most of the time, the processor sits idle, waiting for something to do. A group of enthusiasts created a website called Distributed.net. It’s a non-profit organization of computer hobbyists. This website uses idle cycles of everyday PCs to create a supercomputer more powerful than Pixar’s animation in films such as Toy Story and a Bug’s Life.

Distributed.net plans to take the unused cycles of everyday computers that are connected to the Internet and create a globally distributed supercomputer. Such a system can be used to work on complex projects that require massive amounts of parallel computing power without the need for a lot of communication bandwidth. In the past, such projects needed to book time on supercomputers to run their processes, which is an expensive proposition. Today, projects can farm parcels of work out to PCs, Macs and Unix boxes that would otherwise be idle. Anyone with a connection to the Internet can download a special client from Distributed.net that runs in the background of his or her computer.

The only issue with Distributed.net and other clients is how to persuade home users and companies to run a client application on their computers. Enthusiasts who created Distributed.net need to make donating idle CPU cycles a worthwhile cause. One solution that a lot of people would go for is to pay users for their idle CPU cycles. Computers cost money every minute they’re not used, so if the owners of companies are compensated (as well as home users), then it will inspire people to participate in the donating cycles process. Giving idle cycles in return for money it an easy way to make a quick buck. Who doesn’t like money, especially if all you have to do is run a client on your computer? The client won’t affect any processes on your computer and it will run like normal.

Believe it or not, you can also donate your idle cycles to science. Having many cycles clustered together creates supercomputers, which have been built mainly for protein research. “The research centers on proteins that have been determined to be a possible target for e.g. cancer therapy. Through a process called "virtual screening", special analysis software will identify molecules that interact with these proteins and will determine which of the molecular candidates has a high likelihood of being developed into a drug. The process is similar to finding the right key to open a special lock by looking at millions upon millions of molecular "keys". If we know the structures of proteins responsible for diabetes, for example, and whether their activity needs to be increased or decreased, we can search for small molecules that either activate or inhibit the protein.

Problems and solutions have been identified. Leaving your computer 24/7 causes problems in the long run, donating your idle CPU cycles gives you money and helps out a good cause by benefiting science and making research cheaper to find cures for diseases. It also gives them the technology to closely look at molecules.

Make sure to turn off your computer when you’re done with it, unless you’re going to be away from it for a short period of time. I know from experience it’s more convenient to leave it on and come back to it, but if you aren’t donating cycles or doing anything remotely productive with your computer, it’s best to let it rest. After all, like humans, machines also need some time off.

Websites:

http://www.distributed.net

http://www.hyper.net/dc-howto.html

http://www.networkworld.com/news/1999/0301idlecycles.html

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/editorials/article/1259/

http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/