I added a WinXP to the lineup at the start of the month, and it's chugging along nicely. Here's something from Wikipedia about the PS3:
[My highlights above, all links live]PlayStation 3 cluster
Given the computing capabilities of the machine, there is some interest in using PS3 to build supercomputers for high-performance computing,[125] as the NCSA has already built a cluster based on the PlayStation 2.[126] Terra Soft Solutions has a version of Yellow Dog Linux for the PlayStation 3,[127] and sells PS3s with Linux pre-installed,[128] in single units, and 6 and 32 node clusters.[129] In addition, RapidMind is pushing their stream programming package for the PS3.[130]
On January 3, 2007, Dr. Frank Mueller, Associate Professor of Computer Science at NCSU, clustered 8 PS3s. Mueller commented that the 512 MB of system RAM is a limitation for this particular application, and is considering attempting to retrofit more RAM. Software includes: Fedora Core 5 Linux ppc64, MPICH2, OpenMP v2.5, GNU Compiler Collection and CellSDK 1.1.[131][132][133]
On March 15, 2007, SCE and Stanford University announced that the Folding@home project would be expanded to the PS3.[134] Along with thousands of PCs already joined over the Internet, PS3 owners are able to lend the computing power of their game systems to the study of improper protein folding and associated diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, cystic fibrosis, and several forms of cancer. The software was included as part of the 1.6 firmware update (March 22, 2007), and can be set to run manually or automatically when the PS3 is idle through the Cross Media Bar. The processed information is then sent back to project's central servers over the Internet. Processing power from PS3 users is greatly contributing to the Folding@home project, and PS3s have overtaken all other participating operating systems in teraflops contributed.[135][136] As of April 23, 2007, more than 250,000 PS3 owners have allowed the Folding@home software to be run on their systems, averaging over 400 teraflops and peaking at over 700. By comparison, the world's most powerful supercomputer, Blue Gene has a peak performance of 280.6 teraflops.[137]
The Computational Biochemistry and Biophysics Lab in Barcelona has launched a distributed computing project called PS3GRID. This project is expected to run sixteen times faster than an equivalent project on a standard PC. Like most distributed computing projects, it is designed to run only when the computer is idle.
Pity we couldn't get the rest of the PC makers to ship the code with their updates, the way they do all the other BS trash software they stick on the system. At least this is doing something valuable, and other than making me feel good costs me nothing to have contributing.
Thanks for keeping us informed, tex.
It does cost you in electricity if you have a more modern chip that goes into a low-power mode when no work is being done. The PS3 takes about 200W to crunch F@H.