Hi folks!

As the title says, I'm looking for more info about making a PS3 actually crunch BOINC.

I'm looking more into Yoyo@Home than PS3-Grid, cause I kind of like that Yoyo project. Anyways...

The situation is: I'm moving with a friend of mine in 7 weeks (July 1st is the date everyone moves in Quebec ). He's the one who's got a PS3. I'd like to make it crunch, but before I ask him, I wanna make sure there's no problems...

My question is: does it get really hot? Does that make the PS3's live shorter? My buddy and I will actually PLAY quite a bit with that console, it's not just there for a crunching purpose.

I saw they sell some fans you can add to the PS3, would you suggest to buy that? I would totally buy it if it means I get that machine up and crunching

Well, anything I should know about this before I actually talk to my buddy about it? I think Phil Klassen's crunching on Yoyo, not sure it's with a PS3, though. It says: Cell Broadband Engine with Linux2.6.22-0.ydl.rc4 as the platform. Don't have a clue on what it is.

I know I need to install Linux and download a special PS3 Boinc, well it's explained on the PS3 Grid board. No real need to explain it further I guess... well not before an actual 7 more weeks for sure

Thanks for your answers!

Well... I haven't check by my self... but I guess the PS3 doesn't get really hot...There are a lot of people who let their PS3 H24 crunching...
I will ask to some friends.
Anyway, you will need to install Linux. The best one for the PS3 is "YDL".
Not really difficult to install and there are a lot of good tutos.

Thank you for looking into this!

By the way, H24, I didn't know French people would write that! Well, in Québec, we don't, we say 24/24 or 24/7, but never H24. For some details, Parisian French and Québec French have their interesting differences.

What about in English ^^
We can say also 24h/24. With H24...it seems more dynamic, young, etc..
Never 24/7. We prefer use the loooong sentence : 24 heure sur 24, 7 jours sur 7 ^^.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for some answer about the temp.
Did you check how to install YDL ?

(Ps: I not parisian ^^, but may be they got another expression haha)

So.. I receive several answers.
Even without crunching, the PS3 use to get hot... But it still possible to do it.
The PS3 of a member is crunching since last year (In fact a bit more than 1 year) 24/7 and no problem.

Anyway, it is possible to find some system to cool the PS3 like : http://www.nyko.com/nyko/products/?i=93

And by the way... I have just seen a friend using "24/7" (But we cannot say it. Just write it.

I have 2 of them working away. I have not had any problems running them 24/7. To crunch on ps3grid you can use a usb flash stick or you will need a copy of linux on dvd a usb mouse and keyboard. The setup is quite easy now. I have the full install so the kids can use em as another computer. Good luck, if you need a hand let me know.

Thanks for your answer.

Philzie, do you actually play with your PS3 from time to time?

Does all the crunching affect in any way the rendering when playing?

You cannot play and crunch in the same time.

Ya We do use one of them quite regular for playing games, or both when the boy brings a pile of his friends over. Sony made it quite easy to put any operating system you want on them I have the regular sony stock os, windows xp, linux and osx on em. We now just use the sony os for the games and playing blu ray stuff, and linux when we use it as a computer ( the osx is ok, but the xp is way too slow) I did change the hard drives in them to 350 gig laptop ones and chopped them up for each os. When we are done playing games we just boot linux up and start boinc, and when we want to play or watch a movie just type in "Run sony os" at the kboot prompt in linux to go the other way. I only have ps3grid and Yoyo on them, and have not watched very close, but I think the only time I ran out of work was when I forgot to run boinc. I may switch one of them to folding for a while, as I have not done much of that. You should beware I ran my first ps3 on the carpet beside the tv for about a year, then noticed the cooling fan was getting faster and faster, took it out to the shop pulled the cover off, and yuck I think all the dust from the whole house must have been in there!! Used the shop vac and a couple of drops of oil on the fan and quiet again. Other than that I have had no issues with them running 24/7 for I am guessing over a year and a half now.

I knew that, but thanks for telling, I'm not THAT much of a newbie!!!

Nice answer, I'm not worrying anymore about making my buddy's PS3 crunch! I already told him and he was happy about it. 7 weeks to go and then I'll have this addition to my little crunching farm!

oh, my mistake
So, in 7 weeks, You will increase your RAC by +/- 3000pts, don't you ?

Well I don't think it would give me that much credits would it?

Just looking at Philzie's stats on Yoyo and one PS3 equals either 1,200 or 1,700 recent average credit.

That being said, I'm not sure it'll crunch 24 hours a day. Maybe more like 15-18 hours or so. We'll see. Anyway, any more credits I crunch because of the PS3, I consider it as a bonus since it's not even my own investment. Just a little more work done in the great world of Boinc and some numbers added to the team's.

If you mess around with 2 projects like I do the RAC per machine is around 3000, if you just play at ps3grid you will get over 4000 to 5000 per day.
YoYo gives way less credit per hour than ps3 grid.

I see, good to know. I'll read about PS3 Grid then.

I like Evolution at home at Yoyo, but the other projects don't interest me much there. Well, I'll make my mind eventually.