Editor’s Note: This article was first published on March 27th and was updated on April 3rd.
At the end of March, we announced a competition between Tom’s Hardware and Anandtech, where we asked our readers to pick a side and start donating their extra CPU and GPU cycles to Folding@Home, a non-profit massive computing project run out of Stanford University that’s currently helping medical researchers look for a coronavirus vaccine. Anyone can help out just by installing Folding@Home’s free software on their computer and setting a time for it to chip in its extra resources, which it does by simulating the protein folding process used by both viruses and human cells (hence the name). So, we figured now would be a perfect time to encourage donations with a “friendly” competition.
We’re now two weeks into our duel, and we’re proud of the combined 4,540,695,181 points we’ve been able to raise so far. We at Tom’s Hardware, though, are asking for just a little more.
Since the start of this competition (as of pub time), Tom’s Hardware has earned 2,045,050,864 points from Folding@Home, which the organization assigns based on how much each contributor’s system performs against a reference benchmark machine. Whichever side gains more points between the competition's announcement and its end will be the winner.
Big number, right? It still puts us 450,593,453 points behind Anandtech. You can see up to-the-hour results here.
Batten down the hatches, man the harpoons, it’s time to show Anandtech what the Tom’s Hardware team can do! We only have until April 15th to win this thing.
To fight for the good and holy cause of humiliating Anandtech (and stopping coronavirus), just enter team number 40051 in the “Change Identity” section of the Folding@Home software. Any points you gain will then be counted towards our team. We’ve already written a comprehensive guide for downloading and running Folding@Home in our announcement post for the competition.
By joining Tom’s Hardware in contributing to Folding@Home, you’ll be counted among these lovely folks on our leaderboard, as well as joining the millions already donating to turn Folding@Home into what is currently the world’s most powerful supercomputer.
So, whether it’s to save the world, to secure personal glory on the leaderboard, or to rub it into Anandtech and their team members’ smug faces (I live in a split household, so some of this might be personal), help Tom’s Hardware help the world today.old, so some of this might be personal), help Tom’s Hardware help the world today.
