NVIDIA Calls On PC Gamers To Put GPUs To Work Battling Coronavirus, How To Join PC Master Race Or HotHardware
Now, however, NVIDIA has issued a call to action for enthusiasts with GPUs -- that should be most of you out there reading this -- to join in on the efforts. More specifically, NVIDIA is urging folks to join the PC Master Race (PCMR) team to put idle GPU resources to good use to fold for coronavirus-specific GPU projects. However you can also join us in the fight here at HotHardware as well.
Right now, these are the GPU projects that are currently available:
- 11741: Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 causing virus) receptor binding domain in complex with human receptor ACE2.
- 11746: Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 causing virus) receptor binding domain in complex with human receptor ACE2 (alternative structure to 11741).
- 11742: Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 causing virus) protease in complex with an inhibitor.
- 11743: Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 causing virus) protease – potential drug target.
- 11744: Coronavirus SARS-CoV (SARS causing virus) receptor binding domain trapped by a SARS-CoV S230 antibody.
- 11745: Coronavirus SARS-CoV (SARS causing virus) receptor binding domain mutated to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 causing virus) trapped by a SARS-CoV S230 antibody.
PCMR's team number is 225605, so you can join them if you wish. Alternatively, you can also join team HotHardware at 32407 of course too! However, everyone is doing this to achieve the same end goal, so if you'd prefer not to join a team, your spare GPU resources will still be helping out your fellow man.
Luckily, getting started with Folding@home is a simple affair, with the first step being to download the installer. And if you need help with getting up and running with the software, you can follow these handy guides for Windows, macOS, or Linux. We should also note that you don't have to dedicate all available resources to folding, as there are Light, Medium, and High settings that you can choose (with the expected hits to power consumption on your system). You can also set the program to work at all times, or only when your system is idle.
According to the Coronavirus Live Dashboard, which takes input from World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), along with multiple Chinese agencies, there have been a total of 147,838 coronavirus cases globally resulting in 5,539 deaths to date (50 within the United States).
You can find out more about Folding@Home's efforts to assist researchers in the fight against COVID-19, here.
