Earlier this year, Sony and Stanford University teamed up to release a Folding @ Home client for the PS3. Part marketing, part philanthropy, they've managed to increase the overall processing power of the F@H project by three-fold. Xbox 360 fanboys have been clamoring for a F@H client for the Xbox 360, wanting to put it up against the PS3 in a fight to the death (of a disease, that is). In a recent interview with Dean Takahashi, Peter Moore stated that Microsoft has been exploring the idea, with encouragement from Bill Gates. Presumably Gates, being the philanthropist he is, would love the opportunity to leverage the worldwide base of 10M+ Xbox 360s and help solve some problem of a global scale. So why hasn't Microsoft rushed to bring a 360 client to the marketplace? Two words: fatal flaw.
The design and construction of the Xbox 360 CPU, GPU, and motherboard cause the board to warp under normal operation conditions. When the board warps, the critical solder joints between the CPU/GPU and the motherboard may fail, resulting in the infamous red ring of death. In a recent article, Llamma.com disected the Xbox 360 Elite, and discovered that Microsoft is now using epoxy to secure the CPU and GPU in an attempt to relieve stress on the chips' solder joints. In the interview above, Peter Moore refused to discuss the Xbox 360's failure rate (as have other Microsoft employees), choosing to focus on their customer service instead. Some estimates put the actual failure rate at 10% or higher. Whatever the percentage is, based on the volume of complaints on the Xbox.com forums, and the number of people I personally know who've had to send their consoles back (included myself), I think it's safe to assume the failure rate is well beyond the industry standard 3%.
What does that have to do with Folding @ Home? If Microsoft releases a F@H client for the 360, they could be facing a financial and public relations nightmare. The F@H client uses 100% of the CPU power, and if possible, 100% of the GPU power of the device while running. This generates tremendous amounts of heat, which places components under high stresses. It's a worst case scenario for hardware designers.
Given that a critical flaw in the Xbox 360's design has already been identified, a F@H client would only serve to magnify this flaw, and hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360 owners could be forced to return their consoles for repair. With customer dissatisfaction as high as it already is, this isn't a risk Microsoft can afford to take. Add this to the incredible cost to repair each console (which is already financially draining Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division), and Folding @ Home is a lose-lose proposition for Microsoft. Don't expect to see it anytime soon, if ever.
By Jeremy Charette
