Graphics cards are obviously a useful tool for gaming, video editing and even cryptocurrency mining. But did you know you can donate your AMD Radeon or Nvidia GPUs spare compute cycles to researching and potentially fighting against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic?

The Folding@Home "Web Control" page shows what projects your PC is dedicating resources to and gives ... [+] you control over when it's active.

Folding@Home is a distributed computing project that was founded in October 2000 at Stanford University, and it was specifically designed for disease research. It has historically been targeted at researching cancer, ALS, Parkinsons, Huntingtons and more.

The software uses the spare CPU and GPU cycles of thousands of computers globally to simulate protein folding and computational drug design.

Put another way, Folding@Home uses computer simulations to understand a proteins moving parts. Once scientists have a firm grasp on how the atoms move and interact within a protein, they can venture closer to discovering therapeutics to treat it.

But these simulations require massive computational power. And the Folding@Home team now wants to direct as much global compute power as possible at fighting SARS-CoV-2.

Viruses also have proteins that they use to suppress our immune systems and reproduce themselves. To help tackle coronavirus, we want to understand how these viral proteins work and how we can design therapeutics to stop them.

The video above demonstrates part of a simulation facilitated through Folding@Home of a protein where the atoms (shown as spheres) move aside, exposing a site where a drug can bind. The Folding@Home team has used similar simulations to expose a druggable site in the lethal Ebola virus.

The science behind what the team is doing is simultaneously fascinating and confusing (at least for the layman), and beyond the scope of this article. But I do encourage you to digest it on your own time via Greg Bowmans detailed writeup here.

The TL;DR

If you own a Windows, macOS or Linux PC that has a graphics card, you can join thousands of others around the world by donating your spare GPU cycles. This helps power the advanced simulations that could unlock a key to more deeply understanding the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its resulting disease COVID-19.

A list of Folding@Home installers

To get started, all you have to do is download the Folding@Home client for the OS youre currently using. The linked page should automatically detect your OS and present the right installer.

After that, simply install Folding@Home. Should you need help, heres a link to detailed installation guides for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Tips For Folding@Home

While this is meaningful software for a terrific cause, it isnt the most elegant. So Ill include a few tips for getting it up and running without grinding your PC to a halt.

1) Once the software is installed and launched, it should automatically open a web page that acts as a simple controller and monitor. If it doesnt, point your browser at https://client.foldingathome.org.

If you use Folding@Home with a GPU, choose "Any disease" will tell the software to direct its ... [+] computational power to various coronavirus-related research

2) If you have a GPU and you want to dedicate those compute cycles to various coranavirus research, choose Any disease from the dropdown box labeled I support research fighting...

3) You may need to manually add your GPU to the FAHControl app, but thats pretty straightforward. Just open FAHControl, select the Configure button on the top left, navigate to the Slots tab, and check the box designated as GPU (image below). Leave all the other options alone, as the software can handle that for you.

Configure a GPU in Folding@Home

4) When Folding@Home is active, it will put a heavy load on your system. This is normal. If youd rather the software run only when youre not using your PC, select only when idle. Ive also found that a Medium power setting strikes a good balance between the apps performance and system usability.

5) If it looks like your PC isnt getting any work, thats because theres been an unusually heavy influx of new users for the software, due in part to Nvidias call to action. You may experience some downtime, but the Folding@Home team says its working diligently to add new simulations to meet the increased demand.

No GPU? Your CPU Is Still Useful

If you dont have a dedicated graphics card, you can still make a difference. CPU-only workloads contribute to researching Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Huntingtons and cancer. The Folding@Home team is also working on adding COVID-19 simulations to CPU workloads as well, but no timeline was given for that.

View Forbes complete coronavirus coverage.

Read more:
How Every PC Gamer In The World Can Join The Fight Against Coronavirus - Forbes