The Cost of Distributed Client Computing? 527
ialbert asks: "I only recently decided to install SETI@home on my mostly idle home computer. It got me thinking though, are those free processor cycles truly free? Has anyone had experience with processors dying prematurely due to a constant, heavy load, or is usage pretty inconsequential? What about other components, like harddrives? And how much does a 100% processor load increase your power bill versus a 1-2% idle load over the course of a year? It's easy to think of idle computers as an untapped computational resource, but what are the costs to the computer owners?"
Mine works out to (Score:2, Funny)
$4.23
Next question?
Inherent danger (Score:5, Funny)
Just don't bother is my advice.
Universally Wrong Thinking (Score:2, Funny)
The costs will be a lot higher if we don't detect and defeat the alien hordes through SETI.
I hate penny-pinching accountant types.
Re:full speed ahead (Score:3, Funny)
Re:missin the point. (Score:3, Funny)
You cannot waste CPU cycles on Pr0n.
Re:missin the point. (Score:4, Funny)
I have a computer and Internet connection specifically for pr0n, so my CPU cycles are not "wasted" but "perfoming its main function".
The truth (Score:0, Funny)
So yes running number crunching will use more of those calculations and will wear your cpu out quicker.
Tough one (Score:3, Funny)
Those are all surprisingly complex and computationally intensive questions. In order to find the answer, I'll soon be releasing "@home@home", a distributed application designed to calculate the true cost of itself.