Yes, that's the general idea. I'm just not sure people realize that it costs them more than if the computer were actually sitting idle. In a faster computer you could be looking at another 10-20 bucks a month just for Folding.

 

ok...

 

8c/kWh

10-20/.08=125-250 kilowatt hours per month= 4.16-8.33 kilowatt hours per day. how much more power are we thinking a CPU draws when its doing something instead of idling? are we taking into account the fact that windows runs system idle process when there is nothing else to do just to keep the processor busy?

 

assuming i run this 8 hours a day...let me know where i can get a 500-1000 watt processor, i bet it runs wicked fast.

 

or we could make it easier and say i run it 16 hours a day, then you just need to find me a proc that runs 250-500 watts more when busy than when idle.

Or I could just remind you that sometimes you Californians pay as much as 20 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity. If you run Folding overnight, every night, it will add up.

 

I agree that the sums are mostly trivial. I just think it's something people need to be aware of. Distributed computing is many interesting things, but one of them is not "free".

Or I could just remind you that sometimes you Californians pay as much as 20 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity. If you run Folding overnight' date=' every night, it will add up.

 

I agree that the sums are mostly trivial. I just think it's something people need to be aware of. Distributed computing is many interesting things, but one of them is not "free".[/quote']

 

 

your right that it will add up, its definately not free and i agree people should be aware before they do it. i just think your numbers are a little exagerated.