I am at a crossroads which I think many people here (or no longer here) may have found themselves at before.

I am finding it difficult to justify the huge power usage of my systems thanks running distributed computing apps 24/7 and the associated electricity use.

A random discussion about the power consumption of my main system with a friend led to discussion of MW in general and later my power bill(s).

My yearly power bill is now exceeding $2100 Australian dollars per year. This is based on my latest quarterly bill and that period included winter where my computers passively heat my residence. As it becomes hotter here, I will be paying even more for air conditioning (with or without computers running).

Unfortunately, $2100+ a year is nearly 1/5th of my yearly income as a student.

Also, I found it difficult to explain to my friend who I was discussing MW with - exactly how it benefits me. While there is an unquantifiable 'good feeling' of knowing that I'm contributing, and arguably for some people the (passive?) competition of the stats, there is a point where these intangible things need to be weighted up against practical things, like cost.

Electricity costs in my area will be increasing by 15% soon. I already pay $0.19c per kW/H inc tax.

And I just got a second 4870x2. Frick!

What other experiences have users here had when faced with the financially-important decisions like this? Discuss.

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Well I only have one xp computer. I am on/off of it most days doing things so I don't mind running boinc to fill in. I do limit the processor usage as to keep the fans from running much and to hopefully not shorten its lifespan. At one point I started leving it on some nights, and I rarely do that now. As for this project I think I am done crunching for a while. I am still going to stick with my other one for now.

As for your expenses I can't see doing that unless it is your hobby or have money to waste. If you enjoy it then keep doing it. You can always cut back on your running systems and see what you think later.

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Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected the expected?
If it makes sense, DON'T do it.

Hi Laviathan,

Yes you are not the only one that has been here before. I run a farm of 10 PC's 24/7 on a range of Boinc projects. Mainly they are P4's and a couple of PIII's. Two have 3850 cards and one has a 4850 card. Without going into personal details this is done at a remote location that I visit once a week.

My monthly electric bill is £80 of which 95% is down to the PC's. During the summer months I have to run an A/C unit otherwise it gets to 95F in the computer room. That puts an additional £30 a month on the bill.

Therefore 8 months at £80 + 4 months at £110 = £1080 = A$2084 which is the same as you!!! This all equates to about £20 a week (A$40) for what is basically my only hobby. A round of golf at a decent club could cost twice that plus the annual fees to belong.

Luckily I am able to afford it, others may not be so fortunate.

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Don't drink water, that's the stuff that rusts pipes

Well laviathan! Good question, and I must say, having more than one computer crunching definitely puts a strain on the budget. But as they say it's a free country. I happen to like the science behind MilkyWay, so it isn't much problem deciding for me. I crunch not only Milkyway, but other projects that I feel may help man/womankind. I do hope you stay with it, but if you don't, then I can understand and relate.

I too have been thinking the same thing. I've just now took an early retirement, and it may just prove to be too much. We'll see.

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Hi Dune,

The only sensible way forward for anybody who wants to support this project is to run GPU cards. It simply won't cost in to do CPU crunching any more.

Boinc per se hasn't woken up to that fact yet, but no doubt they will be dragged into the 21st century at some point...

If you can afford it, do. If not, don't. I can't afford quail's eggs for breakfast every morning so I dn't. Can afford coffee and chocolate though...

$2600/yr here in canberra, and that was before the latest 10% ACTEW hike.
I can afford it - I don't have the financial millstones that many people have.

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Cheers,

PeterV

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When I first heard about BOINC many years ago I was thrilled to be able to do something with my PC to contribute to science.

Whether I can afford it or not, I guess I still am ;)

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Remember something similar comming up on the SETI boards years earlier. Since then a recession has hit in many parts, and I can see many asking this. A few things basically:

- If one's concerned, they don't need to run the computer more often then they otherwise would. 5 minute trips to the bathroom, and even when the computer is in use (running a word processor or web browser), uses hardly any CPU time at all. In many cases one is only using 1-5% of their CPU or such for such tasks... These apps just do not need CPU's with the computer power available today. Multi-core CPUs are another example. The system might use a different core then then some old word processor, but the word processor isn't necessarily multi-threaded, and even if it is really wouldn't need the full resources of 1 core.

- Not rebooting all the time is more of a convenience, then anything. Some don't reboot ever, because they don't want to wait to use their computer, whenever. Booting does take time, as does logging in. Others don't mind in the morning, but after lunch etc would rather not. I know few who would want to go to the trouble to shutdown, and reboot everytime they come back from a bathroom break, or a 5 min phone call.

- The biggest consumer of power on the computer isn't exactly the computer itself, it's the monitor. I s'pose LCDs use less power then the old CRT? CRT's have always been big power hogs. In my old apartment, just turning off the monitor while I wasn't using my computer (but leaving the computer running), cut my electric bill by about 20-25%, with all other useage the same (lights, TV, etc).

Monitor off, whether one leaves the comp running or not, is the first good bet to cut the costs. One doesn't need to see the screen when not there, after that one can adjust to what they can afford, and want to do (aka the smaller useage on power from the comp itself, vs. convenience of it being "ready to use".

Well electricity is FREE in my apartment building so the cost of electicity is not a factor, but I just spent $1600 Canadian on my new machine and I'm still wondering if I should have spent that much? I consider this a hobby so the cost is always considered a treat for myself cause I think Im worth it. Just cant treat myself very often at these prices.
;-p

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- Not rebooting all the time is more of a convenience, then anything. Some don't reboot ever, because they don't want to wait to use their computer, whenever. Booting does take time, as does logging in. Others don't mind in the morning, but after lunch etc would rather not. I know few who would want to go to the trouble to shutdown, and reboot everytime they come back from a bathroom break, or a 5 min phone call.

Vistas 'sleep' shut down option takes about 15 seconds to save and shutdown, and about 10 seconds to resume to whatever you were doing.

Power consumption while sleeping for my system is 9 watts.

I believe it is similar (but faster) than hibernation (where data is kept on the hard drive while sleeping) by saving all session data to the RAM which is kept powered-on by one of the PSU's rails which always supply power to the motherboard even when the system is off (fortunately this uses nil power).

It is very similar to what laptops with vista do by default - you'll notice if idle for a few minutes they will 'turn off' but they are really going into hybrid sleep mode.

- The biggest consumer of power on the computer isn't exactly the computer itself, it's the monitor. I s'pose LCDs use less power then the old CRT? CRT's have always been big power hogs. In my old apartment, just turning off the monitor while I wasn't using my computer (but leaving the computer running), cut my electric bill by about 20-25%, with all other useage the same (lights, TV, etc).

Monitor off, whether one leaves the comp running or not, is the first good bet to cut the costs. One doesn't need to see the screen when not there, after that one can adjust to what they can afford, and want to do (aka the smaller useage on power from the comp itself, vs. convenience of it being "ready to use".

That may be true for some regular users but I dont think that is the case for many people who run BOINC. I run a 46" tv as my screen and it uses approx 100W at near-full brightness however the computer uses between 250 to 500W. Interestingly the tv's power consumption can be halved by reducing the brightness however it is not suitable for reading text for longer periods of time in that mode.

I do make a habit of turning off the display when I'm not using the computer as it is common sense. I control the other computers using remote-desktop software.

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Each of my P4 base units takes 120W 24/7, and obviously all the monitors are turned off unless I need to work on them. I could significantly increase my RAC and decrease my electric bill by chucking the lot out, and getting a couple of decent quad core machines with twin 4870's in them. But the capital outlay just isn't possible.

Each of my P4 base units takes 120W 24/7, and obviously all the monitors are turned off unless I need to work on them. I could significantly increase my RAC and decrease my electric bill by chucking the lot out, and getting a couple of decent quad core machines with twin 4870's in them. But the capital outlay just isn't possible.

I could significantly increase my RAC if I didn't turn off my computers every time I went away on holiday.

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I could significantly increase my RAC if I could get some regular work around here ! :-)

So could I if I can get my 3850 to start crunching, and I could aford a couple of i7s, and ...

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Go away, I was asleep

IF! ..the word that keeps humans down. Lol

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I will not tun my systems off! The folks over at the Electric company need the bonus money... Right...

SM..

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And I imagine you contribute your share... as do I. :D

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Cheers,

PeterV

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Me too, me too! ;-))