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ShawnD1 · 12-05-2003, 05:39 AM

I just got a new AthlonXP 2500+ on wednesday evening.
All of my computers run a distributed computing program called Folding@Home (f@h or fah). I have had a Pentium2 350mhz running 24/7 since late August and in that time it has only finished 8 work units. I've only had my AthlonXP 2500+ running for about 1.5 days and it has already completed 2 work units. In 6 days, this computer will have done the work that took my P2 over 3 MONTHS.

Old processors are slow

Cyclone2 · 12-05-2003, 05:42 AM

For all the electricity you ran through it you could almost afford a newer mobo combo

lol

I found that the older ones were no longer worth using for DC

ShawnD1 · 12-05-2003, 05:56 AM

Nah, power is cheap. It's only around 9 cents per kilowatt hour.

RicheemxX · 12-05-2003, 06:01 AM

well you should place this in the DC forum but hey I'll tell ya old cpu's are the **** to bad everyone thinks they have to have top dollar for thier stuff I'd buy all the older cpu's I can get not looking as far back as 350 but hey those aren't as bad as you think

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I will build anyones throw aways to perfection

Edited: you let one slip Rich! No profanity please ...
KK/Moderator

MTAtech · 12-05-2003, 06:14 AM

To stick up for old processors, they are good for somethings (besides aquarium weights.)

If the processing is not intensive (e.g. I/O instead of mathematic calculations) they are fine.

I'm using a P3-500 on my main server running Win 2003, and it is a champ. To get more I/O performance, I added a ATA133 card.

BTW, what does Folding@Home do?

ShawnD1 · 12-05-2003, 06:27 AM

Having a bunch of crummy slow computers doesn't really save you money in the long run. Let's do some math with intersections and other cool stuff.

Time for P2 to do the work was 3 months which is about 90 days. time for the Athlon was 6 days. the athlon does the work of about 15 P2 computers.

Now for electricity. A P2 takes about 100W (entire computer, no games) while an AthlonXP takes about 200W (entire computer, no games). Let's assume power costs 10 cents per kilowatt hour.
Remember that 100W is 0.1kW and 200W is 0.2kW

first up, the cost to run 15 P2s ($). t is in hours.
y = $0.1/kWh * 15 * 0.1kW * t
y = 0.15t

now the cost of an athlon xp, lets say the computer cost $800
y = [$0.1/kWh * 0.2kW * t] + 800
y = 0.02t + 800

now make them equal:
0.15t = 0.02t + 800
0.13t = 800
t = 6153 hours = 256 days = 8 months and 16 days (if each month has 30 days)

The Athlon actually pays for itself after 8 months.