I am not addicted. :o

I have 1 laptop and 2 stationary PCs NOT crunching SETI, (they aren't even powered up) :)

My Laptop is an old 850 MHz PIII, sufficient for internet banking but starts to puff and groan, when I try to get some work out of it.

The other 2 PC's are an Athlon 3000+ and an Athlon64 X2 6400+.

Those 2 could do a decent job of crunching SETI, but my Electricity Meter is already Busy enough.

My 2 running hosts consumes 15+ KWh per day equal to $190 per month. (Power is expensive in Denmark :( )

This is all my strained budget can take, right now.

So I am not addicted, or do I need qualified help?? :)

ChrisD

;)

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

there has gotta be a 12 step program for this.

There is but I changed it to thirteen and uped the fsb!

ROFLMAO

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there has gotta be a 12 step program for this.

There is but I changed it to thirteen and uped the fsb!

Mark...do you have anything to say about this??

Back to crunchin' SETI after a month of doing other projects, and with me it is an obsession. Why else would I have 4 OCed quaddies heating up the basement?

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Clk2HlpSetiCty:::PayIt4ward

I did some tinkering with the cmos of my um generic quad last night (hobby).
Just a slight improvement from 2.4GHz to 2.784GHz, but I'm hoping to see a change in my stats.

I've been trawling through BoincStats this morning (again, hobby).
Can anyone tell me what a CHRPsIBM,0200-150Cell Broadband Engine is please? It heads the list of average credit per CPU second.

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AndrewM

"Yes, #1 son, you really do need a quad" :)
Still a hobby, just a little compulsive at times, lol.

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Happy birthday Calm Chaos!!! Terrible twos?


Calm Chaos... are you feeling it yet?

I did some tinkering with the cmos of my um generic quad last night (hobby).
Just a slight improvement from 2.4GHz to 2.784GHz, but I'm hoping to see a change in my stats.

I've been trawling through BoincStats this morning (again, hobby).
Can anyone tell me what a CHRPsIBM,0200-150Cell Broadband Engine is please? It heads the list of average credit per CPU second.

Sony Playstation 3??

there has gotta be a 12 step program for this.

There is but I changed it to thirteen and uped the fsb!

Mark...do you have anything to say about this??

Back to crunchin' SETI after a month of doing other projects, and with me it is an obsession. Why else would I have 4 OCed quaddies heating up the basement?

Oh, I would say that I surely fit in with the 'obsessive' group...LOL. 4 quaddies and 4 duos....all being fsb whipped....dunno if I am gonna be able to withstand the electric bills when I have to start the air conditioning up as the seasons change....ouch.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Can anyone tell me what a CHRPsIBM,0200-150Cell Broadband Engine is please? It heads the list of average credit per CPU second.

I think it's an IBM Blade server of some sort. The PS3s have a different ID.

-Dave

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there has gotta be a 12 step program for this.

There is but I changed it to thirteen and upped the fsb!

Mark...do you have anything to say about this??

Back to crunchin' SETI after a month of doing other projects, and with me it is an obsession. Why else would I have 4 OCed quaddies heating up the basement?

Oh, I would say that I surely fit in with the 'obsessive' group...LOL. 4 quaddies and 4 duos....all being fsb whipped....dunno if I am gonna be able to withstand the electric bills when I have to start the air conditioning up as the seasons change....ouch.

Yeah that will bite, As My place currently leaks a bit of air, So I called the only contractor in Barstow for some help with weatherstripping, screwing panels down(nailed currently), caulking around doors, electric outlets, panels and to an extent windows(Which I intend to replace with dual panes from a local Glass place), insulating water pipes(Hot water only and not for freezing), adding one exterior electrical outlet and two gutters and downspouts under the eaves on both sides of the house, and paint(Light and Dark Gray(Trim is Dark)).
I also intend to see If I can get someone to put up a few Photovoltaic solar panels, an inverter and a new reversible electric meter. Those are the energy improvements.
4-Window awnings and Silver film on all the windows(two separate contractors).
The heating and cooling will be retrofitted with a new roof mounted temperature controlled swamp cooler and a Heatpump w/a backup electric heatstrip.
Inside New flooring in the baths, kitchen and front room, along with a New countertop in the baths and the kitchen(19"x33") with new sinks. The existing faucets will do, Of course the Kitchen faucet will have to have the new sprayer attached of course and that will do It.
So that looks like 6 contractors total and hopefully less than $20,000 total too as that is all the loan will do that I need to get(1% loan made for My income level over 20 years and It's a fixed rate too, No ARMs here, No way).

Sorry If I got a bit off, But by the time a few years have passed I'll be running 3 or 4 Quads and maybe 1 dual core(an AMD Opteron 165) and I'll need every penny by then.

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CA HSR built a foundation, is laying Track!
PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550 Loco, US's 1st HST

Well the apartment is in total disaray. Nothing is in the same place it was 24 hours ago. I just needed a 5ft section of cat 5 to hookup an old pc. After almost 40 years of collecting electronics hardware and junk, I was sure there was one somewhere.

I found an old crystal radio I made in the early 60s.
I found an old heathkit electronics lab from the mid 70s.
I found an old CoCo computer from the 80s.(hmmm another cruncher)
I dug under my very first IBM AT.
I looked in, around and under more old systems.(still don't know why I keep them)
Looked in every container, box and drawer.

By the time I realized it was hopeless the stores were all closed.

Now I ache all over and used language I thought I"d forgotten when I retired from the Navy.(sorry kitty)

But the refreshing of all those old memories was priceless!

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I used to be a cruncher like you, then I took an arrow to the knee.

I also intend to see If I can get someone to put up a few Photovoltaic solar panels, an inverter and a new reversible electric meter. Those are the energy improvements.

You might find that you can buy some panels and an inverter that are not covered under the California PV program for less money -- especially if the inverter is not a grid-tie inverter.

You won't get reimbursement from the state, but the savings will probably be more than you would have received in rebates.

Your "farm" is a nice predictable draw, so you can work with that load and see if you can take most or all of it off grid....

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Hobby or Obsession....

Hmm....have a Dual Core and a Single core crunching right now. Smoked a single core laptop that I used as well.

Almost ready to upgrade my Single Core gaming machine to a Dual Core.

Also planning on buying a duo-core laptop eventually.

Wife has a Single Core downstairs she won't let me touch.

I was also going to do volunteer work at a Fire Department so I could get their 4 dual cores on Boinc but it's not wheelchair accessible (go figure).

Yeah it's an obsession.

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I also intend to see If I can get someone to put up a few Photovoltaic solar panels, an inverter and a new reversible electric meter. Those are the energy improvements.

You might find that you can buy some panels and an inverter that are not covered under the California PV program for less money -- especially if the inverter is not a grid-tie inverter.

You won't get reimbursement from the state, but the savings will probably be more than you would have received in rebates.

Your "farm" is a nice predictable draw, so you can work with that load and see if you can take most or all of it off grid....

I'm not going off the grid and so It would be a Grid Tie inverter and It'll have to professionally installed as I'm not qualified or able to do It. In any case I may only be able to spend about $10,000 on solar no matter what.

I'm not worried about any reimbursement from the "state" which is actually a rebate from the power companies(SCE, etc) who sell power to the park and so I'm not a direct customer and so no rebate is possible at all here, Since My income is non taxable and so even federal tax rebates are out of reach.

Yeah the farm is nice and decent sized, Of course right now I'm a cpu, motherboard and ram short of a 4th quad, But I have time, So that isn't a problem. Cooling is a good portion of the bill during the summer as It stands now with all the air leaks that I presently have and each quad eats about $25-$35 a month. As to the number of panels It depends on their cost, the minor cost of a reversible meter and the cost of the grid tie inverter plus installation as I don't plan on having any battery backup since the grid is here already. Payments would be $92 a month for 20 years and would be for the $20,000 mentioned earlier and USRDA loan can't lend anymore than that.

Of course right now My main Quad is doing pretty good for Air cooling, It's Average Host Credits is at 4,184.90 Earlier It was at 4,188.46 and I think It's still climbing, Can You say I'm producing? And It's a QX6700 too.

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CA HSR built a foundation, is laying Track!
PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550 Loco, US's 1st HST

I also intend to see If I can get someone to put up a few Photovoltaic solar panels, an inverter and a new reversible electric meter. Those are the energy improvements.

You might find that you can buy some panels and an inverter that are not covered under the California PV program for less money -- especially if the inverter is not a grid-tie inverter.

You won't get reimbursement from the state, but the savings will probably be more than you would have received in rebates.

Your "farm" is a nice predictable draw, so you can work with that load and see if you can take most or all of it off grid....

I'm not going off the grid and so It would be a Grid Tie inverter and It'll have to professionally installed as I'm not qualified or able to do It. In any case I may only be able to spend about $10,000 on solar no matter what.

I think you misunderstood my statement.

Grid Tie costs more because the inverter must be able to safely "sniff" the grid and turn off if the grid goes down. If it doesn't, and the utility is doing maintenance and shuts down part of the grid, your inverter could kill a utility worker.

Grid Tie inverters have to be very safe. They have to be approved by the utility.

If on the other hand, you toss a couple of panels on the roof, use it to charge some batteries and use them to feed a PC, you have a known, constant load (lets say 60w for a fairly efficient machine) and three 160w panels and some decent batteries will take that one computer off-grid.

You don't need an inverter, you can buy 12v, 24v and 48v ATX power supplies. It's also more efficient if you convert once instead of twice.

... and no approval from the utility because you never touch the utility.

The cost of taking one computer off grid depends on what kind of deal you can find on panels, and batteries.

So, we're not talking about taking your whole place off grid, but looking at a few strategic loads.

It's worth investigating, however you end up doing it.

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I also intend to see If I can get someone to put up a few Photovoltaic solar panels, an inverter and a new reversible electric meter. Those are the energy improvements.

You might find that you can buy some panels and an inverter that are not covered under the California PV program for less money -- especially if the inverter is not a grid-tie inverter.

You won't get reimbursement from the state, but the savings will probably be more than you would have received in rebates.

Your "farm" is a nice predictable draw, so you can work with that load and see if you can take most or all of it off grid....

I'm not going off the grid and so It would be a Grid Tie inverter and It'll have to professionally installed as I'm not qualified or able to do It. In any case I may only be able to spend about $10,000 on solar no matter what.

I think you misunderstood my statement.

Grid Tie costs more because the inverter must be able to safely "sniff" the grid and turn off if the grid goes down. If it doesn't, and the utility is doing maintenance and shuts down part of the grid, your inverter could kill a utility worker.

Grid Tie inverters have to be very safe. They have to be approved by the utility.

If on the other hand, you toss a couple of panels on the roof, use it to charge some batteries and use them to feed a PC, you have a known, constant load (lets say 60w for a fairly efficient machine) and three 160w panels and some decent batteries will take that one computer off-grid.

You don't need an inverter, you can buy 12v, 24v and 48v ATX power supplies. It's also more efficient if you convert once instead of twice.

... and no approval from the utility because you never touch the utility.

The cost of taking one computer off grid depends on what kind of deal you can find on panels, and batteries.

So, we're not talking about taking your whole place off grid, but looking at a few strategic loads.

It's worth investigating, however you end up doing it.

Well I'm not interested in batteries as I don't intend to leave the grid as the cells would not be able to do everything and yes they'd be ok with the power company as they'd be the type that will automatically will isolate My house while there is no power on the grid. And besides batteries are costly to replace and My income is less than $900 a month, Right now It's $845 a month and It won't get above $900 a month for a few years most likely. Batteries aren't workable or economical here for Me. I'm only interested in reducing My electric bill, Not getting part or all of the farm off the grid as It's not workable as I said.

As the USRDA 1% loan(for very low income people in rural areas) I'm able to get will not pay for power supplies or appliances as is USRDA Policy, Just home improvements and only home improvements.

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CA HSR built a foundation, is laying Track!
PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550 Loco, US's 1st HST

I also intend to see If I can get someone to put up a few Photovoltaic solar panels, an inverter and a new reversible electric meter. Those are the energy improvements.

I'm not going off the grid and so It would be a Grid Tie inverter and It'll have to professionally installed as I'm not qualified or able to do It. In any case I may only be able to spend about $10,000 on solar no matter what.

It's worth investigating, however you end up doing it.

Well I'm not interested in batteries as I don't intend to leave the grid as the cells would not be able to do everything and yes they'd be ok with the power company as they'd be the type that will automatically will isolate My house while there is no power on the grid. And besides batteries are costly to replace and My income is less than $900 a month, Right now It's $845 a month and It won't get above $900 a month for a few years most likely. Batteries aren't workable or economical here for Me. I'm only interested in reducing My electric bill, Not getting part or all of the farm off the grid as It's not workable as I said.

Do you have generators on the farm to cover grid outages?

I'm looking at a weekender on 2.5 acres up country this week. It's currently off grid (or not supplied with grid current ... lol), but does have phone connected. I'm investigating solar and wind as supplimental power sources to the two generators they currently(now) use.

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AndrewM

I also intend to see If I can get someone to put up a few Photovoltaic solar panels, an inverter and a new reversible electric meter. Those are the energy improvements.

I'm not going off the grid and so It would be a Grid Tie inverter and It'll have to professionally installed as I'm not qualified or able to do It. In any case I may only be able to spend about $10,000 on solar no matter what.

It's worth investigating, however you end up doing it.

Well I'm not interested in batteries as I don't intend to leave the grid as the cells would not be able to do everything and yes they'd be ok with the power company as they'd be the type that will automatically will isolate My house while there is no power on the grid. And besides batteries are costly to replace and My income is less than $900 a month, Right now It's $845 a month and It won't get above $900 a month for a few years most likely. Batteries aren't workable or economical here for Me. I'm only interested in reducing My electric bill, Not getting part or all of the farm off the grid as It's not workable as I said.

Do you have generators on the farm to cover grid outages?

I'm looking at a weekender on 2.5 acres up country this week. It's currently off grid (or not supplied with grid current ... lol), but does have phone connected. I'm investigating solar and wind as supplemental power sources to the two generators they currently(now) use.

No, Generators are something I couldn't run here even If I could afford any, My House is a Manufactured House in a Mobile Home Park(Not like their really all that mobile, They suffer problems after moving and can be slightly drafty If not tightened up afterwards, Mine was used and their only meant to be moved once really, Not a second time like Mine was(Though not as much as If a stick built place were moved by truck thanks to the steel I beam frame under the house), As the makers used nails on the wall panels instead of screws). If the grid goes down at night, So will the farm most likely(Even though the farm is in the Kitchen at present, It might be mostly moved to the bedroom later(1 PC will stay in the Kitchen), maybe), During the day only the refrigerator would I think be protected from an outage as the kitchen has more than one electric circuit. Wind We get a lot of here and gusts I've seen have gone to at least 60mph, But I can't take advantage of that at all due to the small amount of land My house occupies(about 30'x70' total).

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CA HSR built a foundation, is laying Track!
PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550 Loco, US's 1st HST

Batteries aren't workable or economical here for Me. I'm only interested in reducing My electric bill, Not getting part or all of the farm off the grid as It's not workable as I said.

I didn't suggest that you needed to get off the grid.

You want to reduce your electric bill.

One way to do that is to go grid-tie, spin the meter backwards during the day, and then draw power when it is dark.

The other way is to simply unplug as many loads as possible.

Taking your whole house off-grid may not be as simple as it sounds because loads are very dynamic -- lights, heat, A/C, refrigeration, they vary alot.

Computers don't. Computers running BOINC 24/7 are a very predictable load, and that makes it easy to design a very simple (cost effective) system to take that constant, predictable load.

Servers here draw a near-constant 500 watts, or 12 kwh/day. Currently, we're paying $0.18/kwh. Just taking the server load offline would cut our electric bill in half.

... and I can do that using less expensive gear and no need to get approval from the utility.

I would need to make my battery bank about four times larger. It's four group 24 batteries now, good for about 9 hours, and I'd need to supplement on cloudy/rainy days.

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Batteries aren't workable or economical here for Me. I'm only interested in reducing My electric bill, Not getting part or all of the farm off the grid as It's not workable as I said.

I didn't suggest that you needed to get off the grid.

You want to reduce your electric bill.

One way to do that is to go grid-tie, spin the meter backwards during the day, and then draw power when it is dark.

The other way is to simply unplug as many loads as possible.

Taking your whole house off-grid may not be as simple as it sounds because loads are very dynamic -- lights, heat, A/C, refrigeration, they vary a lot.

Computers don't. Computers running BOINC 24/7 are a very predictable load, and that makes it easy to design a very simple (cost effective) system to take that constant, predictable load.

Servers here draw a near-constant 500 watts, or 12 kwh/day. Currently, we're paying $0.18/kwh. Just taking the server load offline would cut our electric bill in half.

... and I can do that using less expensive gear and no need to get approval from the utility.

I would need to make my battery bank about four times larger. It's four group 24 batteries now, good for about 9 hours, and I'd need to supplement on cloudy/rainy days.

Well in any case You can afford the cost of the replacement batteries, Me I can't so It's not an option here. My 57" DLP TV uses 250 watts(150w for the lamp alone), But it's only on while I'm here or up. I'd already planned on a grid-tie inverter as I had to make the most of what I have access to. Now If the contractor will only call like they said would today. So far nothing, Some contractors hear where I live (Yermo) and then they don't want to drive a mere 10 miles. I've still to get a kill-a-watt device to tell Me how many watts My PCs use, It's on the list But there are other things there too so I'll get It eventually. :D this month I used on $75.70 worth of electricity(Only running 2 PCs, Both Quads) while natural gas was at $48.35 for the month, It's usually around $19 a month. My refrige is an Energy Star 18cuft frost free Whirlpool, A bit cramped on Freezer capacity, But It's ok and was Free and It still works good too.

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CA HSR built a foundation, is laying Track!
PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550 Loco, US's 1st HST

I would need to make my battery bank about four times larger. It's four group 24 batteries now, good for about 9 hours, and I'd need to supplement on cloudy/rainy days.

Well in any case You can afford the cost of the replacement batteries, Me I can't so It's not an option here. My 57" DLP TV uses 250 watts(150w for the lamp alone), But it's only on while I'm here or up. I'd already planned on a grid-tie inverter as I had to make the most of what I have access to. Now If the contractor will only call like they said would today. So far nothing, Some contractors hear where I live (Yermo) and then they don't want to drive a mere 10 miles. I've still to get a kill-a-watt device to tell Me how many watts My PCs use, It's on the list But there are other things there too so I'll get It eventually. :D this month I used on $75.70 worth of electricity(Only running 2 PCs, Both Quads) while natural gas was at $48.35 for the month, It's usually around $19 a month. My refrige is an Energy Star 18cuft frost free Whirlpool, A bit cramped on Freezer capacity, But It's ok and was Free and It still works good too.

Your TV is a good example of a load that I wouldn't try to take off of your meter.

4 hours of TV is one kilowatt-hour. 24 hours on a 60w PC is 1.5 kilowatt-hours.

You might watch an hour of TV one day, and 12 hours of TV on another, but the PC is on (crunching SETI) so it is incredibly predictable, and easy to size the components. Batteries to take the load would cost about $1000. A 2500w grid-tie inverter is near $2000. Panels are about the same either way.

Your contractor may not want to look at that because he makes more on a grid-tie system.

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