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.

$0.18 per KWh, could You please can up a few hundred of these and send them this way :) Day Price here is $0.35 KWh.

... 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.

How are You producing Your power going into this battery bank? Windmill, Solar Panels?

Just curious :)

ChrisD

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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!

Did you ever think of moving to some hick town and opening a museum?
Somewhere with a bit of room to dust off the old computers and fire them up.

I bet kitty had fun invstigating, too. Lol

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AndrewM

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.

$0.18 per KWh, could You please can up a few hundred of these and send them this way :) Day Price here is $0.35 KWh.

That's averaged -- we pay anywhere from about $0.13 to $0.35 depending on total usage during the month, based on a 10.3KWh/day baseline.

... but when you take the total bill divided by the number of KWh, it averages about $0.18.

... 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.

How are You producing Your power going into this battery bank? Windmill, Solar Panels?

I'm not producing any power locally (unless the mains go down) currently. I've spent a fair amount of time looking at options....

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$0.18 per KWh, could You please can up a few hundred of these and send them this way :) Day Price here is $0.35 KWh.
[/quote]
That's averaged -- we pay anywhere from about $0.13 to $0.35 depending on total usage during the month, based on a 10.3KWh/day baseline.

... but when you take the total bill divided by the number of KWh, it averages about $0.18.
[quote]

Ouch...The current electric rates, established by the Board of Directors will be effective with bills going out June 1, 2004 and thereafter:

RESIDENTIAL
5.4 cents per KWH plus a $5.50 monthly service charge.

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Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
And no good credit hound!

One or two machines crunching on idle: casual user.
10 machines crunching full time: interested user.
Buying all the latest hardware and o/cing it beyond belief (msattler, I'm looking at you!): hardcore user.
Running it on every machine you have permission to: healthy obsession.
Running it on every machine you don't have permission to: unhealthy obsession.

;-)

So what does it mean if you give everyone you can free computer help so you can install boinc as a service on thier computers?

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Ouch...The current electric rates, established by the Board of Directors will be effective with bills going out June 1, 2004 and thereafter:

RESIDENTIAL
5.4 cents per KWH plus a $5.50 monthly service charge.

California's electricity deregulation is probably a textbook example of how not to deregulate.

If we could stay under 300 KWh (mild climate, it's possible) we'd pay 2.8 cents for generation, and 7.2 cents for transmission and delivery.

As use increases, it goes from 2 cents to 5 cents, then 16 cents, etc. and when you pass 300% of baseline, it's 29 cents/kwh for generation, and the same 7.2 cents for delivery.

The rate increase that didn't happen would have raised the top rate to 42 cents.

Same structure applies to JokerCPoC, but where he lives it is quite a bit warmer, so his baseline allocation (that first 300 KWh/month) is probably much higher than ours.

For most of us, the goal to solar, wind, etc. is just to get out of the top tiers in the rate structure.

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Ouch...The current electric rates, established by the Board of Directors will be effective with bills going out June 1, 2004 and thereafter:

RESIDENTIAL
5.4 cents per KWH plus a $5.50 monthly service charge.

California's electricity deregulation is probably a textbook example of how not to deregulate.

If we could stay under 300 KWh (mild climate, it's possible) we'd pay 2.8 cents for generation, and 7.2 cents for transmission and delivery.

As use increases, it goes from 2 cents to 5 cents, then 16 cents, etc. and when you pass 300% of baseline, it's 29 cents/kwh for generation, and the same 7.2 cents for delivery.

The rate increase that didn't happen would have raised the top rate to 42 cents.

Same structure applies to JokerCPoC, but where he lives it is quite a bit warmer, so his baseline allocation (that first 300 KWh/month) is probably much higher than ours.

For most of us, the goal to solar, wind, etc. is just to get out of the top tiers in the rate structure.

Well at least in the Summer time, In Winter It can be a bit chilly, It doesn't help that I still have to find a contractor to do what I need and to give Me an estimate too. And yeah deregulation here is a farce and the Baseline here is 339 for SCE(70.88%), For DWR(29.12%) It's only 99, Of course I only used 648KW for the previous month. :D

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

One or two machines crunching on idle: casual user.
10 machines crunching full time: interested user.
Buying all the latest hardware and o/cing it beyond belief (msattler, I'm looking at you!): hardcore user.
Running it on every machine you have permission to: healthy obsession.
Running it on every machine you don't have permission to: unhealthy obsession.

;-)

So what does it mean if you give everyone you can free computer help so you can install boinc as a service on thier computers?

It means I'll give you my name and address, and I'll take as many free computers as you're willing to give away.

;-)

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One or two machines crunching on idle: casual user.
10 machines crunching full time: interested user.
Buying all the latest hardware and o/cing it beyond belief (msattler, I'm looking at you!): hardcore user.
Running it on every machine you have permission to: healthy obsession.
Running it on every machine you don't have permission to: unhealthy obsession.

;-)

So what does it mean if you give everyone you can free computer help so you can install boinc as a service on thier computers?

It means I'll give you my name and address, and I'll take as many free computers as you're willing to give away.

;-)

I believe you overlooked something, otherwise I'd be yelling for a free computer or two myself. ;)

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One or two machines crunching on idle: casual user.
10 machines crunching full time: interested user.
Buying all the latest hardware and o/cing it beyond belief (msattler, I'm looking at you!): hardcore user.
Running it on every machine you have permission to: healthy obsession.
Running it on every machine you don't have permission to: unhealthy obsession.

;-)

So what does it mean if you give everyone you can free computer help so you can install boinc as a service on thier computers?

It means I'll give you my name and address, and I'll take as many free computers as you're willing to give away.

;-)

I believe you overlooked something, otherwise I'd be yelling for a free computer or two myself. ;)

Yes, it appears I did indeed overlook something. Free computer help, huh? Depends on if you actually get their permission to install BOINC or if you're installing it in secret. The former is perfectly OK, the latter would be an unhealthy obsession.

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So getting back to the thread's topic....what defines Seti as a hobby or obsession? Where is that thin metallic line we cross?

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Count me in on the healthy obsession departement and the hardcore dept. for my main rig.
If i early could've get hands on the Penryn here in Sweden i would've bought one but i gave up.

//Vyper

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_________________________________________________________________________
Addicted to SETI crunching!
Founder of GPU Users Group

Hobby here.

---

Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

So getting back to the thread's topic....what defines Seti as a hobby or obsession? Where is that thin metallic line we cross?

LOL....

You may as well ask "What's the difference between a duck?"! It all depends on the POV of the person (or the one asking the question). ;-)

Personally, I think it's sort of like gambling. If you're spending more than you can afford to blow on it, then you might have to concede you're moving into the obsession camp. :-)

Alinator

I'm just trying to get our economy back on track (USA) by consumer spending like our leaders advise.Back to newegg to help out more!

I'm just trying to get our economy back on track (USA) by consumer spending like our leaders advise.Back to newegg to help out more!

Haha thats funny...im in for that one. New quad on the way...back to shopping

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So getting back to the thread's topic....what defines Seti as a hobby or obsession? Where is that thin metallic line we cross?

Ummm... we were on topic. We were still talking about obsession vs. hobby and Jason asked if it were obsession if he offered free help for SETI cycles.

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So getting back to the thread's topic....what defines Seti as a hobby or obsession? Where is that thin metallic line we cross?

IMHO, the line is crossed when one fails to realise one is pandering to the needs or welfare of the farm. I started off directing and using a tool. Now the tool sends me out to improve it's environment and creature comforts.

Thus I am the tool which the hosts use in their drive to replicate. Either that or I need more sleep. LOL

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AndrewM

I started off directing and using a tool. Now the tool sends me out to improve it's environment and creature comforts.

Thus I am the tool which the hosts use in their drive to replicate. Either that or I need more sleep. LOL

It seems like doing computors... is like doing kitties! Fur balls in the heat sink is not so bad as ..........in the litter box.......

Once you start looking at hardware just for SETI I think its turned into a bit more than a hobby.

I started with just 1 spare computer running 100% of the time, now I'm up to 7 running 100% with 2 more in the works. I bug my friends when I do computer upgrades for them to let me have their old hardware so I can turn it into a crunching machine. I have a room with a ton of parts just waiting mobo's or cpu's.

I think many users have spurts like this, but I think only a small handful actually go all out and turn every computer they get their hands on into a processing machine.

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