> The problem I have with slow computers is that I cannot afford to run
> them. A 40MHz 486 uses about 20 Watts, a 400MHz AMDK6 about 40 Watts.
> However if you have your own hydroelectric power supply, or if someone
> else is paying the electricity bill, the situation is different.
If you are running the computers *anyway* then I doubt that Prime95 adds
that much to your electric bill.
Also, much of the power in computers is consumed in cooling and powering
them. By using 1 power supply for multiple computers, you can save a
bunch of power.
I am working with a friend of mine to do just this. We have 2 HP mainframe
PS's (500W), an older mainframe PS (circa 1980) that I got at a yard sale
(300W), and several PS's from IBM microchannel servers (~200W each). With
a fair amount of work :), we hope to have a number of 486/pentiums in a
cabinet with central cooling. These computers will (if we ever get the
thing built) be factoring Mersenne numbers in the DecMega range.
This will (of course) still draw a massive amount of power, but it has the
decided advantage of all the hardware being free! This is still an
impractical watt/cycle, but we're doing this for the experience (TM).
BTW, does anyone know of a DOS/Linux Mersenne factorer, written in assembler
that can find 64 bit factors?
(Other than Brian's factor95.c, I want to know what's out there)
Thank you,
-Lucas
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