Added another computer

airbornflght

I added a p4 3.2gig with ht, so now I have 3 processors folding for me.


I wish the tech people in my school district werent idiots, I tried persuading them to let me install F@H on the computers at just one of the schools, which would be around 70-85 ht p4's @ 2.4 and if they let me on the server, it is a dual xeon @ 3, im not sure if it is ht or not. I think it is.

Dont know why they dont want it on there, guess they are anal about energy consumption or something, They said something about security or something, but I couldnt convince him that there was little to no security risk, and besides that, who is goona try and break into a domain server? All the student files are held on another dual p3 server in the office. Oh well, I tried, just imagine if they would have let me go district wide. You are talking around 1,500 or more 2.4Ghz and above HT P4's; not counting the dual xeon servers which there are 25 or so of, if not more. I think I could have gave John a run for his money:bigggrin:

Ah well, I tried, I talked to him for about an hour, and I though I was convincing him at first, cause he started listening, especially when I snuck in the comment about how it would be great PR cause he would be helping to cure diseases and helping science and the world. I though I had him leaning, then all the sudden he started ignoring me or something, probably when he thought that the 'Energy Czar' would have a fit, that is what they call the guy in our district, he goes nuts if any energy is wasted.

FoldingAddict

Not just energy but bandwidth. F@H on that many machines would consume an ASS load of upstrem bandwidth over the course of a single month. Plus obviously it runs the proc at full load so the computer itself is using more energy like you said. Which translates into serious $$$ annually, especially for that many machines. You can't really blame him for saying no/not listening.

~FA

profdlp

I see their points, but you'd think that an educational institution would be more receptive to something involving medical research being done by a major university. I can think of a bunch of ways that this would jibe with teaching science.

Sounds like you gave it a great shot and made a fine sales pitch, airborn. You deserve a lot of credit for trying.

airbornflght

Yeh, the bandwidth woudnt matter, because they just pay a flat rate for unlimited bandwidth. The only thing that would increase their costs would be the energy to power all those Prescott's:D. I would have thought if anybody would do that, it would a schools, since they are subsidized by the government anyway, which I wont get into it, but our school system is corrupt. They do something with the extra funds called 're-appropriation' So if they save $xx thousand dollars, it is put somewhere else, problem is, that there are about 4 of them that a lot of people suspect of embezzling, but no way to prove it, but yeh, I wont get into it, but money is the root of all evil, all it spawns is greed.

Boring Calculations wrote:

Let me do some math to approximate the cost per month for the school to run the P4's 24 hours a day. I believe those computers use around 280 watts/hr, would that be a fair guess? considering they are just dell optiplexe's with integrated video.

Lets say that I run a whole 1,500 (very unlikely) that would be 420 kilowatts an hour, 10,080 kilowatts a day, or 70,560 kilowatt/hrs a week. That being 3,669,120 kilowatt/hrs a year.

Now around here, residential power is around 10 cents a kilowatt hour if I remember correctly. I think it may be less, this says the average in OK is 6.9 cents to 7.65 cents. Now, Im sure the school gets it cheaper, but 7 cents a kilowatt hour is a fair estimate, considering the price fluctuates. that comes out to be $705 a day, $4,939 a week, an $256,838 a year.

That [strike]sounds like[/strike] is a lot, but the school is already powering those computers during 9 months out of the year, not to mention the school most likely gets its energy cheaper because it is a volume consumer. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the government subsidizes the energy costs anyway. He seemed more worried about 'Network Security' than anything else, he wouldnt believe me that it was more secure than their network right now is anyway. (virtually no ports are closed, the wireless is open, I could go on) anyway, I tried.

On another note, the computer in my living room is folding away, and it will 24 hours a day, at least until my parents get back on saturday, then her usual antics of turning the computer off will surely begin again.:sad2: Even then, my brother is on the computer a good 12-14 hours a day anyway, so I'll get half the day folding

FoldingAddict

You're missing an important cost in those calculations. That many computers running at full load (especially those HOT prescotts) will produce A LOT of heat. The heat has to go somewhere, so it is exhausted into the rooms that the computers are being used in. This then makes the ACs for the buildings work harder to keep all the labs at a nominal temp. That could end up doubling the cost of running those machines at full load 24/7.

Hell I was quite surprised out how much just ONE machine (SM25) increased the mean temp in my room. Before it was always cool, (70 degrees or less) now just from one computer I probably average about 78 degrees.

But like you said, if all that conerned him was network security, he's a fool.

~FA

Leonardo

Energy use and heat output of Prescott and Smithfield processors is nothing to dismiss easily. Heat/energy is one of the main reasons why Opteron helped AMD go from 5% enterprise market share to 15%+ in only a couple years. Since I built my D820 systems, I've had to radically alter the ventilation of my home office. It's a small office, approx. 12' X 10', and it's on the third floor. The home's residual heat tends to rise up into this floor as it is. Fortunately, a strategically placed ventilation fan and the window opened have taken care of most of the problems. But it was WARM in here before I found the best place to put the fan. Fortunately, we don't have (or need) AC, so our electric bill has only increased proportionally to the systems themselves, but not the cooling.

FoldingAddict

Yep Leo is right. My Prescott P4HT 3.0@3.4 full loads at something like 64c (stock cooler). It manages to heat up my living room by quite a bit (22x20 feet) all by itself, which is why it doesn't fold at all. It would cost a fortune to run that computer at full load 24/7 (accounting for AC and computer energy usage).

Imagine a single lab with say 30 prescotts running at full load. With it hot outside plus lots of heat being generated inside, it would probably always be uncomfortable in the lab, and the AC would be at full load all the time as well. Ouch.

~FA

mmonnin

I wouldnt let someone install FAH on a lab I was an administor over if I were the IT guy. For most people its just not going to happen unless you yourself are the administor. Sad but true fact.

airbornflght

Any reasoning behind that? If so, what is the reasoning?