BOINC Boxes

[NightmareXX]

Well as per title really. Does anyone else here have a dedicated computer running BOINC/F@H 24/7? What's the general consensus around building a PC purely for running such a project?

This is my file server (AMD 1650 LE Single core I think, 1GB RAM).

This is my pure BOINC box that does nothing but CPDN (AMD Athlon X2 4000, 2GB RAM).

Both systems run XP Pro and draw 90W at the plug (Works out to be 4 units of electricity per day). Neither has a keyboard/mouse/screen/graphics card installed and are only accessible via Microsoft Terminal Services Client (MSTSC). I also run CPDN on my main system although that isn't on anywhere near as long as those two systems.

I was looking into building another system for around £280 that would be an AMD Phenom 9850BE with 2GB RAM also running XP. Am I daft for wanting to do this?

 

[NightmareXX]

@sculp: Seeing as I'm still living at home, I don't currently pay for the leccy. If I've read correctly, the TDP of the Phenom 9850 is 125W meaning it'll draw 125W on full load? Assuming that and assuming it's on 24/7, that'll be 3 units a day?

@verbal: What have you got inside there? I'd love to get a GPU system going although they're a lot more expensive

 

[NightmareXX]

...So I suspect 3kW/hrs a day is a bit of an underestimate.

Bit old but hey, I don't think anyone will mind

As an estimate, assuming HDD, RAM and PSU not at 100% efficiency, I'm going for around 150W which would make it 3.6 units a day. That's almost as much as my other 2 systems combined although I expect a Phenom 9850 will produce more points than those 2 systems combined though?

@Dougiebabe: Not sure as I haven't looked into the power usage of a 4870. I know the power usage of mine because I've got a wall meter I'd estimate it around 2-300W so between 4.8 and 7.2 units of electricity per day.