cost of folding?

[A_Flamer]

I've started folding recently and I finally have my smp and 2 gpu clients running great, I'm just wondering if my parents are going to freak out at the end of the month about a massive electricity bill. I'm running an intel i3 530, ati 5770, and ati 5750. the smp runs on cores 0-2 and the 2 gpu clients run on core 3, so my cpu is at 100% all the time and my gpu's are around 90-95% all the time. If I run my computer 24/7 like this is it going to shoot up our bill quite a bit or just like $10-$20 bucks?

[HaloJones]

Depends on your local costs. I'd tell them what you're doing (I'm a parent).

[A_Flamer]

theyre aware that im folding and what it is I just don't want to kill their pocket. The only way I know how to check is to look at our meter then shut off all my clients and look at it again. Is that the best way?

[patonb]

i think my bill is like 2 bucks a day... so like 60 amonth.... Basically its like a coffee aday.

[Qinsp]

I'll take a wild stab at it:

Costs are measured in kilowatt/hours, which is 1000w for 1 hour.

Assume the base computer is using about .15 kw
IIRC, those cards are about .2kw? each (look for Tom's Hardware reviews, which include power use)
So total use is about .55kwh.

Average residential cost in my area is $.11 / kwh

So each hour is about .06 dollars, or 30 days * 24 hrs * .06 dollars = $43.20 per month.

Adjust your numbers accordingly.

The problem comes in with new laws intended to punish users (especially businesses who are hiring new employees / expanding) for increases in their electric bills.

This changes the equation a bunch, and you have to be a lawyer who knows math (rare, or they would have went to engineering school) to decipher the "Spank Our Customers" utility laws. Then all bets are off.

In the winter, many homes pay to heat their house at night. If a $43 increase in their bill is unacceptable, perhaps discuss running them only at night. The computers will reduce their heating bill to compensate somewhat.

[bruce]

I agree with Halo Jones. Talk to your parents. You may need to teach them how important the project is -- see the Stanford homepage for some help.

Ask to see your electric bill. One of the biggest variables in Qinsp's calculations is the $.11 / kwh. There are wide variations in power costs in different parts of the country/world.

In our area, the rates are tiered. (No, it doesn't take an engineering degree to understand it.) The first XX KWh cost xx, the next YY KWh cost yy, the next ZZ KWh cost zz, etc. That does punish people who use more power, but it's an every-month proposition, not this year compared to last year. If you still have questions, call the electric company. They have people who get paid to explain the details to anybody who calls.

You might also study a year's worth of electric bills. Sometimes rates vary [Summer vs. Winter].

If your house uses electric heat in the winter, then the costs are "saved" (provided the heat from the computer is in a place that gets heated anyway so the winter costs may be zero. If your house is air conitioned in summer, then the costs are more than doubled because it costs more to remove the heat than it does to produce it. (You wouldn't be the only person who reduces or shuts down FAH in the summer.)

Once you've learned all this, I'll bet that you can even turn it into a report for your school.

[RoomateoYo]

You could make a rough guess on the max power used by looking up the thermal design power of the processors and video cards. Multiply that by hours used and have total kwh.

[MJandDave]

http://www.amazon.com/P3-International- ... B00009MDBU

You could buy a Kill A Watt and do an energy audit of your home. Replace some other energy sucker with your valuable folding

[Nathan_P]

I'm not knocking the ATI cards as they do valuable science but for the energy that they use they are very energy ineffeicent. Qinsp gave you a formula to work from and it is pretty good - if you find that you are exceeding what you can afford i would cease folding on the 5750 until a better ATI client comes along