Grid computing anyone?
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_computing

So, do you lend your CPU for some worthy cause? Or do you let it sit idle 99 per cent of the time, thus causing humanity a great cost of opportunity? ;) I've just joined this:

http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/

By the time I found about such things, most interesting projects were shut down. And I didn't want to find aliens in space either :P This one sounds fine.

well i guess i do it too. but with torrents. does it count?

i let it sit idle 99 percent of time, thus casing my electricity bill a great cost of money.

Yes there are really stupid projects. Like SETI, or the one about looking for ever greater primer numbers. :rolleyes: I picked this after looking around a little.

Over here electricity is the least significant of everyday expenses, and I don't even think the computer is the greater part of it... :P Besides since any consumption ends up as heat, in winter any surplus is really saving you heating expenses. :bleh:

that's why you have those 3 additional fans inside of it that spend even more electricity to un-heat it? =P

OK if anyone is so interested in saving every bit of electricity, I recommend replacing their computer's processor with an Intel Atom, :D the graphics card with a GMA 950, buying a battery charger that works by pedalling on a bike instead of plugging it in... Any other ideas? :P

So... Grid computing anyone?

well, i used to grid for

a) ufos (i know, i know)
b) proteins research and cure for cancer

but the cpu load was really rather annoying :/ i did the cancer thing for 2 years though i think

i did the piracy thing for the last 8 years of my life. didn't cure the cancer though

You already said that. :|

The protein folding project is in this grid. It looks more theoretical so I gave higher priority to the projects related to specific diseases, thinking that's more likely to be useful, not just research for the sake of it... I'm probably wrong. Anyway that project's also here.

At work I've set it to use only 30% of CPU time, because that computer (3.2 duo) gets very hot and above that the fan noise is annoying if the office temperature is high. At home (2.33 quad) I can let it use 100% and I still don't hear anything special. I've got it at 50% though.

The good thing about this particular software is that it lets you customize everything: overall CPU time, besides that you can reserve some cores that it can't use, when it can connect, disc usage... Every little thing. It's made by IBM, it's not bad. (For the Windows version, I recommend clicking on "advanced" during installation and check "install a service and run as regular user", you'll have less problems with UAC etc.)