~misfit~ wrote:

ggroups2 wrote:

I am wondering whether an idle computer and one running seti draw

the

same amount of power.

No. A CPU running at 100% (SETI) will draw it's maximum power

(perhaps, in

my my case, 85 watts) whereas an 'idling' CPU will draw maybe a third

to a

half of that.

So they lie when they say it uses cpu cycles that would have otherwise
gone to waste.  They are not going to waste since it is using
substantially less power.