(in the spacecraft example, upgrading is defined as:
new spacecraft is manufactured on earth (analogy of newer computers)
the spacecraft is teleported to as far as where the old spacecraft went (the interim files from the old computer is copied to the new computer)
the new spacecraft continues on the journey (the new computer continues processing the exponent)
)
related to Mini-Geek's last post:
(all completion times based on benchmarks, which may be slightly inaccurate but will do for the purpose)

on a pentium 3 996 MHz, M43112609 will take about 307 days to finish. M20996011 will take about 70 days

on a pentium 4, M43112609 will take about 42 days to finish. M20996011 will take about 10 days to finish.

if you begin on the pentium 3 with M43112609, and later do M20996011 on the pentium 4, it will take a total of 317 days
if you begin with M20996011, however, and then do M43112609 on the pentium 4, it will take a total of 112 days

so, if you are an average person running prime95, you should test exponents suited to your computer. however, if you really do want to test very large exponents, you should start right now, for you can always upgrade your computer, but continue where your old computer left off.

I've been posting about this in the "Will Any Current 100M Digit LL Tests Finish?" thread ([url]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?p=154662#post154662[/url]). Of course, if you have an unlimited amount of money, it makes sense to start as soon as possible and upgrade whenever new hardware comes out. A more interesting question is what you should do if you have only a finite budget for purchasing new hardware. In that case, you should time your upgrades carefully for maximum effect...

[QUOTE=starrynte;154654]related to Mini-Geek's last post:
(all completion times based on benchmarks, which may be slightly inaccurate but will do for the purpose)

on a pentium 3 996 MHz, M43112609 will take about 307 days to finish. M20996011 will take about 70 days

on a pentium 4, M43112609 will take about 42 days to finish. M20996011 will take about 10 days to finish.

if you begin on the pentium 3 with M43112609, and later do M20996011 on the pentium 4, it will take a total of 317 days
if you begin with M20996011, however, and then do M43112609 on the pentium 4, it will take a total of 112 days[/QUOTE]This comparison is not correct : the time untill the PIII is upgraded is not the same (in one case you upgrade after 307 days, in the other after 70 days.) If you upgrade after 190 days you need about 216 days in the 43M followed by 21M case and 215 days in the 21M followed by 43M case ; the differences might be explained by the approximation of the benchmarks. (Benchmarks measure a best itteration time, not an average itteration time, over a few runs the standard deviation might can be as high as 5 %.)[QUOTE=starrynte;154654]so, if you are an average person running prime95, you should test exponents suited to your computer.[/QUOTE]I agree with this though.

Jacob

[QUOTE=StarQwest;133478]For those who are wondering why progress has stopped on M332192831, I have postponed further testing on this number until I get a faster computer. I am running a 2005 PC, which only contains a single Pentium D processor on this test. I will likely get a new computer later this year. To understand my reasoning for this, consider the following:

...

Please understand that I have NOT in any way given up on this test, and plan to resume it in the near future. It is just not practical at the current time, so I will resume testing 10-15 million digit numbers.[/QUOTE]

It seems like that this exponent has been assigned to another person.

[CODE]
Exponent Status Data
332192831 No factors below 2^77
Assigned LL testing to "KYOJI_KAMEI" on 2009-05-18
History no factor to 2^74 by "George Woltman" on 2008-06-16
[/CODE]

The website

[URL="http://www.starqwest.org"]www.starqwest.org[/URL]

also seems not to be available.

Gary

Confirmed: [url]http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/www.starqwest.org[/url]