Pro's:
1 You are contributing to scientific research done mostly by universities, which, by definition, are independant / non profit, and do not have the funding for supercomputer hardware.
2 The scientific software is highly optimized for PC processors, with assembly routines and SSE(1,2,3) optimizations, so even though your PC is using maximum power at 100% CPU, it is on the other hand working as efficiently as possible.
3 The newest processor designs are not just faster, but also aim at consuming much less power, so running the projects on these is even more efficient.
Con's:
PC processors are too general purpose for some tasks, and floating point performance is somewhat weak in e.g. P4's. Specialized hardware provides increased computational performance and on the other hand decreased power consumption.
Older PC's have inefficient processors which consume too much power.
Just a few considerations;)
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Pro's: 1 You are contributing to scientific research done mostly by universities, which, by definition, are independant / non profit, and do not have the funding for supercomputer hardware. 2 The scientific software is highly optimized for PC processors, with assembly routines and SSE(1,2,3) optimizations, so even though your PC is using maximum power at 100% CPU, it is on the other hand working as efficiently as possible. 3 The newest processor designs are not just faster, but also aim at consuming much less power, so running the projects on these is even more efficient. Con's: PC processors are too general purpose for some tasks, and floating point performance is somewhat weak in e.g. P4's. Specialized hardware provides increased computational performance and on the other hand decreased power consumption. Older PC's have inefficient processors which consume too much power. Just a few considerations ;)