The Joys of Sieving

[b2uc]

I know my time Sieving will not help ME find a Prime..well maybe in a small way it will...however I find pleasure in seeing the big picture and lowering the amount of time it will take everyone...or anyone to find a Prime for any of the remaining 12 k's.

I've been helping with this project for about 44 days now. In that time I've devoted about 50% of my resources to Proth testing...and 50% of my resources to sieving. In this amount of time my 2 Duron 1100's and my XP 2500+ and a lowly PII 350 have completed just 15 Proth test. On the other hand I've sieved 496 factors in that same amount of time...with a few more...maybe a couple hundred more in the coming days as some of my reserved ranges complete.

A 496 to 15 ratio is pretty incredible...I feel my resources or better suited for sieving....HOWEVER...I'm going to leave them at 50% for both sieving and Proth testing...one saves a ton of time...the other will find the answer.

Anyways, just thought I'd share the happiness.

[Mystwalker]

A 496 to 15 ratio is pretty incredible

But you have to remember that those found factors are of no meaning if a prime is being discovered prior to reaching that k/n pair. Even if not, it takes years before most of the factors really eliminate the then neccessary Proth Test.

Well, I sieve exclusively. This is due to the fact that the machines I can use are all Durons or P3s, so they are best suited for sieving.
Once I get my P4, it will do some P-1 factoring and maybe Proth Testing...

Anyway... Have fun sieving!

[Moo_the_cow]

I like sieving too. Half of my PC's time is spent sieving, and the other half is Proth testing for the Riesel project.