Quote from: HardwareCollector on May 10, 2020, 10:47:13 PM

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Based solely on the tests I’ve done so far with RTX 2080 Tis, it’s reasonable to expect that a 110-bit interval can be solved in 5 days, 7 hours, and 39 minutes on average with 128 RTX 2080 Tis. While consuming ~640GB(~80bytes/point in the hash table) of distinguished points storage with a 23-bit points mask. Also, one might get very lucky and solve it less than the average time, say a couple of days, or 18-19 days worst case.
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Anyway this GPU power is not free. Even if you own it, you should have the alternative cots (like to use them for mining with the guaranteed profit).
As for the rent, I made a quick search, and found that 8 x 2080 Ti 384 GB RAM Xeon Gold could be rented for 572 eur per week, i.e 620usd/week (source: https://www.leadergpu.com/#chose-best).

So, the cost for 128 devices will be 128/8 * 620 = 9.9 kUSD per week.. Current prize value of #110 is 1.1x8.8kUSD = 9.7 kUSD, so the prize is more o less the same like the investments need to find it. But there is no 100% guarantee to solve the key, it is only 50%.

Ok, that rent for 8 x2080ti is expensive. I am sure the real cost is 1.5-2 times less (it is possible to find 8x2080ti for 300-400 USD/week. However even you invest 2 times less (5kUSD), you still have 50% probability to solve the key and receive 9.7k. It is like a casino roulette game: put 5k on "red" or "black" and receive 2 times more with 50% probability just for 1 spin (with total duration 1 minute, and not 1 week).

Or someone not ready to invest 5k, can rent just 4x2080ti for 200-300USD/week, divide the total range by (128/4) = 32, select any part of the initial range divided by 32, and search within it for 1 week with rented 4x2080ti. If lucky, he can also win. The prize will be the same, so the pot odds are 9.7k / 0.3k = 32-33 which is more or less like a bet on just one number on the same roulette (with 35:1 pot odds and chances to win), however with 2 times less probability.

So, agree that the method is interesting for intellectual reasons. Money is just an advantage, but not the main goal.