I think that the performance of higher end GPUs is more like ~100 times that of CPUs for cryptanalytical algorithms. With bulk FPGAs costing on order of $50 eac

I think that the performance of higher end GPUs is more like ~100 times that of CPUs for cryptanalytical algorithms. With bulk FPGAs costing on order of $50 each a device like this could potentially cost less than $10k and offer several times more Mhash/sec than a GPU rig and even more importantly operate with a small fraction of the power consumption (my guess would be less than 10%). There are people on this site who spend money on equipment and power to generate Bitcoins and this is relevant to them. It's also obvious that there is a large number of people tired of hearing about Bitcoins. Personally, I find the title to be appropriate and found the content interesting even though I have no desire to begin mining for Bitcoins.