Well, I've finally figured out why I've been having problems since December compiling from the dev cvs source. The following is a comparison of benchmarks from the official version of BOINC 5.3.25 and versions I compiled from the dev cvs sources downloaded 2006-03-07 22:53 UTC. The work was done on an extremely up-to-date copy of SuSE 10.0 using gcc 4.0.2. The computer is a rock steady dual P3 700 overclocked to 933.

Official Berkeley version

Benchmark results:
Number of CPUs: 2
466 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
811 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU
Finished CPU benchmarks

Locally compiled (un-optimized)

Number of CPUs: 2
456 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
871 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU
Finished CPU benchmarks

Locally compiled (optimized)

export CFLAGS="-march=pentium3 -O3 -malign-double -fomit-frame-pointer -funroll-loops -fforce-addr -ffast-math -ftracer"
export CXXFLAGS=$CFLAGS

Benchmark results:
Number of CPUs: 2
638 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
1098 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU

work errored out immediately

Locally compiled (optimized)

export CFLAGS="-march=pentium3 -O3 -fomit-frame-pointer -funroll-loops -fforce-addr -ffast-math -ftracer"
export CXXFLAGS=$CFLAGS

Benchmark results:
Number of CPUs: 2
295 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
1096 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU
Finished CPU benchmarks

removal of -malign-double eliminated the work-killing error
this wasn't a problem until mid December, and work errored out on all optimized versions I compiled. I'm glad this has finally been resolved.
the repeatable low floating point score was a major surprise

Locally compiled (optimized)
(line containing @PICFLAGS@ removed from /boinc/Makefile.incl prior to ./autosetup)

export CFLAGS="-march=pentium3 -O3 -fomit-frame-pointer -funroll-loops -fforce-addr -ffast-math -ftracer"
export CXXFLAGS=$CFLAGS

Benchmark results:
Number of CPUs: 2
982 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
1416 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU
Finished CPU benchmarks

So far the last version listed seems to be doing well.
The only oddity I've noticed is the absebce of the BOINC logo in the about box but that's a minor cosmetic issue concerning the boinc manager.

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CORRECTION: The Results from the Berkeley version are for 5.3.24.

It would be nice if they made a corresponding source package available when they release a new version.

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Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)