How many people/GPU's would have to pool together to generate a BTC address

[mistercoin]

A thought has been eating away at me, and my mind is finding it hard to fathom just how strong BTC keys are, cryptographically speaking.

If users put together a distributed computing platform, whereby everyone pooled their GPU and CPU power together like Folding@Home or BOINC, how many of us, assuming we all had an AMD R9 290 each, would it take to generate 1 private key down to the last letter.

I know by experience that even small computations with Vanitygen, can take a VERY long time, and even 1 letter extras can add days or or more to the length.

So, how much power would the world need to combine to generate just 1, full length BTC address?

I am guessing the power needed would be absolutely mind-numbing.

[Syke]

I am guessing the power needed would be absolutely mind-numbing.

Beyond any human's comprehension...

[sidehack]

Best thing about the modern high-speed internet? That we don't even care about using 426KB of digital data payload to convey 1.4KB worth of actual information.