On Tue, Jan 02, 2007 at 09:19:34AM -0600, Hugo Vanwoerkom wrote: > Douglas Tutty wrote: > >On Mon, Jan 01, 2007 at 07:30:40PM -0600, Reid Priedhorsky wrote: > >>On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 01:40:11 +0100, Douglas Tutty wrote: > >>>On Mon, Jan 01, 2007 at 05:06:02PM -0600, Reid Priedhorsky wrote: > >>>>I would like to make my Etch box use less power, but I'm having a hard > >>>>time consolidating all the information I'm finding. Is there a package I > >>>>can install or a web page I can read that is a gentle guide to reducing > >>>>my > >>>>power usage? > >>>> > >>>A good place to start may be something like the laptop-howto. > >>> > >>>What power are you trying to reduce? Beware spinning down drives to > >>>reduce power; spinning up reduces drive life. > >>Thanks for your reply. It is a self-built Athlon desktop, though I assume > >>much of the advice in the laptop-howto will be relevant. I will take a > >>look. I'm happy to provide more specs on the box if that will be helpful. > >> > >>I'm not really sure how to answer your question. I know that spinning down > >>drives is not such a good idea, and that I can reduce processor speed when > >>idle (though how I don't know), but beyond that I don't have a good idea > >>of what options are available to me. > >> > > > >Hi Reid, > > > >I'm running Etch amd64 on my box (Athlon 3800+, Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe MB, > >1 GB stick of DDR2 800, dual Seagate Barracuda 80 GB drives, DVD burner, > >Asus nVidia 7300 GT silent GPU, in a CoolerMaster Stacker case with > >cross-flow fan, blow-hole fan, three drive modules with 120 mm fans, CM > >iGreen 600W PSU). > > > >I have the MB handle the fan speeds (adjusts for temperature, not for > >quiet) and most of the time can't hear anything but a slight directional > >high-pitch from the CPU fan. > > > >I just put an ampmeter on it during boot and it uses 1.2 A at 120 V so > >that's 100W. > > > >I note that theres a package to throttle the CPU based on load. I don't > >know if this reduces the power consumption for what you're looking for. > >It may primarily just reduce the CPU temperature (although mine hovers > >at around 40 C). > > > >Why are you worried about power consumption on a desktop? > > > >Doug. > > > > > > I measure exactly my system uptime/month and the KWH used where the > computer and a desklamp are the only devices using electricity. > > The latest data shows: > > Mon May 01-05:38:44 04595 == 89 KWH 1 month 303:50 == 205 mins/KWH + Fan > Thu Jun 01-05:52:17 04687 == 92 KWH 1 month 284:30 == 186 mins/KWH + Fan > Sat Jul 01-09:05:37 04769 == 82 KWH 1 month 232:35 == 170 mins/KWH + Fan > Tue Aug 01-09:43:58 04851 == 82 KWH 1 month 271:15 == 198 mins/KWH + Fan > Fri Sep 01-09:27:08 04932 == 81 KWH 1 month ---not running > Sun Oct 01-09:31:20 05001 == 69 KWH 1 month 238:55 == 208 mins/KWH > Wed Nov 01-07:06:51 05069 == 68 KWH 1 month 236:20 == 208 mins/KWH > Fri Dec 01-07:50:31 05127 == 58 KWH 1 month 228:55 == 236 mins/KWH - no Fan > Mon Jan 01-06:37:15 05211 == 84 KWH 1 month 222:35 == 159 mins/KWH ??? > no Fan ???? > > So I get variations between 159 - 236 mins/KWH, which is a huge variation. > > E.g. this month the system uptime was almost the same as last month ( - > 6 hours) yet the difference in KWH was a whopping 26 KWH! > > And the explanation? Can that be accounted for by what the system was > running? E.g. a new USB disk? > > (geographical location = Mexico) >
I think I have the math right: 60000 Watt-Minutes = 1 KWH; 60000 / 159 = 377 Watts. 60000 / 236 = 254 = 254 Watt. How big is your desk lamp? The other issue is power-factor. Hydro meters measure KWH (watt-time, in effect energy in jouls) whereas power supplies use Volt-Amp. The last time I looked at this seriously was when I was living in the bush (in Canada) with unreliable power and had the whole house on an inverter/battery setup. The pure sine-wave inverter did the power-factor correction and my P-75 used 20 W with one hard drive. Good luck, Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
