[ This is an expanded version of an earlier posting. It also has an useful subject. ]
A while back, I did some current measurements on my ATX PC. Here are the results:
PC off, monitor off: 0.10A (12.0W) PC off, monitor in "power save/standby": 0.17A (20.4W) PC off, monitor "full on": 0.70A (84W) Everything on: 1.44A (172.8W) PC on, monitor off: 0.82A (98.4W) PC and monitor in "green/power save" mode: 0.60A (72W)
The eye-opener is the fact that, even with everything "off", the system is still eating 12 or so watts. I was expecting maybe 8W, but not 12W. ATX systems can eat significant power, even when off.
Note that the "full on" current was measured just after Win98 had finished booting. A CPU-intensive program like Quake or Unreal wasn't running. It would be interesting to see how much of a difference, if any, there would be.
It's also interesting to note that, if I disconnect all cables from the power strip and then measure the current, the power strip is drawing 0.01A (1.2W). This is probably leakage current from the surge suppression in the power strip (or measurement error in the ammeter).
These numbers are probably on the high side, as my system has a Voodoo 2 and two hard disks. Detailed specs:
ABIT BH6 motherboard w/64MB CAS2 PC100 SDRAM.
Celeron 300A overclocked to 450MHz (100MHz FSB).
Two IBM 10GB IDE drives (7200RPM).
Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Riva TNT.
Creative Labs SB Live Value.
Creative Labs 40X CDROM (hey, I've got all this CL stuff because it was cheap).
Generic "made in China" Voodoo2 card.
Side note: from measuring my girlfriend's PC, which is virtually identical to mine except she has only one IBM hard disk and no Voodoo2 card, the Voodoo2 card and extra hard disk use up 0.27A or 32.4W. Most of this is probably from the Voodoo2 card.
I once measured the "off" current going into my PC (ABIT BH6 motherboard, w/generic cruddy case), and it was using around 0.11A, which translates into roughly 13W. This includes the current consumed by the power strip (~0.01A, or around ~1.2W); I guess the "power surge protection" (varistors?) has a little leakage currrent. (So this means the PC was really using something like 12W.)
I knew that ATX PCs consumed some power when off, but this surprised me, as it's higher than I expected.
I haven't tried Linux 2.2, but FreeBSD SMP should be comparable. I've got FreeBSD 3.1-RELEASE running on a dual-400MHz Celeron box (*not* overclocked), and it screams.
Side note: while it was worth it when I built the box, dual Celerons make less sense now, as the price differential for two CPUs (Celeron vs PII) is on the order of a couple hundred dollars. It's probably now worth the extra cost to get a 100MHz FSB (when you don't overclock) and a 512KB cache (even if it isn't zero-wait). These are important for SMP.
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OK, so I'm an utter idiot, and should be placed on a diet of brussel sprouts and water.
How the $%^&*(!@#$! do I delete accidental postings????? (and who the %^&*?#@! placed the "submit" button next to "Preview"???)
A while back, I did some current measurements on my ATX PC. Here are the results:
The eye-opener is the fact that, even with everything "off", the system is still eating 12 or so watts. I was expecting maybe 8W, but not 12W. ATX systems can eat significant power, even when off.
Note that the "full on" current was measured just after Win98 had finished booting. A CPU-intensive program like Quake or Unreal wasn't running. It would be interesting to see how much of a difference, if any, there would be.
It's also interesting to note that, if I disconnect all cables from the power strip and then measure the current, the power strip is drawing 0.01A (1.2W). This is probably leakage current from the surge suppression in the power strip (or measurement error in the ammeter).
These numbers are probably on the high side, as my system has a Voodoo 2 and two hard disks. Detailed specs:
Side note: from measuring my girlfriend's PC, which is virtually identical to mine except she has only one IBM hard disk and no Voodoo2 card, the Voodoo2 card and extra hard disk use up 0.27A or 32.4W. Most of this is probably from the Voodoo2 card.
[ This is an expanded version of an earlier posting. It also has an useful subject. ]
A while back, I did some current measurements on my ATX PC. Here are the results:
PC off, monitor off: 0.11A
PC off, monitor in "power save/standby": 0.13A
[ This is an expanded version of an earlier posting. It also has an useful subject. ]
A while back, I did some current measurements on my ATX PC. Here're the results:
PC off, monitor off: 0.11A
PC off, monitor in "power save/standby": 0.13A
I once measured the "off" current going into my PC (ABIT BH6 motherboard, w/generic cruddy case), and it was using around 0.11A, which translates into roughly 13W. This includes the current consumed by the power strip (~0.01A, or around ~1.2W); I guess the "power surge protection" (varistors?) has a little leakage currrent. (So this means the PC was really using something like 12W.)
I knew that ATX PCs consumed some power when off, but this surprised me, as it's higher than I expected.
I haven't tried Linux 2.2, but FreeBSD SMP should be comparable. I've got FreeBSD 3.1-RELEASE running on a dual-400MHz Celeron box (*not* overclocked), and it screams.
Side note: while it was worth it when I built the box, dual Celerons make less sense now, as the price differential for two CPUs (Celeron vs PII) is on the order of a couple hundred dollars. It's probably now worth the extra cost to get a 100MHz FSB (when you don't overclock) and a 512KB cache (even if it isn't zero-wait). These are important for SMP.