[mythtv-users] Advice on hardware setup

[Jason James]

> Unfortunately, I don't have a ready way to measure
> power consumption, your 
> other concern ... can you suggest something I might
> try on that score?

Peak power ratings usually don't have much to do with
actual power usage. You would only see peak power
usage during times of heavy usage, such as recording
or playback. And during times of moderate CPU usage,
processors typically spend a lot of time in the sleep
state. Your CPU should be in a sleep state most of the
time. For example, the Transmeta Crusoe idles at
around 1W with a peak of 15-30W.

I would look at idle power usage (make sure you can
fully utilize power savings modes with the BIOS and
chipset in Linux) and then add peak power usage for
however long you'll be recording or watching during
the month.

Also, to minimize power usage, minimize the number of
machines you use. An additional PC with an extra set
of harddisks, optical drives, fans etc significantly
add to the power usage.

IIRC, cooling racks of data center servers is more
expensive than the electricity to run them.

./jj

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