[mythtv-users] Re: Energy Usage of MythBoxes

[Charles Choukalos]

Hi John,

Actually I'm in Texas (makes Jersy look like Paradise)
and during oh what 9 months out of the year its hotter
then hells kitchen (brown and ugly too).  When I lived
in New England electricity was a lot more expensive
but leaving on the computer provided a little heat in
the house and maybe hit my electric bill by $10 a
month or so... not too bad.  Down here during the long
ass hot desert period its about a $50 hit (most of
that is cooling).  Not to mention you rapidly realize
just how much heat a computer throws off (we wont even
get into the space-heater monitor effects).  In Europe
electricity is pretty damn expensive so I imagine in
even cooler climates they're seeing the same effective
bill, if they're stuck near the mediteranian god help
them.... I seem to recall A/C is a big luxury in which
case they want the friggin thing off as much as
possible.

I'm in the same boat.  I've got a Server and then one
front end that's on 24/7 for the last 2 years.  I
really notice the bills when I'm updating the systems
(ie FC1 and Myth .17 breaking...ARGH!!!) and they're
down for a week or two while I try to find time to fix
the bloody thing.  It usually has a significant impact
on my electric bill.  So I've thought about how to
lower the energy usage.  I believe the best soln for
me is to build an Opteron based server (use the 240EE
chip... only 30 watts of power) with a whole bunch of
spin-down SATA drives and pipe the MythTV signal over
RF into my TV's.  That would significantly reduce my
electric bill (probabably about $50-80/mo during the
hot months... maybe only $10 or so during the winter
months)

Just a data point for those curious.

-Chuck
>    1. Re: Where is Jarod's guide to automatic
> shutdown and	restart?
>       (John Andersen)
>    2. Re: Where is Jarod's guide to automatic
> shutdown and	restart?
>       (David Whyte)
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:26:46 -0900
> From: John Andersen <jsa at video.homelinux.org>
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Where is Jarod's guide
> to automatic
> 	shutdown and	restart?
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> Message-ID:
> <200503162226.46366.jsa at video.homelinux.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="utf-8"
> 
> On Tuesday 15 March 2005 21:43, Jarod Wilson wrote:
> > On Monday 14 March 2005 04:21, Phill Edwards
> wrote:
> > > I went looking for this as nvram-wakeup's not
> working for me any more
> > > for some reason, and I remembered that Jarod
> uses wake-on-lan from
> > > another machine.
> >
> > I think you may have me confused with someone
> else, I've never used WOL.
> > All my boxes are just on 24x7.
> 
> Often wondered about why people are so concerned
> about WOL
> for a myth box.  Where is Electricity so expensive
> that leaving it
> on 24/7 is a problem?
> 
> If you turn off the monitor you kill off 80% of the
> electricity usage
> anyway. 
> 
> I've metered boxes doing nothing.  They draw squat.
> Its harder on the machine being powered on and off
> all the 
> time than it is to just leave it on.
> 
> -- 
> ______Jsa_________
> 
> 



		
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