[mythtv-users] CPU power (was Possible small HD frontend)

[Michael T. Dean]

On 03/22/2008 04:56 PM, Raphael wrote:
> Michael T. Dean wrote:
>> Oh, and don't get me started on PSU's.  I'm starting to think there's 
>> actually something to the whole 80 plus thing ( http://80plus.org/ ).  
>> Though it's interesting how this utility-company-funded "incentive" 
>> program just costs me (an individual) money (since I have to buy the 
>> more expensive PSU).  Fortunately, when one of my Myth PSU's blew up 
>> last week, there was a really good one-day sale on an 80-plus PSU.  Once 
>> I "borrow" my Kill-A-Watt back from a friend, I plan to see how much of 
>> a difference it makes (and, if sufficient, may start replacing PSU's on 
>> other always-on systems of mine).  Of course, doing so may only be green 
>> in the greenbacks sense because it means taking a bunch of working PSU's 
>> to my local hazardous waste disposal facility.
>>     
> Yeah the PS is a whole other story too. I used to have very inefficient 
> ones. Probably produced more heat than actual power. I do think the 
> 80-plus thing is a good idea, it does seem to be for real, again only 
> from reading some reviews around the net (haven't used any myself). I 
> have a Neo HE from Antec, which was their precursor to their 80plus 
> PSUs. They do say that the efficiency drops off somewhat badly though 
> when the system isn't under load, which would be most of the time for 
> people here who run their systems 24/7. Does the 80plus mean it's at or 
> above 80% efficient all of the time or just at peak power?

That's actually what's making me think 80plus is a good thing.  I've 
seen a /lot/ of discussion of how much PSU efficiency changes over the 
various operating loads (where, typically, I think they tend to be most 
efficient around 75%-80% load).  However my new PSU--an Antec Earthwatts 
EA-430 (430W PSU)--operates at >80% efficiency from 20%-100% load.  I'm 
not sure if that's common of all (or most) 80plus-rated PSU's, but this 
is the first PSU I've ever seen that could say that (and it is the first 
80plus PSU I've ever looked at).

I figure my slave backend that's using the new PSU must be using at 
least 86W (20% of 430W).  It's an Athlon XP 2000+ with 512MB RAM, an 
NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (outputting text only--just there so I can get the 
NVIDIA GLX libs on the system), 2 pcHDTV HD-3000's, 2 750GB HDD's, 1 
300GB HDD, and one PCI SATA/IDE controller card.  It runs athwarm--I 
mean SETI at home--continuously (even while recording).  And, that large 
range was a beautiful thing to me because it meant I didn't have to do a 
lot of figuring/measuring to find out what size PSU to get and that it's 
flexible enough to handle future changes.

Though the sound of the exploding PSU was scary and the smell took a 
couple of days to dissipate, it may turn out that the PSU's breaking 
saves me money (especially if I find that it's worthwhile to replace 
some of my other PSU's on my 7 other most-frequently-used systems (3 are 
24/7/52***, 3 are 24/7/when I'm home, and one is whenever I get a chance 
to use it).  My other 4 systems are just when I need them systems.

Mike


***24/7/52 is what I think people should say rather than 24/7/365.  If 
you think about it, you're saying, "24 hours per day, 7 days per week," 
so why would you then go back to saying, "365 days per year," rather 
than following the series with "52 weeks per year."  If you're going to 
fall back to the previous unit, it should be 24/168/8736 or something 
(keeping it all in hours).  Anyway, completely off-topic ramblings to 
justify my saying 24/7/52.  Join me in the 24/7/52 revolution!