[mythtv-users] Re : expansible and powersaving motherboard for backend??

[Raymond Wagner]

On 9/30/2009 19:59, Manu wrote:
>> a low end C2D or AthX2.  If you're really concerned about power
>> consumption, you can undervolt/underclock those machines into the
>> same
>>
>> operating range of an Atom system (20-40W).
>>      
> OK I did not you could go that route to save that much, hmm I guess the
> board then needs to be tweakable (BIOS might be an issue here I guess).
> Thx
> Manu
>    
To be honest, most people are surprised at how little power modern 
hardware consumes.  Our compute nodes at work are stock 2.66GHz C2Ds, on 
a standard G33 micro-atx board with 2x2GB of memory, and a 80GB hard 
drive.  With an 80+ rated supply, they idle at 45W, and pull 85W under 
load.  I have a UPS rated at 550W, and it took two desktops, one single 
one dual core, both with two video cards and multiple hard drives, and a 
dual core server with 15 hard drives, all running under heavy load, 
before I tripped the 'overload' alarm.