Power Efficient System (what is the best choice?)

[OkamiAmaterasu]

I have a small problem in my mind.
My main computer is as follows:
Athlon 64 X2 (S 939)
ASUS A8N-E (NForce 4 Ultra)
4 x KINGSTON HYPERX DDR400 512MB 2-3-2-6-1 (Total of 2GB)
2 x 160GB SATA2 7200RPM MAXTOR HDS (RAID0)
XFX 7600GT XXX EDITION
A CD RECORDER
A DVD RECORDER
A FLOPPY DRIVE
3 COOLER (2X 80 IN + 1X 90 OUT)

This is the closest thing to a high end system I coul get with my limited budget,
but it's still a power drain, and I leave it on almost 24/7
in order to make my downloads and all...

Im thinking of building a small, low cost, power efficient, system to act as a file/printing/download server.
So processing power is not the case, but rather economy.
The configuration I came up with was:

CELERON 420
GIGABYTE GA-VM900M
512 MB DDR 533 (kingston - kvr)
80GB 7200rpm sata2 Seagate HD

So? What do you think? Could I improve it in any way? make it more power economic?

THX for any help.

 

[cbxbiker61]

Lookup Mini ITX. Lot's of choices there for extremely low power solutions. Linux on one of those would make a very nice little server. Your choice of disk drives could probably be improved upon for low power.

 

[OkamiAmaterasu]

What hard drive could I use in the server? 5400 RPM? or another brand? plus I'll take a look on those mini ITX, but those are not so easy to find around here (Brazil), and not so cheap either, but on the long term (eletric bills are not cheap as well), it might be worth it...

I'll look into it, thanks very much!

Any other sugestions?
Anybody?

 

[vir_cotto]

If you were able to get everything you needed really quick that would save power

 

[geofelt]

Before you do anything, I suggest that you find out if you really have a problem. There are some cheap devices out there which you can plug into an outlet, and it will overtime tell you how many kilowatt-hours you are using. Or, you could do some estimating. Then compare the cost of a new system with the estimated $ saved by energy reduction. If the results can not be paid for in 5 years or less(I'm betting that is the case), then the project is probably not economic. For example, if your system uses an average of 100w, 24/7, that is 876 kw/hours per year. At 10 cents per kwh, it is costing you $87.60 to run your system for a year. If you can build a second system that is twice as efficient, you could afford to spend $219 on it to break even.

 

[OkamiAmaterasu]

Before you do anything, I suggest that you find out if you really have a problem.

That was a very nice advice, but I had allready made such estimates, but i wrote this topic in order to be sure.
I calculated my current computer power requirements on 130 ~ 150W on idle mode. (please, could someone confirm it?). And the new "server" around 60 ~70 w. (also, confirmation please ).

Wich would mean a aproximate economy of R$ 295,00 ( something around US$ 160,00).
This piece of hardware (the server) would cost something like R$ 400,00 ( something around US$ 220,00)

So, it would take me about 16 months (less than 1.5 years) to make it worth the money... (yes, I know, energy in Brazil is REALLY expensive, but what can I do huh?!?)

But I would really apreciate if someone would recomend me the most economic hardware possible.

Thanks again for the heads up.

 

[cbxbiker61]

This could be the perfect opportunity for you to blow the dust off an old Pentium 133/166 system, throw a used ethernet card in, a lowly vga card. Maybe get a cheap low-power 80+ certified power supply (if you're inclined). Then you could do whatever comes to mind with respect to the disk.

Someone you know must have that kind of junk just sitting around.

Those old pentiums/motherboards didn't use much juice. There just wasn't that much to them.

 

[cbxbiker61]

Forgot to mention. Linux is the right way to reuse something like an old Pentium board. Slackware can be installed very light. I've had it down to about 200 Megs for dedicated machines.

 

[cbxbiker61]

200 Megs disk space...I forgot how how porky Windows machines are and realized you might think I meant memory.

 

[geofelt]

Here is a link to the type of device I was referring to: http://the-gadgeteer.com/review/kill_a_watt_ez_electricity_usage_monitor kill-a-watt meter, about $25. If energy is really expensive, it could find more usage for the device than just your PC.

There are some power saving options that XP/vista will let you set to go into a lower power mode , and yet keep the PC on. This would particularly apply to the monitor which can use a lot of power. Your calculations indicate that there might be a potential for savings, and it seems to me that it would be prudent to spend $25 to nail that down first. What is really good about the device is that it accumulates the KWH used over time, instead of just a snapshot.

For what it's worth, my system is drawing 311 watts of power, doing not much of anything. That includes a 30" samsung monitor which draws 130w. This is measured using a APC ups system. What do you pay per KWH? I pay about 11 cents per KWH here.

 

[OkamiAmaterasu]

I pay R$ 0.46 (US$ 0.24), here in Brazil this kind of device is not so easy to find, and it is relatively expensive. I'll consider buying this anyway...

Another reason I want a separate computer is for security purposes, I mean, I don't want my work computer connected 24/7 to the internet, plus, I want to have remote access to my home documents, control my downloads remotely, well you get the picture...

But of course I want the most economic solution available, that includes power savings.

 

[OkamiAmaterasu]

No one?