How many peeps care about power consuption?

[Onus]

This has been an interesting thread. Sometimes the intellect shines through, other times it's been down in the sewer. Anyway...

1. An excellent work of fiction many of you would probably enjoy is Michael Crichton's "State of Fear." The Theory of Global Warming is one of its themes. I won't offer any spoilers; just read it.

2. I like technology. I like playing games on a competent PC. I am also conscious of the energy I'm using, but to paraphrase someone else's remarks, "using" and "wasting" are two different things. I turn my PC off now when I'm not going to be on it, and I have all of its energy-saving features turned on. I chose an 80+ PSU for it. I try to cut down on parasitic loads like idle chargers. I've used fluorescent bulbs for decades now. There are only a few incandescents left in my house, in a couple of bedroom touch lamps or kitchen appliances. My primary desk lamp uses LEDs; as bright as it is, my UPS tells me it only draws 5W.

3. I live in a manufactured home. I specified high R-values (it would be comfortable in Minnesota), and double-paned windows, specifically to save energy. Even though it is all-electric, any comment I'm likely to make about my electric bill is generally taken as gloating .

4. Although I've contributed with ideas, lighted shelves, and other construction, my Special One (my wife) does most of the work growing a very prolific organic garden, mostly in containers, for us. We're nowhere near self-sufficient, but we get good healthy food and save a lot of money. Our plan is that we will someday live off the grid, with solar and/or wind providing most of our energy.

5. I am eagerly waiting for the cost of solar energy to become more reasonable; we live in Tennessee, with a South-facing roof just itching for a solar array. Too bad there's no wind where I am, and too many tall trees.

It's about awareness, and choices; "use" vs. "waste." Waste little, and the cost of whatever we use should be managable. Waste a lot, and the costs get high fast, for someone if not for you. I'm pleased to be an American, but I see everywhere how wasteful American society is. We can do a lot better, but I think people are finally waking up. I'm not even going to begin to change the world, but I know my wife and I can make choices that will improve our own lives significantly, with neither aid from nor interference to anyone else.

 

[angry_ducky]

I don't give a damn about power consumption; the Sierra Club sticker on the back of my minivan (~15 MPG!) saves the earth autonomously.

*sarcasm

 

[Jaevric]

In terms of entertainment options, computer gaming is probably not one of the more wasteful options available. I'd like a more energy-efficient computer but I'm not willing to sacrifice performance for it -- which is not to say I feel the need for a liquid nitrogen cooled Skulltrail rig.

 

[MattC]

The possible energy savings are being underestimated here. My CPU underclocking alone saves 20 Watts. My GPU saves another chunk, I assume though I never actually tested it (it autoOCs when I want it to, anyway, and it runs cooler when underclocked so I do know there is some energy reduction). The power supply can be a big waste. If you're running a somewhat high end system, you may be using 300+ watts. If your power supply is running 10-20% less efficient than it could, along side a constantly overclocked CPU/GPU/Memory, you might be wasting closer to 100 Watts.

As others have mentioned, though, those of us who want to use less power mostly want to do so because we're computer enthusiasts ... and we like computers that run well ... and a well tuned computer is a well cooled computer. AND because those of us who are smart enough to realize that we can actually save money to spend on future upgrades ... without sacrificing any performance ... will take a few moments to consider energy efficiency when we're building.

 

[bilbobaggins811]

I don't care about power consumption. I like to use all of the power I can the earth is in a cooling trend and I want heat. Drill for oil, build nuclear plants which are very clean, and build refineries in California.

 

[alfrido]

Nope dont care.

 

[Grimmy]

When it comes to playing the latest games, its kind of hard to avoid allot of power consumption. The video card is prolly the most power hungry component on the PC.

You can have a great power saving CPU, but in order to play certain games, somewhat smooth or playable, if you end up getting something to do the job (mid-highend), its just going to ruin your power savings you were trying to gain.

To protect your investment, like the use of UPS, depending on what you get, you end up using even more power. For what I'm using, if memory serves, I'm adding additional 89-114watts (edit: actually with stuff hooked up, but PC's powered down) even though the batteries are fully charged.

I'm pretty much at the point... who gives a crap about power savings on the CPU? If thats your fancy in the computer world, which depends on energy in performance, then I really don't think there will be much of a change in the future for those of you, if you worry too much about CPU power consumption vs the total amount that your actually using. The only real thing perhaps to look forward to, is the different technology that will perhaps replace the current CPU design.

If you can afford the toys, then you'll have to afford the cost to play with those toys. :lol:

 

[gigman]

This argument could go on forever........















































drumroll








No matter what individual does, the power consumption of the world will keep going up and up and up... btw amdfangrl is younger than me by 2 months and she ramble like nothing else... wow

 

[jsc]

After quoting me, royalcrown wrote:
"The problem with the logic of, it's not that good, or it's expensive so it's not worth it (solar or wind or hamsters), is that the technology will never get advanced to where it is good then. I think we need as much alternative energy as possible so as to just work out the kinks and GET it up there."

Where did I say any of that? In the first part of my post, I simply pointed out that the common alternative energy sources cannot power our industrial society. The fact that they ARE becoming an increasingly larger supplement to our primary power sources is a Good Thing.

The second part of my post pointed out the great flaws about hydrogen. It's largely a zero sum energy source. Any quantity of hydrogen contains no more energy than we spent making it. The other problem with large scale hydrogen power is that it depends on the availability of cheap electrical energy.

Petroleum does not have that problem. A gallon of gasoline contains about six times the energy we spent extracting, refining, and transporting it. Of course, Mother Nature did the heavy lifting eons ago.

 

[spuddyt]

And that would be a bad thing? Think about all the energy saved.



This thread is a horrible parody of a talk show complete with gay guests and a naive backwater beauty queen host spouting shallow topics like starvation in africa and anti-aids campaigns. What happened here? What is this thread, this abomniation, doing in the CPU section?

And just like a tragic and bloody accident or some beauty surgery gone really wrong, it's so horrible and monstrous i can't stop myself from looking at it.

I think it's starting to melt my brain. Make it stop.

"Nurse, Hand me the scalpel"
"but doctor, the patient only came here for a slight adjustment"
"SCALPEL, Nurse, SCALPEL"

 

[spaztic7]

I don't really like them either but they served their purpose, as an example

That they do!

 

[jalek]

For Example: I think plants have feelings, you may not its fine. I not gonna murder you or anything for having a different view, I acknowledge it and move and and kill something else... duh...

Some of the Jains believe that, they're not only vegetarian, but won't eat root vegetables because it kills the plant.

One sect has monks not even wear clothing as it's a path to desire for material things, and that always ends in sorrow..

Then again, I doubt you'd find a devout Jain using a computer often.

 

[ovaltineplease]

How many folks out there really care about a 10 or 15watt difference when buying a CPU? I mean come on! You spend a 1000 dollars on your PC and worrie about saving a couple of dollars a year on your electricity bill.

saying that you don't care about power consumption of your individual pc is like saying that you don't care about power consumption of anything in your home

lets say you double your power consumption - thats like leaving a non-EE lightbulb on 365 days of the year (no, i don't have math im just making an example)

Would you go out of your way to leave all your televisions/lightbulbs on in your house simply because "well the tv only uses so much, and the lightbulb only uses so much so what difference does it make!!"

You think of these things in far too small of a scale. Lets say a company owns a call center with 200 terminals that are operational 24 hours a day - they are definitely going to be concerned with power cost.

Do I care about power consumption of all my electronics in my home? Yes. I don't leave my PC running 24/7, i don't leave lights on in rooms i'm not in, I don't leave the tv on, etc.

 

[Onus]

1...The only Michael Cricton book I've even been known to read is Timeline: the audio cassette adaption
2. It would still be better to replace those, they are given out for free in Australia as part of Kevin Rudd something or rather to save energy
3. Yes they always make stuff seem warm, but it never gets cold enough here in Sydney
4. Well I can tell you it is impossible as you may not always have sunshine
5. I might get one but the expenses...

Your house is a wonderful example of how people can make small changes that make a big impact. If everyone was like you I'm sure that's alot of energy saved. So the morale of the story is:
Save were you can

1. That was a good one too; I read the book and have the movie on DVD. I like all his stuff, even back to The Andromeda Strain.
2. I use CFL bulbs everywhere I can. They don't work in touch lamps, at temperature extremes, are not advised for motion sensors, and are not small enough to fit in my microwave. Every other fixture I have uses them (except the LED desk lamp).
3. I would not care to live where it is cold. I just wanted an energy-efficient house. I probably save $50-$100 per month because of the energy-saving options I chose; money well spent.
4. I will initially go for net-zero usage, with plans to upgrade to sufficient capacity of flooded batteries to power the house for at least 3 days. I also want to supplement with wind.
5. Yeah, right now I'd probably be looking at $18K or more, and that would probably not cover all of my usage even on sunny summer days.

 

[carod]

Personally i do care about power usage, mainly tho because having a huge bill arrive makes me sad! Obviously it makes sense to replace your standard light bulbs with energy saving ones, its easy and will save you money in the long term, its a no brainer (if you tend to have light bulbs blow on you a lot tho think about replacing the fittings, worn ones will cause arcing and cost you quite a bit of cash if you blow EE ones).

After that it gets a bit more subjective, what if power was clean and plentiful? would you be bothered how much you used? probably not. I think governments are to be blamed to some extent, maybe instead of asking everyone to use less power they could invest in research into cleaner power production (fusion would be nice) instead of passing the buck like they normally do! Even updating some of the older fossil fuel powerplants to more modern types would help reduce pollution and greenhouse gases. Btw if you believe that governments and big companies have strict morals let me tell you a true story, in england a few years ago we had the usual summer drought in the south which is rediculous when you consider how much yearly rainfall we have and the fact we're a goddamned island, anyway it got out into the news that a lot of the water pipe network had leaks and quite a bit of water was getting wasted, the water companies made a big deal of saying how much money they were investing in repairing these leaks, a friend of mine worked as an engineer and told me that he didn't repair any leaks.....he simply reduced the water pressure so that the leaks leaked less! unbelieveable but true. Did you know that to build a house with ecological concerns in mind doesn't cost that much more if its designed that way from the very beginning? Germany has much tighter building regs than a lot of places with ecology in mind, thats why you'll find that something like 50% of all their homes have solar panels fitted (thermal i think rather than photo-electric) Basically the governments could do a lot more if they really wanted to rather than just tell us to be good and turn the light off.

Global warming is a tricky one, its pretty much taken as a given now that the world is indeed heating up but is it natural or is it caused by us? Opinion is divided still but i did read a decent article a while ago (it was linked on the msn start page but i can't remember the name of it). Basically this guy was an eco warrior type but a sane one...he pointed out that a lot more people die every year from cold rather than heat, and did you know that the billions they have to combat global warming is only going to make something like 2 degree's difference in 20 years? On the other hand those same billions could save a vast number of lives if focused on battling starvation and illness instead. Also, yes a polar ice cap is melting but did you know that ice is forming at the other one?

None of these are definitive answers but its always worth looking into things deeper than what the tabloids put out 😉

Peace

Carod

 

[carod]

And reading that after posting it i realised i'd gone rather off track from the OP's question, i'd certainly consider the power rating of a cpu before purchase but ultimately, no i wouldn't buy a low power cpu if it made my pc experience poorer, in fact i'm considering buying a Phenom 9850 just for the hell of it. And no i don't club baby seals to death on my days off lol

Peace

Carod

 

[KyleSTL]

amdfangirl you remind me of this:

http://www.mypartypost.com/watchflashbig/4613/SNL-_Dakota_Fanning_Show

and this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smug_Alert!

On the other hand, I go out of my way to recycle everything I buy that can be recycled, and I try to conserve energy as much as possible, I'm just not self-righteous about it.

 

[kad]

How many folks out there really care about a 10 or 15watt difference when buying a CPU? I mean come on! You spend a 1000 dollars on your PC and worrie about saving a couple of dollars a year on your electricity bill.

Simply NO
But I enable C1E for the sake of keeping my Temps low as long as fuul load is not required
My E8500 is OC'd to 3.8 (9.5X400)
Under normal load it works at 2.4 (6X400)
I'm not fond of lot of colors and cathod lights
I do not keep PC running 24/7
Interesting to say
gaming 2 hours/day (20W/day)-result 600W/month
washing machine or dish washer is using 2000-2500W

 

[carod]

Yes, I would be, but not to an extreme extent tho...

Why? power itself is not a sin, if it was cheap and caused (almost) no damage to the environment like fusion would then why get stressed over it. What people should be concerned about is how the power is produced rather than how much of it they use. Take the plonks who rave on about electric cars...where do you think the electricity comes from to recharge them? mostly fossil fuel power stations....sure the cars have zero emissions but generating the power itself causes a load of it, all you're doing is moving the pollution from the car to the energy station. Not clever.

Peace

Carod