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Well, they said no

S

Schmave

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 2, 2001
Messages
1,720
I asked the network admin for the engineering labs here if we could install FAH on the computers here. Unfortunately, they said no. But they did have a good reason (kinda). The guy actually said they had considered running other DC programs in the labs, but the university has been pressuring the college of engineering to cut its power usage. The college of engineering is by far the biggest power user on campus, so I can understand where the university is coming from. Oh well, I tried.

Maybe I could do some convincing on the biology department...? They aren't part of the college of engineering...
 
Schmave said:
I asked the network admin for the engineering labs here if we could install FAH on the computers here. Unfortunately, they said no. But they did have a good reason (kinda). The guy actually said they had considered running other DC programs in the labs, but the university has been pressuring the college of engineering to cut its power usage. The college of engineering is by far the biggest power user on campus, so I can understand where the university is coming from. Oh well, I tried.

Maybe I could do some convincing on the biology department...? They aren't part of the college of engineering...
Click to expand...
I don't know whether a computer that's on but idle takes any less power than one at 100% cpu... logic tells me yes it should but I don't have one of those power meter thingies. Perhaps someone with one could take a look at it? It'd be interesting to see what the power draw difference is. If there's a big difference, then forget it, but if it's small, you've got somewhere to go with it.

edit: Oh yeah, and sorry to hear that. That sucks.
 
unhappy_mage said:
I don't know whether a computer that's on but idle takes any less power than one at 100% cpu... logic tells me yes it should but I don't have one of those power meter thingies. Perhaps someone with one could take a look at it? It'd be interesting to see what the power draw difference is. If there's a big difference, then forget it, but if it's small, you've got somewhere to go with it.

edit: Oh yeah, and sorry to hear that. That sucks.
Click to expand...

This should just about cover all your questions on power:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=1014

Edit: Sorry meant to link to page 25.....
http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?head=64&page=2286

But the whole thing is a good read and tells you why not to buy an Ultra X-Connect :D
 
Spectre said:
This should just about cover all your questions on power:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=1014

Edit: Sorry meant to link to page 25.....
http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?head=64&page=2286

But the whole thing is a good read and tells you why not to buy an Ultra X-Connect :D
Click to expand...

Those are good graphs but a couple things.
Power usage is measured in time as well.. a la kilowatt/hour. What power supplies are capable of putting out when the rails are maxed doesn't tell you how much power it is actually sucking from the wall.
Even with the CPU at 100% usage I doubt there would be a 100% draw of current from the 12V rail. That provides power to the entire motherboard. I'm pretty sure that not everything on the motherboard is drawing power at max just because the CPU is.

I think the difference for me is about the same as leaving a an extra light bulb or two on all the time.


 
Ahhh....right he wanted just the CPU.......not why the electricty was such a concern for the school.
 
That sucks man, sorry to hear that. Yeah, i'm guessing that a loaded CPU will burn though about 50 watts an hour more than an idle one. So i guess it's about leaving an extra dim light bulb on. I know i've got my computers all running 24/7, so i try to be extra conciencious about leaving lights on... figuring i can make up for a little of the difference. But yeah, i would try to go for the Bio dept. Hopefully they'll be a little more accomidating!
 
Well, tomorrow I'll bring my Fluke home from work with me, and test how much my desktop(Athlon64 3400+, 2 hard disks, Radeon 9250SE, 2 optical drives) is drawing from the wall, and give you the difference between idle and max CPU. Should only take a few minutes monitoring to give you a good picture of what to expect.
 
I think someone's used a Kill-a-watt meter to test this before. Here's a thread where gnewbury did a test a while ago. I think his test was on duallies, so the difference may be more than on a single CPU system.
 
For the link lazy:
BillR -
Not being "electrical smart" I'm not sure watt you mean by "current draw at the wall".
My system - dual gateway server w/ 2 PIII 933's, several hard drives, Viewsonic 20G uses
juice, but not like an AMD.
According to my trusty Kill-A-Watt, and only a few readings, usually for about a minute each -
Monitor off (this made it difficult to type ):
1% CPU usage (last I looked) - 1.12 AMPS, 85 WATTS
100% CPU usage (2 CPU's folding) 1.65 Amps. 128 WATTS, 122.4 volts

Monitor back on (whew!)
1% CPU usage (last I looked) - 2.75 AMPS, 205 WATTS
100% CPU usage (2 CPU's folding) 2.95 Amps. 245 WATTS, 122.4 volts

The proteins are a p262 and a p266.

Thus it seems that when both CPU's are folding more juice flows out of the wall, about 40 watts..

All readings were taken after the system warmed back up for a few minutes.

What I think this proves is that I need to get a 20 inch LCD monitor so I can save on electricity
Plus it's darned hard to type with the monitor off.

/edit - all running through an UPS
Click to expand...
Remember - The p933's don't suck much juice compared to the newer P4's and AMD heaters. but the extra 40 watts for folding has been offset by going to a 20" Dell LCD, which (disregarding interest) should pay for itself in a mere 40 years!!
 
yes machines do in fact pull more power when they are folding
 
The difference we're talking about isn't necessarily the difference between 100% cpu and idle, though - it may be the difference between 100% cpu and standby mode, depending on the school's settings. That would be a bigger gap.
 
The best thing to do would be to get one of those Kill A Watt meters and show them just how much juice their monitors are sucking down, unless they're using LCDs. That might get them to change their minds!
 
p4 = big jump in juice... but alotta juice anyways :D
..
try w/ the bio dept for sure.
..if the systems run anyways with old school monitors.. the difference wont be much.. but depending on useage... if you are willing to talk with several people and have to present this to somebody... ASK IF YOU GOT DONATIONS EXPRESSLY DESIGNATED TO OFFSET THE POWER COST TO ENHANCE THE EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE SCHOOL ASSESTS.. would they then accept it? some of us can't afford a boxen, but a host of us can paypal $5 :D ... this would be an ongoing bill, it'd be important to line up commitments for at least a year.. and be able to have a backup source of funding for people who flake.

good luck to you,

sharp

 
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