Re: [gentoo-user] Linux becomes expensive ;)

[Ryan Sims]

On 6/3/07, Florian Philipp <f.philipp@××××××.de> wrote:
> Am Sonntag 03 Juni 2007 18:03 schrieb Dan Farrell:
> > On Sun, 3 Jun 2007 13:16:33 +0200
> >
> > Florian Philipp <f.philipp@××××××.de> wrote:
> > > Am Samstag 02 Juni 2007 20:03 schrieb Jeff Horelick:
> > > > Florian,
> > > >
> > > > That's not that big of a difference...Also, Gentoo/Linux does not
> > > > have powersaving for every device like Windows XP...it's writing to
> > > > the hard drive more often and it doesn't spin as much down when
> > > > it's not in use to help performance. Also, if i was you, i'd be
> > > > worried about your system using that LITTLE energy especially since
> > > > you have a pretty hefty CPU, video card, motherboard, 2 hardrives
> > > > and al the rest of your components.
> > > >
> > > > On 6/2/07, Florian Philipp <f.philipp@××××××.de> wrote:
> > > > > Hi guys!
> > > > >
> > > > > I've just tested the energy consumption of my PC. Aparently Gentoo
> > > > > consumes a
> > > > > quiet a bit more than Windows XP: 213 W compared to 188 W
> > > > >
> > > > > PowerNow is activated and works on both cores (tested). The same
> > > > > hardware is
> > > > > plugged in and works. I'll attach the output of lspci, lsmod and
> > > > > cpuinfo as
> > > > > well as my world-file just in case it's related to some software.
> > > > >
> > > > > Is there anything I've forgotten? Where does my energy go?
> > > > >
> > > > > A short overview of my hardware:
> > > > >
> > > > > AMD Athlon64 X2 4200+ EE
> > > > > Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe (WLAN should be deactivated)
> > > > > 2048 MB DDR2 Corsair
> > > > > SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
> > > > > ATI Radeon 1950 Pro (fglrx)
> > > > > 2 SATA2 HDDs
> > > > > 1 SATA1 DVD-RAM
> > > > > Floppy
> > > > > USB mouse, keyboard and printer
> > > > > TFT screen (connected via DVI)
> > >
> > > Well, I've forgotten to mention that I didn't substract all
> > > peripheral devices. My new calculations (idle, nothing but the big
> > > black box under my desk): Linux 137W, Win 114W (20% or 18EUR / 20$
> > > p.a.).
> > >
> > > It seems I can't disable my onboard WLAN completely and while Win
> > > deactivates it because I don't provide drivers, Linux gives it some
> > > power although no software is accessing it.
> > >
> > > By the way: Maximum output while testing with 3DMark 2006: 219W. I
> > > wonder why I had to buy a 400W power supply...
> >
> > Maybe you can power off the wlan with a wireless-utils program, or
> > maybe by unloading the kernel module?
> >
> > Have you set up power management, powersave frequency governors?  Have
> > you set up your disk(s) to idle quickly?
>
> There is no kernel module. I'll play around with modules, configs and tools
> later. It's not urgent, it was more like a mystery that I wanted to solve.
>
> Yes, powermanagement (aka "PowerNow!") is activated. No, my disks do not spin
> down and should not because of the attrition (I hope that's the right word)
> that comes with spinning up.

[somewhat OT]:
Please read this: http://labs.google.com/papers/disk_failures.pdf
The damage done to hard drives in spinup/spindown is in the same
category of juju as ricer cflags and cloud seeding.  Drive activity
and such is *not* an indicator of failure, while there may be some
mechanical stress on the disk, but it's not going to cause your drive
to fail noticeably earlier.  Spin them down, save the power, and don't
listen to fearmongers.[/OT]

-- 
Ryan W Sims
-- 
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