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On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 9:59 AM, Mick <michaelkintzios@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> On Wednesday, 30 August 2017 15:42:47 BST Ian Zimmerman wrote: |
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>> On 2017-08-30 09:32, Mick wrote: |
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>> > > Unfortunately this isn't a viable strategy because typically you |
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>> > > will, in a few months, if not a single month, spend more in |
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>> > > electricity costs than you would purchasing a new single board |
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>> > > computer. |
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>> > |
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>> > Perhaps in a commercial 24x7x365 high compute cycle application this |
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>> > would hold water, but in the case of a home PC running 14 hours a day |
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>> > at maximum power you might save enough to buy a small spinning SATA |
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|
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Only recent hardware is actually any good at frequency scaling, or |
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adjusting power consumption when frequency scaling. If the processor |
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saves 10W that's nice but the rest of the computer might still be |
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using 50-100W idle. |
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|
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>> > drive after a year, or a Raspberry Pi without peripherals, but not a |
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>> > new PC. Of course, if: |
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>> > |
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>> > 1. your PC is not running at full speed all the time; |
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>> > 2. it is not a PentiumD dual core (were they the most power hungry?); |
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>> > 3. you're not still running a CRT monitor; |
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>> > 4. you tend to suspend to RAM when not in front of it; |
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>> > 5. a new PC is not at least 50% more efficient; |
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>> > 6. the price of electricity is not exorbitant (I pay approximately |
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>> > £0.13/KWh + £0.29/day) |
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>> > |
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>> > then you will need other reasons to upgrade. When the PC you're using |
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>> > is a laptop, then the case for upgrading on grounds of savings on |
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>> > electricity costs alone is even more tenuous. |
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>> |
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|
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I think it is useful to talk about absolute cost vs. relative cost. |
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The absolute cost is likely low enough you don't care, and if so |
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that's fine, I understand. The relative cost of running a single board |
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computer as opposed to modern desktop is something like 100x cheaper, |
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or two orders of magnitude (~2.5W vs. ~120W). Older desktops fare less |
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favorably and may be 200-500x more power hungry. |
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|
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>> Also: how long is the replacement going to last? Anything with flash as |
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>> the main storage will be back at the recycling station (ideally) within |
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>> a couple of years. This includes all the consumer routers I've ever |
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>> had, including the beloved blue Linksys. |
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> |
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|
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Flash storage lasts far longer than that in practice. How often do you |
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upgrade a router? |
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|
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Even the very inexpensive flash (10k to 100k write cycles) in |
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microcontrollers tends to never reach its useful lifespan even when |
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those parts are used for development; that is, receiving 10-20 updates |
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a day for a few months (worst case ~1% of useful lifespan, more |
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typically ~0.1% of useful lifespan or less). |
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|
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> With consumer grade router/modems I've found the capacitors are of a low |
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> rating and therefore within a few years (or sooner if your area experiences |
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> brown outs and power cuts/surges) they give up the ghost. Replacing the |
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> capacitors in their power supply and sometimes a couple of their internal |
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> capacitors with capacitors of a higher rating for just a few cents, by passes |
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> this built-in obsolescence and extends their useful life for quite a few more |
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> years. |
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|
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I haven't noticed anything similar but I do not recommend Netgear |
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products anymore. The TP-LINK router I purchased has been in use for a |
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few years and has fared favorably. |
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|
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These failures seem to be related to "abusing" the router. If you keep |
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it relatively uncovered in a livable space it will do fine. If you put |
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it outside in a shelter it will not. I do not necessarily agree that |
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computers should be designed to operate at *only* 25C STP (your |
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livingroom) but that is the current state of the market. |
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|
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R0b0t1. |