demultiplexer
Neuling
Hallo, ich bin Niederländisch und weil es kein problem ist für mich Deutsch zu lesen, wurde ich Englisch schreiben.
Some time ago, in september I think, a friend of mine pointed out that a few users on german forums have managed to get a full-blown desktop computer to consume first about 15W AC in idle, then just 12.5W. At the time I had just finished a passively cooled mini-ITX PC in my bedroom (you guessed it - any noise would be too much, and fans would cause too much dust to build up in that environment) based on a Core 2 E5200 which used about 20W idle. The most interesting thing was that they did it without any hardware modding at all, which is a missed opportunity in my opinion. I wondered how much further I could push such a system.
I have a very detailed series of blog posts describing exactly what I have done, but it is in Dutch. Some of you might be able to follow it, some won't. There is an english summary available as well. They are both hosted on tweakblogs which is a subsidiary of Tweakers.net, the biggest Dutch online tech community. The reason I'm posting this here is because the german fora (and Germany in general) seem to have a lot more people focusing on systematically reducing power consumption. Whenever there's a 'stromspar-system', it gets a substantial amount of constructive replies, while if you try that in Holland, except for my extreme mods there seems to be little interest, let alone expertise on the subject. I'm hoping you might get some inspiration from this mod, and possibly tell me what else there can be done on this system.
Blog series on the 8.5W system (earlier posts say 10W, only recently have I achieved 8.5W)
The english summary
I intend for this topic to be more than just a 'hey, look at my cool system', but as a general discussion on the science behind getting the lowest possible power consumption possible (so more than just choosing a good power adapter and components and software undervolting/clocking).
Some general figures on power consumption:
- idle, screen off, but keyboard, mouse, LAN active, passively cooled: 8.3W
- idle, screen on: 9.2W
- light activity (browsing folders, text editing, etc.): less than 11W
- playing flash video: less than 20W
- casual games: average just above 20W
- HD video (1080p): 25W
- OCCT+Furmark stress, fan on: 50.8W
Some time ago, in september I think, a friend of mine pointed out that a few users on german forums have managed to get a full-blown desktop computer to consume first about 15W AC in idle, then just 12.5W. At the time I had just finished a passively cooled mini-ITX PC in my bedroom (you guessed it - any noise would be too much, and fans would cause too much dust to build up in that environment) based on a Core 2 E5200 which used about 20W idle. The most interesting thing was that they did it without any hardware modding at all, which is a missed opportunity in my opinion. I wondered how much further I could push such a system.
I have a very detailed series of blog posts describing exactly what I have done, but it is in Dutch. Some of you might be able to follow it, some won't. There is an english summary available as well. They are both hosted on tweakblogs which is a subsidiary of Tweakers.net, the biggest Dutch online tech community. The reason I'm posting this here is because the german fora (and Germany in general) seem to have a lot more people focusing on systematically reducing power consumption. Whenever there's a 'stromspar-system', it gets a substantial amount of constructive replies, while if you try that in Holland, except for my extreme mods there seems to be little interest, let alone expertise on the subject. I'm hoping you might get some inspiration from this mod, and possibly tell me what else there can be done on this system.
Blog series on the 8.5W system (earlier posts say 10W, only recently have I achieved 8.5W)
The english summary
I intend for this topic to be more than just a 'hey, look at my cool system', but as a general discussion on the science behind getting the lowest possible power consumption possible (so more than just choosing a good power adapter and components and software undervolting/clocking).
Some general figures on power consumption:
- idle, screen off, but keyboard, mouse, LAN active, passively cooled: 8.3W
- idle, screen on: 9.2W
- light activity (browsing folders, text editing, etc.): less than 11W
- playing flash video: less than 20W
- casual games: average just above 20W
- HD video (1080p): 25W
- OCCT+Furmark stress, fan on: 50.8W
