Most energy efficient PC and monitor?
By gotwind2, Section Rants & Opinion Posted on Fri Aug 1st, 2008 at 06:59:39 PM MST
Any ideas

This is something I have been looking into for a while, I thought it might be   good to share any info here. I am searching for the most efficient PC (Windows/Mac/Linux/whatever o/s) and lcd monitor set up, not laptops, to be powered from Renewable energy (24v in my case). It really doesn't need to be anything special spec wise, Just for web/email use. DamonHD kindly  pointed me towards the new cherrypal PC that claims a tiny 2 watts of  power consumption? http://72.51.37.17/ - I'm not entirely convinced on this low power quote however. I would think the max L.C.D screen size would be 15" - I assume smaller screens consume less power. Can this be a achieved at less than say 30 watts? - I hope so :) Thanks Ben.

Most energy efficient PC and monitor? | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: Most energy efficient PC and monitor? (3.00 / 0) (#1) by GlutealCleft on Fri Aug 1st, 2008 at 01:09:32 PM MST (User Info)

For an "regular" PC and monitor, you're not going to get below about an 80 watt draw.  I built a good number of Athlon64 machines for one of our wings, and chose everything for low power.  Between a 19" PC and the computer, draws from the wall average about 80 watts during use, with spikes up to 100 watts. However, even "low-power" PC stuff isn't that great.  I recently bought an Atom-based board, and despite the 4W draw of the CPU, the northbridge pushes the draw from the wall FOR THE MOTHERBOARD ONLY to 50-60 watts! I also have a Via C3 system which, with a hard drive and optical drive, draws about 50 watts from the wall without a monitor. My 12" laptop, under load, draws less than the 65 watts that the charger is capable of delivering, but at idle, still uses a little over 30 watts, thanks to the display - and that's a 12" laptop display, not a bright 15" or larger desktop LCD. So, all in all, 30 watts probably isn't going to happen unless you get a REALLY good PC (or a laptop) and turn the brightness of your monitor most of the way down.  You can get things like the Cherry PC or a FitPC, but then you still need to factor in a monitor.

Re: Most energy efficient PC and monitor? (3.00 / 0) (#2) by wooferhound (tim((NoSpamAt))wooferhound.com) on Fri Aug 1st, 2008 at 01:57:53 PM MST (User Info) http://wooferhound.com

I would be tough to get a laptop down to 30 watts this won't get your power down very much but it will help you run a computer on 12 or 24 volts http://www.powerstream.com/DC_PC.htm W o o f -={(

Re: Most energy efficient PC and monitor? (3.00 / 0) (#3) by gotwind2 (ben[at]gotwind.org) on Fri Aug 1st, 2008 at 03:03:33 PM MST (User Info) http://www.gotwind.org/index.htm

Great replies, thanks - 30w is achievable.. I have also posted the same question on my own forum - The more clever minds involved, the better in my opinion. http://gotwind.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~905.asp . www.gotwind.org [ Parent ]

Re: Most energy efficient PC and monitor? (3.00 / 0) (#4) by independent on Fri Aug 1st, 2008 at 04:42:43 PM MST (User Info)

A thinkpad X31 (ultraportable) will draw beween 7-11w off DC. I've measured it running off an SLA with a laptop car power converter. They have an separate video card but it is very modestly powered and only a 12" screen. I think I measured with the CPU undervolted as well. It's very miserly with power It's not old enough to be run off the SLA directly. I'm also into the low power PC thing as well and have a Athlon64 running a heavily undervolted Turion (laptop processor). It is very low power (even with a 10k scsi drive) but my PSU is what is holding it back, that PC runs at 80w. I think with a more efficient PSU it would run at 60w or even less, as the Zalman PSU I have draws 25w just in standby! Laptops are the most efficient and you don't have to think about getting a separate screen for them. They are easy to find voltage adapters for 12v, although I don't know about 24v?

Re: Most energy efficient PC and monitor? (3.00 / 0) (#5) by wdyasq on Fri Aug 1st, 2008 at 05:40:47 PM MST (User Info)

Mini-Box.com has a power calculator for their small boards. They also have power supplies that are 24V and 90%+ efficiency. I have an older C3 Mini ITX with a 2.5" HD that they claim is less than 20W power consumption. I'll need to get one of the DC power supplies and see if the power consumption is really as low as claimed. Ron Adventure is just bad planning." -- Roald Amundsen

Re: Most energy efficient PC and monitor? (3.00 / 0) (#6) by GlutealCleft on Sat Aug 2nd, 2008 at 01:23:02 AM MST (User Info)

Even if it is (which is entirely possible), you still have to add in a monitor, which for a standalone LCD is another 30-50 watts. [ Parent ]

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