energy efficient computers

[ironsight2000]

how long before we see super powerful computers that are super efficient with energy uses?

[yxz]

wat

human brain > all

[ironsight2000]

With the way power supplies are going soon we will need a 3kw psu with it's own dedicated circuit breaker.

[Dark_ph0enix]

Depends on how you define "Super Powerful" and "Super Efficient". I'd imagine 4th / 5th generation Nettops, with say ION3/4 (or something similar) might meet that kinda criteria.

[ironsight2000]

Right now the average gaming rig need 1kw the number every few years keeps going up soon we will hit 3kw that way to power hungry they really need to work on power efficentcy

[yxz]

ATI Radeon HD 5870

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/power-consumption-overclocking_15.html#sect0

  Quote

Overall, average power consumption of overclocked systems (with one contemporary graphics accelerator inside) is about 200-250 W during active gameplay.

[Nagisan]

  On 02/10/2010 at 15:41, ironsight2000 said:

Right now the average gaming rig need 1kw the number every few years keeps going up soon we will hit 3kw that way to power hungry they really need to work on power efficentcy

No, right now the average gaming rig needs maybe 650w max (and thats playing it safe so you can upgrade it without replacing the PSU), if you want more than 1 video card (pointless waste of money IMHO), then you need 750+.

Seriously, what do you consider the average gaming computer that requires 1kw? The only way I can think to use 1kw is an i7 overclocked and increased voltage, with 2-3 (maybe even 4) high-end GPUs (okay, maybe only 2 of your talking nVidia).

Computers are getting both more efficient and faster as time goes on. A computer that requires 650w right now is more powerful than a computer that required 650w 5 years ago. Lower your standards a bit if you think the average gaming rig needs 1kw, I have an i7 overclocked to 4Ghz running 6GB of DDR3 memory with a 4890 Toxic (overclocked version of the 4890) and putting it under full load (not just gaming load, I'm talking load the processor and GPU up as high as I can get it) it goes up to about 380w of usage, I could add another card in and I bet it would stay under 500w usage, no way I could make it go up to 1kw without rebuilding the entire thing...

[treemonster]

  On 02/10/2010 at 15:41, ironsight2000 said:

Right now the average gaming rig need 1kw the number every few years keeps going up soon we will hit 3kw that way to power hungry they really need to work on power efficentcy

lol what? i have a fairly high end gaming PC(well it's at the lower end of the thigh end classification tbqh) and my peak power use is like ~420w and that's about as high as it gets for a single gpu system at stock clocks.

  On 02/10/2010 at 15:52, Nagisan said:

No, right now the average gaming rig needs maybe 650w max (and thats playing it safe so you can upgrade it without replacing the PSU), if you want more than 1 video card (pointless waste of money IMHO), then you need 750+.

Seriously, what do you consider the average gaming computer that requires 1kw? The only way I can think to use 1kw is an i7 overclocked and increased voltage, with 2-3 (maybe even 4) high-end GPUs (okay, maybe only 2 of your talking nVidia).

Computers are getting both more efficient and faster as time goes on. A computer that requires 650w right now is more powerful than a computer that required 650w 5 years ago. Lower your standards a bit if you think the average gaming rig needs 1kw, I have an i7 overclocked to 4Ghz running 6GB of DDR3 memory with a 4890 Toxic (overclocked version of the 4890) and putting it under full load (not just gaming load, I'm talking load the processor and GPU up as high as I can get it) it goes up to about 380w of usage, I could add another card in and I bet it would stay under 500w usage, no way I could make it go up to 1kw without rebuilding the entire thing...

+1

computers are already really power efficient compared to how they were 5-10 years ago and what kind of processing power they have. as well as compared to some other household appliances you might have running all the time. i'm sure a fridge probably takes more power each day to run if you don't even open it at all, and the more you open the door, the more power it will take. pretty air conditioning a single room or heating your home/apartment is even costlier. i've seen people who leave their tv running 24/7 bitch about computers being on for even half that time each day. you probably save more from turning off lights in rooms you aren't in then you do from turning off your PC at night.

yeah there is a movement towards ultra efficent on energy computers. you know what this application is? businesses that have offices where dozens or even hundreds of computers are in use for 8+ hours every single day during peak energy hours. these business stand to see decent savings from using computers that are focused on using less power, often at a cost to performance, as they often don't use the full potential of less energy friendly hardware anyway. there are exceptions to this, but often these business have limited hardware sets for their high performance application needs. another application for more energy friendly hardware is data centers and server clustters and that sort of thing, where again there are literally at least dozens if not hundreds of systems running 24/7, so cutting down just a few watts per box really brings in teh savings for these kinds of businesses.

but for home use the difference is literally going to be maybe a few dollars a year difference, and depending on how your power company collects data on your usage for billing, you may not see any savings at all, ever. hell your actuall bill may be higher based on the voodoo i've seen on my own power bill with these so called smart meters we have in my province.

[gunny2k6]

  On 04/10/2010 at 09:27, JohnRocks said:

I am so cunfused about this post.

I have a Intel Core i3 2.93ghz using its Intel HD Graphics, a gigabyte motherboard using Intel H57 Chipset, 4Gb (2x2gb) Corsair DDR3 Ram 1333Mhz (thinks its 1.6/1.65v) 2x Western Digital 1Tb Carvier Green Drives in RAID + 1x Intel X25-V 40Gb SSD running on an old 350Watt PSU, and has 1x 120mm LED Fan for cooling.... SYTEM runs Windows Server 2008 R2 for learning and use as a server ..... (you can get DDR3 as low as 1.4v NOW TOO !!) btw system is in a Cube style case and its MicroATX ... so space saving too ;) no DVD drive as using a HDD Caddy, but use a USB DVDRW drive when needed

now according to a Pass Through Watt Meter i have, when system is loaded and at the login screen (idle) .... system is running various Services Web/MySQL/AntiVirus/Firewall/Media Streaming etc its idle is only 90Watts of power ..... now i also have 2 x Old Maxtor 300gb SATA1 drives i can turn on and uase as a spanned 600gd drive for which i did before i got the watt meter system, had run for 24 hours like that copying data to new RAID

now if ur wanting to talk Power Efficent Gaming you just need to add a ATi/AMD Radeon HD 5000 and maybe soon 6000 range card to that and ur system would be ace Power Efficent Gaming as eg according to ATI/AMD a 5670 only uses 15watts at Idle!

and for top power saving OS would say Win 7 be a must linux maybe as well as i think ubuntu 10 is similar on power saving

hope this is helps answer a few things

Now for comparison an old Thecus N2100 NAS ... has a rated PSU of 60 Watts MAX ... and that is a Intel XSCale 600Mhz CPU, 128mb Ram ram can be swaoped to 512mb DDR1 400Mhz, and up to 2x1tb HDDs but need to look at power so u dont overload the 60watt PSU, and you can add a Wireless G USB/MiniPCI (Only like 6 working sticks/cards) and for example my old 2x300gb hds where used in this

AMD have a Power Saving Range but only a select few and there more for underclocked/underclocking like mad there found with an "e" on the end of the poduct name ....eg AMD Athlon II X4 610e

In summary we have power effective semi super computers.... SSD's and DDR3 have aided in this ....AMD and Intel both have ways to make the CPUS use less power when not in use, and ATI have the right idea on GPU power ... nVidia have lost the plot there stuff just uses more power each time

[gunny2k6]

Also to go out side the PC the now LED PC Monitors add to the extra over all power saving to a Gaming Rig ;) ...