[Novalug] Why I like Linux

[Ed James]

Jason,

    Did that.  The P-II idles at 41 watts, and peaked at 68 watts
during the boot process.  One of my P-III's idles at 55 watts, with
both HD's spinning.  Started to check it with both HD's in sleep
mode, but one of the darn things won't STAY asleep.  Guessing it's
the ext3 journaling that wakes it back up after 4 or 5 seconds.

    If you wanna try something interesting, measure the power usage
difference between a monitor using black text on white background
vs white text on black background.  My CRT draws 20-25 fewer watts
in the latter case.

    FYI - I can afford the electricity, so it's not a matter of
expense,  However, the lower power drain means the UPS will hold
up longer during power outages. :P

Ed James

Quoting Jason <novalug at jasons.us>:
...
> If you're really interested in how much power different devices use I'd
> suggest picking up a kill-a-watt ($18 at supermediastore.com) and
> playing with that.  I got one a month ago and have been pleasantly
> surprised by the power draw in my apartment.  My P4-2.6GHz with three
> HDDs only draws in 105W while idle and under 150W under load.  I was
...
> -Jason