Search found 331 matches

by scdr
Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:39 am
Forum: SPCR Announcements
Topic: Make SPCR Even Better... and Win Great Prizes!
Replies: 209
Views: 533286

... "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night will stay these courageous reviewers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" - (with appologies to Herodotus) Speaking of heat - it occurred to me to wonder. If this room won't have ventilation, how will you control the temperat...
by scdr
Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:25 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: High room temperature concern
Replies: 9
Views: 4397

Be sure to include the effect of having the machine in your room. If it is a fairly small room without a lot of airflow, the PC running could boost it even warmer. It gets noticeably warmer in the small computer room here after sitting there with a Pentium III & CRT on for a while. (Room is maybe 6'...
by scdr
Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:40 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Lowest power dual-core
Replies: 41
Views: 23478

However, there's a class of machines where running at the lowest possible power at idle (or near idle) is important - machines such as PVR and home file servers that are on 24/7. For these machines a watt saved is 24 watt-hours saved per day. Even better - get a machine that will reliably start up ...
by scdr
Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:23 pm
Forum: SPCR Announcements
Topic: Make SPCR Even Better... and Win Great Prizes!
Replies: 209
Views: 533286

One huge difference is that Mike won't have to tip toe around at odd hours or save equipment sitting around for days or weeks at a time waiting for ambient noise conditions to be favorable. I'm guessing every review you've ever read where mike lists his name on the by line and an ambient noise of 1...
by scdr
Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:00 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Low power torrent box and print server
Replies: 2
Views: 4180

How fast is your internet connection? Unless you have something way above the norm, gigabit won't matter as far as torrent. (Can't go faster than your net connection anyway, many net connections don't even reach 10Mb/sec.) Why not just use the laptop for your torrent as well? Saves energy by not req...
by scdr
Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:56 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Looking for a good computer desk
Replies: 35
Views: 23461

So far favorite computer desk to look at is this one: http://www.datamancer.net/projects/engine/engine.htm But turning from the artistic to the utilitarian, what I use is an old steel office desk. It has a depressed area in the center - intended for a type-writer, but works very nicely as a keyboard...
by scdr
Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:35 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: PCI Wireless card that supports wake up on lan?
Replies: 3
Views: 2322

Turns out there are wireless cards that claim to do this.
(I have read about some machines doing it, but seems pretty hit or miss.)

http://www.proxim.com/products/wifi/cli ... index.html
by scdr
Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:10 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: PCI Wireless card that supports wake up on lan?
Replies: 3
Views: 2322

If the time of day when the system may be needed is somewhat predictable, you could use a timer. (Either BIOS wake timer, or external timer.) Won't give as fine control as WOL, but if you know it won't be needed during the night (e.g.) could at least turn it off then. Another option - use X-10 contr...
by scdr
Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:40 am
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Distribution of energy consumption; technology vs. culture
Replies: 7
Views: 7672

I am not saying that all indigenous cultures are or were Giver cultures. The ones you are talking about may very well have turned into Taker culture themselves, due to the influence and interference of white men. Not hardly. These so-called indigenous cultures appear to be as destructive as others,...
by scdr
Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:49 am
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Earth Hour on March 29th 8 to 9 pm
Replies: 19
Views: 6884

Not for all, certainly, but for many people, absolutely. My parents live in a semi-detached house on a lot that's larger than many (especially compared to the pocket lawns of new subdivisions) and have no problem getting by with a push mower. Mind you, they aren't sticklers for millimetre-perfect l...
by scdr
Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:57 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Earth Hour on March 29th 8 to 9 pm
Replies: 19
Views: 6884

As a follow-up to my previous post about what to do during earth hour.
Turns out that this is the beginning of National Dark Sky Week in the USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Dark_Sky_Week

So we can help raise awareness of light pollution and try to take back the night.
by scdr
Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:04 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Earth Hour on March 29th 8 to 9 pm
Replies: 19
Views: 6884

Looked sort of interesting, until I got to the part where they suggested things to do in the dark. It did not seem like they have really thought this out well and considered the total environmental impact of their scheme. Almost all of their suggestions involved using flashlights! No analysis was gi...
by scdr
Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:38 pm
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Distribution of energy consumption; technology vs. culture
Replies: 7
Views: 7672

On the other hand much of the technology that makes reproductive choices more pallatable is comparatively new. (Less than 50 years for hormonal contraception.) While contraceptive technology is prety hard to beat in terms of ROI for environmental impact reduction, it isn't so surprising that culture...
by scdr
Fri Mar 28, 2008 8:53 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Enermax Modu82+ 625 Review
Replies: 117
Views: 108159

The low load test lists it as taking 2.3 watts Could various motherboard features like Wake on LAN, Wake on Ring, Wake on PCI/PCI-E, Wake on mouse, Wake on keyboard reduce this figure? Or will it be that figure no matter what. Since the 2.3 watts was measured with no standby load at all (just the p...
by scdr
Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:39 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Efficiency at standby, low load test and one watt initiative
Replies: 3
Views: 3860

Ironically my new Modu82+ powered system (E8200, Asus P5E-VM HDMI) is the worst I've seen at 6W. Just out of curiosity, do you know what the VSB power output is for that rig in soft off (i.e. how much the motherboard/etc. draws at soft off), or have you tried it with some other power supply for a c...
by scdr
Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:35 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Enermax Modu82+ 625 Review
Replies: 117
Views: 108159

It seems like one unusual inefficiency of the Modu 82+ was mentioned, but largely ignored in the review. It appears to be much less efficient at generating VSB than other recently reviewed supplies. The low load test lists it as taking 2.3 watts, four times the 0.5 watts of the Corsair TX650W and ot...
by scdr
Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:42 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Efficiency at standby, low load test and one watt initiative
Replies: 3
Views: 3860

Efficiency at standby, low load test and one watt initiative

How efficient are power supplies at producing VSB? Are they all similarly efficient? How low a standby load do you need need to make a computer that uses less than 1 watt when it is turned off? As I understand it, the first part of the "Low load" test in the SPCR power supply test procedure just tes...
by scdr
Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:11 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: What does more memory actually do?
Replies: 10
Views: 3863

Probably doesn't matter for the OP (using Linux), but seems to me I read that Windows Vista's new interface uses lots of video RAM since it keeps copies of Window images in video memory (so it can use 3D hardware for overlaps, etc.) Not sure how much this matters, and it undoubtedly depends on the c...
by scdr
Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:43 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: advice needed for building a power efficient linux server
Replies: 7
Views: 4328

I never understood why some of you guys want to build silent servers. They're SERVERS for pete's sake! A sane set of priorities for a server (especially one a business depends on) would be the following: 1. Data reliability (lost data==huge problems) 2. Component reliability (busted parts == downti...
by scdr
Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:56 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: 80 Plus expands podium for Bronze, Silver & Gold
Replies: 32
Views: 40764

Considering the only product that is rated at silver is a prototype and even the best today only scrape through the bronze standard, i think it'll be a looong time before we see a sensibly priced commercial grade Gold standard PSU. But thats a good thing, it'll encourage companies to continue impro...
by scdr
Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:13 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: 80 Plus expands podium for Bronze, Silver & Gold
Replies: 32
Views: 40764

Of course there are supplies out there which claim highish efficiency
(for higher loads).

http://www.supermicro.com/newsroom/pres ... 073107.cfm
by scdr
Wed Mar 19, 2008 5:59 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Passive or near-silent AT PSU for my old school DOS Box?
Replies: 10
Views: 5365

Another option - move to a motherboard that has ATX power connectors. Lots of them did (some had AT and ATX connects).
by scdr
Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:49 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Passive or near-silent AT PSU for my old school DOS Box?
Replies: 10
Views: 5365

Seems a shame to build a new AT power supply when there are thousands of already made ones going to the dump. (I got rid of many of my old AT supplies a few months ago when there was a computer recycling drive.) Shouldn't be too hard to find something not too loud second hand for practically nothing...
by scdr
Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:34 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Low Power Machine
Replies: 9
Views: 4908

Might also want to consider most power doing what. Power at idle vs power at load. Will the server be idle for long periods? - If so, might want to also take into account what hardware does well at sleeping/hibernating and waking up from sleep. (Some systems seem to have more problems waking up than...
by scdr
Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:09 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Help upgrading my comp to super silent server
Replies: 3
Views: 1669

What is/are bottlenecks using your current rig as server? Check CPU usage, I/O usage, memory usage, net bandwidth. If something is maxed out - that suggests where to improve first. My first guess would be that memory might be your first bottleneck. Might be worth checking suggestions from folks who ...
by scdr
Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:05 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Any good keyboard?
Replies: 36
Views: 17442

I love my Northgate Omnikey Ultra T, but it probably isn't what you are looking for. I like a firm, clicky keyboard - and the Northgate keyboards have that in spades. (This cost like $100 back when I got my 486, still going strong.) Has function keys on the left as well as top (great for WordPerfect...
by scdr
Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:50 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Program to measure watt
Replies: 3
Views: 2626

Not exactly what you were asking for, but PowerTop can use a notebooks battery drain information to estimate power usage. http://www.lesswatts.org/projects/powertop/ Most desktop computers aren't set up with devices that would monitor this. I recall seeing an item someplace (probably on SPCR) about ...
by scdr
Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:36 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: "Green" computing saves energy?
Replies: 11
Views: 6191

Need to be careful of terms here. Saving money is not the same as saving energy. Just because at some place and time energy is less expensive in one form than another does not necessarily mean that using the less expensive form is saving energy. Consider that electricity is mostly generated created ...
by scdr
Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:54 am
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: madness of 1080p
Replies: 71
Views: 50241

The thing that I find most disturbing about the whole HDTV conversion (here in the USA) is that it is being forced upon us. (By government prodded by industry). By comparison, the change from black and white to color was handled seamlessly. One could continue to use a black and white set, or get a ...
by scdr
Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:52 am
Forum: Site Feedback
Topic: Creepy banner ad
Replies: 10
Views: 8669

Or if they are going to make ethanol - should use plants that provide better yield (e.g. sugar beets, etc.) At the very least should be required to post the total energy in (put into production) vs. out (what yield as fuel) in their advertising/etc. (last I saw corn was mostly a loosing proposition ...