Pondering a second computer for power savings

[TemjinGold]

I use the rig in my sig for work (~12-13 hours per day, 5-6 days a week) and it is massive overkill (I check email, use Skype video, and watch videos; basically the most powerful thing I need it to do is play YouTube videos in 1080p without skipping.) Recently, I've considered building a second computer just for work to be as low power as possible due to the massive idle power draw this machine has. 2 questions:

1) What would you all recommend? I'm thinking something involving the on-chip video of an ivy (I assume that is powerful enough.) Or is a low power laptop better?

2) Would it be worth it? My APC UPS says the idle draw is ~176 watts (40 of which is my monitor.)

 

[lehtv]

Use the on-chip video of 2500K?

 

[TemjinGold]

Would that require I yank the 580? I still game on this computer, just not often and would rather not yank and unyank all the time...

 

[TemjinGold]

So err... no one?

 

[dma0991]

Why not give the Raspberry Pi a chance. It's cheap, as power saving as you'll ever get and will probably do everything that you want except playing 1080P videos. Still pending on my purchase but I'm sure they've worked out the bugs of the early versions.

 

[TemjinGold]

The horsepower to play those videos is key to my job.

 

[VirtualLarry]

E-350 mini-ITX rig with an SSD?

It browses and plays videos (thought not Netflix HD, so I've heard, never tried).

 

[ElFenix]

your job is watching youtube videos?


a 670 would offer better idle power consumption. you'd take a bath selling that 580 though.

all sandy and ivy CPUs idle at approximately the same usage so there's not much savings there.

if your board came with lucidlogix virtu you might try that as it'd be free.

at most you'd save about $70 to $90 a year (by turning the computer off), so buying a laptop isn't going to pay for itself (esp. if you need a 1080p screen).

 

[Smartazz]

That seems really high for idle power consumption. Does your GPU and CPU downclock when not being used? Even so, it would take a while to recoup the costs of another computer.

 

[bononos]

The OP's 2500k is overclocked, would that interfere with idling power consumption?

 

[Smartazz]

The OP's 2500k is overclocked, would that interfere with idling power consumption?

Not if you enable power saving features. I can run my 2500k at 4.5GHz but it'll drop voltage and clock speed when idle.

 

[TemjinGold]

Hrm... so not much savings I guess from what everyone is saying. For those curious, part of my job involves hosting online meetings and reviewing performance recordings, both of which take about the same processing power as watching a 1080p video.

By the way, any ideas what the average laptop would run in power use anyway?

 

[ShreddedWheat]

laptop hooked to your monitor with wireless keyboard/mouse combo + you have laptop for on the go.

 

[DSF]

So what are you trying to reduce power for? Savings on your energy bill?

Doing a little math, .$12/kWh x .176 kW x 12 h x 6 days ~= $1.50 per week to run your computer, including the monitor. So even if you only spent $300 on a new computer and the computer were magically free to run, it would take 200 weeks (4 years) for the power savings to matter economically.

If I did my math right.