[plug] Anybody know how this thing works?

[Daniel Foote]

> > > Draws around 25W idle, 50W max, incl internal 3.5" IDE drive.
> > > Dead quiet with a new fan and HDD. Perfect for many Linux appliances.
>
> That is measured at the wall. My point is that older PCs (pre-P4) are not
> the power-sucking monsters of today.

Depends on the machine.

I've currently got two machines running full time at home. I do have a
power meter (built from a Dick Smiths kit, great little unit).

One machine is my fileserver - Duron 850MHz, always under 100% CPU
load, four hard disks installed but only one disk spinning most of the
time. In this mode, it draws about 120W continuous.

The other machine is a very new Dell SC430 P4 Box, one hard disk
always spinning, idle all the time (at the moment - its not my box and
it will be doing some work "real soon now" as the owner would say...).
That thing draws ~150W continuous. That is, until you put it under
100% load (that is, on both CPU cores) where the power ramps up to
~280W. (Yes, I'm not kidding)

Just some food for thought.

Have fun...

Daniel Foote.