It seems as tho Dell touts the AMD based Optiplexes
(740 I think) as being the most energy efficient.
Why is that? Aren't the new Core 2 Duo chips supposed
to be the king in that regard?
see link
http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/optix?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
I ask this question here cause I'm thinking of using an
Optiplex as a "base" for a DVR type machine for use
with TV...... i.e. to time shift and record TV shows
You can find 45W single core or 45W dual core AMD processors.
That is the power level, when CPU is running 100%.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2 50001028 40000343 1051720996
For Intel, you can find a Celeron single core LGA775 socket,
at 35W (CPU running at 100%).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2 50001157 40000343 1051707842
A lot of average desktop chips are 65W, and AMD has ones to
match that. Where AMD goes power crazy, is high end Phenom
processors (some seem to draw more than their 125W rating,
at full CPU load). Some Intel quads are in the 95W to 105W
region.
Getting a straight answer, on sitting idle in the desktop
(computer running but not doing anything), is more difficult.
With processor examples like the ones above, the chipset
can dissipate a significant amount of power, and may
influence the idle power numbers. (In other words, a
bad motherboard choice, may cause the box to lose the
race for lowest power.)
The third state, is the computer sleeping. In S3 suspend to
RAM, only the RAM is being refreshed, and the computer might use
10 watts of electricity to do that.
If the DVR software puts the computer to sleep, until the
scheduled recording time, then the computer may not spend
that much time in the "desktop idle" state. You would
either be "recording/playing" or in S3 "sleep".
The kind of tuner, the kind of content being recorded,
determines the CPU requirement. If raw video was captured
for example, and compressed by the processor, that would
need more compute power, than a tuner that captures in
some MPEG format. There are some tuner cards, that have
their own video output, and can uncompress content during
playback, without a lot of CPU help. There are a lot of
degrees of freedom in building a recording box.
Including just buying a DVR from Walmart
Paul
