Re: [gentoo-user] Linux becomes expensive ;)

[Florian Philipp <f.philipp@addcom.de>]

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Am Sonntag 03 Juni 2007 19:06 schrieb Ryan Sims:
> On 6/3/07, Florian Philipp <f.philipp@addcom.de> wrote:
> > Am Sonntag 03 Juni 2007 18:03 schrieb Dan Farrell:
> > > On Sun, 3 Jun 2007 13:16:33 +0200
> > >
> > > Florian Philipp <f.philipp@addcom.de> wrote:
> > > > Am Samstag 02 Juni 2007 20:03 schrieb Jeff Horelick:
> > > > > Florian,
> > > > >
> > > > > That's not that big of a difference...Also, Gentoo/Linux does not
> > > > > have powersaving for every device like Windows XP...it's writing to
> > > > > the hard drive more often and it doesn't spin as much down when
> > > > > it's not in use to help performance. Also, if i was you, i'd be
> > > > > worried about your system using that LITTLE energy especially since
> > > > > you have a pretty hefty CPU, video card, motherboard, 2 hardrives
> > > > > and al the rest of your components.
> > > > >
> > > > > On 6/2/07, Florian Philipp <f.philipp@addcom.de> wrote:
> > > > > > Hi guys!
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I've just tested the energy consumption of my PC. Aparently
> > > > > > Gentoo consumes a
> > > > > > quiet a bit more than Windows XP: 213 W compared to 188 W
> > > > > >
> > > > > > PowerNow is activated and works on both cores (tested). The same
> > > > > > hardware is
> > > > > > plugged in and works. I'll attach the output of lspci, lsmod and
> > > > > > cpuinfo as
> > > > > > well as my world-file just in case it's related to some software.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Is there anything I've forgotten? Where does my energy go?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > A short overview of my hardware:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > AMD Athlon64 X2 4200+ EE
> > > > > > Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe (WLAN should be deactivated)
> > > > > > 2048 MB DDR2 Corsair
> > > > > > SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
> > > > > > ATI Radeon 1950 Pro (fglrx)
> > > > > > 2 SATA2 HDDs
> > > > > > 1 SATA1 DVD-RAM
> > > > > > Floppy
> > > > > > USB mouse, keyboard and printer
> > > > > > TFT screen (connected via DVI)
> > > >
> > > > Well, I've forgotten to mention that I didn't substract all
> > > > peripheral devices. My new calculations (idle, nothing but the big
> > > > black box under my desk): Linux 137W, Win 114W (20% or 18EUR / 20$
> > > > p.a.).
> > > >
> > > > It seems I can't disable my onboard WLAN completely and while Win
> > > > deactivates it because I don't provide drivers, Linux gives it some
> > > > power although no software is accessing it.
> > > >
> > > > By the way: Maximum output while testing with 3DMark 2006: 219W. I
> > > > wonder why I had to buy a 400W power supply...
> > >
> > > Maybe you can power off the wlan with a wireless-utils program, or
> > > maybe by unloading the kernel module?
> > >
> > > Have you set up power management, powersave frequency governors?  Have
> > > you set up your disk(s) to idle quickly?
> >
> > There is no kernel module. I'll play around with modules, configs and
> > tools later. It's not urgent, it was more like a mystery that I wanted to
> > solve.
> >
> > Yes, powermanagement (aka "PowerNow!") is activated. No, my disks do not
> > spin down and should not because of the attrition (I hope that's the
> > right word) that comes with spinning up.
>
> [somewhat OT]:
> Please read this: http://labs.google.com/papers/disk_failures.pdf
> The damage done to hard drives in spinup/spindown is in the same
> category of juju as ricer cflags and cloud seeding.  Drive activity
> and such is *not* an indicator of failure, while there may be some
> mechanical stress on the disk, but it's not going to cause your drive
> to fail noticeably earlier.  Spin them down, save the power, and don't
> listen to fearmongers.[/OT]
>
> --
> Ryan W Sims

Thanks!

I've known that this report exists but have newer actually seen it myself. I'm 
still a bit reluctant because I don't suspect that HDDs in Google's server 
farm spind down as often as mine would.
Well, I'll just close my eyes and hope for the best when I hear my darlings 
shutting down. ;)

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