[SC.LUG] Going Green.

[Ian Molton]

Jason Lucas wrote:
> OK, I'm getting more *into* green issues - I'm starting to really worry
> about the state of the environment,

Hey there.

you need to chill a bit. those watt ratings are the theoretical MAX 
output of the PSU.

they are also approx. 90% efficient.

you will find the typical PC (nothing fancy) probably uses ~20-30 watts 
when its not doing much and perhaps 60-100 when its running flat out.

My via board uses about 1.5 amps on its 12V supply, meaning its using 
under 24 Watts.

The reason these 'gaming' PSUs have such huge ratings is that they have 
to be able to supply a _stable_ voltage, and that can be hard on a 
heavily loaded system - transient currents can be orders of magnitude 
higer than the typical running current.

My biggest annoyance environmentally is that I like to keep my PC 
running. it doesnt have to be _doing_ anything, but I like to simply sit 
down and have it showing what I was last doing.

standby would be fine for that (suspend-to-ram) excapt my old CRT isnt 
able to cope with the constant power cycling and I cant afford to 
replace it with an equivalent spec (1600x1200) LCD. so Im stuck leaving 
the machine and CRT running.

those of us who like 3D screen savers should also probably consider the 
envirnomentla impact - video cards often draw way more power than the 
main CPU these days.