Re: Slightly off-the-wall idea for getting a new Mac...

On Sun, 18 May 2008 19:22:45 +0100, wildrover.andy@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Andy Hewitt) wrote:


>> Oh, I thought they were in the 'unbustable' list. Oh well, I didn't
>> like it anyway, nothing to fettle. ;-)
>
>No, the FJ1200 was though, which was my last bike. But they're getting a
>bit long in the tooth now.

;-)
>
>> Anyway, to get back on your topic (and FWIW) I had Jenny's new C2D box
>> plugged into one of those basic power monitor plugs while we were
>> installing 10 x Sims2 ....
>> 
>> With the PC, little 12" LCD and speakers it was drawing ~130W (peaking
>> up to about 150W (240VA). The screen equated for about 14W (24VA). On
>> the back it says 12V @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 3A so in theory the max power consumed can only
>> be 36W.
>
>Hmm, about half that of my G5 at idle then.

I haven't tried putting it to sleep and not sure if the Intel C2D's
adjust their clock etc. That was with the 2 x 250G SATA drives (Raid1)
, Floppy (idle) and the Audigy panel (it uses the floppy size power
connector). PCIe x16 with GeForce 6800GT and 4 ****t USB, Pinnacle DTV
card and Audigy cards in PCI slots. We didn't have a optical drive in
at the time (gonna get a SATA DVDR) but were using a external USB one.
>
>I actually looked up the VA unit, just to see what it does actually
>mean, did you know it's NOT an SI unit?

No?
>
>> The PF of the whole lot was about .6 if that helps?
>
>PF? (According to Wikipedia it means 'Packet Filter')

;-)   Power Factor, from memory summat about the power being drawn in
phase with the voltage or not. Like if you have a pure resistive load
you get a PF of 1. Something offering a more capacitive or inductive
load would be less than 1 (ie, my .6). The lower the number (tending
towards 0) the worse way the energy is consumed, therefore less
efficient therefore more expensive to run.  That's why PF should be
taken into account when working out the metered 'cost' of a load.

So, if you take Jenny's new PC. If it is using 140W the actual £ cost
would be that of 240 VA (Volts x Amps = Watts but only into a pure
resistive load, for AC this all is of course) so because her PC isn't
a pure resistor it cost more than the displayed 140W to run.

Or summat like that!

PC / SM PSUs are notoriously bad re this and we are going to fit an
"80+" PSU when we know the total load.

All the best ..

T i m