MythTV: build or RPM?

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

Tom Metro wrote:
> David Kramer wrote:
>> I don't know how I can be overestimating the cost.  Several hundred
>> watts 24/7 is a lot of electricity. 
> 
> According to:
> http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2889&p=2
> 
> which lists power consumption for a variety of modern systems, I'd
> expect an older Athlon XP system to be not much worse, so around 150 W
> while idle.
> 
> According to:
> http://www.nstaronline.com/residential/account_services/rates_tariffs/basic_service.asp
> 
> http://www.nationalgridus.com/masselectric/home/rates/4_default.asp
> 
> current electric rates are about $0.12 KW/h.
> 
> 0.150 KW * 24 h * $0.12 = $0.43/day or about $12 every 4 weeks. Not
> trivial, but it also may not be too expensive, depending on the time and
> effort required for the alternatives.

For that money, I can get the PVR cable box with two tuners and 120GB
from Comcast.

>> (I would use X10 not WOL, but that's me)
> 
> (I put off buying any X10 equipment for many years. Sadly, when I did,
> it lived up to the poor reputation. I still use X10 for a few limited
> things, but it continues to be unreliable. Given it's design, it isn't
> surprising. Experiences can vary greatly depending on local sources of
> interference and the nature of the wiring in the building, so if it
> works for you, consider yourself lucky.)

I use it very successfully at home and at work, but I know that it
doesn't work for everyone.  My secret is to use the RF transmitting
Bottle Rocket to everywhere, so I don't have to worry about the power
line signal being strong enough everywhere.  My server upstairs reliably
controls lights and stuff on the first floor.  And when my server loses
its internet connection, it uses X10 to power cycle the cable modem and
Linksys.


>> ...how is some low-energy box going to cut it?  Fast CPU and fast
>> drives mean bigger power draw.  That's just physics.
> 
> True, if you simply crank up the clock frequency without changing any of
> the other variables. But as transistors get smaller, they also get more
> power efficient. Take a look at the power consumption tests here:

True.

>> The only meaningful advantage of compiling it myself that I can think of
>> is that it would be optimized for my CPU.
> 
> For your intended usage, I can't see that being much of an advantage.
> This is going to be primarily a factor for transcoding, and if it really
> mattered, you could hand compile the encoder (ffmpeg, mencoder, etc.).
> But chances are it either has built-in support for the AMD, or a package
> is already available.

Good to know,  Thanks.

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