Comments on: How Green is Your PC? Estimating Power Usage Effectiveness http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/05/how-green-is-your-pc-estimating-power-usage-effectiveness/?&owa_from=feed&owa_sid= Thinking about agile (small 'a') software development, patterns and practices for building Microsoft .NET applications. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:02:38 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: JanW http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/05/how-green-is-your-pc-estimating-power-usage-effectiveness/comment-page-1/#comment-1285 JanW Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:48:38 +0000 http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/?p=944#comment-1285 I can't see how this number is useful in determining the efficiency of a PC. The losses are arbitrarily separated in 'useful' losses such as those inside the conductors of the CPU, and 'bad' losses, e.g. in the conductors of the PSU. The proposed efficiency index can then be improved by decreasing 'bad' losses, but equally by increasing 'useful' losses (such as in the on-board power supply to the CPU). What really matters for the efficiency of the PC though, namely how much work (information processing) the PC gets done, is not factored at all. Indexes such as dividing benchmark results by power draw, as seen on some hardware review sites, arbitrary though they are, come probably much closer of what would commonly be understood as efficiency of a PC. I think intuitively you are agreeing, because you advise to turn on SpeedStep/Cool'n'Quiet or suspend/hibernate the PC. These measures actually deteriorate (increase) PUE by decreasing 'useful' losses. A hibernating PC will have an extremely bad PUE, as there are almost no 'useful' losses at all. I can’t see how this number is useful in determining the efficiency of a PC. The losses are arbitrarily separated in ‘useful’ losses such as those inside the conductors of the CPU, and ‘bad’ losses, e.g. in the conductors of the PSU. The proposed efficiency index can then be improved by decreasing ‘bad’ losses, but equally by increasing ‘useful’ losses (such as in the on-board power supply to the CPU). What really matters for the efficiency of the PC though, namely how much work (information processing) the PC gets done, is not factored at all. Indexes such as dividing benchmark results by power draw, as seen on some hardware review sites, arbitrary though they are, come probably much closer of what would commonly be understood as efficiency of a PC.

I think intuitively you are agreeing, because you advise to turn on SpeedStep/Cool’n'Quiet or suspend/hibernate the PC. These measures actually deteriorate (increase) PUE by decreasing ‘useful’ losses. A hibernating PC will have an extremely bad PUE, as there are almost no ‘useful’ losses at all.

]]> By: Green Computing isn’t the same as Low Power Computing | #2782 - Thinking about agile (small 'a') software development, patterns and practices for building Microsoft .NET applications. http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/05/how-green-is-your-pc-estimating-power-usage-effectiveness/comment-page-1/#comment-827 Green Computing isn’t the same as Low Power Computing | #2782 - Thinking about agile (small 'a') software development, patterns and practices for building Microsoft .NET applications. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:38:35 +0000 http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/?p=944#comment-827 [...] the past I’ve blogged about power consumption and efficiency. But is lower power consumption really the goal? “In contrast with many home appliances, life [...]

[...] the past I’ve blogged about power consumption and efficiency. But is lower power consumption really the goal? “In contrast with many home appliances, life [...]

]]> By: The Power of Software : The Data Center in Your Home http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/05/how-green-is-your-pc-estimating-power-usage-effectiveness/comment-page-1/#comment-779 The Power of Software : The Data Center in Your Home Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:08:34 +0000 http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/?p=944#comment-779 [...] http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/05/how-green-is-your-pc-estimating-power-usage-effectivenes... [...]

[...] http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/05/how-green-is-your-pc-estimating-power-usage-effectivenes... [...]

]]> By: How Green is Your PC? Estimating Power Usage Effectiveness | #2782 … | SoftRetails.Com http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/05/how-green-is-your-pc-estimating-power-usage-effectiveness/comment-page-1/#comment-731 How Green is Your PC? Estimating Power Usage Effectiveness | #2782 … | SoftRetails.Com Sun, 17 May 2009 21:22:35 +0000 http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/?p=944#comment-731 [...] Here is the original post: How Green is Your PC? Estimating Power Usage Effectiveness | #2782 … [...]

[...] Here is the original post: How Green is Your PC? Estimating Power Usage Effectiveness | #2782 … [...]

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