On Saturday 06 September 2008, jori.hamalainen@teliasonera.com wrote:
I don't know how much watt savings could be achieved with this, but on conseptual level it sounds good or do you agree?
I hope some 10-20 watts could be saved in 1xFF and 2xbudget environment. And less heat inside the box, on softdevices CPU runs lower power etc..
I've taken measurements of power consumption on my vdr boxes. Both have had a single DVB-T budget card and playback is via the VOMP plugin.
The present machine is a 2.3 GHz Athlon X2 64-bit. It idles at 42w, starting and stopping vdr has no measurable effect so I leave it running.
The previous one used a 32-bit Athlon mobile CPU in a desktop motherboard. That machine idled at 62w (less efficient power supply and higher-spec graphics card). With vdr running the CPU temperature increased by 1 degree C and power consumption increased about 1 watt.
It would be possible to save a few more watts if the DVB card could be completely powered off (my new machine needs only 38w without the card installed) but AFAIK that's not possible for PCI. A better bet for a 'green' vdr is careful choice of components.