[ale] screen saver eats 15 - 30 watts

Tue Apr 2 14:55:18 EDT 2013

3d screen savers with complex graphics are just as bad in Gnome.

Ron

Richard Bronosky <richard at bronosky.com> wrote:

>You can also answer that question (in most cases) by removing Windows.
>;-)
>
>Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using the Swype software keyboard.
>--Richard Bronosky
>On Apr 2, 2013 12:15 PM, "Ron Frazier (ALE)" <
>atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
>
>> **
>> I never have liked the blank screen concept, since it's harder to
>tell if
>> the machine is still running or is locked up or something.  But, it
>might
>> save another few watts as you said.
>>
>> Ron
>>
>> On 4/2/2013 11:39 AM, Scott Bragg wrote:
>>
>> You might try the 'blank screen' screen saver and see if it drops it
>even
>> more.   Anything you do with the system that produces animations is
>going
>> to use more power than just blanking the screen and displaying
>nothing.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 11:20 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
>> atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I've been monitoring my desktop computer that I mentioned in the
>litecoin
>>> thread.  I have a great little device attached to the power cord
>called a
>>> kill-a-watt ez, which you can buy at Home Depot.  This device
>tabulates
>>> both instantaneous power consumption (every second) and long term
>power
>>> consumption over a period of time, as well as cost to operate
>whatever is
>>> plugged into it.
>>>
>>> At any given time, the numbers vary quite a bit, but you can get a
>sense
>>> of the average.
>>>
>>> When I came in, this morning, I noticed the numbers were higher than
>they
>>> typically were in its steady state mode.  I did some testing and
>found that
>>> the screen saver was consuming 15 - 30 W.  I should note that there
>is 100
>>> W difference in power consumption between idling my CPU and maxing
>it out.
>>>  So, the screen saver is apparently taxing the cpu and gpu a bit.
>>>
>>> At $ .097 / kwh, it costs $ 7 / mo to run a 100 W (or .1 KW) load
>for 24
>>> hours / day for 30 days.
>>>
>>> So, just running the screen saver is potentially costing me $ 2 /
>mo.
>>>  It's not going to break the bank, but there's no point in wasting
>that
>>> energy and money.  My monitors are LCD's, which are not susceptible
>to
>>> burn-in.  So, I don't care what the screen saver it doing.  It's
>more of a
>>> lock screen.
>>>
>>> The screen saver I was using is mystify (windows).  It puts fancy
>curvy
>>> geometric lines on the screen which continually move and change.  It
>looks
>>> cool.  I changed it to a slowly moving line of text which shows the
>>> computer name.  This text is a solid color, and I turned off the
>>> "reflections" effect, which requires lots of 3d graphics
>computations.
>>>
>>> My power consumption now actually drops by a couple of W when the
>screen
>>> saver is on.
>>>
>>> So, if you have a fancy smancy 3d screen saver running on a big
>computer,
>>> or several big computers, maybe with multiple monitors, you might
>want to
>>> look at how much power it's consuming.
>>>
>>> Just thought I'd pass this along.  Hope it's helpful.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Ron
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and
>K-9
>>> Mail.
>>> Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch
>screen.
>>>
>>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want
>to
>>> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate
>energy
>>> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
>>> quickly.)
>>>
>>> Ron Frazier
>>> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
>>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Ale at ale.org
>>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing listAle at ale.orghttp://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
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>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want
>to
>> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate
>energy
>> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
>quickly.)
>>
>> Ron Frazier770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>>
>>
>
>
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>
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--

Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com