The “Greener” PC

The howl of we must make our computers and work place more green friendly, use less electricity and save energy, we must reduce our carbon footprint!   These are the catch phrases of today.   So many use it but how many are actually enforcing the policies of todays requirements which both corporate and government try to implement.

Computers are without doubt, getting bigger, faster and the load demands on these items for faster productivity output even greater.    So, just how can we successfully and simply lower the carbon footprint of a computer in the workplace and still obtain hard and fast workloads?

There are many ways in which this can be achieved and now which is the norm in many large corporate environments which have their own IT departments?   Either they build their own systems as it can be found to be much cheaper and maintain continuity of component levels as standard, or buy in directly from one of the larger manufacturers which offer long term backup with spare parts.   However the latter can be very costly in the long run to the IT budget of the company in question and have significant impact on the costing of the project.  

With this in mind both avenues have their own pitfalls as after say 3 years when it comes to the actual recycling mode of upgrading to new systems!    Who takes care of the recycling, as by law now, both parties are obliged!   Though a clever self build company will have thought in long term usage to utilise the parts in other areas as cheap file servers or units which can be used at a later stage within the network for mass storage backup.   Once more we face the insurmountable problem of storage of these units, or do we?   The company which has bought in on lease and upgrade then have the problem of rolling out a full new set of systems which brings with it its own nightmares that we are all to uncommonly aware off.

The amount of hardware peripherals within the community choice is endless to upgrade.  Over the years we have here carefully chosen parts for our articles and reviews which provide the best production output.   Though today, smartly show that they maintain a low carbon footprint.

With these thoughts in mind, today we have sat back and looked carefully at just how a simple workstation found in some of the major studio’s can be simply upgraded to make it greener.   In the long run, with lower wattage usage but still maintaining a high output of productivity meeting the demands of tight deadlines.   Ultimately and most importantly, lowering of the carbon footprint!

Key Note features

The Key features of this review which we aim to show a lowering of the carbon footprint precisely hinge around, the CPU, Hard Disc and Power Supply Unit!  

The new AMD FireGL V3600.  
We know already has had a major overhaul from its predecessor and draws a meagre <50 Watts which is a significant reduction in power, considering the actual force and build behind the card.

The Akasa Power80+ 500W Power Supply Unit. 
These new PSU’s offer thermal/electrical/acoustics/ improvements.   Imaginative ideas have been employed to enhance designs using forward converter topology ensuring low thermal losses and high DC switching performance.   The increased precision monitoring of the independent power rail loading delivers balanced supply to demand.    Top grade matched components used with high efficiency magnetic transformers optimises the delivery of smooth consistent power to match the demand requirements with very low energy loss.   It has greater than 80% efficiency even under extreme conditions.  The 80-plus is qualified by EPRI solutions (USA) and meets EPS and Blue Angel conservation standards.  Compliant with Intel ATX 12V version 2.2 and Active PFC energy saving.   Dual 12V rails give safe optimised power distribution.   Intelligent auto-thermal fan control for ultra quiet operation

Western Digitals 1TB GP.   
A Hard disc of this magnitude will be very daunting to most but the actual price per GB has dropped so dramatically over the years that these discs are on face value exceptional value for money. There have been only a few reviews of these drives up online to date though most covered the drive as a back up drive a few have ran the drive as primary boot.   Today we are no different, utilising the drive as Primary and stand alone disc for the system.  

With the thankful aid of Western Digitals PR dept; here are a surprising few facts that may surprise you into thinking hard about that next hard disc of choice.

1. Reduced power consumption - By adjusting the rotational speed, using bigger data buffers, parking the drive's head, and optimising how the drive seeks and caches data we have reduced the power consumption by up to 38 percent.
2. WD Caviar GP drives yield average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over competitors’ drives making it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation. This power savings equates to reducing CO² emission by up to 13.8 kilograms per drive per year - the equivalent of taking a car off the road for 3 days each year*. By using environmentally-conscious PCs with our WD Caviar GP drives on board, large organizations with many desktop computers can minimize their carbon footprint and save real money on electricity costs.
   *Assumes that a car produces 1.60 CO² pounds per Kwatt/hours/year. Calculation of automobile emissions depends on the car's g/km emission levels and km/year of driving.
3. IntelliPower™ - A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate, and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance. For each GreenPower drive model, WD may use a different, invariable RPM.
4. IntelliPark™ - Delivers lower power consumption by automatically unloading the heads during idle to reduce aerodynamic drag.

What It Holds

F                   Up to 285,000 digital photos

F                   Up to 250,000 songs (MP3)

F                   Up to 25,000 songs (uncompressed CD quality)

F                   Up to 76 hours of Digital Video (DV)

F                   Up to 400 hours of DVD quality video

F                   Up to 100 hours of HD video