marklings;386685 Wrote: 
> It strucks that for about the same money (say 300 to 400 Euros) you can
> buy a dedicated low power silent or quasi silent PC. TranquilPC and
> many others. Wouldn't that be a far superior choiche from any stand
> point ?
Like a lot of things, it depends. First of all, you shouldn't assume
that a "green" pc has both higher processing power *and*
equal-or-better energy use specs. More processing power usually
requires more energy. It can be done, but you should be wary of making
(or accepting) any blanket claims on the subject. 

For example, I ran my SC for about 3 years on a LinkStation HG NAS. It
consumes 14 watts when running, and does not support suspending to RAM
(S3) or hibernating. I recently switched to a low-power pc (MSI Wind
barebones desktop). It is much zippier than the LinkStation, and having
an x86 processor (instead of the LS's PowerPC) makes SC upgrades a lot
easier. With the OS installed on a CompactFlash card and the music on a
quiet 2.5" 500GB laptop hard drive the MSI is quieter than the LS, but
it's not completely silent. 

Also, the MSI consumes 22w when running, or 50% more than the LS. A big
advantage of the MSI, however, is that it supports ACPI power saving, so
when set up to automatically suspend when my SBs are off the _average_
electricity usage is less than the NAS. But getting the suspend to work
under Ubuntu has been a bit fiddly.

In short, it all depends on the specific hardware and what you do with
it, but I've come around to seeing that an energy-efficient PC can be
far superior to a NAS for about equal cost.


-- 
aubuti

Nothing high-end, but music anywhere I want it. MSI Wind desktop (Ubuntu
8.10) feeding: Basement: SB2 > JVC JA-S44 > ESS Tempest LS8;
Kitchen/Dining: Duet > AudioSource Amp100 > 2 pairs Polk RC60i; Living
room: SB3 > Technics SA-EX140 > Bose Acoustimass 3; Bedroom: Boom +
SBC; Study: Duet > Klipsch ProMedia 2.0; Kid's bedroom: SB2 > Klipsch
ProMedia 2.0
http://www.last.fm/user/aubuti/
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