Eric Bielefeld wrote:
I'm curious about something. Does a processor use more power while its executing instructions than it does while idle? If its running at 50% CPU, does it use more power than at 0%, and less than at 100% busy? Or, does it use the same power whether busy or idle.
The general answer is - it depends. Middle of last century Norbert Wiener started Cybernetics as a discipline; one of the interesting tidbits is the realization that information is subject to the laws of thermodynamics. Changing one bit requires energy, and creates waste heat. A formal treatment can produce the absolute minimum amount of energy required to run a computer; in general, however, computers aren't optimized, and will waste more than the minimum. If they're inefficient enough, they will use the same amount of energy whether running or stopped; if optimally efficient, they'll use energy only when changing (or refreshing) information.
Gerhard Postpischil Bradford, VT new e-mail address: gerhardp (at) charter (dot) net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
