[ydl-gen] Google Earth on YDL 5.0

[Brian Wood]

On Mar 26, 2007, at 9:42 PM, David Seikel wrote:

>
>
> A 200 watt power supply is about the minimum you will get in a low end
> PC these days, so it's not really "considerable power" for the huge
> amount of number crunching you are doing.  That's one of the reasons
> Cell processors are attractive for clustering, more bang per watt.
>
>
> P.S. My Athlon actually has a 400 watt power supply, but it could
> probably get away with 300 when all parts of it are running hard.
>

The problem with low-rated PSUs is you sometimes run into the limit  
on the 12-volt rail before you reach the total wattage limit. If you  
have a lot of cards that are using 12-volts you can overload that  
supply even though you still have plenty of 5 volt amperage available.

The power factor and the overall efficiency can vary greatly  
depending on the percentage of total load, sometimes a 600-watt PS  
draws substantially more for the same DC output as a 400 watt unit.

There is also a difference between a commercial environment like an  
office where you may be paying for peak demand as well as consumption  
and a residence.

As with most things in life a better quality (and hence more  
expensive) power supply can actually wind up costing you less in the  
end. Sort of like the "cheap" inkjet printers that actually wind up  
costing more per page than an "expensive" laser printer.


Brian Wood
beww at beww.org