okay so my friend just bought some device that measures how much power your things use... and after a few calculations, I found out that my server is eating enough power to cost me ~$180 per year if I leave it on. it's an old dell running on intel pentium 4, 256mb ram, 40gb hard drive dimension 2400 (I think) running ubuntu server. any ideas on how I can save power? or use power more efficiently on the server?
running a server from home , cost lot , power, bandwidth , and i do not think there is a way to save power the computer will eats what it needs , not more nor less
yeah it is - im actually just using it on a small website because it's just enough. i remember reading somewhere that you can make the power consumption more efficient by buying some parts that send it straight to the machine (a surge protector-type thing)
I don't think it's necessarily a low-voltage power supply that would help, but a more efficient power supply. Try to get one that's 80 plus certified. Even better if it has even more than 80% efficiency.
I think 80% is an okay efficiency. Of course if you can find an even higher one, that's even better. But as long as it's 80 Plus certified, you can be assured that your power supply has at least 80% efficiency. I should also add that power supplies are most efficient when they're consuming near their maximum rated power. (But to be safe, you still want to keep your power consumption under the maximum, of course )