[mythtvnz] Problems with backend and mythweb after upgrading to Ubuntu 15.04

[Stephen Worthington]

On Sat, 31 Oct 2015 18:37:19 +1300, you wrote:

>On Sat, Oct 31, 2015 at 03:14:43PM +1300, Stephen Worthington wrote:
>> 
>> Personally, I have 4 PCs 24x7 at my place (my MythTV box, my mother's
>> MythTV box, my old OS/2 server box, and my Windows box).  But the
>> power bill would be scary if I was having to pay it ($340 for
>> October).
>
>Ouch! Are you saying the bill would be way less if you didn't have those
>computers running? For example, I have two laptops on all the time, and
>recently just turned off an old 586 compacq which was acting as a
>database server, and I'd estimate that my highest bill would be
>somewhere in the vicinity of $112.
>
>OK, I don't run any mythtv stuff (gotta get around to that one day.) but
>I'd be surprised if it was *that* much of a power hog. I'd definitely be
>looking elsewhere to see what is using so much power.
>
>One laptop I've got running 24x7 is only job is doing folding at home,
>and the fan is running full on at least every minute or so for a few
>seconds. I must get one of those thingamajigs which you put between the
>device and the plug, and tells you the power usage. 

Laptops are optimised for low power use - they will be using a lot
less than 100 W.  Desktops and servers, especially like mine where I
have a huge number of disk drives online, use a fair bit more.  I have
a power meter on my Windows box at the moment, and it is saying
140-150 W typically.  That is rather less than my old, much less
powerful motherboard used to use, which was around 230 W, if I
remember it correctly.  My monitor will be using a fair bit when I
have it on also, and so will the networking infrastructure (routers
(x4), 16-port gigabit switch, ONT).  It all adds up.

If the Windows box is averaging say 144 W (what it is registering at
the moment), then that is:

  (144 / 1000) kW
  * 24 hours per day
  * 365 days per year
  * 0.25821 $ per kW/hr
  * 1.15 for GST
  = $374.57 per year
  = $31.21 per month on average

Using that as a very rough estimate for the cost of running a PC, that
adds up to $124.85 per month for just the PCs.  I also have a fifth PC
I use for testing on, but it is shut down most of the time, and a
laptop, that gets used a fair bit, plus charging the iPad and mobile,
running the two TVs, the Sky box, ...  Electronics are now becoming
quite significant energy users in households.