Running a web server computer electricity question

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penumbra

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Hello.

I am thinking of converting my PC into a web server. I am running 2 websites that I pay around $10 each a month for and I am thinking of canceling the hosting on the sites and having the domains redirected to my new web server. I have the necessary software and internet connection ready, but what I do have a question about is how much electricity can I expect my computer to use since it will have to be up and running 24/7?

The computer will have a single 40 GB hard drive, 3.0 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM, and the monitor will be off for 99% of the time. I can't tell you what the going electricity rate is for my city, but I'd say it's probably close to average.

If I convert my PC to a web server how much do you think I might save compared to the $20 a month that I am paying now for web hosting?

Thanks in advance.
 
I am not so sure it is as much as 200W-300W. It is going to be idle most of the time, and even when working it shouldn't be too stressed. I can run both my desktop (which is a 3.0Ghz P4, 512MB RAM, !HDD, ect) and my 17 inch CRT off my 200W UPS. Cut out the monitor, and my desktop probably takes up less than 100W when idle, so yours should be about there.

I think that site is to recommend the maximum (not idle load, which is what you are looking at) load, so as to buy a powerful enough PSU.

If you are very concerned, before buying the hardware, buy a 120W lightbulb and run it for a month (I beleive that is the same thing power-wise), but I seriously doubt you will notice much of a diff on your bill. Almost certainly less than $20.

One more thing: Are these sites commercial ones (ie do you make ANY money off them in ANY way)? If so, then you will probably need a business DSL line. Check with your ISP. And if you have cable, then check as they don't tend to like servers of ANY kind (although I think they allow game hosting, which uses 100x+ the bandwidth of a website, but...)
 
I think you should use a crappier computer for a web server. I have a 450MHz Pll with 128mb ram and it runs great. Electricity around where I live is stable. It only goes out when we have a bad storm and a tree happens to fall on the power line.
 
If you are truly concerned about power outages, then a $100US UPS that could power this for a very long while (perhpas up to an hour, with router, modem, the whole lot). That should cover all but the most severe ones, and depending on your regestrar, I think some of them will redirect users to a page hosted by the registrar so you can tell users that the site is only down temporarily, ect.

EDIT: and yes, for a basic personal webserver, the machien you sepcified is way too powerful. I would give it 256MB of ram at least though, and probably an 800+mhz processor. The weaker components will use less power too :)
 
penumbra said:
The computer will have a single 40 GB hard drive, 3.0 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM, and the monitor will be off for 99% of the time.

he'll be using a 3.0 mhz system; he said so himself. Anyways, the power consuption is about the same as leaving your comp on all night, 24/7. So it's like having your brother leave his comp on all night, and trust me, my comp works.
 
You can even think of underclocking your system to use less power, something like 2.4GHZ and lower the votlage

Use clockgen and some configuration to adjust clock speeds and voltage.
 
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