Low Carbon PC

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s_kirby

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Hey everyone I'm new here. I've got a new idea for a PC to save the environment and the planet. Can anyone help me or comment on my invention? Does anyone know how I'd go about patenting it? You can see it on my website:

http://www.homepc-fix.co.uk/pages/low_carb.htm

Thanks in Advance!

Sam
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Mod Edit - You guys need to read the rules for this forum - posted right at the top of the list:
Guidelines For This Forum - Read BEFORE Posting.

3) This forum is for prebuilt, OEM systems that you would buy from companies like Dell or Falcon Northwest. If you are looking for a venue to discuss or recommend home built systems, General Hardware is where you want to be.
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Threads that don't follow the rules get locked - BlindedByScience
 
I bet the amount of carbon released in the creation of a wooden keyboard is far more than creating cheaply molded plastic.

By running a PC in the first place you're doing quite the opposite of saving the planet. The best you're doing is hurting it less and if you care a lot about that, get an eee box instead.

I honestly can't tell if you're trolling or not.
 
I want a Pure carbon computer!, twill weave 7 layer carbon fiber built with the quality of a Seibon or SquidSkins car hood.
 
How can you consider building a computer with efficient parts an invention?
This whole "Green" thing is more of a fad than anything, a lot of it is just marketing.
If someone cared about the environment they wouldn't drive an suv to pickup their kids at soccer, even if it was more efficient, etc....
 
It is an invention, I've invented the lowest powered and greenest PC, we've all got to do our bit. Thanks for the replies.
 
sorry to be so negative but i can't imagine anyone ever buying this...

plus i really don't think wooden mice and keyboards will ultimately save the environment - now if you invented the world's greenest automobile i would say you are on to something

keep up the inventions though - nothing bad can come from an invention (except maybe bankruptcy or nuclear war :p)
 
invention my ass! case modders have been building stuff like this for years!
 
Usquabach said:
sorry to be so negative but i can't imagine anyone ever buying this...

plus i really don't think wooden mice and keyboards will ultimately save the environment - now if you invented the world's greenest automobile i would say you are on to something

keep up the inventions though - nothing bad can come from an invention (except maybe bankruptcy or nuclear war :p)
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You left out genocide and dictatorships.
 
My computer is a no-carbon computer; I have a giant hydroelectric power plant practically next to my house. :rolleyes:

Sorry.
 
Why am I being called a troll for inventing something??? You really dont think this will sell well? Please give proper reasons before you criticise!
 
s_kirby said:
It is an invention, I've invented the lowest powered and greenest PC, we've all got to do our bit. Thanks for the replies.
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Keep telling yourself that. There's a host of far less power hungry options than an off the shelf AMD64 that's destined to run way to hot. And shoving a couple of parts from newegg into a sleek case is not inventing. Its false advertising with a hint of ignorance.

A true low power solution needs to be server based, with thin clients at the desktop. Colo the server at a place like Aiso.net which is a 100% solar facility.

As for your wooden keyboard... How does spending 20 hours on a cnc mill to produce a quality keyboard save the environment? Is all of the equipment powered on love and candy? And then you paste some cheap veneer onto a lcd for more energy saving goodness? The whole concept is stupider than I can accurately put into words.

the truth is you are an idealistic dreamer with no actual technical background. Carbon emissions need to be cut, but that needs to happen on a grand scale. Your joke of an invention has no place here. What we truly need is more development in nuclear energy, a solution which releases less co2 over its service life than both hydroelectric and photovoltaics. Solar thermal tech has also made great strides with theoretical efficiencies approaching 60% and an green, low cost method of energy storage. If you are truly an inventor; spend your time developing something worthwhile instead of this gimmick.
 
TopGun said:
How can you consider building a computer with efficient parts an invention?
This whole "Green" thing is more of a fad than anything, a lot of it is just marketing.
If someone cared about the environment they wouldn't drive an suv to pickup their kids at soccer, even if it was more efficient, etc....
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I wouldn't be so sure about it being a fad... Nearly every industry is pushing to be greener... why do you think detergent for washing your clothes now comes in a smaller bottle but is now double the concentration? Why are we pushing for alternative energy? It may seem like a fad to you, but there are graduate level programs for green chemistry nowadays. The whole "fad" persona probably comes from the fact that many companies will use it as a marketing ploy to get consumers to buy their products over others, which is a good and bad thing. The fact is it certainly isn't a fad, it's a reality. Maybe PC's aren't the place to start, but there certainly is a need to worry about the condition of our environment.

the truth is you are an idealistic dreamer with no actual technical background. Carbon emissions need to be cut, but that needs to happen on a grand scale. Your joke of an invention has no place here. What we truly need is more development in nuclear energy, a solution which releases less co2 over its service life than both hydroelectric and photovoltaics. Solar thermal tech has also made great strides with theoretical efficiencies approaching 60% and an green, low cost method of energy storage. If you are truly an inventor; spend your time developing something worthwhile instead of this gimmick.
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Someone that understands the whole dilemma! I totally agree. While the push for electric cars is awesome there are also some issues with it. Many people don't realize that the process to produce the electricity they are pumping into their new electric car is being procuced by some very bad for the environment methods. Solar power is definitely in need of some more development... The sun is an abundant source of energy that we should really be concerned about. I believe I read somewhere that a research group was looking to harness UV rays for energy... imagine how amazing that could be.
 
s_kirby said:
Why am I being called a troll for inventing something??? You really dont think this will sell well? Please give proper reasons before you criticise!
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Most people assembling off-the-shelf parts into a computer "inventing" - if they did, we'd all be inventors of various kinds of computers. There's nothing special about yours except that you (hopefully) chose a low-power CPU and include an expensive wooden keyboard.

Want to get even lower power? Use Intel notebook CPUs, or use VIA CPUs. Their thermal and power usage characteristics likely far outstrip whatever processor you've chosen.
 
1. Passive heatsinks have to be larger than heatsinks that require fans. this equals more energy being used to make the system in the first place.

2. Using wood is not going to save you any energy whatsoever. It takes a lot more energy to mill the wood than to mold the plastic.

3. By using wood, you are "contributing to the destruction of rain forests".

4. Does your system have an 80+ certified power supply?

5. Are you gonna make sure that you provide the absolute least power consuming LCD display per size of the LCD?

What about the hard drives? Are you using laptop hard drives (2.5")? They use a lot less power than desktop hard drives (3.5").

What about the CD/DVD drive/burner? Are you going to use a laptop drive to conserve power?

Are you going to use a mobile processor? The new Intel ones.. Centrino 2 have a TDP of
25w if I remember corectly.

Hrmmm.. why not just use a laptop and hook up an external LCD screen to it? That will use way less power than just about any desktop.

Or if you really want a "GREEN PC" get a Dell Axim or HP Ipaq. Up to 624Mhz of ARM processor goodness with Windows Mobile 2003 - windows Mobile 6.
 
I am going to sell this PC to my clients, I'm a qualified IT consultant and people listen to my advice. They will buy my Low Carbon PC and it will save them energy and the environment. So its not a PC for me, so no need for all the complicated networky stuff. The power supply used is a standard 450W power supply, its what you run off it that matters. Or rather, what you don't run off it, my invention is completely fanless, except for the PS U, show me another one on the market that is!
I find the negativity here disturbating :mad:
 
I'm also not going to use a laptop or handheld processor because this is a desktop PC.
 
If you are going to advertise it as a low carbon PC, you better make sure that you use high efficiency stuff like 80+ certified power supplies.

Either that or you are gonna end up getting sued for false advertising.

Putting together a box from readily available parts and using the built in BIOS and Windows settings to reduce power usage is NOT an invention.
 
s_kirby said:
I am going to sell this PC to my clients, I'm a qualified IT consultant and people listen to my advice. They will buy my Low Carbon PC and it will save them energy and the environment. So its not a PC for me, so no need for all the complicated networky stuff. The power supply used is a standard 450W power supply, its what you run off it that matters. Or rather, what you don't run off it, my invention is completely fanless, except for the PS U, show me another one on the market that is!
I find the negativity here disturbating :mad:
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wow, I can't believe you are going to do this to your clients. They listen to your advice, and you are going to spew this bullshit to them?

Have you even read what people wrote? You are an IT consultant, not an engineer. You have no idea what you are talking about.

The fans probably use less energy then needed to create all the fanless components. The wood is going to use more energy resources than a piece of plastic. A standard psu is not going to help, since I doubt it is 80+ percent efficient.

Also, IT IS NOT AN INVENTION. You haven't created anything. You just used stuff that was already on the market for your needs. At best, I would call it innovation, at worst, a scam.

Edit- what the hell is disturbating? Masturbating while you are disturbed?
 
Alright, I will give you some feedback on how to make a low power PC. But ditch the wood stuff, thats a pointless gimmick. And moss will grow on it if you spill something.

Use the new Atom CPU with the desktop motherboard, that's plenty for office. DDR3 would be better, since it uses less voltage, but since Atom uses DDR2, make sure its no higher than 1.8 volts.

As for cooling, passive should be do-able. Also, try to use either a small SSD, or a note book drive. They cost more per gigabyte, but are lower power requirements.

As for the PSU, efficiency is actually very important. I would get one of the Antec Earthwatts.

Obviously, graphics should be integrated.
 
s_kirby said:
The power supply used is a standard 450W power supply, its what you run off it that matters. Or rather, what you don't run off it
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OK that's where you're partially wrong. The efficiency of the PSU DOES matter. The more efficient the PSU is, the less energy is wasted and used. Therefore, less energy is needed.

Read over everyone's comments and see why your dream is just that, a dream. We have provided very good reasons why your PC isn't low carbon nor a good idea.

And there are fanless PCs out there. Look at the Zonbu or just about any low-cost Linux PCs out there.

In addition there are many fanless laptops out there like the EEE PC and the OLPC laptop.
 
Danny Bui said:
OK that's where you're partially wrong. The efficiency of the PSU DOES matter. The more efficient the PSU is, the less energy is wasted and used. Therefore, less energy is needed.

Read over everyone's comments and see why your dream is just that, a dream. We have provided very good reasons why your PC isn't low carbon nor a good idea.

And there are fanless PCs out there. Look at the Zonbu or just about any low-cost Linux PCs out there.

In addition there are many fanless laptops out there like the EEE PC and the OLPC laptop.
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But Linux is free and you get what you pay for - see my page on Malware at http://www.homepc-fix.co.uk/pages/malware_advice.htm

People need Vista and need a PC powerful enough to run it. My PC is both POWERFUL and GREEN at the same time.

A 450W PSU is just that - you can't have green watts and un green watts, they're all just as bad. My PSU in my Low Carbon PC has a slow fan, so it uses little power, and is SILENT!
 
I think they do. While they use the same under load, they accomplish tasks faster, which means they are under load less often, unless you run them 24/7. Also, they don't need to spin down to idle.

They discussed this on Slashdot, the conclusion was the Tom's article had very bad methodology.
 
s_kirby said:
But Linux is free and you get what you pay for - see my page on Malware at http://www.homepc-fix.co.uk/pages/malware_advice.htm

People need Vista and need a PC powerful enough to run it. My PC is both POWERFUL and GREEN at the same time.

A 450W PSU is just that - you can't have green watts and un green watts, they're all just as bad. My PSU in my Low Carbon PC has a slow fan, so it uses little power, and is SILENT!
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Wow, you are just not listening.

If a psu operates at 80% efficiency as opposed to 70% efficiency, then it is wasting less energy. Its not a difficult concept, especially for someone who invented a low carbon pc.:rolleyes:
 
s_kirby said:
But Linux is free and you get what you pay for - see my page on Malware at http://www.homepc-fix.co.uk/pages/malware_advice.htm
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WTF? How does your page on malware relate to Linux in the context of my posts?

People need Vista and need a PC powerful enough to run it. My PC is both POWERFUL and GREEN at the same time.
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You haven't provided the specific specifications of your so-called Green PC. And for someone who claims to be an IT Professional, you seem to know very little about PSU efficiency. The more efficient the PSU is, the less energy it takes and therefore less carbon emissions. Think about it.

I'm going to ignore the Vista need comment since it would distract from the topic of your so-called Green PC.

If you really wanted a green PC, look at this link:
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200802-green.ars
 
I don't think you understand what PSU efficiency is. It is a measure of what percent of power taken from the socket is put out to the computer components. For example, a 90% efficient PSU would draw 100 from the wall, and send 90 to the computers components. Any power not transferred to the components is lost as heat.

(talking to the OP, not the person above me)
 
This troll is fat!

The best way to handle a troll is to walk past it quietly and don't look it in the eye and never, NEVER, talk to it.
 
s_kirby said:
A 450W PSU is just that - you can't have green watts and un green watts, they're all just as bad. My PSU in my Low Carbon PC has a slow fan, so it uses little power, and is SILENT!
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sorry buddy, but in case you didn't know this, its not the fan thats using up the power from the PSU. It may use a few watts at most. Compared to the rest of the PC, a slower fan is saving you NOTHING!
 
Your "invention" is pure bullshit.

You are trying to making an energy efficient "invention" out of off the shelf parts, using low quality PSUs?

A modern dual core laptop with a discrete GPU, 7200 rpm HDD, and 15.4" screen will use around 25 watts idle and 60 watts load. How the hell are you supposed to compete with that using off the shelf parts?
 
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