Does upgrading a computer save energy/cost?

Question

If someone were to upgrade a old computer with more memory, fastest processor it can handle as well with a better heat sink, new hard drives and even upgrading/downgrading operating systems would they have a better efficient computer that would be more environmentally friendly by saving them money over a period of time?

Answer 1

Old PCs will tend to use less power, but that's because their processors are a lot slower and have far fewer transistors. New PCs are more efficient in terms of how much computational power they have per watt of power used, but because their processors contain so many more transistors, even though each transistor uses less power than the transistors in an older PC, your average new machine will tend to consume more power.

There are 'non-average' modern PCs you can build which are very energy-efficient though. I'm about to buy a VIA iDOT motherboard, which has an integrated 1.5GHz processor with built-in graphics, etc. The combined power consumption of motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive, etc, will tend to average less than 25watts in total. If you tried to use old PC parts to reduce energy consumption to this level, you'd have a PC as slow as a slug with very little memory and a tiny hard drive.

You can find a bit more info here:

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid...

You can try using older machines with operating systems like Linux, or deactivating many of the flashy features of OSs like XP. I'm typing this answer on an old Toshiba Portege 7220CTe laptop with a 650MHz Pentium III processor. The OS is XP, but I've turned off a lot of the unnecessary background services, shut down the flashy graphics and installed the max memory (only 320MB though). While it's not a fast laptop, it's perfectly adequate for surfing the net and wordprocessing, and it's built like a brick outhouse (it has a magnesium chassis which seems to be pretty much bombproof).

Answer 2

Well the old computer will be more energy hungry as its technology is not as advanced or efficient, and the new computer will be more efficient and less energy hungry. However, the process in which a computer is made needs machinery, man made parts, plastics etc, which all carry a carbon footprint. The deeper you think about the process the more you will realise that its takes power to make these things and the majority of power made is by using non-renewable energy such as fossil fuels (oil, coal)

Depends if you want a better computer? ' ; '

Answer 3

Not necessarily.

It might happen, but not to be assumed.

There are all new computers that will be more energy efficient, even one that would run on less than a watt. But you would not necessarily get there with the strategy you describe.