Sylver - 5:39 pm on Jul 24, 2010 (gmt 0)

Hum, how much can be saved really?

$197 per year per server for electricity sound like a lot, but how much of it can be saved by using more recent CPUs?

Is there that much of a difference? If you can reduce the cost by half with a newer CPU (and I don't know whether this is realistic), you save about $100 per year minus the cost of replacing the CPU and the cost of disposing of the old one.

There is a fair chance that the "old" one will find its way somewhere and remain in use (a fair bit of computer equipment to be disposed off is actually given to third parties or pocketed by the staff), so I wouldn't bank on the positive effects on the environment.

And then there is the issue that CPUs are constantly improving and that less than a year from now, there will probably be more energy efficient CPUs that will make your new CPUs look like energy hogs.

It makes sense to take into account the energy cost of computer equipment but that factor can easily be overstated.