4 ms·

If I understood it correctly, there is a server running inside that thing. So by definition, all the heat being generated is inefficiency. Therefore, if 1000 W

by gusmd 11y ago

If I understood it correctly, there is a server running inside that thing. So by definition, all the heat being generated is inefficiency. Therefore, if 1000 W are being disposed as heat to the environment, then the machine itself is consuming WAY more than that. Otherwise, they found a way to do computing without consuming any energy. edit: Upon further googling, it looks like I was stupid here. So almost all energy consumed by a PC is dissipated as heat? Did not know that, sorry.

deleted 11y ago
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caf 11y ago
So almost all energy consumed by a PC is dissipated as heat? Yes. The other forms of energy leaving your PC range from tiny to infintesimal: light from the keyboard/case LEDs, kinetic energy in the exhaust air molecules, radiated RF (both intentional like WiFi and unintentional), radiated sound (both intentional from inbuilt speakers or connected headphones and unintentional from vibrating components), earth leakage, and resistance losses in external wired network connections. Most of these forms are then reabsorbed and converted to heat by other objects in the immediate surroundings as well. Increases in the energy stored within the PC are entirely dominated by temperature increases (which will equalise with the surroundings over time). There would also be a truly infintesimal amount of energy stored in changed potential energy in magnetic domains on your hard disk or stored charges in your SSD.
- gusmd 11y ago
  Yes, I get it. Being a Mechanical Engineer and used to balancing energy in heat engines, I just (incorrectly) assumed that SOME kind of work was being done by the computer to perform its main function, which is obviously not the case (at least not to non-negligible amounts). Thanks for clarifying.
  - caf 11y ago
    Ahh, as an ME you would appreciate then that the useful work a computer does is not thermodynamic work but a decrease in the disorder of some system it is a part of, and this necessarily requires increasing the entropy of its environment - typically by transferring heat to it!

by gusmd 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

caf 11y ago

So almost all energy consumed by a PC is dissipated as heat? Yes. The other forms of energy leaving your PC range from tiny to infintesimal: light from the keyboard/case LEDs, kinetic energy in the exhaust air molecules, radiated RF (both intentional like WiFi and unintentional), radiated sound (both intentional from inbuilt speakers or connected headphones and unintentional from vibrating components), earth leakage, and resistance losses in external wired network connections. Most of these forms are then reabsorbed and converted to heat by other objects in the immediate surroundings as well. Increases in the energy stored within the PC are entirely dominated by temperature increases (which will equalise with the surroundings over time). There would also be a truly infintesimal amount of energy stored in changed potential energy in magnetic domains on your hard disk or stored charges in your SSD.

gusmd 11y ago
Yes, I get it. Being a Mechanical Engineer and used to balancing energy in heat engines, I just (incorrectly) assumed that SOME kind of work was being done by the computer to perform its main function, which is obviously not the case (at least not to non-negligible amounts). Thanks for clarifying.
- caf 11y ago
  Ahh, as an ME you would appreciate then that the useful work a computer does is not thermodynamic work but a decrease in the disorder of some system it is a part of, and this necessarily requires increasing the entropy of its environment - typically by transferring heat to it!