NoSweats: Introduction
To allow for changing circumstances, windows comes with three default power plans. When using a desktop computer they are hardly every used, but they can be; for decreasing your computer's power usage even more. Selecting them by hand however, is quite a hassle. NoSweats does this for you. NoSweats monitors CPU activity (load) and mouse movement in real time to determine the actual usage of a computer and based on that decides which power plan is best to use.
Usage example 1 - a regular everyday computer
A desktop computer is used during the day. It has a printer connected to it, which is shared via the network and used by other computers. It is configured not to go into hibernate / sleep mode, as the printer would become unavailable to the other computers. While it's being actively used, like browsing the web, it has to perform fast, so the High performance power plan is selected. While performing relatively simple tasks like editing documents, emailing or not being used at all, things don't have to go full speed, so the balanced power plan is selected. While the computer is idle for a longer period, e.g. during the night, things don't have to go fast at all, so the power saver plan is selected. For simple background tasks like updates being downloaded and installed, CPU speed doesn't have to be high. Should the computer have do something which does require a bit more CPU however, the balanced plan will temporarily be selected again, until the machine returns back to its idle state. As soon as the computer is used again the next day, the Balanced plan is selected so it is ready to use.
Every now and then the computer is used to watch a video stream. Because while watching a video the mouse will not be used, before starting the video the High performance plan is selected by hand through NoSweats' menu, to avoid the video being interrupted by a power plan change.
Usage example 2 - gamer / GPU miner
A PC with an Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2Ghz with 6 cores, over-clocked at 4.2Ghz with an AMD Radeon R9 290X is used for both mining and gaming*, but also for regular activities. When gaming or using the computer for other intense operations like web browsing with multiple tabs open, the High performance plan is selected. Some games will be using the CPU heavily for a few seconds and then be almost idle for a few. In such cases the high performance plan can be selected by hand using NoSweats' menu. When performing simple tasks, like emailing, writing a document, watching pictures and relatively simple websites, the Balanced power plan will be selected. If the computer is left unattended for a long period, due to the mouse not moving, the Power saver plan is selected. As the GPU is not affected, mining will proceed at full speed.
*GPU mining and 3D gaming at the same time is not recommended, but most 2D games can run fine while mining in the background. For 3D games, background mining will have to be halted. This also goes for watching video streams with a high bit-rate.
Benefits
Running a PC at maximum over-clocked speed continuously produces a lot of heat. Heat is not a good thing for computers, the warmer they get, the faster they wear out. Heat in most cases has to be dissipated by fans, which means those will have to spin at high RPM, wearing out the bearings quicker, leading to them becoming noisy and eventually needing to be replaced. Running fans at lower RPM leads to less airflow, which results in less noise.
Running at low processor speed also saves power. The main reason for this is that when a CPU runs at high speed, it produces relatively more heat than when running at lower speeds. All the excess heat is wasted energy. Additionally, the less heat the CPU produces, the less enters the GPU's cooling system. This leads to less effort required to keep the GPU cooled, which gives it a longer lifetime as well.
In the setup given in the example, while GPU mining;
The CPU temperature eventually drops by over 3°C, as a little while later does the GPU temperature. The overall power consumption drops by 20 Watt on average per power plan, making a total of 40 Watt difference between the High performance and the Power saver plan.
To summarize:
- Less energy is wasted
- Less heat
- Less noise
- Less overall costs
- Longer computer lifetime
