Need to expand local storage for local media streaming. Running a regular desktop on linux.

I am willing to spend money on “the best” for streaming purpose while and hopefully something I can keep reusing down the road if it lasts.

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3·
    7 days ago

    Power costs would have to be bonkers for it to matter.

    8TB NAS HDDs are <$200, so even if it uses 15W vs 3W, that’s 12W difference, or 8-9kWh/month. If you pay a ridiculous $0.40/kWh, that’s $40/year. That means the SSDs would pay for themselves after ~15 years, and I’m guessing you’d replace/upgrade them long before then.

    But NAS drives use a lot less than 15W, usually around 4-6W idle. So the payoff period is probably closer to 30 years… My electricity is more like 0.12-15/kWh, so it’s never going to pay back for itself.

    • czardestructo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      7 days ago

      My SSDs use negligible power at idle, I only noticed a 1w increase when I installed two. Almost ‘free’. Also your 0.14kwh is almost certainly just the cost to generate the power minus the delivery fees. Where I live the delivery fees double my true per kWh cost. Double check your bill and divide your monthly consumption by your monthly payment to find the real cost.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        7 days ago

        Here’s my current bill:

        • usage - 420 kWh
        • total - $58.86 (mix of winter and summer usage)
        • stated rate - $0.09-0.10/kWh for “block 1”, 0.10-0.12 for “block 2” (they charge more the more you use)
        • calculated average rate (inclusive of all fees and credits) - $0.14/kWh

        And here’s my previous bill (all summer usage w/ AC and whatnot):

        • usage - 522 kWh
        • total - $80.17
        • stated rate - $0.09/kWh for “block 1,” $0.117/kWh for “block 2”
        • calculated average rate - $0.154/kWh

        That’s why I gave the $0.12-0.15/kWh range, because it depends on time of year, total usage, etc. It’ll probably be closer to $0.12/kWh next month since we’d use hardly any electricity (we use natural gas for heat).