Hi,

I set up an Ubuntu 6.10-based 24/7 file server. All is working out very well and now I was trying to reduce the power consumption.

After not understanding at all how to do this, I gave up. I tried
-acpid
-powernowd
-powersaved

but couldn't figure out, what depends on what and how to enable the power saving features of the processor or even how to check if they're enabled. The various guides I googled were either old or left me puzzled.

My configuration is the following:
-Athlon 64 X2 3600 (65W TDP)
-1x Seagate 120 Gig IDE (system)
-3x Samsung HD501LJ 500 Gig SATA (raid 5)
-Asus M2NPV-VM

The system is using ~92W idle right now which seems a little high to me, even with four hard drives. I do not want to constantly spin down the hard drives for fear of early wearing them out. (for reference, spinning the 3 SATA HDs down brings the power consumption to ~72W, i.e. 20W lower)

Any help appreciated,
-R.

92W seems quite thrifty... With your setup, I am actually amazed.
Try lowering the CPU clock, or making it variable depending on the load.