551
Don't throw away your old PC—it makes a better NAS than anything you can buy
(www.howtogeek.com)
this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
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OK. Science time. Somewhat arbitrary values used, the point is there is a amortization calculation, you'll need to calculate your own with accurate input values.
A PC drawing 100W 24/7 uses 877 kWh@0.15 $131.49 per year.
A NAS drawing 25W 24/7 uses 219 kWh@0.15 $32.87 per year
So, in this hypothetical case you "save" about $100/year on power costs running the NAS.
Assuming a capacity equivalent NAS might cost $1200 then you're better off using the PC you have rather than buying a NAS for 12 years.
This ignores that the heat generated by the devices is desirable in winter so the higher heat output option has additional utility.
I used to think it didn't matter how electricity is used to generate heat, so I came to the same conclusion you did. Surprisingly, it does matter. Rather than a computer's resistive heating, it is much more efficient to refrigerate the outdoors and point the refrigerator's heat sink indoors. This is how a heat pump works. It's basically awesome.