Cost of running a computer 24/7? ie. electricity bill :(

[cracker099]

Hi, I would like to run my comp 24/7 but i afraid it might really jack up the electricity bill. Can some give me an estimate of how much it cost to keep my comp running 24/7? Oh yeah the monitor would be turned on only when im using it.

I live in Southern California (San fernando Valley)

P3 700
Msi 815e motherboard
geforce 2mx 32 megs
2x2x24 smart and friendly cdr
11.5 gig 5400 rpm Maxtor hdd
actiontek call waiting modem
Montego A3DExtreme sound care
250 watt power supply

 

[jinsonxu]

Well, i figured that given that each Kilowatt hour of electricity is charged at $0.1353 (Singapore dollar), leaving my computer on (AND assuming that it uses ALL of the 350Watt power supply, the cost of leaving my computer on for 24/7 per day is $1.13652.

It would cost me $35.23 to leave my computer on for the whole month. $422.7855 for a whole year. $20.72 in US dollars to leave it on for a whole month and $248.69 in US dollars to leave on for the whole year.

17 inch monitors usually use 100 watts. I've no idea how much electricity is charged in the US.

The above calculation assumes that 350Watts of power is used fully all the time. Actual consumption overall is lesser even with the monitor counted in.

 

[Hawk]

I heard the most electricity used is the monitor, so when you aren't there, just turn it off (and use the power saving feature) and you should be fine.

 

[Hamburgerpimp]

Well, I haven't tried turning my computer off since I run servers. But, my friend turned his off during the nightime and his electric bill was cut in half. He also lives in S. California.

 

[lowtech1]

Most of the time you are not gonna run at full tilt...even with RC5 running your computer might use 150~180w -your monitor.

 

[jinsonxu]

<< electric bill was cut in half >>



Dang, did i make a mistake somewhere?

 

[sciencewhiz]

The maximum power used by you computer is much more than the average, especially if the monitor is turned off. Your drives (hard drive and CD etc) all use much less power when you aren't using your computer.

I started leaving my computer on 24/7 about 2 months ago, with my monitor off when I'm not using it and my parents haven't noticed an increase in the electricity bill. At least over when it wasn't running 24/7. They did notice an increase when I first bought it.

 

[lowtech1]

&quot;my friend turned his off during the nightime and his electric bill was cut in half.&quot;

I don't think it gonna happen unless he uses 2~3 100w light bulb for the house/apartment, with no other appliances such as the refrigerator or hot-water tank.

One tub of warm water use as much energy as a 100w light bulb running 24 hours for a week.

 

[medic]

As a rough example, let's say your computer uses 150watts at idle or 3.6 Kilowatts per day, in my town I'm charged about 8 cents per Kilowatt so this would total 28.8 cents per day or $8.64 per month.
Not including the monitor.

 

[slipperyslope]

Just to give you an idea.

I live with two other roommates. I have a computer that acts as a server that runs 24/7, my personal computer that runs 24/7. Both of my roommates have computers that are on 24/7. We all turn our monitors off at night.

Just so you get an idea, we also have a washer/dryer and dishwasher that all get used at least 3 times a week.

Last month we paid $65.

Jim

 

[snow patrol]

I remember a few months ago here on the forums, someone was asking whether it was in fact cheaper to leave ones PC on all day, rather than constantly rebooting it. I.e. the arguement being that the actual booting up of the computer uses more power, and costs more, than just having the PC on.

I can't quite remember where this discussion left off, but I'd be interested to hear as I've recently been leaving my PC on roughly 24/7 to run SETI / RC5...

 

[prontospyder]

Southern California Edison charges $0.12009 per Kilowatt Hour.

 

[jbond]

I live in Dallas Texas. I just called the electric company and they calculated it for me. I cost about 4 to 5 dollars a month for just the PC. Since the PC is 300 watts but only uses that much on bootup. The monitor took another 10 dollars a month. Since I have 5 PC on all the time and turn on/off the montior as I need them. Moved recently and nothing on bill but the normal(no PC's. Bill was little over 100.00 this was in June in Texas. Next month PC on bill was 150.. but we were getting into some hot weather then also. So the best guess the electric company gave me was increase of 10.00 per PC/monitor left on per month.

 

[lupohki]

Something must be wrong with me then because last month I left my comp running 24/7 (monitor off when i'm not using it)
and my electricity bill is $109.08 as compared to $60 the previous month. I also got a TiVo (which is like a mini comp running 24/7) and switched from a 300w to 600w p/s, but I don't think those 2 things should matter.

I live by myself in a single bedroom apartment not using a/c or heat and I have this outrageously high electricity bill for some reason! :|

 

[cavingjan]

I might have cheap electricity or something here in Maryland. I leave for business trips for weeks at a time. When I'm home, the tv, oven, appliances, etc. and 2 computers(24/7) are on. Both of them have the monitors in sleep mode. When I'm away, the server is the only thing running with the monitor turned off. The difference in electric bills for a month trip is about $10. And that is for a whole house. My electric bill only runs about $35 / month when home. It goes to $50 with the AC running all the time. However I do get slaughtered on the electric heat.

 

[cracker099]

So one Kilowatt is about 1000 watts rite and I have a 250 watt power supply so .12009*(1/4)*24*30=$24.6162 Someone check if i did this right. I sure hope so cause its not that bad. And i doubt that i actually use all 250 watts so my bill should be considerably less.

 

[BoberFett]

I just looked up my electric bills from the past couple of years.

Last year I started running 5 computers 24/7, all have monitor power saving on. No other power saving is enabled.

Compared to 2 years ago when I wasn't running those computers, my power usage has gone from ~12 kwh/day to about ~25 kwh/day. This can also be partially attributed to the fact that my wife stays home with our daughter now instead of working during the day, and we're home now more often instead of going out. But we'll ignore that.

So my electricity consumption has almost doubled. NSP is currently charging me $.0735/kwh. We're talking then about $30 a month tops to run 5 computers 24/7, and mine are even doing RC5 so it's a constant power use. So if you just have a single machine, you're looking at $5-10/mo, depending on electricity rates in your area.

No big deal, IMHO.

 

[JackMDS]

You have to compute the total Wattage of your components (CPU Box, Monitor, Printer, Scanner etc.).

For example, I will assume that I have only CPU Box, and Monitor.

CPU Box with 250Watt PS will use 250Watts, Monitor about 90W.

My system takes 340Watts.

In NYC, the cost is 17cents per kWh. (Kilowatt per hour).

I use the computer for 10 hours a day, so my electrical consumption is: 10x340=3400WattsHour, or 3.4 kWh per day

Thats mean that the computer will cost me 2.4x17c=40Cents to operate for a day.

I use the computer for 30 days is 30x.4= $12 a month.

So tally the wattage from all the computer components parts, find the kWh charge (should be in your electrical bill), and you know I much it will cost.

 

[BoberFett]

JackMDS

You're making the common mistake of using the full PS wattage. Your machine probably doesn't use anywhere near the 250 output of the PS, especially when idle. What you really have to do is add up the power consumption of each component.

 

[MWink]

My total power consumption is about 200W. At night I turn my 17&quot; monitor off (it uses about 80W). I have a powerful Athlon system. You do the math (I did it before but forgot )

 

[Soccerman]

hmm.. I think we should have some websites doing power usage specs.

I mean, overall, on the whole computer, say when running RC5 with monitor, without monitor (for those of us with RC5 on all night), without RC5 without monitor, (for those crazies' who don't run RC5, yet put the computer on all night), with monitor, and then of course, full blown gaming. surfing the web might also be a good one.

I bet you that the average overall consumption with out monitor and with RC5 would be about 60-100watt/hours. possibly less.

besides, for those of us who live in the north, having the computer on during winter REDUCES our heating bill!

 

[Lalakai]

on a related note, many people do leave their systems running 24/7/365. Even with power saving systems activated, consider the accumulative energy that is being wasted in millions of houses each day.

True, start-up is some of the most wear'n tear on hd's, and one of the very few viable reasons for leaving systems on. Leave your cases running, but shut off printers, speakers, monitors, ect..

It may only save you a few bucks each month, but consider what the savings would be nation-wide.

IMHO

 

[lowtech1]

Most of the time the CDROM &amp; Ploppy drive is idle and uses very little power, same thing goes with your sound card &amp; speakers. So the consumtion is down to the CPU, fans, mobo, sound, sound, video, NIC &amp; hdd. (all component will throtle down when it is not in use)

When cracking RC5 only your CPU &amp; fans will tax the system.

Cpu fan is a round 1w each.
Average power supply/case fan is around 1.5w each
Power supply efficency/consumtion ???
Ide controlers, sound, modem/nic, video card ??? (guesstimate around 45~60w)
CPU consummtion is around 40w

...As you can see the average computer power consumtion is not much more than an average ligh bulb. therefore it is safe to say that you system will not consume much more than 150w or 3600 a day. Some of you see the hike in electrical rate could be from many reasons, eg. in my area we are bill fromt the previous year consumtion so it is hard to know the exact number. And, other inconsistancies will conribute to the construe of your calculation such as uses of heat, air-con, water (due to the climate temperature), and other appliances in your home that consume much more than your computer.

 

[Yzzim]

I leave my computer (not monitor) on all the time with restarts usually once or twice a day. The electric bill for my one bedroom apartment came out to be $13.44 last month.

KWH: $.00950
Actual Electric Bill: 12.62
Sales Tax: .82

[edit] I live in central Minnesota [/edit]

 

[Adul]

current 5 comps running 24/7. I do have the drive spool down, and the monitors turned off. got to keep the comps cracking rc5