Does a Desktop computer really cost $20-$30 *in electricity* per month?

[ElFenix]

I'd say back in the day of highly innefficent power supplies, tube based CRT monitors, and mechanical hard drives that you could fry and egg on, that would be a reality.

With much more efficient CPU's, PSU's, HD's and LCD's power consumption is fraction of what they used to be.

i should pull some parts out of the closet and see what they're actually doing. though that's with a current power supply.




get it? current?

 

[Svnla]

I call bull.

A while back, I left the country for over 1 month and everything in my place was off and unplug, except the refrig and water heater and my electric bill was about $20 or so. The whole place was all electric, no gas.

I find it is hard to believe that a desktop computer is more juice hungry than a fridge and that fridge is at least 6 years old, not fancy energy saving stuff.

 

[Anubis]

considering the total elec bill for my house is only ~100$ and there are 3 comps that run 24/7 along with everything else in the house that number can not be correct

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

It depends.

Each user will have their own variables. Two large variable are kilowatts consumed and electricity cost.

Columbia had the following to say about kilowatts consumed


EIA.gov lists electricity cost by state here:
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_6_a

Taking the cost figure from the EIA for Maryland gives an annual cost of $117.99.
(874 X .135) Cost of electricity in Maryland where Eli is located.

However, your cost will depend on your computer and your electricity supplier.

In a broad sense, I think that Eli has a valid point. Though, whether or not it holds true for an individual depends on several variables.

Uno

I thought my costs would be highest in the nation, but we're second. HI is nuts.

 

[jagec]

Don't mean to get political

Then don't.

 

[John Connor]

I just wanted to state the truth numb nuts.

 

[Anonemous]

According to my Belkin Conserve Insight it's about $1.07/month (53-100W).

 

[tortillasoup]

It depends on your electric rates and it depends on what your idling computer is doing... Let me tell you this, here in california, most people are paying $0.30 per KWH because the typical user is in the third tier in energy consumption. I told my neighbor to put his computer into sleep mode to save electricity which he did and says his electric bill dropped from an average of $300 a month to $150 per month. I looked at his 12 month electrical bill average and he was right in that he used to average $300 per month but now is averaging around $150. $150 is still a lot but it's a big improvement nonetheless.

It's really better to put your computer into sleep mode if you can do so because the energy consumption of the computer idling is far far greater than most expect, especially for a desktop computer.

It's completely academic to figure out how much your computer is costing you per month by getting a Kill-A-Watt meter and plugging the computer in.

 

[Red Squirrel]

new stuff like core i7 and pretty much all video cards use tons of power. my i7 machine pulls about 300w from the wall. oddly my Xeon file server pulls about 75. I think the video card is mostly what draws a lot. get mobo with built on if you don't game and it will use less but nothing will beat embedded computers like nuc, raspberry pi, tablets etc.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I have the following that run 24/7 in my 2 BR, 1 BA duplex. A typical electric bill in months when the A/C isn't running is $40-45.

Basically, I keep my PC, my file server, my network infrastructure and my stereo system powered around the clock.

• i5-3750K desktop with one SSD, one HDD and two LCD monitors. Sleeps after 1 hour of inactivity.
  
• 2x40W solid state power amp for computer audio
  
• headless socket 775 Xeon file server with one SSD and 13 x 5400 RPM HDDs. All HDDs, except for one, spin down after 20 minutes.
  
• cable modem
  
• hardware firewall
  
• 8 port Gb switch
  
• wireless access point
  
• stereo tube pre-amplifier
  
• solid state 2x125W power amplifier
  
• network streaming audio player
  
• refrigerator

...and usually a 60W bulb in my office desk lamp that I'm too lazy to turn off.

 

[olds]

Who knew solitaire sucked so much juice.

I lol'd.

 

[Pardus]

My desktop uses 167w total consisting of board-ram-ssd-hhd-optical-2 fans and add-on cooler. Below is a calculation for 12-hours of use per day.

Hours Used Per Day: 12
Power Use (Watts): 167
Price (kWh): 0.09

Cost Per Hour: 0.0150
Cost Per Day: 0.1804
Cost Per Month: 5.49
Cost Per Year: 65.84
kWh Per Day:2.00

 

[olds]

Mine might come close, considering the fact that it's on 24/7

But, is your PC sending out the spam or are you using a hacked network of other users computers?

 

[SparkyJJO]

I call bull.

A while back, I left the country for over 1 month and everything in my place was off and unplug, except the refrig and water heater and my electric bill was about $20 or so. The whole place was all electric, no gas.

I find it is hard to believe that a desktop computer is more juice hungry than a fridge and that fridge is at least 6 years old, not fancy energy saving stuff.

My parents have a 20 year old fridge. It uses only $7-8 worth of electricity per month.

Yeah, refrigerators are apparently not the huge hogs some people make them out to be. And those newer, supposedly more efficient models will never pay for themselves in electricity savings like they'd have you to believe.

 

[mikeford]

I live in Calif, switching to LCD screens from CRT paid for itself in the first year at 31cents / kwhr. In the summer you pay twice, once to run the pc, once again to remove the heat.

Low power has been a big issue in building HTPC that runs 24/7, plus good to have no fans for low noise.

 

[tortillasoup]

My parents have a 20 year old fridge. It uses only $7-8 worth of electricity per month.

Yeah, refrigerators are apparently not the huge hogs some people make them out to be. And those newer, supposedly more efficient models will never pay for themselves in electricity savings like they'd have you to believe.

So your refrigerator is from 1994? What is the cubic feet? What is the proportion of it being Freezer vs. Refrigerator? By 1994, appliances were already on a steep downward trajectory in energy consumption. What I've found is that any refrigerator made in the last 10 years should be sufficiently energy efficient compared to the most energy efficient models today. However, in the next several years, we should be seeing another step in energy efficiency. My goal would be to have a refrigerator that uses 100KWH per year vs. the Federal standard of 700KWH per year.

 

[velillen]

As mentioned it just depends where you live. in Cali it might be true. Where i live? Nope not even close. My bill is 50-60 bucks a month. Thats with a unraid server running 24/7 and a htpc running 24/7.

 

[shortylickens]

To hit $20, even at a high rate ($0.16/kwh) your computer would need to pull 168 watts around the clock, for 31 days.

Not out of reach for a beefy computer.

I putmy gaming rig in standby when n0t using it.

 

[SP33Demon]

When I left my 1000W and SLI Nvidia cards running 24/7, I never went over $10/month and that was with gaming for 2-3 hours a day. Probably bullshit.

 

[rh71]

It depends on where you live. Some states like NY charge twice as much per kilowatt hour compared to neighboring states. NYC in particular charges 3x.

LI here and we pay 20c or 21c/kwh. I did a calc on it 350watts for a total of 252KWH per month and it came out to $52/mo. if run at full power 24/7 but obviously it doesn't.

If I plug in 150 watts for a total of 108KWH per month it is $22/mo.

 

[Pulsar]

I just wanted to state the truth numb nuts.

No. No you didn't 'just want to state the truth'. You knew it didn't belong here. You knew it generally isn't wanted here. But you just couldn't control your fingers and had to open your mouth.

It's like one of those idiots who says "I don't mean any disrespect" and then goes on to call you an asshole. Just because you say "well I don't WANT to be political" doesn't change the fact that you ARE being political.

But... no disrespect meant....

 

[shortylickens]

Jesus christ you fuckin guys cant even discuss power draw without turning into dicks.

 

[Brian Stirling]

If by desktop computer you just mean the CPU box then $20/month is unlikely, but if you include the monitor, even a modest LCD, then $20/month is more than possible. At a combined 200W, which isn't hard to see, then, depending on what you pay for electricity it could be somewhat more than $20/month.

Now, a laptop, if used in this manner, would likely be less than $2/month.

A tablet would set you back perhaps $0.30/month and a smartphone, if on 24/7 but actively used 4-5 hours, perhaps $0.10/month.


Brian

 

[Zee]

NYC here. I have tested based on my own usage activity and can confirm when i leave the pc on, my bill is roughly $25 higher on average over the month than compared to turning it off when not in use

 

[MWink]

My parents have a 20 year old fridge. It uses only $7-8 worth of electricity per month.

Yeah, refrigerators are apparently not the huge hogs some people make them out to be. And those newer, supposedly more efficient models will never pay for themselves in electricity savings like they'd have you to believe.

I've found this to be very true. A couple years ago my mother decided to get a new fridge to save energy and, before getting rid of the old one, I plugged it into my Kill-A-Watt and measured it's energy use over a day. I did the same thing with the new one after giving it a few days to settle. In the end the new (slightly smaller) fridge actually uses a little MORE energy than the old one. Ultimately neither one used a whole lot of power. Even if the new one used no power at all I calculated that it would take decades to pay for itself.

People don't seem to believe me when I tell them older fridges/freezers don't necessarily suck as much power as they've been led to believe. The sad thing is, the old ones will probably outlive a new one given the quality of today's appliances. That new fridge is already falling apart. We also have a really old freezer in the basement and I've tested it as well and it really doesn't use much power either. I don't remember exactly but I calculated it to be something like $60 a year.