Does desktop CPU power consumption matter to you?

[Homeles]

"I use CFL's"
-should be banned IMO_ used 5 x 100watt cfl= 500watts. turn them off then on only to see the in rush current light up the light switch and hear the snap. [15amp breaker\switch @120v =1800 watts]
-had some banned in ont.CA for glue melting and hanging by their wires[had some electrical work inspected so I pointed it out to him] if they were made in US or Canada they would maybe cost $50.00 each with the plants biohaz \requirements\REAL cost.
-out of sight , no problem for green incentives. [VOTES ]

What in the world are you going on about?

 

[dbcooper1]

I don't mind in the winter but during the summer months I shut systems down when not in use; just can't justify generating all that heat and then running the air conditioner to get rid of it. Paying for something twice that I didn't want to begin with; it's a different case altogether when it's cold and contributes to heating my home. Plus, it's always several degrees warmer in my office where they are. I know I'm rationalizing but it works for me..

 

[StinkyPinky]

Has anyone ever worked out the real cost? Say the pc in my sig is left on 12 hours a day, what is the cost? I really don't think it would be much at all. Especially as modern pcs idle very efficiently.

 

[Stoneburner]

depends on usage. For a gaming desktop that I keep off most of the time, it's not a great concern. For a file server or HTPC or laptop, it's very important.

 

[bgt]

We dont turn of the TV and lights

When I switch off my TV, with a remote, it will be separated from the mains after 1 minute. But then it switches off: the recorder, dvd player, Sat receiver. No idle current left.
Because of my LED lighting the whole sitting room hardly uses any energy.
Dimm lights: 20W
Full light: 60W
At night the power rails for the PC+app.adapters switches off completely. No idle current.
I use the http://www.youless.nl/home.html as an energy meter.
Heating: Super efficient(115%) gas heater for the Central Heating. House(= from 1989): double glazing, floor heating, floor isolation etc.

 

[ShintaiDK]

When I switch off my TV, with a remote, it will be separated from the mains after 1 minute. But then it switches off: the recorder, dvd player, Sat receiver. No idle current left.
Because of my LED lighting the whole sitting room hardly uses any energy.
Dimm lights: 20W
Full light: 60W
At night the power rails for the PC+app.adapters switches off completely. No idle current.
I use the http://www.youless.nl/home.html as an energy meter.
Heating: Super efficient(115%) gas heater for the Central Heating. House: double glazing, floor heating, floor isolation etc.

Nice. We plan on moving to new condo/apartment next year build arcording to the BREEAM model as well as the BR15 with climate screen and heatpump for air. Its A1 rated as well compared to our current B1. Appliance is also A+++ as standard. So I expect our daily power consumption to drop to 2Kw/h a day instead of our current 3Kw/h. While I expect our heating to to be around 20$ a month in average. Its a fantastic indoor climate. Very healthy as well.

The heating is from disctrict heating and with floor heating in all rooms.

But again, besides the choosing at purchase and selection. We havent changed a single thing in our lifes. And thats the key point, since changing human behaviour in terms of daily rutines and such is the hardest part. If you just stop building crap houses to put it mildly and stop buying discount wasteful products that cost them more in the long run anyway. Then a lot of problem gets solved and a lot of money and resources saved.

 

[parvadomus]

I dont care about power consumption. This should have been a poll.

 

[Homeles]

Has anyone ever worked out the real cost? Say the pc in my sig is left on 12 hours a day, what is the cost? I really don't think it would be much at all. Especially as modern pcs idle very efficiently.

Idle would be about 100W. Assuming you pay $0.12/kwh, you'd pay 12 cents every 10 hours.

100 (watts consumed) * 12 (hours/day) / 1000 (converting to watt hours) *.12 (cost per kwh) * 365.25 (days in a year) = $52.60 / year

Electricity vary quite a bit by where you live, so it may be more or less than 12 cents. $52.60 isn't exactly a small number, it is mitigated if we remember that you won't have to heat as much in the winter. The number also becomes larger if you run the AC in the summer.

I dont care about power consumption. This should have been a poll.

AMD user detected.

 

[Grooveriding]

Yes, even though my current system is a power hog, although not the worst one I have owned in the past few years. I haven't always cared, but now I have begun to run my system more in its sweet spot than on the very edge of what it is capable of.

It's preferable to lose some Mhz in exchange for the lowest possible idle voltages and temperatures, as well as keeping load numbers in a fairly comfortable area, rather than roasting for those extra speed notches.

It's really nice turning on your computer and not hearing anything to indicate it's actually on beyond the BIOS beep. I'm not concerned about actual power consumption, so much as the heat and noise it produces, as power is relatively cheap here. My plasma HDTV sees a lot of use and probably uses more power in a month than my computer does.

 

[Gikaseixas]

$52.60 isn't exactly a small number

according to your calculations it's 4 dollars and 38 cents a month. Pretty small number for me. I guess all PC gamers can afford that.

AMD basher detected

 

[Piroko]

$52.60 isn't exactly a small number

You can't put all of this towards potential savings, even the best PCs still hover above 30W at the wall. I'd put 70W as a realistic aim for a gaming PC with a discrete card, oversized PSU, more than one HDD and several fans.

 

[Rifter]

Id like to say no cause power is cheap here but lately its been getting to me in the summer with the heat.

My next system will focus more on power consumption and less on all out speed I can tell you that much.

 

[Idontcare]

Idle would be about 100W. Assuming you pay $0.12/kwh, you'd pay 12 cents every 10 hours.

100 (watts consumed) * 12 (hours/day) / 1000 (converting to watt hours) *.12 (cost per kwh) * 365.25 (days in a year) = $52.60 / year

Electricity vary quite a bit by where you live, so it may be more or less than 12 cents. $52.60 isn't exactly a small number, it is mitigated if we remember that you won't have to heat as much in the winter. The number also becomes larger if you run the AC in the summer.


AMD user detected.

FWIW there is a convenient and handy online power cost calculator that does all those conversions for you automatically. Check it out

 

[ShintaiDK]

And those 52.6$ would be 187.3$ here. Or some 155$ on Hawaii if I am not mistaken.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Id like to say no cause power is cheap here but lately its been getting to me in the summer with the heat.

My next system will focus more on power consumption and less on all out speed I can tell you that much.

When something is very cheap, people tend to overuse it so the actual cost is very high.

 

[Homeles]

FWIW there is a convenient and handy online power cost calculator that does all those conversions for you automatically. Check it out

I was just showing my work, in case I screwed up somewhere.

AMD basher detected

There's a very strong correlation between using AMD processors and not caring about power.

 

[Idontcare]

When something is very cheap, people tend to overuse it so the actual cost is very high.

All the easier to be abused if the cost doesn't capture the true environmental bill too. If prices were required to capture the cost of mitigating the environmental impact then decisions regarding personal electricity usage would be made a little more judiciously IMO.

 

[nemesismk2]

I don't care how much power my CPU uses as long as I get more performance.

i agree 100% with this and yes i do own an amd cpu

 

[Idontcare]

i agree 100% with this and yes i do own an amd cpu

It just doesn't compute then.

If you care about performance then you'd be better off with a higher-end Intel processor.

If you don't care about power usage then you don't care about power expense, which means computing cost in general is a non-factor - so the expense related to owning a higher-performing processor is not an issue.

Which goes back to the higher performing Intel processor, which will cost you more to purchase but you've already crossed the bridge of saying price for the performance is not a concern for you.

So all roads lead you owning a higher-end Intel CPU and OC'ing it.

Unless its not about power consumption or performance, if it is just about owning an AMD. Then the logic tree above doesn't apply, naturally.

 

[Maximilian]

Has anyone ever worked out the real cost? Say the pc in my sig is left on 12 hours a day, what is the cost? I really don't think it would be much at all. Especially as modern pcs idle very efficiently.

Its easy to work out the cost. Just need to know how many watts its using and your electricity cost per kwh.

I did a ballpark estimate for my system. Its 103w idle, so if its on for 16 hours a day that's ~1.6kwh a day so
1.6 * 365 = 584kwh
584 * 13.08p (my electricity cost, f u scottish hydro!) = 7638p
7638/100 = £76.38p a year to run this beast at idle.

So overall taking into account gaming it could be as high as £100, it could be lower because its not always on 16 hours a day every day. Gives an idea though!

 

[Homeles]

according to your calculations it's 4 dollars and 38 cents a month. Pretty small number for me. I guess all PC gamers can afford that.

Looking at it that way, instead of total cost of ownership over the lifespan of the component, is utterly foolish.

 

[ShintaiDK]

according to your calculations it's 4 dollars and 38 cents a month. Pretty small number for me. I guess all PC gamers can afford that.

Take the money and set fire to them every month. Then see how it feels when you actually stand with them and are about to lose it.

But if cost is not a problem, IDC already covered what you should have bought in the first place. Power cost or not.

 

[Piroko]

There's a very strong correlation between using AMD processors and not caring about power.

There's a very strong correlation between ocing and not caring about power, no matter the brand.

Apart from that, do you really want to start a "My precious idles lower than yours"? Dunno if I'd want to win that :biggrin:

 

[T_Yamamoto]

17, living at home. Parents pay, no care in the world

my computer is poop anyway, but it is efficient.

 

[Homeles]

There's a very strong correlation between ocing and not caring about power, no matter the brand.

Right, but AMD users in particular are:

A) More likely to overclock
B) Less likely to care, given that they are more likely to hold brand to be of higher importance (which compounds with the overclocking tendency).

*Citing personal experience and common sense/knowledge. Not a strong argument, but a logical one.

You'll see this a lot in the video card industry, since the efficiency crown is constantly changing hands. The AMD crowd will make a big deal out of power when they're winning the performance per watt game (HD 5000 and HD 6000), while Nvidia fans will claim that power doesn't matter (GTX 400 and GTX 500). Then, the games changes, and AMD users downplay power consumption (HD 7970 GE/7970/7950 [at launch]) while Nvidia users make a big deal out of it (GTX 680/670 [at launch]).

I'd imagine similar statements would have been made when arguing Pentium 4 vs. Athlon 64. Pentium 4 supporters would be less likely to care about power, while Athlon 64 users would be more likely to care.

At the end of the day, there's a rather large portion of the enthusiast community that does not give a flying flock about power at all, and simply use power consumption as a tool to win arguments on forums. These are your "extremists," while the people that do care about power consumption are your "swing voters."