How much does it cost to run a computer 24/7?

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McPhreak

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2000
3,808
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I just took a look at my electric bill...they charge me 18.2 cents/KWH...:(

$46/month if I decide to leave just my rig on 24/7...:(
 

XZeroII

Lifer
Jun 30, 2001
12,572
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My number was just a rough estimate based on the available facts. I know that if you arn't using it all then it will be less, but that doesn't help the person all that much. Use the formula's above to figure out the max that your computer is drawing.
 

B00ne

Platinum Member
May 21, 2001
2,168
1
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quite a bit actually. I got a P3800, gef1 ddr, and all pci slots used by some cards my computer alone uses 80W (dunno if u guys use some strange poundfeetergwhateverweirdnonstandard unit for power) add 100 for the monitor when running and that 24/7 is prolly already more than the fridge and that is usually the biggest consumer in a household (european, I heard u guys heat with electricity)
Now your computer alone will prolly draw quite a bit more power than mine I guess 150-200W now that is already 1300-1700 kWh/y and that is alot.

Ex. I have a special electricity deal (includes phone and internet) in that deal I get 2000kWh for the whole year and that is for a single, so if the computer already eats up like 70% of this budget I would say the computer ought to play a big role in your bill.
 

B00ne

Platinum Member
May 21, 2001
2,168
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Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
hm how mcuih of a power difference do u get when running cpu at 100% and idle anyways? or is it so small that u shouldnt consider?

4 80mm fans? u could probably get away with 2 in the winter:) most dells and stuff only have maybe 2 fans ...yet they survive:p whats the point of extra cooling if it does nothing but make noise:p

with my computer the power difference between idle and running q3 was 5 or 10 W dont remember exactly but it was a fairly little difference
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
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wow conflicting:p howmuch do u get charged per kwh batmannate?

I live in a one bedroom and have about a $35-40/month bill, and here's what I run:

Dual Athlon Rig, 5 HD's (4 7200 RPM, 1 10,000), 2 CDROM, full PCI/AGP (3 vid, nic, scsi, sound, raid), 431watt PSU, 3 monitors, hella fans
Dual P2 rig, 3 HD, no monitor
Quad PPro 200 half meg Rig, SCSI RAID, 500 watt PSU, no monitor
Single Duron 920 rig, 21" monitor plus stereo equipment.



How's your water heater?

I just took a look at my electric bill...they charge me 18.2 cents/KWH...

$46/month if I decide to leave just my rig on 24/7...
 

Lithium381

Lifer
May 12, 2001
12,452
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I heard it was only a lightbulb......i turn my monitor and stereo off when i go to bed or when i'm not here....hopefully it's not that much.....that and i'm about to fire up a 2nd system to run as a server/seti box......
 

SOSTrooper

Platinum Member
Dec 27, 2001
2,552
0
76
I have 2 PCs on 24/7, one with monitor on for a big part of the day (women...). I only use my computer at night, for about 4-5 hours daily. I have a 350W P4, my other PC is a 400W Athlon. My bill is usually around $50. Most of my appliances are Energy Star'ed, if that is any indication.
 

SinfulWeeper

Diamond Member
Sep 2, 2000
4,567
11
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Originally posted by: sean2002
I'm wondering how much of my $180 elecrtic bill is due to my computer being on 24/7, I only have a small 2 bedroom apt. My computer is a P4 2.26 with 512MB RAMBUS, 2 7200RPM HD's, ATI 8500, Sound Blaster Audigy, Antec 420 watt true power PS, Samsung 900NF, logictech Z560's.

Any ideas? even a rough est. will be helpfull

Ahh... there is a lot of right math in this thread. However your forgetting one thing. According to your system rig you are running a Microsoft OS (XP Home). I have never once seen a Microsoft OS be able to withstand more than 3 days of being powered on without a reboot. It is just simply a Microsoft impossibilty.

 

DrVos

Golden Member
Jan 31, 2002
1,085
0
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Originally posted by: SinfulWeeper

Ahh... there is a lot of right math in this thread. However your forgetting one thing. According to your system rig you are running a Microsoft OS (XP Home). I have never once seen a Microsoft OS be able to withstand more than 3 days of being powered on without a reboot. It is just simply a Microsoft impossibilty.

HA! Before virus updates forced me to reboot, my lil win2k file/print server was going on 3 and half weeks without a reboot. My NT4 workstation at work hasnt been turned off in months, I just log out when I go home. My dad is a real mp3 fiend and he leave his WinXP computer on for days at a time sometimes weeks downloading songs. I say BAH to your allegataions of "impossibility"! :p
 

thomsbrain

Lifer
Dec 4, 2001
18,148
1
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i have a very similar computer that i run 24 hours a day about 2/3 of the nights at my house. my total PG&E bill (gas and electric) was $33. make sure your monitor goes to sleep nice and quick, and use compact flourescents where you can.
 

amdskip

Lifer
Jan 6, 2001
22,530
13
81
Originally posted by: SinfulWeeper

Ahh... there is a lot of right math in this thread. However your forgetting one thing. According to your system rig you are running a Microsoft OS (XP Home). I have never once seen a Microsoft OS be able to withstand more than 3 days of being powered on without a reboot. It is just simply a Microsoft impossibilty.
My Win 2k box has been up 13 days and counting. This is the first time I've left a pc on 24/7.
 

Bullhonkie

Golden Member
Sep 28, 2001
1,899
0
76
Our electric bill averaged $90-110/mo when we were using 4 to 5 computers regularly and pretty much leaving 3 of them on 24/7. A few months ago we decided to stop doing that and only 1 system gets left on 24/7, and any light usage ends up being done with a laptop instead. Our bill since then has never been more than $75 or so, and has been as low as $60.

Part of the reason why we saw a drastic drop is probably due to the fact we have a 21", two 19", and a 17" monitor hooked up to the desktop systems. So when those were all going, they sucked up quite a bit of power.

Originally posted by: SinfulWeeper
Ahh... there is a lot of right math in this thread. However your forgetting one thing. According to your system rig you are running a Microsoft OS (XP Home). I have never once seen a Microsoft OS be able to withstand more than 3 days of being powered on without a reboot. It is just simply a Microsoft impossibilty.

I've had one of my win2k boxes running for just over two months, and others regularly go for weeks at a time. It could've gone longer, but I had to unplug it to move it to a different part of the room. :p
 

SinfulWeeper

Diamond Member
Sep 2, 2000
4,567
11
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RH Linux 5.2

384 days without a reboot working as a server/PC at the office. By the time it needed to be rebooted, it was only to add more ram. However after that it only went 40 something days till the HDD died :(.

Well this can go on, but this flame war is all worn out. Not only that, in my spare time I fix Windows PC's for a more comfortable living. So I need it as well as own all the Win9x series, Win2K Pro, NT Workstation w/SP3. I have yet to venture into XP... but the license agreement scares me. Why should Microsoft have the right to go into my computer and remove programs that they think competes with them? (I forgot the exact words, but it equated to it.)

<---- starts looking for a volt meter to get back on topic. I will post back sometime tommorrow with what my home system would draw in one hour and multiply it by 24. System is as follows, and seems that would be a accurate way to test plus a few extra watts per hour since the optical drives, floppy and printer will not be running non-stop.

420W Antec PSU
Duron 800 @ 1064 stock voltage. (how many durons reach the 133 bus? This is the first I encountered)
Soyo K7V Dragon
GF2 Ultra
256MB Corsair PC2400
1 WD 40GB 7200rpm drive
1 8*4*20CD/RW (HP)
1 12X DVD (Samsung)
Floppy (I forgot the brand, but it's never used anyway)
Mitsubishi 19" triniton tube
Altec Lanseng ACS33 speakers. (I know that is not the right model number, or name... but I painted them)
Canon BJC6000 printer.
 

Parrotheader

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 1999
3,434
2
0
Since our power bill has been going up and up and up (a direct correlation to the number of computers I've been adding running UD 24/7 over the last several months) I've decided to ease up for the next couple months and see what happens. Instead of running 5 of them 24/7, I'm just going to run 2 with the monitors going into standyby after 2 minutes. I've always had the monitors go into standy by, but I'd usually make them wait 15-30 minutes.

I had three in the main office going and with only one going now the temperature in there has dropped considerably from its tropical norm by at least 10 degrees. I'm curious to see what real world effect, not calculated, it has on our electric bill. Our last bill's usage was almost $200 although we have levelized billing so we actually paid a little bit less than that. For the same month last year (one that was considerably warmer causing us to use more of the electric-based A/C), our bill was only $125 dollars and I only had two computers then. This is for a 2 story house with approximately 2000sq ft of living space plus another 1000sq ft of basement where we usually keep a couple fluroscent lights on during the day for our dog. Naturally, there could be other factors at play, but given the sheer quantity of systems I've added it's something to consider. Our A/C is about 10 years old and we'll eventually get it replaced with a much more efficient heat pump at some point. But a newer vehicle for me is first on the agenda and if I can save a significant amount of cash by turning them off most of the time then I'll probably go ahead and do that.