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how much power does my computer use??

F

Falloutboy

Diamond Member
ok I got 2 roomates. ones like me and has a computer on 24/7, the other is completly non computer literate. she yelled at me today saying the cause of our high electrical bill is the fact me and my other roommate never turn our computers.

My system is as follows

430W Trupower
Barton mobile @ 2.5ghx 512mb ram
2x120gb HD
1x80gb HD
2xdvd
3 lcd's but they power off when not in use

my cpu is on downloading most of the time so at least one HD is always working (I swear I go thru way too many HDs)
my roommates is much the same except he runs dual CRTs also with power save.

our bill was 120 last mounth.

I blame the bill on her because of her always being cold. I have not turned the heat on once since i've moved in in my room (temps stay around 60 degrees in my room, much better for OCing) so I told her my computer proubly doesn't account for much more than 20 bucks if that on the bill. am I correct?
 
I think so.

If i remember doesnt it use less power to leave it on for the night then to power it up in the morning? Casue it draws a lot of power starting up that supply.

And i would REALLY blame her for being cold. Why are women always cold? Tell her to start dressing properly.
 
depends on efficiency of psu...hd's going into power saving...whether your crazy overclocked or not..heavy duty video card? bah...i dunno.

does she use the hair dryer a lot? 😉
 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
depends on efficiency of psu...hd's going into power saving...whether your crazy overclocked or not..heavy duty video card? bah...i dunno.

does she use the hair dryer a lot? 😉
Click to expand...

yup blows my breaker at least twice a week, I make her warn me before she starts and I turn everything off except my comp till she's done :|. last time she did it it corupted my boot drive, I was pissed. trying to get her to blow dry in the kitchen its on a different breaker 😀 oh well I put up with her she's hot and wears nice little short shorts around the house. not that I have a chance in hell with her though
 
If i remember doesnt it use less power to leave it on for the night then to power it up in the morning? Casue it draws a lot of power starting up that supply.
Click to expand...

this much i know is completely not true. its like idling your car all night for fear of startup. from what i remember reading, starting your car takes 30 seconds of idle gas, not that much.
 
Originally posted by: tRaptor
I think so.

If i remember doesnt it use less power to leave it on for the night then to power it up in the morning? Casue it draws a lot of power starting up that supply.

And i would REALLY blame her for being cold. Why are women always cold? Tell her to start dressing properly.
Click to expand...

my motto is if your cold get a blanket. I walk around in shorts in a t shirt in my room and never get cold. heck I could see my breath yesterday morning the door blew open to my balcony and I wasn't cold at all 😀
 
we have 5 computers running at any given time, two of which run 24/7, sometimes 3. the rest are on for a good portion of the day.

we also;
keep the fan on the stove on quite often (takes away the smoke 😉)
have multiple tv's on, usually someone playing vids on one
lights, fridge that is on extra cold, ect

our bill this month was 68 bucks.

we have our thermostat at 65, pc's seem to keep the apt around 70. when we kept the thermostat at 70 our bill was close to if not over 100.

tell her to put more clothes on
 
now what someone needs to make is a clock scailing program for desktops. like I need my comp running at 2.5ghz while I'm sleeping downloading TV eps. 600mhz would be suffecent and voltage could be scaled back on the chip to like 1.2V or less. letting my fans spin down or turn completly off.
 
Originally posted by: Falloutboy525
now what someone needs to make is a clock scailing program for desktops. like I need my comp running at 2.5ghz while I'm sleeping downloading TV eps. 600mhz would be suffecent and voltage could be scaled back on the chip to like 1.2V or less. letting my fans spin down or turn completly off.
Click to expand...
I don't think a processor uses as much power when it is just sitting compared to a full load of 100%. My processor is at 0-15% if I'm not using the computer.

 
Originally posted by: Falloutboy525
tell her to put more clothes on
Click to expand...

thier are pluses and minuses to that proposition. it might even be worth the 30 a mounth for the view 😀
Click to expand...

then you should be turning the heat waaaaaaaay up so she wears less 🙂

never got to room with a female 🙁 people said it was a bad idea and they can be really troublesome.....especially one week a month :Q
 
get a really quiet computer ... and don't connect any of the LEDs on the front of it ... just turn your monitor off when you are not in there ... tell her you have changed your ways, and you will leave your PC off when you aren't by it ... then when she sees the electric bill is the same say "see! I told you so"
 
Originally posted by: Falloutboy525
ok I got 2 roomates. ones like me and has a computer on 24/7, the other is completly non computer literate. she yelled at me today saying the cause of our high electrical bill is the fact me and my other roommate never turn our computers.

My system is as follows

430W Trupower
Barton mobile @ 2.5ghx 512mb ram
2x120gb HD
1x80gb HD
2xdvd
3 lcd's but they power off when not in use

my cpu is on downloading most of the time so at least one HD is always working (I swear I go thru way too many HDs)
my roommates is much the same except he runs dual CRTs also with power save.

our bill was 120 last mounth.

I blame the bill on her because of her always being cold. I have not turned the heat on once since i've moved in in my room (temps stay around 60 degrees in my room, much better for OCing) so I told her my computer proubly doesn't account for much more than 20 bucks if that on the bill. am I correct?
Click to expand...


Hard drives consumes 10-15W each. CD/DVD drives takes only a few watts when it's not doing anything.


For your system I'd throw a generous guess of 150-200W(3.6 to 4.8kWh/day). If you pay 10cents for every kWh, 35 to 50 cents a day is a reasonable guess.

If you have an electric water heater, point a finger at whoever takes the longest shower(probably her).

HVAC and water heater are by far the largest power hogs.






 
Here's the deal. If it's plugged in, it's drawing power -regardless if it's turned on or turned off. I started unplugging my power strips when I'm done on the PC. I've saved an average of 30 on my electrical bill each month. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
Here's the deal. If it's plugged in, it's drawing power -regardless if it's turned on or turned off. I started unplugging my power strips when I'm done on the PC. I've saved an average of 30 on my electrical bill each month. 🙂
Click to expand...

how much is your typical power bill?

 
I leave both computers and monitors on 24/7 the way I see it, its better to leave the monitor on all the time cause it takes a lot of power to start it up. For the computer I just figure its better for the components to stay at the same temperature so... they do.
 
Originally posted by: Atlantean
I leave both computers and monitors on 24/7 the way I see it, its better to leave the monitor on all the time cause it takes a lot of power to start it up. For the computer I just figure its better for the components to stay at the same temperature so... they do.
Click to expand...

Wow, how'd you get your processor temp not to move when under load? You know you could make millions ?
 
Originally posted by: Atlantean
I leave both computers and monitors on 24/7 the way I see it, its better to leave the monitor on all the time cause it takes a lot of power to start it up. For the computer I just figure its better for the components to stay at the same temperature so... they do.
Click to expand...

wow.
just wow.

Ignorance is strong here.

A monitor can take some 500W to start up for a second and 100W or so in stable state.

Your reasoning is analogous to saying it's better to leave a car running all night, because it takes a lot of gas to start up.
 
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