Power usage of my i5-3570k system

[Anonemous]

So I was able to accumulate parts over the past month or so from current hot deals and built my gaming/htpc rig a few days ago.

I'm using a Corsair CX750W PSU, i5-3570k, MSI-Z77MA-G45 (mATX), 2x120MM case Silverstone fans, Zalman CNPS 9900MAX, 2x 4GB of Patriot Black Viper III 1600mhz CL9 ram, Samsung 830 128GB SSD, and a Silverstone PS07B case. I'm using Windows 8 and everything shown is on stock settings (no OC).

I've been measuring the power usage for the rig for the past few days with a Belkin Conserve Insight and I'm pretty impressed at the power usage.

Without modifying any of the OC settings, I measured:

0-.5W when off
2.2 W when sleeping (blinking blue LED on the case)
50.5W when in Bios UEFI
36.0-36.9W when all non essential programs are closed
38-39W when just web browsing forums (chrome - 6 tabs open; Steam was in systray and when closed dropped 1-1.5W)
40-42W when watching a youtube video
42-43W when watching movie streaming through XBMC
68-70W when alt-tabbed out of XBMC/ browsing xbmc
65-71W when playing Bioshock Infinite (1280x800) on Intel HD4000
71-80W when playing DOTA 2 (1080P) on Intel HD4000
75-83W when playing DOTA 2 with Chrome tab opened on Intel HD4000


According to Belkin monitor, at idle just web browsing, the power usage is equivalent to $1.91/month.

Would a more efficient PSU result in a significant saving in power usage?
I'll input more numbers when I get a GTX660 in today.

 

[thilanliyan]

Wow about 80w when fully loaded?!! My system uses more than 200w just idle hahaha. I do have water cooling and a bunch of fans though and a bunch of power hungry hardware.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Adding the GTX660 will about triple your power use while gaming.

A more efficient PSU wouldn't hurt anything (in the 400-500w range, maybe) but it's probably not worth the expense.

 

[Anonemous]

Adding the GTX660 will about triple your power use while gaming.

A more efficient PSU wouldn't hurt anything (in the 400-500w range, maybe) but it's probably not worth the expense.

Yea that's what I thought. When I was picking PSU's the difference in price between a 500W and a 750W was a few $ so I picked the higher one. I was going to pick up that Seasonic 850W gold rated psu for $100 AR but I already had turned in the rebate on my Corsair PSU.

 

[Vesku]

Your current PSU is 80+ Bronze, you aren't going to save any money paying to replace it with a more efficient unit. Your 80+ Bronze unit in hot environment testing 307.6W/
354.8W 86.7% efficiency. A Seasonic Platinum unit in hot environment testing 329.8W/
358.1W 92.1% efficiency. Sure, if you had the choice to make over again grab the Seasonic Gold unit over Corsair Bronze one. Just don't beat yourself up over it as it's not hitting you too hard in the pocket book.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story3&reid=254

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=326

 

[Anonemous]

Ok, I just installed the GTX660.

Here are the stats: (I'll update with numbers as soon as I do them)
0-.5W when off
2.1W when sleeping (blinking blue LED on the case)
82.9W when in Bios UEFI
57.8-58.2W when all non essential programs are closed
60-61W when just web browsing forums (chrome - 6 tabs open; Steam was in systray and when closed dropped 1-1.5W)
70-71W when watching a youtube video (with giant initial spike to 100W when loading video first)
58-60W when watching movie streaming through XBMC
77-79W when alt-tabbed out of XBMC/ browsing xbmc
160-180W when playing Bioshock Infinite (1920x1200 maxed details vsync ON) on GTX660
100-125W when playing DOTA 2 (1920x1200 maxed details) on GTX 660 with Vsync ON
190-210W when playing DOTA 2 (1920x1200 maxed details) with Vsync OFF

 

[Headfoot]

wow I knew you could save some power capping the framerate with Vsync, but I had no idea that you could reach such a magnitude in graphically middle of the road games like that.

 

[Anonemous]

wow I knew you could save some power capping the framerate with Vsync, but I had no idea that you could reach such a magnitude in graphically middle of the road games like that.

Yea it was pretty suprising how when I capped the DOTA 2 at 60fps it consumed almost half as much power.

 

[alcoholbob]

I think it shows DOTA 2 takes pretty much very little graphical power for modern GPUs. A flagship GPU would probably drive DOTA 2 into 300 fps+ with no vsync cap.

 

[Anonemous]

Your current PSU is 80+ Bronze, you aren't going to save any money paying to replace it with a more efficient unit. Your 80+ Bronze unit in hot environment testing 307.6W/
354.8W 86.7% efficiency. A Seasonic Platinum unit in hot environment testing 329.8W/
358.1W 92.1% efficiency. Sure, if you had the choice to make over again grab the Seasonic Gold unit over Corsair Bronze one. Just don't beat yourself up over it as it's not hitting you too hard in the pocket book.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story3&reid=254

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=326

Thanks for the links!