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PSA: Save money, put your PC to sleep at night!!

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edro said:
...or you can read the name plate on the device.
Multiply Volts times Amps divided by 1000 to get kW.
No need to consider power factor on household items for rough calculation.
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But many devices don't constantly run at their peak power levels, PC's in particular.
 
loki8481 said:
I never saw the point of sleep/hibernate versus just turning it off completely, unless you really really really need to save the ~10 seconds of boot-up time.
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Suspending a computer not only shortens boot time, but all the stuff that was previously loaded into memory doesn't have to be read from the disk again.

kalrith said:
BTW, turning it off or hibernating uses less electricity than sleeping.
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If the computer's only off for a few hours, the computer will consume more electricity starting itself back up than it will just sitting in standby.
 
theevilsharpie said:
Suspending a computer not only shortens boot time, but all the stuff that was previously loaded into memory doesn't have to be read from the disk again.



If the computer's only off for a few hours, the computer will consume more electricity starting itself back up than it will just sitting in standby.
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I don't see how that can be true.

I either hibernate it or just turn off, and then unplug it from the wall. It (and the monitor) uses 20W just sitting there "turned off" unless its physically unplugged, according to the outlet meter.

If its off for 6 hours, that's 120Wh.

No way can the machine then use an extra 120Wh in the 30 seconds it takes to boot up - it would have to be running a 15 kilowatt PSU flat out!
 
pmv said:
I don't see how that can be true.

I either hibernate it or just turn off, and then unplug it from the wall. It (and the monitor) uses 20W just sitting there "turned off" unless its physically unplugged, according to the outlet meter.

If its off for 6 hours, that's 120Wh.

No way can the machine then use an extra 120Wh in the 30 seconds it takes to boot up - it would have to be running a 15 kilowatt PSU flat out!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I call shens on it as well. I think most people don't realize how much juice the computer's sucking when "sleeping." You put the computer to sleep instead of hibernate to save time, not to save power. Everyone knows this.
 
kalrith said:
Yeah, I call shens on it as well. I think most people don't realize how much juice the computer's sucking when "sleeping." You put the computer to sleep instead of hibernate to save time, not to save power. Everyone knows this.
Click to expand...

Sleep saves time over going to hibernate, but it also saves power over leaving it on 24/7.

I'd say it's pretty good compromise.
 
MrPickins said:
Sleep saves time over going to hibernate, but it also saves power over leaving it on 24/7.

I'd say it's pretty good compromise.
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I agree with you completely. However, I don't agree with the poster who said that using sleep for a few hours will use LESS electricity that using hibernate for a few hours.

Personally, I hibernate my gaming computer. I turn it on for about 6 hours every evening, and the other 18 hours of the day it's powered off (through hibernation). I can't see using sleep in my situation. I sometimes use sleep on the weekends, because I don't want it on 24/7, but I also don't want to turn it off and on 5 times during the day.
 
loki8481 said:
but does anyone really care what the make/model of your cdrom is?
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Yes, actually, some people do.

Meghan54 said:
Yeah, some of these "PSA's" are so stupid.....as if the OP has made some huge discovery that he just has to share with the world. 🙄 Unfortunately, common sense seems lacking sometimes around here, so I suppose any "discovery" of out of the ordinary (like, as you pointed out, use less electricity, spend less money) deems a PSA thread.
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Actually, it was more like, use a surprising amount less electricity, spend a surprising amount less money. People have to develop knowledge somehow, you know. Would you rather all the uneducated people just leave their computers on all day and night, not to mention do a lot of other stupid stuff they only learn not to when someone tells them?

Unlike your condescending whine, OP's post probably did some good.
 
kalrith said:
I agree with you completely. However, I don't agree with the poster who said that using sleep for a few hours will use LESS electricity that using hibernate for a few hours.
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Ahh. I had failure in reading comprehension.

I blame lack of coffee...
 
kalrith said:
Yeah, I call shens on it as well. I think most people don't realize how much juice the computer's sucking when "sleeping." You put the computer to sleep instead of hibernate to save time, not to save power. Everyone knows this.
Click to expand...
Sleep doesn't use more than 1-3 watts, depending on whether the computer fans are running.

he ACPI specification defines the following seven states (so-called global states) for an ACPI-compliant computer-system:
  • G0 (S0) Working
  • G1 Sleeping (subdivides into the four states S1 through S4)
    • S1: All processor caches are flushed, and the CPU(s) stop executing instructions. Power to the CPU(s) and RAM is maintained; devices that do not indicate they must remain on may be powered down.
    • S2: CPU powered off
    • S3: Commonly referred to as Standby, Sleep, or Suspend to RAM. RAM remains powered
    • S4: Hibernation or Suspend to Disk. All content of main memory is saved to non-volatile memory such as a hard drive, and is powered down.
  • G2 (S5) Soft Off. G2, S5, and Soft Off are synonyms. G2 is almost the same as G3 Mechanical Off, but some components remain powered so the computer can "wake" from input from the keyboard, clock, modem, LAN, or USB device.
  • G3 Mechanical Off: The computer's power consumption approaches close to zero, to the point that the power cord can be removed and the system is safe for dis-assembly (typically, only the real-time clock is running off its own small battery).
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface
 
Barnaby W. Füi;30018960 said:
You can get a low-power NAS system which can run torrents.
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I actually have not found a NAS system that lets me run a torrent client that has features like Azureus/Vuze (and I really want to find one!). The environment will have to suffer for this.
 
I should probably turn my PC off at night, but I've gotten used to the white noise of the fans it helps me sleep.
 
palswim said:
I actually have not found a NAS system that lets me run a torrent client that has features like Azureus/Vuze (and I really want to find one!). The environment will have to suffer for this.
Click to expand...

Yeah the D-Link torrent plugin for my DNS-321 is really crude, but does the job just fine for me. Even has bandwidth limits. I found Azureus to be an overcomplicated disaster and use Transmission on the desktop.
 
theevilsharpie said:
If the computer's only off for a few hours, the computer will consume more electricity starting itself back up than it will just sitting in standby.
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its like saying your car uses as much gas starting up as it would running for a couple hours..even on idle. 😛
 
loki8481 said:
I never saw the point of sleep/hibernate versus just turning it off completely, unless you really really really need to save the ~10 seconds of boot-up time.
Click to expand...

You kidding me? Sleep is 10 sec and I am in in. If I have to turn it on thats a good 1min and if you just want to quickly skim some things online before you go to work or class then 1 min takes too long.
 
fleabag said:
Sleep doesn't use more than 1-3 watts, depending on whether the computer fans are running.


[/LIST]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface
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Well we are getting very different figures from somewhere then.

Even _hibernate_ (yet alone 'sleep') uses 20Watts according to the meter. Granted, that's including the monitor and the surge protector (which itself uses a few Watts). Hence I both 'hibenate' and turn it off at the wall.

Very few things uses as little as 1-3 Watts in standby or turned off. My digital radio, for example, uses the same 10Watts whether its turned off or not. Same with the digital TV box. I am unconvinced its physically possible to use as little as 1 Watt, given that if it uses power at all it must be using a transformer to lower voltages, which itself will use a couple of watts at least.

Edit - oh yeah, I guess a light fixture could pull only 3 watts, as it would use the supply voltage. But little electrical gadgets all have transformers.
 
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I often leave it on over night, but it doesn't really matter since electricity, heat and hot water is included in the fixed monthly rent. I would save more by getting a cheaper internet connection (mine is $80/mo) and canceling my cell for another $45/mo.

I'm not gonna do that though. Even combined, the net/cell only amounts to a small fraction of what it costs to own a car + pay rent.

IMO, $20 of savings doesn't mean jack shit. There are probably other things that amount to a lot more than that, which you could conceivably do without.
 
0roo0roo said:
http://www.sinvise.net/home/projects/software/shutdown-timer
shutdown timer that does hibernate/standby modes
and based on cpu/network/time activity etc.

its not about cost u dumbsh*t, why waste if you don't need to. 'm sure u would leave your tap running 24/7 if you had a flat rate just because you could😛
Click to expand...

I lived in an apartment where I had to pay for gas but not water. So, I heated the apartment by running hot water through all the faucets 24/7. You're saying there's something wrong with that?

I agree with not being wasteful even if you can afford to be (or if it doesn't cost you anything). Look at the people who drive a Prius who could afford a BMW that got 15mpg and not blink an eye for the cost. I'm not a tree hugger in any way, but I think there's something to be said against the person who wastes things just because they can.

The only PC I leave running 24/7 is my HTPC, but I have a few good reasons for that. It records TV throughout the day and then processes the files at night. I use it as my server. I built it specifically to sip power at idle. It pulls 50W from the wall at idle, and I'm trying to get that below 40W. It uses less electricity all year than my water heater does in a month (about $30).
 
I put mine to sleep whenever I'm not going to use it for more than about 15 minutes. my killawatt meter shows me using about 99% less electricity when it's in sleep.
 
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