What is your desktop power usage while browsing these forums?

[Idontcare]

I just put together a new 3770k desktop which is a work-box and I am sitting here looking at the power draw at the wall according to kill-a-watt and am just astounded that the system (sans the screen) draws a mere 43W from the wall

That is not the idle power per se, that is what it is drawing while I am typing this post in addition to having eight (8) instances of MetaTrader 4 open in the background constantly polling and pulling forex data from the internet for nearly 300 currency pairs simultaneously (some are redundant currency pairs but are polling from multiple brokers).

I am so use to seeing low-activity power draw in the 80-90W range with my other rigs, I about fell out of my chair when I saw how low it is with this setup.

And the hardware is not exactly impressive in terms of high efficiency. The PSU for example is a $20 budget series Corsair CX430 PSU that is rated as being a mere "80 Plus Bronze". (I traditionally go for the Gold or Platinum certified PSU's, but couldn't pass up the deal for $20 shipped w/MIR).

This got me wondering - maybe I've just been in the dark all this time as to how low of power usage most people see with their systems in non-compute intensive applications (I'm usually focused on the "full load" power numbers myself)

So, what is your power consumption at the wall for your rig when you are posting/browsing this forum without much else going on in the background for your computer?

I prefer your numbers to be measured at the wall, without your screen, with a hardware tool like kill-a-watt just to make this be as apples-to-apples as possible.

Also, please list your specs just so we get a sense of what is driving the power consumption higher or lower.

My specs:

• i7-3770k (stock, but mobo runs it @3.9GHz all cores)
• mobo - ASUS P8 Z77-V LK
• ram - 4x4GB DDR3-1866 GSkill 1.5V
• video - HD4000 (iGPU, stock)
• SSD - Samsung 840 250MB
• PSU - Corsair CX430 (80plus bronze)
• fans - 3x120mm Cougar PWM + 1x140mm LEPA PWM

^ this nets me ~43W at the wall while doing "desktop" work. When I fire up LinX and push to full load the power usage increases to 144W (nothing unusual there, it is the 43W of "active idle" power that I find surprising)

 

[SPBHM]

around 70w... the old and inefficient VGA even at 157/300MHz uses something like 25w alone :\

 

[gbeirn]

10 W Idle.

That jumps to ~30W when charging the battery (currently at 67%).

Screen set to full brightness. Wireless LAN off, using Ethernet port, no external USB devices plugged in.

System is a Acer Aspire One 722 Netbook.
AMD C-60
4GB DDR1333
80GB Intel X-25M

Measured at the wall with a Kill-A-Watt.

 

[Global688]

.216 Kw (Output from my UPS)

3770k

 

[DominionSeraph]

I looked in the socket and didn't see any electricity, so I'm guessing <20W.
It rebooted my computer, though.

 

[grimpr]

IDC, could you disable all cpu power management, eist,c3/c6 etc..and tell us? I usually disable all power management on low end SB chips such as the celeron, pentiums and core i3's, makes the system more snappy and responsive and it shows from the drop in latency times from latencychecker.

 

[mikeymikec]

85-90W. What I'd give for a graphics card that a) uses a similar amount of power to IGP when 'idle' and b) doesn't cost an arm and a leg

Phenom II 960T @ X6, stock frequency, undervolted
Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600 4GB dual-channel
ATI 5770
1 HDD, 2x DVDRW
Corsair VX450W
1 Chassis fan

I haven't measured my monitor before, and my dad currently has the adapter I normally use to check the usage at the wall socket.

@ grimpr - I wouldn't advise doing that unless you like paying your electricity company as much money as possible! That and the increased noise levels.

 

[Maximilian]

103w, measured from the wall socket Thats just the base unit though dosent include the amp +20w or the monitor which is ~30w

So in total the whole shebang is ~150w


3930k @ stock
ATI 5850

 

[Ferzerp]

My HTPC is in that range while active. from 40-60W depending upon number of streams/recordings going on at once. My desktop though, has over 50W of cooling equipment I fear.

I'll check when I get home.

 

[sm625]

It is only a watt when on my ipoop. 70W on my desktop. But screw that ipoop I would rather dissipate 70W through my hair than use that thing.

 

[Majic 7]

Mine is horrible, 200w. That includes my monitor, 120w without. It's the reason I bought a E350 laptop for surfing, and that purchase was dependent on the price, 280$. Still it will take a while to pay for the laptop but at least I gave a tree a little squeeze. Paying around .09/Kwh this time of the year.

 

[Magic Carpet]

~25-35w while actively browsing the internet.

AMD 785G + 1035T + 1 x 2.5" + 330W Seasonic. I cherry picked the components for this box. My G2020 box consumes more, surprisingly.

Great Wall U310 about ~15w. This is my best performer, only problem it's about as fast as Pentium D

 

[Idontcare]

IDC, could you disable all cpu power management, eist,c3/c6 etc..and tell us? I usually disable all power management on low end SB chips such as the celeron, pentiums and core i3's, makes the system more snappy and responsive and it shows from the drop in latency times from latencychecker.

No problem, I disabled every cpu power management feature like you asked and as I am typing this the kill-a-watt is reporting ~70W power consumption.

I'm definitely going back to the BIOS to re-enable all those power management settings!

 

[jaqie]

~95w, most of that is because I have my phenom II x6 thuban cranked up to default volts but disabling the core shutdown and turbo functions, and hard-setting the cpu to 3.6GHz.

thuban phenom II x6 hard-clocked to 3600MHz and default volts
4x kingston hyperx ddr3 1600 hard-clocked to 1600 1.5v 9-9-9-24
gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
HD6850 1GB (gigabyte windforce) factory OC version, factory settings entirely
ocz agility III 60gb ssd
seagate 7200.10 500gb sata2 hdd
2x dvdrw dual layer
zip100 atapi with usb2 converter internal
pc power & cooling silencer 430 (original pre merger one) 80+ (non silver non gold non whatever, plain 80+)
USB powered 4x 10segment LED bargraph meter called win-gauge
intel pro/1000 pcie gigabit card
several high drain usb devices, over standard usb current limit. the gigabyte mobo will provide up to 1.5A to each of its usb ports (all 16 of them front and rear), and I use that to power several things that normally require a wall wart.
The CPU fan is a single 120mm scythe S-FLEX SFF21F which is low rpm fluid dynamic bearing. The ONLY fan cooling the entire system besides the power supply is an 80mm nidec beta SL 7 volted to keep it very quiet but pull just enough air out of the system to keep video and cpu right at 60c when running furmark in extreme burn in mode at the same time I am running prime95 in maximum heat mode. My system needless to say is very finely tuned for quiet and responsive power.

method: kill-a-watt P4480

I have several other power efficient boxes I use when the temp hits 95F+ here and the AC cant keep up, mainly use my laptop, a toshiba satellite which uses a T2390 cpu, and that one's active idle power draw is 20~25w including screen and all.

 

[ShintaiDK]

48W, rig in signature.

 

[IGemini]

Depends on which monitor I have active. With all screens the total draw is around 220W.

 

[grimpr]

No problem, I disabled every cpu power management feature like you asked and as I am typing this the kill-a-watt is reporting ~70W power consumption.

I'm definitely going back to the BIOS to re-enable all those power management settings!

Lol, thanks IDC :thumbsup:. I must say that the difference is not very big for an audio/video workstastion where latency matters for realtime audio and video production.

 

[jaqie]

Lol, thanks IDC :thumbsup:. I must say that the difference is not very big for an audio/video workstastion where latency matters for realtime audio and video production.

I can feel the difference in my system... which is why I have all that stuff disabled...

 

[coffeejunkee]

around 70w... the old and inefficient VGA even at 157/300MHz uses something like 25w alone :\

This. Before I removed my 5850 active idle was around 70-75W, using HD4000 it's between 40-45. And that's with 2 hdd's as well, if I set them to spin down in windows powermanagement it drops below 40W. I'd love to see something like Nvidia optimus for desktops.

I can feel the difference in my system... which is why I have all that stuff disabled...

Hmm...for a bit of browsing I don't notice any difference between 4 cores at 4Ghz or 1 core at 1.6Ghz, even with music/p2p/video running in the background.

 

[grimpr]

I can feel the difference in my system... which is why I have all that stuff disabled...

It really is more snappier and its measurable in dpclatency checker, dpc latency bottoms out at around 50ms constantly. Thing is that in Intels quadcores Turbo boost is disabled and maximum performance suffers as a consequence, but a small overclock fixes that.

 

[SithSolo1]

According to the power meter I just bought from Harbor Freight, about 132w as I type. No clue how accurate it is.
Uses a lot more at idle than I would have guessed but nothing is really power efficient about the system.

Phenom II x2 555 @ 3.8ghz
MSI 785gm-p45
2x2GB Gskill 1600
Galaxy GTX 470
Patriot Inferno 60GB
OCZ Vertex 4 64GB
WD Black 640GB
XFX 650w Core Edition(green)
1x 120mm Antec TriCool fan
1x 140mm Antec TriCool fan
Dell 2412m and HP LaserJet 1020 add another 15w.

All of this is on pretty much 24/7/365.


Jumps up to about 260w in WoW and doesn't include the receiver, sub, and extra 120mm fan I usually have on.

 

[Idontcare]

No problem, I disabled every cpu power management feature like you asked and as I am typing this the kill-a-watt is reporting ~70W power consumption.

I'm definitely going back to the BIOS to re-enable all those power management settings!

:hmm: hmmm...interesting thing, when I went back into my BIOS I noticed previously that there were a number of power management options (like C1 and C6 and so on) that were originally set to "auto" when I posted the OP, this time I went in and set them all to "enabled" and now my power dropped another 10% at the wall (hovers between 39-40W).

So thank you grimpr :thumbsup: if I had not entertained your request for disabling my power management then I would not have thought to force the "enabling" of features that are apparently not being enabled by my ASUS bios when they are configured to "Auto".

For others who are relying on the bios to get their power management settings correct, it may pay dividends for you to visit the bios and convert a few of those "auto" settings to "enabled" just to be sure they are truly enabled

It really is more snappier and its measurable in dpclatency checker, dpc latency bottoms out at around 50ms constantly. Thing is that in Intels quadcores Turbo boost is disabled and maximum performance suffers as a consequence, but a small overclock fixes that.

I don't follow what you wrote above that I bolded, how is it that turboboost is disabled? Do you mean to say you specifically disabled turboboost on your rig or are you thinking that it is disabled because you disabled power management?

According to the power meter I just bought from Harbor Freight, about 132w as I type. No clue how accurate it is.
Uses a lot more at idle than I would have guessed but nothing is really power efficient about the system.

Phenom II x2 555 @ 3.8ghz
MSI 785gm-p45
2x2GB Gskill 1600
Galaxy GTX 470
Patriot Inferno 60GB
OCZ Vertex 4 64GB
WD Black 640GB
XFX 650w Core Edition(green)
1x 120mm Antec TriCool fan
1x 140mm Antec TriCool fan
Dell 2412m and HP LaserJet 1020 add another 15w.

All of this is on pretty much 24/7/365.


Jumps up to about 260w in WoW and doesn't include the receiver, sub, and extra 120mm fan I usually have on.

The $$ may not be enough to make any difference to you, but you are paying roughly $1/yr per watt that you consume 24/365 if your electric rate is $0.10/kWHr. That 132W idle load is probably adding a hundred or more bucks to your power bill a year.

 

[Termie]

When my 3770k is undervolted at 4GHz and my big Samsung F4 HD spins down, I'm at 54w. At stock voltage with the hard drive spinning, it's 59w. There has to be more room for progress on video cards - my GTX670 still idles at around 12w, and indeed, it's the only component that's actually warm to the touch at idle. Maybe next gen...

BTW, IDC - a few weeks ago, I knocked 4w off my idle voltage by adjusting the phase control from extreme to optimal. Now I'll have to try "enabling" all the settings you mentioned that are usually at auto and see if I can drive it down further.

 

[SithSolo1]

The $$ may not be enough to make any difference to you, but you are paying roughly $1/yr per watt that you consume 24/365 if your electric rate is $0.10/kWHr. That 132W idle load is probably adding a hundred or more bucks to your power bill a year.

I know, I'm hoping to go power efficient with my next build. Same for my two brothers as they both have similar power draws.

 

[Termie]

I know, I'm hoping to go power efficient with my next build. Same for my two brothers as they both have similar power draws.

Are you sure you have Cool 'n Quiet enabled? While your GTX470 draws around 30w at idle, the rest of your system should be capable of keeping you below 100w total.