What is your desktop power usage while browsing these forums?

[2is]

I'll just deduct it from your growing "protection" tab here on my books.

Ya know, "protection" against silly things that can randomly happen to your Anandtech forum account when admins get piss-drunk by noon on a Thursday and forget to be mindful of what they are deleting in the vB database :whiste: 😉 😀

Not that you'd ever be so reckless and irresponsible as to allow your full coverage 24x7 "admin protection policy" go unpaid Right? RIGHT!?

Good chat, glad we continue to see eye-to-eye here and we both part ways seeing this as a "win-win-win" for me, myself, and I...😛

Well when you put it like that, $30 sounds like a good deal, and it even included a Kill-A-Watt!

Oh damn 😀 my sides are a hurt'n after reading that! That was good :thumbsup:

OK today's project starts with my rarely used HTPC.

Why is it rarely used? First, because I hate the fact I can hear it when it is turned on in the family room :| No one else can hear it...but I can and it annoys me, so I Netflix through my Wii instead of through my HTPC.




Spec's on my HTPC:

• CPU: Q9505 2.83GHz 45nm Quad (stock, lapped, cooled with lapped Tuniq120)
• mobo - ASUS P5E WS Pro
• ram - 4x2GB DDR2-800 (not OC'ed)
• video - Nvidia 9500 GT
• SSD - OCZ Vertex 2 120GB
• HDD - three 3TB Hitachi 7200rpm drives
• PSU - 450W Rosewill Fortress-450 80 Plus Platinum
• fans - 6x120mm low-rpm thermaltake fans (the not quiet kind 😡)

This system is pulling 130W from the wall (not counting LCD) as I type this post, nothing else is going on in the background.

130W! D:

When I wait for the 3 3TB drives to sleep the power goes down to 120W. That is quite the power suck. I'd be better off replacing this Q9505 with my FX8350, more performance and lower power.

Is this box used as a media server as well as an HTPC? Reason I ask is there's little reason for that much power for just playing content, especially when paired with a proper HTPC video card (serving is another matter)

I happen to test my box a couple nights ago. e7300 stock, HD5450 using HDMI out, 2x2GB ram, Windows 8, 250watt Dell power supply and I'm almost always below 60watts. In fact, the delta between idle and streaming is usually <10 watts. Media types I tested:

HD Content from Netflix app
HD local streaming from my slingbox
HD Content streaming from my media server (mkv and m4p formats)

EDIT: I have yet to try a RAW bluray file, I'd imagine that would be the most demanding.

 

[NTMBK]

I'll just deduct it from your growing "protection" tab here on my books.

Ya know, "protection" against silly things that can randomly happen to your Anandtech forum account when admins get piss-drunk by noon on a Thursday and forget to be mindful of what they are deleting in the vB database :whiste: 😉 😀

Not that you'd ever be so reckless and irresponsible as to allow your full coverage 24x7 "admin protection policy" go unpaid Right? RIGHT!?

Good chat, glad we continue to see eye-to-eye here and we both part ways seeing this as a "win-win-win" for me, myself, and I...😛

Nice protection racket like that, and you're still driving a Toyota Sienna?! Damn, you guys are the worst gangsters.

 

[Idontcare]

Is this box used as a media server as well as an HTPC? Reason I ask is there's little reason for that much power for just playing content, especially when paired with a proper HTPC video card (serving is another matter)

It is overkill because it was created from spare/re-purposed parts as I have obsoleted older computers. I didn't set out to buy these parts for the purposes of building and HPTC.

That said, it is absurd to see a rig pull 130W idle when I know I could get the same performance with hardware that pulls maybe 40-50W from the wall under an HTPC-type load.

I'm going to see what my 2600k looks like for active-idle power. It too is complete overkill for an HTPC but I already own it and it is just sitting on a shelf (literally) at the moment.

Oh dear, all these first-world problems to keep me up at night 😀 What a world this 21st century is starting out as 😛

 

[Termie]

It's funny to read all of this - as much as the year-to-year improvements in processing power seem to have slowed down as of late (i.e., 5-10% higher IPC for Haswell), somewhere between 2008's Yorkfield and today, Intel really conquered idle energy use.

I believe the game-changer for idle power was Lynnfield in late 2009, which dropped idle power by nearly 50% over the prior generation: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2839/8. Take the power-hunger GTX280 out of those graphs, and Lynnfield was less than half the idle power of a q9650.

That's why I'm much happier using my "over-powered" i7-860 in my HTPC than I was using my previous e8400. Well, that and it opened up whole new opportunities for couch gaming!

 

[dave_the_nerd]

125w, including monitor, speakers, router, 2 USB external HDDs & WAP, printer (idle) and an "ultrasonic cleaner" doodad I use for arts and crafts. (It's not running, but it's got an LED that stays on when it's plugged in.)

Spikes up to 150 if I'm loading a web page, and stays around 155 if I'm watching a video. (Youtube.)

3570k @ 4.2GHz, idling at 1.6, Radeon 6850.

With Folding@Home running full tilt on 3 CPU Cores & GPU, it uses 225w and is still more usable than a netbook. 😛

 

[2is]

I'm sticking with HTPC measurements tonight, but going to include the TV set (32" LCD). I use my HTPC every night as I get into bed, put on something to watch until I pass out and turn it off in the morning. With just the PC, i'm using just under .5kwh which translates right around 8.5 cents a day or $2.55 a month. By morning I'll know just how much my bad sleeping habits are costing me.

 

[jaqie]

the results so far of the poll are slightly disturbing to me...

I thought my system was on the piggish side, but apparently it's just middle.

 

[SithSolo1]

I'm not sure how accurate this meter is. Running prime95 with monitor on it hovers around 190w. Turned on furmark too and it flattened out at 471w. That seems like an awful lot for just 2 SSDs, 1 HDD, 1 LED monitor, 2 case fans, a mob+ram, a GTX 470, and an OC'd dual-core Phenom II.

 

[jaqie]

If you don't have an 80+ active PFC supply that sounds about right, actually.

 

[SithSolo1]

If you don't have an 80+ active PFC supply that sounds about right, actually.

I have this one: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=181

 

[Maximilian]

It is overkill because it was created from spare/re-purposed parts as I have obsoleted older computers. I didn't set out to buy these parts for the purposes of building and HPTC.

That said, it is absurd to see a rig pull 130W idle when I know I could get the same performance with hardware that pulls maybe 40-50W from the wall under an HTPC-type load.

I'm going to see what my 2600k looks like for active-idle power. It too is complete overkill for an HTPC but I already own it and it is just sitting on a shelf (literally) at the moment.

Oh dear, all these first-world problems to keep me up at night 😀 What a world this 21st century is starting out as 😛

The 2600k will be so much better, SB chips have awesome idle power use, my htpc/server is 37w idle with its 2400S.

 

[jaqie]

I have this one: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=181

hm, interesting.
phenom II x2 is what, 65 watt part? or 95 watt? overclocking prolly takes it to 100w or 130w respectively.
(note: I include chipset in the cpu, for the people wondering)
under full load your gtx 470 takes around ~250 watts.
ram is say 20-40w for 4 sticks depending on lots of factors.
ssds and hdd and fans probably only add up to another 50 watts if that.
That's 450-470 watts at full load, and divide that by the efficiency of the power supply at ~460w load...
~529-553
led monitor will prolly be like 20w.
~539-573w

so obviously ive overestimated on the loads somewhere... but... doing this you see how quickly these things will add up, yes?

 

[SithSolo1]

hm, interesting.
phenom II x2 is what, 65 watt part? or 95 watt? overclocking prolly takes it to 100w or 130w respectively.
(note: I include chipset in the cpu, for the people wondering)
under full load your gtx 470 takes around ~250 watts.
ram is say 20-40w for 4 sticks depending on lots of factors.
ssds and hdd and fans probably only add up to another 50 watts if that.
That's 450-470 watts at full load, and divide that by the efficiency of the power supply at ~460w load...
~529-553
led monitor will prolly be like 20w.
~539-573w

so obviously ive overestimated on the loads somewhere... but... doing this you see how quickly these things will add up, yes?

Yeah I see. Thanks

 

[Idontcare]

I'm not sure how accurate this meter is. Running prime95 with monitor on it hovers around 190w. Turned on furmark too and it flattened out at 471w. That seems like an awful lot for just 2 SSDs, 1 HDD, 1 LED monitor, 2 case fans, a mob+ram, a GTX 470, and an OC'd dual-core Phenom II.

I believe it. OC'ing is silly bad for raising your power consumption. That is true even with power-sipping 22nm 3770k's.

^ that is just CPU power alone, doesn't include anything else in the system (ram, mobo, PSU inefficiency, etc).

 

[Rifter]

Your poll doesnt go high enough 🙂 specs in sig.

Should rename my rig enviorment kiler or something, maybe treekiller.

 

[Maximilian]

Your poll doesnt go high enough 🙂 specs in sig.

Should rename my rig enviorment kiler or something, maybe treekiller.

>120 is an option

Unless your rig consumes so much power it is beyond numerical comprehension or something 😛

 

[Rifter]

>120 is an option

Unless your rig consumes so much power it is beyond numerical comprehension or something 😛

Sometimes in the summer i think i should call it flamethrower 🙂

 

[Haserath]

Does Dell or other Major OEMs use Micro ATX at all?

 

[bgt]

Did some full load testing:
FX8350: Prime95+7950@1300/1500(core@1.3V): Furmark 1.05
max: 652W
Good thing I just got the Seasonic 650W series X in.
Idle: 72W(the BQT550F1gold does 68W in idle)

 

[Idontcare]

Did some full load testing:
FX8350: Prime95+7950@1300/1500(core@1.3V): Furmark 1.05
max: 652W
Good thing I just got the Seasonic 650W series X in.
Idle: 72W

We should run a contest - Who can pull the most watts at the wall with a single computer configured for 24x7 operation? (no suicide OC's just to rank higher 😀)

 

[bgt]

We should run a contest - Who can pull the most watts at the wall with a single computer configured for 24x7 operation? (no suicide OC's just to rank higher 😀)

:biggrin: the video card is pulling a lot of power with these settings. @normal settings, 930/1250, it 'only' draws 425W.(FX maxed out). FX with Prime95=240W.

 

[jaqie]

We should run a contest - Who can pull the most watts at the wall with a single computer configured for 24x7 operation? (no suicide OC's just to rank higher 😀)

Rubycon wins. 😀

Though if I had convinced an old friend to give me his ALR 6x6 with 6 ppro overdrive 333s and 10 disc SCSI raid 50 array she may have had some competition. 😀

 

[2is]

We should run a contest - Who can pull the most watts at the wall with a single computer configured for 24x7 operation? (no suicide OC's just to rank higher 😀)

Does hooking up an inverter to the 12v rail of your PSU and using it to power your monitors count?

 

[OVerLoRDI]

About 200w. The power save mode seems to be disabled on my 7970s. They sit at 1225mhz at all times. I believe this was left over from when you could not adjust the power level on the secondary card unless you disabled long idle on the 7970.

I don't really care, since my "Big computer" is only on for gaming, the rest of the time I'm on my phone or my bed computer that is about 50 watts.

 

[John Tauwhare]

We should run a contest - Who can pull the most watts at the wall with a single computer configured for 24x7 operation? (no suicide OC's just to rank higher 😀)

Oh goody. Peaking at 441W running Heaven continuously at 5.0/1.45V. Can't compete with an FX-8350 but keeping me warm.