How much juice (Watts) does your PC use???

[Sasqui]

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1364/

[trog100]

too bloody much.. thow my lcd dont use as much as my crt monitor used to.. that counts even thow it dont go thru the PC power supply.. its the leccy bill thats worried me.. he he

chuck in the five channel amp and the million little black things that for some reason need to be plugged in..

yes.. too bloody much..

trog

[Frick]

Well.. I think I use about 320W totally.. Including the monitor. Not that bad. Plus the fact that it's only on for like 4 or 5 hours/day.

[Moose1309]

Idle: 160W (If I recall)
Load: 200 W full CPU load, 260W gaming, ~300 gaming + dual-prime
Add 50W for my 23" LCD

This is measured AC with a Kill-a-watt

[Protius]

to much

[Ketxxx]

just in my box? about 400w

[ryboto]

Originally Posted by Frick

Well.. I think I use about 320W totally.. Including the monitor. Not that bad. Plus the fact that it's only on for like 4 or 5 hours/day.

with your specs I doubt you use much more than 200W. I'm assuming my system doesn't draw much more than 200W at full load, if it does, I'd be very very surprised. in fact, it may draw significantly less than that, i just have no way to test it.

[ryboto]

Originally Posted by Ketxxx

just in my box? about 400w

400W????? wow. I really think you're over estimating by ~200W.

[trog100]

i recon u might be underestimating if u count the total system draw including monitor.. i think the 400 estimate might be over the top thow.. hard to say without the measuring tool..

i know i have about twenty little black wall plugs and a milion cables.. he he he.. buggered if i know what they all do thow..

dont know about the US but our leccy prices in the UK have doubled in the last year or so..

trog

[HookeyStreet]

Using this http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp as a guideline Im using: 382W (just my actual pc, not monitor, speakers etc)

[Frick]

Originally Posted by ryboto

with your specs I doubt you use much more than 200W. I'm assuming my system doesn't draw much more than 200W at full load, if it does, I'd be very very surprised. in fact, it may draw significantly less than that, i just have no way to test it.

Might be so. I used this thingy to calculate. Good news if I use less.

But then I'm currently buildning a router/firewall, and I think that will make it up..

[ryboto]

most of those power calculators take maximum load power for all components into account, and then probably add 20% more just to be safe. Unless you have a crossfire setup, and you're not using a pentium D, or FX chip, you're not going to be using more than 250W max. I was recently going to swap out my 485W enermax for a 380W seasonic, mostly because of noise, but also because psu's don't reach their highest efficiency if you don't supply a large load, and I'm sure my system is barely even pushing my psu. But instead, I'm just going to swap the fans in the enermax for something different. I know someone who was powering an athlong x2 4400, 5 hard drives and a x1900xt off a 350W antec SP. He had no problems,. He even overclocked and raised voltages. Everyone thinks they'll have "headroom" for future upgrades. Outside of video cards, the rest of the systems consumption is actually dropping every year, so these 1KW psu's are extremely overkill unless you're considering quad sli. Typical systems just don't draw that much power, especially when you consider much of the time you're idling.

[pt]

319w on load for me

[ryboto]

Originally Posted by pt

319w on load for me

did you measure that?

[Ketxxx]

Originally Posted by ryboto

400W????? wow. I really think you're over estimating by ~200W.

no, im not. at most ive over estimated by about 50w. increasing voltages increases power requirements fast. then theres the fact to consider everything draws power from the psu, pci devices, hard disks, optical drives, usb devices, ram, cpu, fans, cathode lights, the mainboard itself, graphics, etc.

[ryboto]

Originally Posted by Ketxxx

no, im not. at most ive over estimated by about 50w. increasing voltages increases power requirements fast. then theres the fact to consider everything draws power from the psu, pci devices, hard disks, optical drives, usb devices, ram, cpu, fans, cathode lights, the mainboard itself, graphics, etc.

alright, well, keep spending more than you need to on power supplys. I can garauntee you you're wrong about power estimates. Visit spcr, and ask them what they think your pc draws.

edit: i see you're a mushkin rep, so you wouldn't really be spending any...still. Get a power meter, and see what your psu draws from the wall, and keep in mind the mushkin psu's have a maximum efficiency of around 73%. by your logic my system should be nearly maxing out my power supply.

[Ketxxx]

the mushkin PSU efficiency is 75% actually. if i can be bothered to prove a trivial point ill take my multimeter out at some point and measure the full system power draw under load. and from your first few words i see you lack forsight somewhat. buying just "what you need" is ultimately a waste of money as system upgrades are inevitable, which inevitably will increase power draw even more, especially if you undertake a graphics or cpu upgrade. always better to buy something with headroom for little extra, than something with nothing to give and having to upgrade it at the same time as upgrading something else - your just wasting money that way.

[Frogger]

425 iucluding overclock numbers

[JC316]

402W Including OC numbers.

[yogurt_21]

449 overclock numbers lol it recomends the pc power and cooling 1kw.

[magibeg]

it says my computer uses 272 watts of power.... just curious what is the ps on a 2 year old dell 8400 anyway.

[ryboto]

Originally Posted by Ketxxx

the mushkin PSU efficiency is 75% actually. if i can be bothered to prove a trivial point ill take my multimeter out at some point and measure the full system power draw under load. and from your first few words i see you lack forsight somewhat. buying just "what you need" is ultimately a waste of money as system upgrades are inevitable, which inevitably will increase power draw even more, especially if you undertake a graphics or cpu upgrade. always better to buy something with headroom for little extra, than something with nothing to give and having to upgrade it at the same time as upgrading something else - your just wasting money that way.

if i go and buy myself a 380W seasonic today, I'd have headroom for future upgrades. Your system, mine, and many others here probably never draw more than 250W, if that. headroom is safe, but the amount of power you're all assuming you use is ridiculous. As far as the mushkin efficiency, I'm just going by the review done at spcr, they have pretty respectable methods(you're right, they did measure 74% as it's max). I could power my current system with a 300W psu, I'd wager 380W is more than I need, the 485W I have is overkill.

And as far as efficiency goes, you're probably drawing 200W at load from the mushkin psu, and if i go by the review(http://www.silentpcreview.com/article643-page4.html), between 200 and 300, you're probably getting it's peak efficiency, but remember, that would be under full load, not just sitting idle.

[BillyBuerger]

A few notes on the article/discussion....

- PSU calculators that you find on a number of websites do not tell you how much power your computer actually uses. It attempts to give you an idea of what size power supply to buy based on approximations of maximum power draw from your components plus what they feel is enough head room. For example, my system probably draws no more than about 100W max under load. I plugged it into a UPS once and got around 150VA. Given my PSU at the time did not have APFC, I was probably only drawing 90W. Most PSU calculators give me the result of 200W. About double what my system really draws.

- In the article, he mentions 30W per hard disk. All power measurements of hard disks that I've seen put them around 10-13W max. This includes the WD Raptor. And 20W for each stick of memory? 20W of heat cannot be dissipated without a decent heat sink. Even memory with the fancy looking heat-spreaders couldn't handle that. (Those are mostly just for show anyways) The fact that most memory can get by without heat sinks means they are probably drawing below 5W of power.

- If you measure power draw from the AC outlet, you're measuring the total power draw of your PC, plus the inefficiency of your PSU. Cheaper PSUs are only about 65% efficient. Meaning that 400W AC is only 260W DC. The best PSUs are between 80-85% efficient. Meaning only about 305W AC for that same 260W DC load.

- The article links to the outervision eXtreme PSU calculator. Outervision links to SPCR's guides on actual measured PSU usage and myths and stuff. I suggest this as a read for anyone claiming 400+W from their PC.

[ryboto]

Originally Posted by BillyBuerger

A few notes on the article/discussion....

thanks for the help, I've had a hard time with articulation lately.

[Tatty_One]

About 395 for me.