How to save electricity on computer using Windows 8.1

[skydanny]

Hello guys!

I have a problem with save on electricity. The advance in the cost of living was not followed by higher wages, included electric. I never have enough money to pay my bills every month. I'm always in the red.

I'm using Windows 8.1. I use it alot everyday, 18h/1 day. I want a software saves electricity on computer. Please help me.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Ja.KooLit]

when not in use, switch off

control panel - hardware and sound - power options
then choose power saver

 

[skydanny]

when not in use, switch off

control panel - hardware and sound - power options
then choose power saver

I did it! It isn't effective as before. I wanted a software on the 3rd part. Thanks man.

 

[pigulici]

What hardware have you?

 

[Aquinus]

Software can only use the hardware to make it use less power. I found the best way to save power is to:
A: Let your display go to sleep as early as possible without driving you nuts.
B: Let your computer go to sleep as easy as possible without driving you nuts.

My rig eats anywhere between 150-200 watts at idle, when it sleep it eats 3, yes 3 watts. I use my tower a lot too (mostly during the day) but if I were to leave it for more than 15-20 minutes, it would be asleep by then. I also have under-voltaged my i7 3820 at non-turbo speeds but when turbo kicks in, it jacks up the voltage and runs at 4.2Ghz, but when it drops out of turbo it is back to my underclocked voltage settings. This enables me to keep the machine on with stock-like power consumption (or better at idle considering it's under-volted) but still offers a boatload of performance when I need it.

With this all said though, nothing saves more power than putting your machine to sleep or turning it off.

 

[Frick]

Windows 8 is not AS effective, it is more effective.

Don't use it or don't run programs that uses any of the power. There is no magical way to make it use less power while doing the same work.

 

[Aquinus]

Windows 8 is not AS effective, it is more effective.

Don't use it or don't run programs that uses any of the power. There is no magical way to make it use less power while doing the same work.

Well, that's not a completely true statement. Under-volting can gain you some tangible idle headroom if you do it right. Like using a static voltage and overclocking without the turbo offset, you're idle voltage will now be a lot higher than it used to be and alone is a waste of unused power.

 

[pigulici]

It depends on hardware and software, let wait an see what hardware it have...

 

[patrico]

what hardware do you have, some companies have cpu throttling software to reduce clock speed and voltage like gigabytes 'GEST', you should go to your hardware vendors website and see if there is software like that for your machine

 

[Ja.KooLit]

@skydanny can you fill up your system specs? Probably Aquinus idea of undervolting saves you alot of electricity actually

 

[Frick]

Well, that's not a completely true statement. Under-volting can gain you some tangible idle headroom if you do it right. Like using a static voltage and overclocking without the turbo offset, you're idle voltage will now be a lot higher than it used to be and alone is a waste of unused power.

Yah good point.

 

[MyTechAddiction]

Here are some ideas
Under volt CPU and GPU
Use a smaller PSU , preferably with 90% + efficiency
Use the Pc less.
If you have a smartphone/tablet, try to use it more, since it uses less power.
Use the power saver profile of Windows.

 

[skydanny]

Hello! thank you all comment.

I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit. CPU Intel i5-2500k, Mootherboard Asus Maximus VII Pro, GPU Asus GeForce GTX760, PSU Cooler 1000W, Ram Corsair 8GB.

Jobs: Corel Draw X6, Adobe Affe..CS6 and more.

Gaming: Battlefield 4, DCS Black Shark 2...

SoundMax 5.1. and more...

 

[Aquinus]

Oh yeah, under-volt that machine and overclock on strictly the turbo. Give me a minute, I'll get some screenshots from the BIOS on my machine setup to show you what I mean.

 

[skydanny]

Oh yeah, under-volt that machine and overclock on strictly the turbo. Give me a minute, I'll get some screenshots from the BIOS on my machine setup to show you what I mean.

Thank you so much.

 

[pigulici]

On your build, you have OC parts, or just stock?

 

[skydanny]

On your build, you have OC parts, or just stock?

I'm not OC.

 

[Aquinus]

Here we go. This is how I have my machine setup, I suspect your board being an ASUS board around the same time mine was released, it should give you a lot of the same options as mine. Granted remember that I have my turbo set to 4.2Ghz as well from the stock 3.8Ghz and that I have a SB-E chip and it very well might have some more underclocking potential since the TDP and voltage is already pretty high at stock. Pardon the mouse cursor, I didn't realize the screenshot feature didn't remove it.

In particular, notice how I'm undervolting by 0.09v until turbo kicks in where it applies an extra 0.2v on top of it which puts the turbo really at something closer to 0.1v higher than stock while keeping idle voltages lower than the VID. I personally like it and it has worked out pretty well so far.

...oh and make sure all your c-states are active like the last screenshot.

 

[skydanny]

Thanks a lot, Aquinus.
Just got to do it your way. I hope that.
Have nice a day!

 

[Aquinus]

Thanks a lot, Aquinus.
Just got to do it your way. I hope that.
Have nice a day!

You don't have to. I just found this has worked out the best for me. If it works out well for you, I will be thrilled.

 

[erixx]

I wish i73700K/Asus Maximus V Bios also had "Normal voltage" option

 

[Silas Woodruff]

Well I cant reccomend a program but unplug any and all apliances(PC, TV or anything that eats power and is plugged into an outlet) when you finished using them it saves on the power bill quite a bit.

Edit: You can do that if you lack a power strip for your PC, if you have one like me it gets slightly easier since all you have to do is turn on/off a button on the strip to cut or open power.

 

[Aquinus]

Well I cant reccomend a program but unplug any and all apliances(PC, TV or anything that eats power and is plugged into an outlet) when you finished using them it saves on the power bill quite a bit.

Shaving 20 watts off your idle usage on your tower would provide more tangible benefits than that. You're talking about 1 watt or less for modern hardware that's not turned on. Even my tower only eats 4-6 watts and when it's sleeping forget how all 3 displays sleeping eat less than a watt.

So unplugging stuff will save you a couple watts at most and forces you to plug everything back in and it still doesn't solve the issue of using less power when it's plugged in.

No offense, but the recommendation isn't a good one and it's just a waste of time to save yourself something like 50 cents to a dollar on your electricity bill and even that I think might be generous.

This isn't the 90s where computers used AT form factors and you actually had to press the power button when the tower was done "shutting down".

 

[Silas Woodruff]

I dont know about you but here I saved 15$ by unpluging just PC in my specs every time I went to bed, it does help me tought maybe it also helps him.

Really hope to stop doing this after Nvidia releases the more powerfull Maxwell GPU's and intel Broadwell or Skylake.

 

[Aquinus]

I dont know about you but here I saved 15$ by unpluging just PC in my specs every time I went to bed, it does help me tought maybe it also helps him.

Really hope to stop doing this after Nvidia releases the more powerfull Maxwell GPU's and intel Broadwell or Skylake.

15 dollars is what I save from turning off my machine at night. I doubt it's using that much power just because it's plugged in, if it is, it's not turned off.