changing psu to save energy bill?

[regan1985]

i have a download machine which i leave on 24/7 and it has one 250g hard drive and a dvd drive along with 256mg of ram and a 2.8p4, it has a 500w psu i used to use and i was thinking would a 200w psu use less power or with the 500w use the same as it woulnt need to draw as much power?

 

[Namslas90]

Yes you are right, no need for a 500watt PSU in that machine. The basic reality is that a PSU does not realy cost you more in electricity than the computer uses. However, this realy depends on the efficiency of the PSU.

Smaller output does not mean you should skimp on quality or efficiency. You could actualy loose on this PSU swap, if the 200watt PSU is a poor quality one. Keep in mind most motherboards are blown by crappy PSU's. Also 200watts may be a litle low for a P4, maybe go with a 350watt PSU.

If your goal is to save electricity; A better choice may be to upgrade to a newer low power CPU rig. Maybe even a Mobile processor/system. Also, by increasing the ammount of RAM you will reduce download time and thus reduce power consumption by that power hog P4.

 

[Psychoholic]

I dont think it would be worth the trouble changing out the PSU, unless you have another use for the one that's currently in use. The PSU only dishes out the Power that the computer's components use.. if the PC uses 180watts, it would use just that, no matter the size of the PSU.

as regan1985 said, efficiency helps too, but probably not enough to notice anything.

 

[Deleted member 3]

Also, by increasing the ammount of RAM you will reduce download time and thus reduce power consumption by that power hog P4.

So more RAM with speed up my interwebz? *goes out and buys a zillion megabytings*

 

[Namslas90]

So more RAM with speed up my interwebz? *goes out and buys a zillion megabytings*

LOL DAN...we all know the Ram will increase "Overall Performance" but does NOT speed up the CPU frequency. More Ram will allow for a faster download. Feel free to contradict me on this(as I'm sure you will)...somebodys in a good mood this fine day.

 

[DaMulta]

So more RAM with speed up my interwebz? *goes out and buys a zillion megabytings*

How mucb is that going to cost?

 

[Morgoth]

here in netherlands? well allot lol

 

[regan1985]

sorry guys im not sure how more ram will speed up my downloads i get my full limit on downloads no problem!!

but i have a old p4 laptop mobo with the p4 mobile in it, i may use that but if we are talking a few £,$ then i wont bother

 

[Morgoth]

get a via system thats realy on low power

 

[Namslas90]

sorry guys im not sure how more ram will speed up my downloads i get my full limit on downloads no problem!!

but i have a old p4 laptop mobo with the p4 mobile in it, i may use that but if we are talking a few £,$ then i wont bother

There ya go then, it its maxed out, then you realy have no issues.
During a download I would choose reliability overalll anyways.
Having to start over wont save you any money thats for sure.

 

[Nitro-Max]

No point changing the psu m8 the pc will only draw what it needs to for example if you set iron to full heat and its max setting is rated at 300watts lets say then it will use 300watts but a pc is different it will only draw what power it needs for each component like the cpu it will draw more power the more its overclocked.

 

[keakar]

agree with ev1 else here the only way you can lower your power consumption would be through the processor, a small c2d with basic economy mobo (only if needed) and reuse everything else would be the way to do it.

will the savings pay for the upgrade? IMO it should

 

[hat]

i have a download machine which i leave on 24/7 and it has one 250g hard drive and a dvd drive along with 256mg of ram and a 2.8p4, it has a 500w psu i used to use and i was thinking would a 200w psu use less power or with the 500w use the same as it woulnt need to draw as much power?

Using a 500w is better than using a 200w. The 200w would be stressing, and would be inefficent. The 500w is better because it handles that workload with ease and is much more efficent. This probably isn't a real figure, but your 200w power supply would be drawing 300w to make that 200w for your computer, and the 500w would only be drawing around 230.

The best thing you can do is undervolt everything a little bit and test for stability... or just start turning it off.

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

the main thing you need to look at as Namslas90 said is efficiency. If you get a 200w power supply you will have it close to its peak output. The closer you get to that number the more ineffecient the powersupply will be. I would say just stick with what you have. With 500watts you are in the middle of the power curve and are actually running pretyt effecient. If you really wanted to lower your Power draw you should underclock your chip and turn off all the bios options you don't use. No use sending power to components that aren't being used. (if they are on they will still draw power).

If you are strictly downloading then RAM will have almost no effect on DL speed. (ok if you had under 256mb i would agree but only for rendering web pages.)

 

[hat]

I got the Corsair 450vx. I don't know if it's just me, but under NO load I can head kind of a buzzing sound coming from it. When I do put the system under load, however, like with F@H, it magically disappears... but it's only really noticible when I had no casefans + the case door off. When under no load, at least at my overclocked settings with stuff being overvolted and all, I have to try to notice it.

 

[niko084]

Best efficiency out of power supplies generally lands around 80% being used, they also tend to last a long time around there.

Beyond that, yes power supplies that are way to big waste a lot of power, get a small efficient little power supply, turn on speed step, anything else you can alike to save more power.

 

[hat]

Best efficiency out of power supplies generally lands around 80% being used, they also tend to last a long time around there.

Beyond that, yes power supplies that are way to big waste a lot of power, get a small efficient little power supply, turn on speed step, anything else you can alike to save more power.

This man speaks the truth. There is indeed an efficency curve, and right about in the middle of, at least in my Corsair 450vx... right in the middle of the power supplie's max output and 0 is the sweet spot for efficency.

 

[cdawall]

if you want to save energy get a VIA cpu

 

[tzitzibp]

Best efficiency out of power supplies generally lands around 80% being used, they also tend to last a long time around there.

Beyond that, yes power supplies that are way to big waste a lot of power, get a small efficient little power supply, turn on speed step, anything else you can alike to save more power.

+1

 

[Namslas90]

Hook a 12v DC gennerator to your bycycle with a regulator circuit...and ride for your downloads. Healthy and GREEN.

 

[tzitzibp]

Hook a 12v DC gennerator to your bycycle with a regulator circuit...and ride for your downloads. Healthy and GREEN.

and we would all like a picture of this...hahaha

 

[Franklinwallbrown]

+1 on the pic