Desktop power consumption

[Darkleoco]

So I'm moving into a 2 bedroom apartment in August and the apartment as a whole will have a monthly energy allowance of $60 split between both occupants. That comes out to around 884 kWh per month in my area. Will the system in my specs cause me to exceed that regularly? I am just looking for general ideas because I don't have a way to properly measure the power consumption. I am wondering if a side-grade or a small upgrade to a single card set up might be in my best interest.

 

[newtekie1]

It depends how long you use it per day and if you put it to sleep when you aren't using it.

 

[Darkleoco]

I would figure around 3-4 hours of use a day 5 days a week and around 6-7 hours 2 days a week. Around 15-20 hours a week of gaming the rest just general internet use. Whenever I'm not using it it will be cut off because my motherboard does not play nice with sleep mode like it should.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I can't see where there will be a problem. I run 13 rigs ( see sig for specs) under 100% load 24/7 and they run me around $150 or so per month to run. That averages about $11.50 per rig. With your computing habits you probably be luck to see $5 or so per month.

 

[Bill_Bright]

And what happens if you exceed your $1/day/person allowance? Even with very tight budgets, that is cheap. You most likely will easily consume most of your power allowance with air conditioning, hot water, cooking and watching TV.

You've actually gone way overboard with your PSU. Assuming your System Specs shows the supply you have, you could have gotten by with a 450 - 500W supply. This matters because monster power supplies are less efficient under low loads than they are when pushed to 60 - 70% and beyond. Being a Gold supply helps no doubt. But you might save a little by going with something closer matched.

If your monitor is CCFL backlit, you could consider upgrading to a LED backlit as they consumer about 30% less power than CCFLs.

Note to fully "cut off" power being consumed by your computer when not in use, you MUST unplug it from the wall, or set the master power switch on the back of the PSU to off. Same with your monitor (though not many monitors have master power switches).

 

[OneMoar]

And what happens if you exceed your $1/day/person allowance? Even with very tight budgets, that is cheap. You most likely will easily consume most of your power allowance with air conditioning, hot water, cooking and watching TV.

You've actually gone way overboard with your PSU. Assuming your System Specs shows the supply you have, you could have gotten by with a 450 - 500W supply. This matters because monster power supplies are less efficient under low loads than they are when pushed to 60 - 70% and beyond. Being a Gold supply helps no doubt. But you might save a little by going with something closer matched.

If your monitor is CCFL backlit, you could consider upgrading to a LED backlit as they consumer about 30% less power than CCFLs.

Note to fully "cut off" power being consumed by your computer when not in use, you MUST unplug it from the wall, or set the master power switch on the back of the PSU to off. Same with your monitor (though not many monitors have master power switches).

you got that backwards a larger psu under less load is more efficient then a smaller one under
*unless you are talking about SMPS single rail psu's depending on the design is varys from a couple percent less efficient when its under <50% load
in most cases
higher the higher the load on the psu the less efficient they are
heres a link to JG's review and testing of the ops psu
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story2&reid=189
even being a SMPS psu
even at 300W with crossloading its still 88% efficient
with the opts setup in-mind typical load efficiency is going about be about 85%
so no replacing the psu is a stupid idea ..

assuming you aren't running at gaming loads for 8h a day you have nothing to worrie about
./thread

 

[Bill_Bright]

you got that backwards a larger psu under less load is more efficient then a smaller one under

No I don't have it backwards. Did you read your own JG link? A larger PSU under a small load is typically less efficient, not more efficient.

In fact, that is exactly why the 80 Plus certification committed added 10% loads to their Titanium certification.

Look at your own JohnnyGURU link. See test 1? It is 88.5% efficient. As the load increases up through test 4, efficiency increases until the load is maxed out in test 5 when it drops a little But even that is more efficient than test 1. From your own JG link,

Units that are optimized to pass at a certain 80 Plus certification level are always less efficient down here around the 10% mark.

But again, this being a 80 PLUS Gold PSU, it is still going to be quite efficient at 20% compared to a non-certified PSU. But make no mistake, that computer will be extremely pushed to pull 400W so that 1200W PSU will clearly be coasting most of the time.

I did not say, nor would I go out and buy a new PSU for this as you won't recoup your money in energy savings. But if you have a smaller PSU handy, you might give it a try.

so no replacing the psu is a stupid idea ..

So before saying something said is stupid, maybe you should verify your facts first.

 

[newtekie1]

Talking about idle efficiency makes no sense. Even with a PSU laying around, it isn't even worth the time to swap it out.

The pc likely idles below 100w, I'm going to say 100w just for sale of simplicity. Let's say the 1000w PSU is only 60% efficient at 100w load(and that is a very low guess for efficiency). It would be pulling ~166w from the wall. Let's say a 500w is 80% efficient at 100w. So it would be pulling ~125w from the wall. That is only a 41w difference. That amounts to 1kWh every ~25 hours the computer runs. That is really nothing.

 

[Bill_Bright]

41w difference. That is really nothing.

Maybe not for you or me. But the OP is already concerned about exceeded his $1 per day limit. That 41 watts is like leaving a 41W light bulb burning during the day. It's a total waste, and the energy costs do build up.

For sure, I am NOT suggesting this is something that needs to be done - ESPECIALLY since this 1200W Corsair is Gold rated. But when looking to save pennies anyway you can, this is just one of them that might help. And the OP is looking for suggestions.

@Darkleoco - yes, moving to a less power hungry graphics card will help too.

 

[Darkleoco]

Thanks guys I won't bother worrying about it then, I just didn't want it to suddenly shoot up my electric bill when I wasn't expecting it ,as for the psu my original intention 4 years ago for this build was for it to be a quad SLI rig with three monitors but my budget took a bit of a hit between my first order of parts and my second so it ended up changing and I figured that with the PSU being so much more than I needed that even if its output degraded over many years it wouldn't give me a bit of trouble so I kept it.

Maybe not for you or me. But the OP is already concerned about exceeded his $1 per day limit. That 41 watts is like leaving a 41W light bulb burning during the day. It's a total waste, and the energy costs do build up.

For sure, I am NOT suggesting this is something that needs to be done - ESPECIALLY since this 1200W Corsair is Gold rated. But when looking to save pennies anyway you can, this is just one of them that might help.

I wasn't concerned with pennies necessarily just whether or not it would factor in more drastically to my energy consumption than I was expecting. It's more a matter of not spending more than I have to rather than not being able to spend it.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I wasn't concerned with pennies necessarily just whether or not it would factor in more drastically to my energy consumption than I was expecting. It's more a matter of not spending more than I have to rather than not being able to spend it.

Thanks for clarifying. While pennies are just pennies, they do add up. So no harm in asking.

Perhaps your best bet is to wait and see what happens, then see where you can cut costs. Note the refrigerator is typically the most power hungry appliance in the house. So just knowing what you want before opening the door can make a big difference - instead of standing with the door open for long periods of time.

 

[OneMoar]

Hell he would save moar power swaping that 6950 to like a 750TI lol or even a GTX 960

 

[Darkleoco]

Hell he would save moar power swaping that 6950 to like a 750TI lol or even a GTX 960

I have 2 6950's and can't be bothered to change them out since mine can overclock like mad, I can hit around 950 core and close to 1500 memory even during the hotter months and if i felt like pushing those numbers i could probably get something higher and stable during the winter.

I love having new toys but the possibility of getting something that wouldn't be as effective is too great sadly

 

[OneMoar]

I have 2 6950's and can't be bothered to change them out since mine can overclock like mad, I can hit around 950 core and close to 1500 memory even during the hotter months and if i felt like pushing those numbers i could probably get something higher and stable during the winter.

I love having new toys but the possibility of getting something that wouldn't be as effective is too great sadly

even at 1000 core the 960 would still be faster =/

 

[JunkBear]

Note to fully "cut off" power being consumed by your computer when not in use, you MUST unplug it from the wall, or set the master power switch on the back of the PSU to off. Same with your monitor (though not many monitors have master power switches).

No need you just have to flip the switch on the back of psu. The current leaves the wall then goes into one blade of psu connector: Plug---wire---switch---wire---psu board... So if you flip the switch it breaks the path to the psu board. Thats simple.

 

[OneMoar]

No need you just have to flip the switch on the back of psu. The current leaves the wall then goes into one blade of psu connector: Plug---wire---switch---wire---psu board... So if you flip the switch it breaks the path to the psu board. Thats simple.

total standby power including the monitor is probly gonna be well under 20W
my system is 28W and I have two monitors and a a lot of power saving junk disabled, a amp, a phone charger,

 

[JunkBear]

total standby power including the monitor is probly gonna be well under 20W
my system is 28W and I have two monitors and a a lot of power saving junk disabled

Yeah of course. But me I always close the psu with the switch anyway.

 

[AsRock]

Talking about idle efficiency makes no sense. Even with a PSU laying around, it isn't even worth the time to swap it out.

The pc likely idles below 100w, I'm going to say 100w just for sale of simplicity. Let's say the 1000w PSU is only 60% efficient at 100w load(and that is a very low guess for efficiency). It would be pulling ~166w from the wall. Let's say a 500w is 80% efficient at 100w. So it would be pulling ~125w from the wall. That is only a 41w difference. That amounts to 1kWh every ~25 hours the computer runs. That is really nothing.

His PC probably running idle about 80-90w, might be a bit less due to the plat PSU, at full load my i5 with a 6970 could hit 350w but more typically around 200w-280w, all so when you step away from your game you could all so save power then with some games some by minimizing or even putting the game map or menu's on.

My fan controller helps a lot to know were power saving can be had and if every little bit counts it's all good info.

Another thing to consider is the actual lighting in your place get the light bulbs changed to the newer kind as they will save you a ton.

I use around 22-32Kw\h a week according to my UPS which adds about 20-25$ a month to our bill @ 9c.

 

[Darkleoco]

even at 1000 core the 960 would still be faster =/

Would it be faster than them together or come close? If I can get close performance out of a single card at that price point I might be able to look into selling my 6950's.

 

[OneMoar]

Would it be faster than them together or come close? If I can get close performance out of a single card at that price point I might be able to look into selling my 6950's.

no not in crossfire ...
you aren't gonna get much fore them 6 series cards aren't worth much

 

[Darkleoco]

no not in crossfire ...
you aren't gonna get much fore them 6 series cards aren't worth much

Yeah I just did a quick check and the going price isn't even worth the effort to sell them, at least the current generation isn't making them obsolete though, even the 970 only provides comparable performance to crossfire so I would need a 980 for a true single card upgrade at least assuming decent crossfire scaling in games.

I guess asking if a 960 was faster than crossfire 6950's was dumb in retrospect but I haven't kept up with current generation card specs at all for the past 2 years.

 

[Bill_Bright]

No need you just have to flip the switch on the back of psu.

I said, with an underline,

or set the master power switch on the back of the PSU to off.

Not all PSUs have a master power switch on the back. It is not an ATX Form Factor requirement.

 

[JunkBear]

All I got has this even the cheapest firestarter psu.

 

[newtekie1]

That 41 watts is like leaving a 41W light bulb burning during the day. It's a total waste, and the energy costs do build up.

He said the computer is sitting idle about 15 hours a week. So it does add up, but it adds up to less than 1kWh a week...

 

[OneMoar]

He said the computer is sitting idle about 15 hours a week. So it does add up, but it adds up to less than 1kWh a week...

then all he needs todo is set it to goto standby after 2 hours or something