Help Calculating IDLE wattage consume...

[CH@NO]

Hi.

Hope you can help me calculating the wattage my system is consuming when in IDLE, I wanna know 'cause I tend to leave it sometimes downloading heavy archives (that takes HOURS to finish) and since It's the only PC I have I need to know if It's worth it to leave it downloading ('cause the energy paybill).

I already did the "recommended" PSU test using the eXtreme Power Calculator, according to the test my system at 100% load needs a 700W PSU.

I have the exact system in my specs.

The CPU in IDLE drops down to 960MHz using 1.12v and my GTX280 IDLEs at 300/100 (core/mems) using 1.0375v. (I used CPU-Z and GPU-Z to read the values).

THX for the replies.

 

[Arrakis9]

honestly, there are a lot of variables in this sort of question and the answer is not going to be same from system to system even with most of the hardware being the same. your best bet is to drop a 20 on one of these and see what you find

P3 Kill A Watt Electricity Load Meter and Monitor

you can also use that for all your other electronics and see whats using the most electricity to help you save energy

 

[angelkiller]

One way to estimate power consumption is to compare your system to a similar spec'ed one whose power consumption is known. Look at the bottom of this page.

Their test system consists of a Phenom II 940 and a GTX 280. I know it's not exactly what you have, but it's very similar. Because you have a 3rd hard drive, I would say your idle power consumption is about 120W +/- 10W. There is a huge variation in my estimation to account for the numerous thing that affect power draw, such as the difference in chipsets and the efficiency curve of your PSU. But it's in the ballpark of 120W.

 

[Mussels]

buy a meter, you CANNOT estimate it.


so much affects it (whether hard drives are active or not, whether idle states are working on your CPU/video card) that affect the power usage, it varies all the time.

if you want to know how much power its using and how much its costing you, go buy a wall meter.

 

[CH@NO]

THX for all the replies.

 

[largon]

I'd say your system idles at around 160W.

 

[Athlon2K15]

<--------264w Idle

 

[Sasqui]

<-------- 175W idle

 

[gogx]

< 187/190 meter pluged in, cpu3,2gh. Uttorent downloading
+lcd 20"

 

[mithrandir]

Yup, as mentioned get yourself a watt meter, they're pretty cheap and give you accurate readings.

 

[Mussels]

joining in


<---110W idle if ram is at 1333Mhz, 150W idle if its at 1600Mhz. Breaks some idle features apparently. (hence my comment on meter or bust)

 

[meran]

i use avometer to measure the wattage about 100w idle on my 8800gt and q9650 u can get netbook to save power on downloads

 

[Mussels]

i use avometer to measure the wattage about 100w idle on my 8800gt and q9650 u can get netbook to save power on downloads

netbooks are very power efficient, thats for sure.

my media PC uses 60W for idling and light tasks - 75-90W for watching HD movies, for example.

 

[meran]

netbooks are very power efficient, thats for sure.

my media PC uses 60W for idling and light tasks - 75-90W for watching HD movies, for example.

nice media pc you got there ,im using creative xfi fatalty with g500 amplifire with s700 satellite speakers !!!!!

 

[RejZoR]

My netbook external PSU is rated at 30W, meaning it will reach that at very max load.
When i was testing it with meter, it was using around 12-15W iirc.