PC always on... How much will it be the electricity bill?

saiyajin · Post by **saiyajin** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 10:37 am

For all of us that have the PC on at all times... is there anyone that has an estimated amount of how much money it cost to have the PC always on per month (or per year). Of course it depends on PSU, PC activity, country... but as an average... how much do you pay in UK, US, Canada, ... for PC electricity consumption?

Sam Williams · Post by **Sam Williams** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 11:44 am

Great question. I'd love to know myself.

[two minutes later]

Hmmm... I've just found a good Google Answer at http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=330169

Apparently a good 'typical' figure is between 80-85 watts. That's about two kilowatt-hours a day, or 60 kW/h a month.

In the UK, the current price is UKÂ£0.06-0.07 per kW/h. So, Â£3.60-Â£4.20 for a month of 24/7 operation.

Not bad... I pay Â£25 per month for 24/7 broadband, so 24/7 PC operation is just making the most of that investment. Or so I tell myself...

I'd be interested to know
a) what other people's estimates are
b) whether anyone has actually measured their system's consumption and can provide specs, so we can better calibrate our own estimates

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 12:52 pm

Hi, thats a pretty good link and gives a good idea. My PC is on 24/7 running a distibuted computing project so its probably over 100w average, not including my 21" monitor... of course that goes to sleep when I'm not on the PC.
Seb

saiyajin · Post by **saiyajin** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 2:20 pm

I can not give an estimate yet but I am shitting my pants... with two monitors, PC, laptop, router.... 24/7 on... I hope that it is around 10$ or 5gbp per month...

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 2:26 pm

For San Francisco Bay Area : Last month I was charged US$0.1143 per kWh for baseline usage. I don't know what the non-baseline rate is.

If you're in the US and is really curious about power consumption of appliances, get the Kill-A-Watt meter.

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:36 am

80-85 watts sounds like a crap figure for most people, especially for an inefficient PSU and a modern processor (take into account monitor usage, and that could easily double your power consumption). Typical power usage is closer to about 90-150W, depending on the configuration.

A 2600 Moblie-XP @ 1.35v w/ a 9600 vanilla Radeon draws close to 70-80 Watts AC with a Seasonic Silencer Rev A3 at idle. It'll probably draw more than that running Prime95. Keep in mind that this is relatively low powered stuff.

I would use 100-120W as a safe estimate if I were you.

mpteach · Post by **mpteach** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:52 am

If your folding, with an overclocked proccessor and an nvidia graphics card, your computer will be using like 150W idle.

msde · Post by **msde** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:00 am

Well, the article says that the estimate is based on 16 hours of 35W sleep mode per day, and 8 hours of 60W + 75W monitor per day.

The figures used were 110W for boot, 60W for idle, and 35W for sleep mode.

I have two computers... one boots at around 120W and the other boots at 130W. They idle at closer to 100W than 60W.

If you're folding, you'll have to extrapolate, because you aren't going to be getting 16 hours of idle each day. Their prices for electricity also seem absurdly low.

Phill77 · Post by **Phill77** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:17 pm

My XP2500, 512Mb, 9800 Pro, 120gb HD and 17" monitor uses 140W when folding, 80W with the monitor in standby.
Core voltage is quite low at 1.3v, but I was suprised that at idle the consumption only dropped 5w.

Copper · Post by **Copper** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 5:52 pm

I have three underclocked and undervolted machines, each running dual instances of SETI at 2 ghz clock speed. Combined they pull 105 watts or 35 watts a piece.

105 x 24 x 30 x .001 = 75.6 KW/month

75.6 x .1 = $7.56 / month

To shorten the equasion just take the watts and multiply it by .72 to get kilowatts/month. Then multiply by your cost per kilowatt.

dago · Post by **dago** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:51 am

I'm running an 24/7 HTPC based on a p3 and an integrated motherboard.
Max. power consumption is 79W
Electricity price is about 0.22 CHF / kWH

So, I'm paying around 0.080 x 24 x 30 x 0.22 = 12.7 CHF / month (8.5 â‚¬).

Broadband cost around 70 CHF (46 â‚¬).

jamesavery22 · Post by **jamesavery22** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:18 pm

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=62

Could buy/borrow one of those and just do the math with your last electricity bill...

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:38 pm

That is virtually identical to a Kill-A-Watt that is used on this forum.

Also, I didn't previously read Sam Williams request for systems so I didn't go into more specific details on what I'm powering.

Aopen AK79-400VN, w/ XP-M 2600+.
Seasonic Silencer 300W (this makes a difference).
Samsung 40GB HD.
Radeon 9600 plain.
Plextor PX-708A.
When speed and voltage is reduced to 1.6GHz and 1.15V, it idles at 45-50W. I'm not exactly sure what the max power consumption is though. It's around 60-65W, I think. Switching from a Zalman 400B to a Seasonic 300 resulted in a 5-10W power reduction.

The dual Athlon system I mention in my sig has been posted elsewhere. The important details are 2x 2400 XPs, FireGL X1, and 4 drives. It idles at around 200-220W, but runs 255W loaded.

jamesavery22 · Post by **jamesavery22** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:44 pm

Yeah just an alternative, sorry missed the previous post of the person who recommended it.

Most higher APC UPSs, 650VA and above IIRC, come with those meters built in, just install the monitoring software.

turtleman · Post by **turtleman** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 4:11 pm

then im SOL .. i have 3 computers running the same time, with 2 21inch LCD..3 printers... and 1 router and 2 access pt... and logitech 680 bumping it up....... i wonder how much watt i consumed ..