When is the power consumption too much?

[UFO]

Right now my computer (excluding the monitor) draws a little bit over 200W during full load (a game for example). 200W is pretty much of you sit hours with a computer game. The current trend is that CPUs and graphics card consume more and more power. So in your opinion where is your limit when you think it's too much for you in terms of global power consumption and energy bills?

I would probably hesitate getting a computer that consumes over 350W because otherwise it would show up too much my energy bill.

[Scorpius M-7]

Go to Las Vegas at night and do a quick 360. Then come back and tell me that computers factoring into global power consumption should really bother me.

And you must be joking about the electrical bill. Normal heating and air conditioning is 50% or more of an average Bill, and Washing Machines and Dryers can take up another 20%.

Dude... there's so many much more important things to worry about.

[UFO]

Oh please, don't bring up Las Vegas, bad example.

I don't have air conditioning. I don't have electrical heating, it is heated by burning waste in plant nearby. I don't have a washing machine nor a dryer so the computer is one of the most power consuming things I have.

You have neglected the number of computers. Do a few calculations on power consumption from all computers in your country and you will see you will end up with several nuclear reactors. Reducing the power consumption in computers will have a an effect globally.

[Margolis]

remind me to never get near you if you never wash your clothes


btw, how did you come by your power usage for your computer??

[Margolis]

btw, the powerconsumption of 1 square block of las vegas is probably more than all of the computers in the united states

[Nagorak]

This is something that's bothered me too. But, I really think there's no way to avoid it. My advice is to buy an LCD monitor if you have the cash (that reduces power consumption a lot compared to a CRT). Also make sure not to run with more drives and/or useless pci cards than you have to (ie; a 56K modem you never use).

A lot of people are idiots (like the ones who responded in this thread) and don't worry about their power use. They don't use electricity saving bulbs or anything, because I guess they think it's cool or something to just not care.

I guess the extra $20 or $30 they waste each month on electricity bills is their loss. Unfortunately it's bad for the environment, but there's nothing we can do to stop them.

By the way, my computer draws more like 280-300w without monitor (it has a few fans though). That was idle too...I wonder if it uses more when it's under full load. Hmmm...

[UFO]

Originally posted by Margolis
remind me to never get near you if you never wash your clothes


btw, how did you come by your power usage for your computer??

There are consumer products that you can buy which looks like and is about the same size of a timer. You plug it in between the power outlet and your computer and that gadget will tell how many Watts your system draws. I would assume that you can buy them at Radio Shack or similar store.

[Scorpius M-7]

Oh good lord this thread is stupid. I live in a 1600 sq ft house which of course is fairly modest in size (3 bedrooms 2 baths).

I just paid my electric bill and I had 2231 kWh on this months bill.

kWh
Abbreviation for kilowatt-hour. 1 kWh = 1000 W over a time period of one hour. It is equivalent to 3.6 million Joules, or the amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of 100 litres of water by 10 °C.

(basic math)

So, that really comes out to be 2,231,000 Watt hours in my house.

Last month was 29 days long. 29x24 = 696 hours in the month. Now divide 2,231,000 total Watt hours by 696 total hours and you now see that my house averaged 3205 Watts used per hour.

Now IF my computer was on 24/7 (which it's not) and used a full 320 Watts (I doubt it), it would only account for 10% of my total electric bill, or $18 dollars.

I'd guess my computer is only on 1/3 of the day, so my computer cost me $6 to run last month (say $8 per month adding in extra weekend time).


OMG! Turn off your computers now... RUN!

Now, in October of last year I only used 850 kWh's. Why? Because that was the only month of last year that I almost needed no heating or cooling in. So, you can easily see that more than 1/2 of my Bill for last months use came from heating. Which.... that's the same thing as the national average.

Again, this thread is stupid.

[samiam]

It all depends on where you live and how much you pay for electricity.

0.3kW * 24 Hrs/day * 30 days = 216 kW-Hrs
216 kW-Hrs * $0.0577/kW-Hr = $12.46

So that's approx $12.46 to run my PC 24/7 for a month, which is not that much; but I live in Vancouver, where power is cheap... If I lived in New York on the other hand:

216 kW-Hrs * ~$0.2/kW-Hr = $43.20

[UFO]

Dear Scorpius M-7, you may be blessed with cheap energy where you live and might not care much about power consumption. You just seem to think how it is in your little world without regarding conditions elsewhere and global impact. Energy prices are different for other places and the computer might impact the energy bill. If I would go back to my original question that is how many watts do you think is too much for you, according to your responses I would assume I would get an answer in the 2000W range.

[Lupine]

perhaps the productivity gained using a computer outweighs impact of the electrical usage ...

[Fobinator]

IMO electricity consumption for PCs is too high. I am paying roughly $200 canadian per month and its driving me insane.

I have just replaced all my light bulbs with energy saving bulbs and am planning to finance an lcd from work. Hopefully that will bring down the some costs.

[ErrorS]

i agree it's getting up there.. and something needs to be done soon.. cuz at this rate, we'll all be using 1000w PSUs to power our PCs 5 years from now.

(lol.. 5ghz Prescott anyone?)

BUT

i can think of 11 things in my house just off the top of my head that uses more power. (steady.. while running)

1. Freshwater Aquarium
2. Saltwater Aquarium
3. Tokay Gecko Terrarium
4. Drier
5. Washing Machine
6. TV
7. Reciever
8. AC
9. Heat
10. Refridgerator
11. Microwave

not to mention the many light bulbs I have in my house..

heh.. how common are 100W light bulbs?

[Margolis]

hmm, my last electric bill was $46. And that is with a northwood @ 3.4ghz with 1gb of ram and a 21" monitor and a northwood @ 3.2ghz with 1gb of ram and 15" lcd both running seti 24/7. Not to mention the lights, tv, vcr, stereo, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, hepa filter and furnace blower which is running 24/7 to keep the air circulating

[UFO]

Originally posted by ErrorSzz
i agree it's getting up there.. and something needs to be done soon.. cuz at this rate, we'll all be using 1000w PSUs to power our PCs 5 years from now.

(lol.. 5ghz Prescott anyone?)

BUT

i can think of 11 things in my house just off the top of my head that uses more power. (steady.. while running)

1. Freshwater Aquarium
2. Saltwater Aquarium
3. Tokay Gecko Terrarium
4. Drier
5. Washing Machine
6. TV
7. Reciever
8. AC
9. Heat
10. Refridgerator
11. Microwave

not to mention the many light bulbs I have in my house..

heh.. how common are 100W light bulbs?

Many of things use more power when used but perhaps not more energy than the PC. Many of things in your list are only used sporadicly and doesn't contribute as much that way. The Microwave is about 800W but you don't have it on all the time. If I know you right your computer is on quite often so it is a big contributer apart from heating, AC and fridge.

[mbeeston]

my comps about 24/7... foll load too... $15 last month

[MatroxFan]

Originally posted by mbeeston
my comps about 24/7... foll load too... $15 last month

Yeah, but all you have to do is go into your backyard, dig a 150 m deep hole, and voila! Free energy!

[ErrorS]

Originally posted by Axl
Many of things use more power when used but perhaps not more energy than the PC. Many of things in your list are only used sporadicly and doesn't contribute as much that way. The Microwave is about 800W but you don't have it on all the time. If I know you right your computer is on quite often so it is a big contributer apart from heating, AC and fridge.

yea but my computer is rarely at full load. I doubt has ever pulled more then 200W at once.. even when running full load. (im no expert. educated guess.. or something)

my aquariums deffinately use as much power as my PC. lights are on about 12hours a day (i have 200w of lighting for each). FW heater is 250w and probably runs 10hrs a day. SW heater is 200w and runs 10hrs a day. Also got filters, air pumps, etc.

not sure about the other stuff. AC and heat probably average mroe daily then my PC. refridgerator and microwave probably doesnt.

i dunno.. interesting discussion. don't think i've ever really thought about it.. i like this thread

anyone know how to tell how much power a PC is draining at any given time? do I just count up wattage use of each component to get a general idea? ive been wanting to know for a while what the average drain was.

[shaihulud]

ah, land of the free and home of the brave!!!!

seriously, i was about to say, that the only users that i see when concerned about power are foreign. axl, it seems you should be already knowledgable about the situation and adjust your usage accordingly.

btw - intel is working on the psu paradigms. trying to make the energy more effiecient in powering and use. this is of course with btx.

[Stoned Bob]

well it wud bother me if it wud take more then 400w iddle but I still turn my pc off if i dont use it same for my lights...
funny thing is like 2 years ago when i was pretty much a n00b i thought my computer drained way more then 2 simple 100w lights

[Gobo]

This is actually kind of an interesting thread, I just read an article in my local newspaper ( I live in a small city, Windsor, Ontario, right across the river from Detroit Michigan) and in the article they were talking about how in Ontario the government is taking steps to close the last 7 remaining coal fired power plants in an effort to become more green and invest in better, cleaner forms of energy. Where I live and in most of southern Ontario Canada we get alot of pollution from the states due to teh weather patterns in the great lakes area, pollution from Michigan, Ohio, Illinoise & Indiana so it's a big problem here, cancer rates are the highest in Windsor for the country of Canada, so the efforts of our government as slow as they may seem will eventually be appreciated. Anyways, back to the newspaper article, the article was talking about how Ontario was closing it's remaining 7 coal fired power plants to eventually be replaced with 'greener' forms of electricity generation while in the U.S. they are preparing to eventually open up 63 new, or previously existing non-operational coal fired power plants. This is a BIG step backwards in my opinion but I also understand the U.S. is facing an impending power crisis, but with all the money they have, why not invest in technology that is better for their own ppl? better for everyone and not start plopping coal plants all over the country?

Sad.