Power Questions

kcnychief

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I moved last October, from an apartment with utilities to a condo where I have to pay electric. When I was there, the PC was on 24x7 and now it's not. I want to start leaving it on again, because there are a few services I want to start to do....

So, without giving more of my life story - what type of increase should I expect in my electric bill? I know it varies on a lot of variables, but does it make a sizeable impact?

Also, not related directly to this topic but still power related, what are the main differences between using a normal molex power adapter vs. a SATA power adapter on a SATA drive?
 
Let's say you have a big high-end computer with a gaming-level graphics card and CRT monitor, and you leave them on 24/7. That's about 330 watts x 24 hours x 365 days/yr = 2,890,800 watt-hours, or 2891 kilowatt-hours. If you're paying $0.14 per kWh, you're paying $405 a year to run your computer.
 
Which over 12 months is only about $33.75 - which isn't bad as the monthly income to cover this is more than that :)
 
But over the year it still is $400+ and think about pollution, better to switch off :0)

But of course if you need it on thats different.
 
Don't forget about taxes and surcharges.
 
I leave my computer on 24x7 and the electric bill only went up by $14-22 a month... and it was totally dependent upon how hot it was outside...

I.E. THe AC hurt my bill MUCH more than my computer ever did...

:)

As for your SATA inquiry, the SATA connectors can come off much more easily, but I have yet to have any serious problems...?

:D
 
Figures from the Energy Saving Trust on standby power use in the UK home are astonishing:

* Stereos on standby cost £290m and produce 1.6 million tonnes of CO2
* VCRs and DVD cost £263m and produce 1.06 million tonnes of CO2
* TVs on standby cost £88m and produce 480,000 tonnes of CO2
"The PC is a special case because if you don't turn it off completely, in other words pull the switch on the back, it's always drawing some kind of power.

"And depending on what kind of mode you're in that power can be anywhere between five watts to 60 and beyond.

"If a million PC users switched to a more efficient power supply, it would save almost the equivalent of 250 thousand litres of gasoline a day."

By the end of 2004 there were 820 million PCs in use around the world, and by 2007 that will top a billion, according to the Computer Industry Almanac.

No matter how easy these devices make our lives there is little doubt that they are costing us and the planet dearly.

As Mr Richards says: "If you really want to be green with your PC, when you're done using it turn it off."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4929594.stm

I was brought up to turn everything off when it's not in use,which I still do and so do the kids.
The only thing which is left on is my DVD recorder so that I don't have to keep resetting the clock when I set the timer to record a programme :D
 
What about the microwave?
 
mlakrid said:
As for your SATA inquiry, the SATA connectors can come off much more easily, but I have yet to have any serious problems...?

:D

I may have mis-worded my question, but I wasn't asking about how they came off. I was more wondering about the efficiency of the PSU delivering power to the hard drive through different interfaces.

I assume pretty much nothing, or one of the options wouldnt' be there, but I was wondering :)
 
kcnychief said:
I moved last October, from an apartment with utilities to a condo where I have to pay electric. When I was there, the PC was on 24x7 and now it's not. I want to start leaving it on again, because there are a few services I want to start to do....

So, without giving more of my life story - what type of increase should I expect in my electric bill? I know it varies on a lot of variables, but does it make a sizeable impact?

Depends on your definition of sizeable.

My system runs 24/7 and I don't have much variation in bills.

Also, not related directly to this topic but still power related, what are the main differences between using a normal molex power adapter vs. a SATA power adapter on a SATA drive?

Shouldn't be much.

You'll get "cleaner" power without the adapter naturally, but there should not be an issue per se considering the relatively small power-draw of a hard-drive.
 
What if you don't use an adapter though?

What if you go from the PSU directly to the Hard Drive with a normal adapter directly to the 4-pin interface, just not using the SATA interface since those hard drives come equipped with both interfaces (which further leads me to believe it really doesn't matter).
 
to my understanding the cabe is the same for that. the drive may use less power but i find the molex to be a better connection
 
yeah it all depends on ur configuration and stuff. then u can figure out exactly how much ur bill is gonna increase
 
Leaving your monitor off (or with power saving enabled on the monitor) will cut down a lot of the electricity used.. it *may* cut down on the power that the video card draws also (not sure on that, I'm not sure how much power the video card uses if the GPU isn't being used to display any data..)

I'm assuming you're folding on this machine, so your CPU will always be using full power.. the HD's use more power when they are spinning as opposed to just sitting idle..

in the end, the costs will vary month to month. My bill went up about $13/month when I started leaving my system up 24/7.. when I started fiddling with the power settings on the monitor, it went down about half that. When I started folding, it went up another $2/month

*shrug* YMMV..
 
Of course I fold, I would expect nothing else :smoker:

Thanks for the info -
 
The $405 a year answer is an incomplete answer.

The computer generates a heat load on the airconditiong system. Part of the difference is made up in the winter by reduced heating costs (some people have fireplaces, I have a computer room) but not that much if you have gas heat which is much less expensive.

Over all expect the $33 a month in the winter. During months when the airconditioning is on expect the $33 to be as high as $50/month. Also electric bills have jumped 25% or more since last year and are projected to go up more this year so base your business decision on higher rates.

The 14 cents a kilowatt hour may be low depending on where you live.

The 330W for a computer with monitor in sleep (better yet turn it off, I do when running video work overnight) and just folding (no video processing) may be high.

With PSU inefficiency I'd say more like 85W (for an AMD) 10W HD, 25W MB, 50W idle for the GPU (depends on the model), monitor turned off and 70% on the PSU at medium load. About 275W. The same as 2 lights left on when they are not needed. But then there is the modem/router/switch too.

I was going to start folding last year but noticed my electric consumption was up driving my electric bill up. So I keep my machines off unless in use and to offset the increased bills from when I am using them I switched out my incandescent bulbs to flourescent. The flourescent cost more up front but I've been using the same bulbs for 3 years now and they are good for 5 years.

I have better things to do with $400-600 a year. Like donating it to Greenpeace. (Rep's to Shamus)
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
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Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

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