How much electricity does a PC use?

jscalow

Sally87 wrote: »

I had no idea they took this much, I often keep mine on all the time, as I'm on and off it during the day (it takes forever to turn on again after being off) and download stuff overnight. For some reason I had the idea they took almost nothing to run

2p an hour doesn't sound much, but that's about £14.50 a month if it's on 24/7. That's more than my monthly electricity direct debit + standing order :eek: I have a feeling I'm going to be in for a bit of a shock if I ever give them an actual meter reading...

Sally, I have just has my 1st metre reading in a long time and the bill came in @ £199 this is on top of my monthly £22 direct debit. Admittedly can't remeber the last time metre was read, however get yours done asap to cushion the blow ! good luck

Poppycat

jscalow I would advise anyone to regularly monitor and submit there meter readings to avoid any unpleasant large bills. The days of cheap energy are over we have to use what energy we can afford on making sure we use them as efficiently as possible and to buy new when we have to on energy efficient goods but only when the older models break etc

I do mine every month 25th and submit water/gas/electric on that day and put them in a spreadsheet

Magentasue

jscalow wrote: »

Sally, I have just has my 1st metre reading in a long time and the bill came in @ £199 this is on top of my monthly £22 direct debit. Admittedly can't remeber the last time metre was read, however get yours done asap to cushion the blow ! good luck

Or at least read the meter, work out the total and put the money aside for when the bill comes in.

When money was tight, I used to withhold my meter reading if I liked the estimated one better! But I would increase my monthly payment (have usually been able to do it online) so that it would be covered.

jscalow

Poppycat wrote: »

jscalow I would advise anyone to regularly monitor and submit there meter readings to avoid any unpleasant large bills. The days of cheap energy are over we have to use what energy we can afford on making sure we use them as efficiently as possible and to buy new when we have to on energy efficient goods but only when the older models break etc

I do mine every month 25th and submit water/gas/electric on that day and put them in a spreadsheet

The good thing about a shock like this is that I'm prepared now for future bills, have changed tariff, have joined http://www.i-measure.org/index.php and will monitor weekly and of course will provide monthly reading !

TimBuckTeeth

exel1966 wrote: »

Constantly cutting the power supply to a PC/Laptop is not good for the system as the system components are put under far more stress at start-up/shutdown.

It is far better to use the stand by/Hibernation feature.

Computers are designed to be switched on and off, they will last for many years of being switched on and off a few times daily. They will become obsolete before being damaged by turning the power on and off.

Some components will fail sooner if left running continuously.
The bearings in fans (on processor and power supply) will wear out quicker if left running continuously. Fans always running will draw more dust into the case which can lead to overheating.
Some components (electrolytic capacitors) in the power supply have a rated life of a few thousand hours (a couple of years) at their rated temperature, by switching off they will last longer.

Switching the power off at the mains saves power, will not reduce the useful life of the computer (and may increase it) and protects against damage from power cuts and surges.

exel1966

I hear what you and mech say, but having read numerous forums over the years where the argument is split 50/50 as to whether switching off is a good idea or not, I'm going stick with it's best to stay on.

True they will last for many years, but the life is shortened by the constant on/off scenario as the system is clearly put under more stress, just as a car engine /aircraft engine is when starting up. Systems/Engines are designed to be running not sat idle so I'm going to quite happily put mine into hibernation which uses a fraction of system energy during the close down/re[opening when compared to a full system start-up.

The components you mention (fans, bearings) will not be running when in hibernation therefore there is no use.

As for the cost and use of energy, I'm quite sure that is more expensive to do as I say, but I'm prepared to live with that.

twiz21

I've been monitoring the power usage of my laptop (+ router) for the last 4 days. I used a plug in energy monitor from Maplins.

They are switched on 12 -14 hours a day and laptop hibernates after 15 minutes of non usage. Laptop & router is switched off at night.

The average was 0.5 kWh per day.

Sally87

jscalow wrote: »

Sally, I have just has my 1st metre reading in a long time and the bill came in @ £199 this is on top of my monthly £22 direct debit. Admittedly can't remeber the last time metre was read, however get yours done asap to cushion the blow ! good luck

Ow! Poor you. Mine will probably be even worse as they decided my (correct) original reading when I moved here a year and a half ago was somehow too high and made up a new lower one for me - I'm also on a slightly ridiculous £11 a month electric direct debit. But TBH I'm hoping to stetch it out now til after Christmas as I'll have more money then, I have absolutely no way to pay it now.

Cardew wrote: »

Many people on this forum have 'plug in' power measuring meters.

With these meters you can plug in any appliance that has a 13 amp plug and measure the instantaneous power consumption or the cumulative consumption over hours or days.

It is this latter reading that is very useful as most appliances have variable consumption. For instance you can plug in your PC(with or without monitor) leave it for several hours and see how much electricity it has used.

These monitors are quite cheap, sometimes as little as £6 from Lidl/Aldi and Maplins often have them on offer for about £10.

Thanks for this; they sound very useful, I'll have to look in Aldi's next time I'm in town.

Andy_Hamilton

search for a program called localcooling It's a simple program which shuts your PC down after a time, turns off drives and turns off the monitor off when not in use. I know that you can do this just using windows but this program also includes a breakdown of what power usage your PC is using.