Cost of running a PC

Grey_Critic

***The economy washes to get the eco ratings use less water and lower temperature than specified for the regular wash of the same type.***

And is not as efficient as some may suggest - it has already been suggested that people should add a disinfectant to the wash - cooler washes do not kill all germs.

But that does not matter in the scheme of things - As I have already pointed out you cannot take things in isolation.

droopsnoot

I've just acquired one of these power consumption meters, and although I can't find out how to reset the cumulative figures on it, it is showing me some interesting things. Most of those things are that the items I've tested with it draw very small amounts of current, and if I go out and leave something on standby that I intended to switch off, it's not the end of the world. My desktop PC is currently showing that it's using 30w, that's an i5 PC with an SSD and an older hard disk in standby mode. I woke up the older hard disk, it spiked to around 47w while it started up, and now it's sitting at 22w. That's why I want to get the cumulative figures reset - so I can do a reasonable average over a normal morning's use. Interestingly it seemed to be drawing 12w before I powered it up this morning - and it's powered off, not in standby mode. I'll have to look at that, see if it continues for a period or whether it was just for a few seconds after it was connected to the mains again, but for the sake of a power strip with switched sockets it's an easy if insignificant saving.

As for what to do with the information - I feel better knowing what this stuff is costing. There's little I can do to change what it costs, as I've always had "don't waste stuff" drummed into me from an early age, but it's nice to be aware.

B0bbyEwing

Grey_Critic said:

If you need to use a computer then worrying how much electricity it uses does not solve anything.

*sigh*

Why is it that everyone seems to think that when you ask a question that they wouldn't, then you must be "worrying"?

worrying

/ˈwʌrɪɪŋ/

Learn to pronounce

adjective

1. causing anxiety about actual or potential problems; alarming.
   "a worrying health risk"
   
   
   
   

   
   

I'm not worrying, I'm asking a question, there's a difference.

Grey_Critic

***

Why is it that everyone seems to think that when you ask a question that they wouldn't, then you must be "worrying"?***

Perhaps the way you asked the question - remember what I said **You cannot take any item in isolation*

B0bbyEwing

Grey_Critic said:

Perhaps the way you asked the question -

Oh you mean when I said:

B0bbyEwing said:

I'm trying to look in to what things we have at home & how much they're costing. Can we change how we use them to save money. Some things will be certainly yes & other things no but I'm just looking at it at the moment.

I do apologise for coming across as worried. I thought I'd come across as just looking in to something, inquiring. 


Anyway, is 36W a lot for a hard drive? I'm wondering if I've got this right:

So I bought a WD My Cloud Home 8TB drive. I contacted WD out of curiosity (looking back, I should've told them not to worry - I'm not worried. They probably think I'm a nervous wreck now) to see what this cost to run.

Reason being - it's plugged in 24/7 (as is its design to be), but I don't often use it. 
My phone's photos auto back up to it.
If I have something on my phone I want on the PC then I send it to it there & then in a specific folder.
Certain things on the PC are backed up to it.

But all in all I don't really use it on a daily basis. I got it as it was 8TB of storage for an exceptional price, so while it's designed to be plugged in 24/7, I don't NEED it for that.

So my questioning was if it was costing a pittance then who cares. If it's going to add up then I'll pull the plug.

WD said the consumption was 36W.

I threw that in to: https://www.sust-it.net/energy-calculator.php

I used their default price cap as I only wanted a rough guide tbh

Said it costs £0.45 per day (or 44.93 pence).

Have I calculated that correctly? 


That's £14 a month. Over £150 a year just for it to be sat there being occasionally used.

If I've understood this properly & calculated right then that plug is getting pulled. I'm not worried but I'm also not throwing money away either.

victor2

B0bbyEwing said:

So I bought a WD My Cloud Home 8TB drive. I contacted WD out of curiosity (looking back, I should've told them not to worry - I'm not worried. They probably think I'm a nervous wreck now) to see what this cost to run.

Reason being - it's plugged in 24/7 (as is its design to be), but I don't often use it. 
My phone's photos auto back up to it.
If I have something on my phone I want on the PC then I send it to it there & then in a specific folder.
Certain things on the PC are backed up to it.

But all in all I don't really use it on a daily basis. I got it as it was 8TB of storage for an exceptional price, so while it's designed to be plugged in 24/7, I don't NEED it for that.

So my questioning was if it was costing a pittance then who cares. If it's going to add up then I'll pull the plug.

WD said the consumption was 36W.

I threw that in to: https://www.sust-it.net/energy-calculator.php

I used their default price cap as I only wanted a rough guide tbh

Said it costs £0.45 per day (or 44.93 pence).

Have I calculated that correctly? 


That's £14 a month. Over £150 a year just for it to be sat there being occasionally used.

If I've understood this properly & calculated right then that plug is getting pulled. I'm not worried but I'm also not throwing money away either.

I have a 4TB WD MyCloud drive that I've had for several years. My notes from 2017 say it uses 5.5W in use and 2.4W in standby, which it automatically switches to after 30 minutes of inactivity. I suspect it uses more like 11W when in use, but I only use it for daily backups, which take minutes on most days and an hour or so on the first of the month.

It's not a lot anyway!

victor2

On the original question of how much does a PC use, the suggestions to plug it into a plug-in monitor will give you the best idea, if left for a few "typical" days.

My PC, for example, with two monitors, two SSDs, an i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTXgraphics card when used for just over 3 hours a day plus overnight backups uses about 0.28kWh per day, so maybe 15p on the predicted October capped rate.

The PC is set to hibernate when the power switch is pressed, which I do by habit when I leave it, but the sleep timer kicks in after an hour if I forget. I leave it hibernating for faster startup and so that the scheduled backup tasks can wake it up unattended (they also hibernate it afterwards).

The whole lot uses about 3W when hibernating.

Internet router is not considered in that, as it runs 24/7 for other reasons.

B0bbyEwing

victor2 said:

I have a 4TB WD MyCloud drive that I've had for several years. My notes from 2017 say it uses 5.5W in use and 2.4W in standby, 

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/wd/product/external-storage/my_cloud/my_cloud_home/user-manual-my-cloud-home.pdf

Page 29.

Says 18 watt for you.

How come things aren't adding up?

mjm3346

"Said it costs £0.45 per day (or 44.93 pence).

Have I calculated that correctly? 


That's £14 a month. Over £150 a year just for it to be sat there being occasionally used.

If I've understood this properly & calculated right then that plug is getting pulled. I'm not worried but I'm also not throwing money away either."

sounds about right, some BTTV recording boxes are 20W on standby £80 a year but modern TVs and similar are required to be no more than 0.5W on standby which is barely 4 units a year

getmore4less

It was reported that some of the smart standby switches use more then the things they turn off.


If looking to add something to monitor there is a smart switch by tp-link Tapo P110 £10, 
Has some use after you finish monitoring everything.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=energy+monitoring+smart+plug

Got 2x£5 vouchers on amazon burning a hole  

B0bbyEwing said:

victor2 said:

I have a 4TB WD MyCloud drive that I've had for several years. My notes from 2017 say it uses 5.5W in use and 2.4W in standby, 

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/wd/product/external-storage/my_cloud/my_cloud_home/user-manual-my-cloud-home.pdf

Page 29.

Says 18 watt for you.

How come things aren't adding up?

That says it needs a 18 watt power supply, the actual draw will be a lot lower,  in use and standby